Case study: promoting your rural school to increase your pupil roll

Last reviewed on 2 September 2021
School types: All · School phases: All
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Keeping pupil numbers up is key to keeping a rural school viable. Here's how one village school in Suffolk has steadily doubled its pupil roll to become stable again, through promotional strategies that you could try too.

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Contents

  1. Make sure newcomers to the area know about your school
  2. Hold open days for local pre-schools and feeder schools
  3. Identify opportunities to meet your community's needs
  4. Get more people through your doors
  5. Promote yourselves constantly
  6. Convey the right image on your website and social media profiles
  7. Promote your history
  8. Three things to avoid

Make sure newcomers to the area know about your school

Feature on property websites

Any families moving to your area need to know that your school is a great option for their children.

Check that property and school information sites show the correct details about your school and showcase your positives. For example:

  • Rightmove has a ‘school checker’ feature. When people search for a property and click on the 'school checker' tab, they see a list of the nearest schools, their Ofsted rating and whether they're oversubscribed
  • SchoolGuide also shows pupil performance data and parent reviews (and is where Rightmove takes its information from)

Both sites help parents choose where to send their child, or where to move to in the first place, so it's crucial that your school comes off well. If anything is wrong, contact the website owners or submit feedback. 

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