How to increase enrolment in private schools

Looking at private school enrolment trends, the number of pupils in private education was steadily increasing in the years leading up to the 2024/25 academic year, when there was a drop of 1.9%.

Schools with membership of the Independent Schools Council (ISC) educate around 80% of the UK's independent school pupils.

In the ISC 2025 census and annual report, there were nearly 11,000 fewer pupils attending ISC schools compared to the previous year, a reduction of around 2% — this was observed despite a net increase of 12 new schools with membership.

Looking at the 1,380 schools that completed the census in both 2024 and 2025, pupil numbers decreased 2.4%, and there was a decrease of over 5% in reception, year 3 and year 7, which are the main intake years. 

There was also a decrease of 5.2% in pupils who were new to their school in that academic year, giving insight into the declining enrolment trends observed in 2025.

To challenge declining enrolment in private schools, it’s important to understand the causes and plan proactively.

However, the picture is complex and there are likely to be myriad factors behind the decline, with sources primarily pointing to:

• Increased costs. The ISC census and annual report notes a "triple whammy" on school finances: the introduction of VAT on private school fees, the loss of charitable relief on business rates and the increase on National Insurance employer contributions. According to the report, headteachers have been clear that the added cost of VAT has been directly responsible for much of the decline observed in pupil enrolments.
• Shifting demographics. This year, the number of pupils enrolled in schools in England fell for the first time in more than a decade. The number of primary school pupils has been falling for several years. This can primarily be attributed to an increased birth rate from the late 2000s which peaked in 2013. Since then, declining birth rates mean fewer children are entering the school system.
• The ISC census also references the impact of declining international student numbers. It claims that Britain’s independent schools are still held in high regard internationally, but notes a drop of 2.6% in international student numbers last year. This decline is particularly impacting boarding schools, where international student enrolments are down nearly 14% from 2020. The British Association of Independent Schools With International Students cites stricter visa rules, increased visa application costs and rising fees as the main factors behind this trend.
• Competition from free schools and academies. Both free schools and academies can operate with a large degree of autonomy, which can be a factor in improving performance — a few years after the first free schools were established, 71% of those inspected were graded as either “good” or “outstanding” by Ofsted. While it’s difficult to directly tie free school attendance to declining independent school enrolments, giving parents a wider choice of schools that are perceived to be independent and high quality could have a detrimental impact on the private sector.
• An increase in homeschooling. In autumn 2024, local authorities reported 111,700 children in elective home education (EHE), an increase of 21% year-over-year (though the government notes this increase may be in part due to improved data quality). Again, it’s difficult to link this directly to private school enrolments, but it helps tell the story of a changing education landscape.  

These strategies are intended to spark ideas to help increase enrolment activity in independent school settings. They can be customised and built out to suit the needs of individual schools.

Optimise budgets for marketing and student recruitment

Once schools have refined their value proposition, they can use it in their marketing to target new student recruitment. A value proposition is only useful if people know about it. Schools must communicate their value proposition effectively, reaching parents via various channels to spread the message to a relevant audience of their ideal families.

Marketing and recruitment drives might include:

• Digital advertising. Schools can place adverts on relevant partner websites, search engine results pages, social media and in other locations to drive awareness and deliver key messaging. This can be a useful way of promoting open days and events. Adverts should link back to the school website, preferably specially designed landing pages for the campaign to create a seamless user journey and encourage leads.
• Updating the school website. Digital adverts will often drive traffic back to the website, and many parents discover the school through its digital presence, so it’s important this is up to date and shows the school in the best light. Use high-quality photography and videos of the school, featuring staff and students where possible. The website should clearly tell the school’s story and provide compelling reasons for pupils to attend.
• Promoting school events. Concerts, sports matches, plays and more are a great way for prospective families to see the high calibre of extra-curricular activities offered by the school.
• Inviting students and parents to open days. This is a school’s best opportunity to showcase its site in person and really nurture its marketing leads. Providing a warm and welcoming environment, evidencing academic excellence in person, letting visitors see the facilities on offer and giving them the opportunity to meet staff and current students can really move the needle for a school.
• Printing new prospectuses. These are a great way to promote the school’s ethos and tell pupil and alumni success stories. While it’s harder to track conversions than it is with digital marketing, printed materials can be a persuasive tool for leads further down the funnel who may already have made contact or visited the school. Like the website, prospectuses should use professional photography and provide detailed information about the curriculum, school ethos, facilities and more.
• Enhancing scholarship programmes. The ISC reported that more than a third of pupils now receive some form of help with fees, and bursary support has reached a record high. Bursaries and scholarships help build diversity and increase social mobility, broadening school recruitment, demonstrating commitment to core values and enhancing the institution’s reputation.  

Schools will need to consider their finances carefully and free up funds to support increased marketing activity if required. Watertight financial planning and budgeting tools will help schools make strategic savings and recalculate budgets automatically, enabling agile and data-driven decision making as well as maximising funds. 

To make sure marketing activity pays long term, it’s important to track return on investment (ROI) as far as possible. For each marketing activity, record leads and conversions, then calculate ROI to understand exactly how it’s supporting recruitment and financial growth. Marketing activity will not necessarily generate good ROI immediately, but long term, it should uplift student recruitment and drive revenue growth to justify the additional spend. 

Enhancing the admissions experience

A great admissions experience is a crucial step at the bottom of the enrolment funnel. This is the stage where leads are fully converted into enrolments and students are welcomed into the school community, so getting it right sets the tone for the pupil’s entire time at the institution.

Word of mouth is a powerful marketing tool which cannot be directly controlled, but it can be heavily influenced by the actions a school takes. When setting out the admissions process, schools need to be mindful of how it will be perceived and experienced, and what that says about the institution and its values.

Communication is key, with automated check-ins, notifications and messaging helping to guide parents through the application and enrolment process. 

Filling in applications and forms is rarely an enjoyable experience, so making it as clear and simple as possible demonstrates a level of respect for parents’ time and will help them to navigate the process. It also results in fewer enquiries directed to school administration and admissions teams, freeing up time internally. 

Engaging and retaining families

Building relationships beyond enrolment is key to retaining pupils through the school system, mitigating the need for intensive recruitment drives across all year groups.

Considering parents’ individual needs is an important part of the picture and an efficient, well thought out parental engagement strategy will ensure they know how their child is progressing, what they’re doing in school, how they’re participating in extra-curricular activities and much more.

Parental engagement is also essential for pupil achievement, helping them to make an average of four months’ additional progress. The right tools are key to building this whole ecosystem: parental engagement software can manage consistent, quality parent communication, while HR software increases efficiency for the teams managing it. With the right systems and automations, engaging with parents becomes a natural part of the school’s remit, rather than an extensive administrative undertaking.

Student engagement is also key to keeping them progressing through the school. Independent schools need to build a strong community, offering every pupil the opportunity to get involved and meet their full potential. This can range from differentiation in lessons to cover various learning styles and interests, to provisions for extra-curricular activities and pastoral care programmes to support wellbeing.

When children are engaged in school, they have been shown to experience positive emotions more frequently and their teachers rate them “high” on academic performance and conduct more often. As such, prioritising student engagement is so important in moving them happily and successfully through their studies. 

New enrolments will always be key to growth, but retention is the other side of the coin, and it’s often cheaper than new student recruitment. Many of the initiatives that keep pupils at a school long term, such as facilities enhancements, staff training programmes and strong parental engagement, are “business as usual” for independent schools, so they won’t add to overheads. They also require lower administration input, taking the pressure off admissions departments and allowing staff to focus on more value-added tasks during their workdays. 

Various studies have shown the value of retention for businesses, with the cost of acquiring new customers ranging from five to 25 times higher than retaining existing ones. Private schools are not a direct parallel, but the overall message is that retention is more affordable than acquisition.

Schools can focus on student retention by:

• Strengthening academic programmes. Current students and their families will benefit from continued academic excellence, as well as the introduction of new subjects, options and teaching specialities.
• Prioritising extra-curricular activities. When schools commit to the provision of wide-ranging extra-curricular activities and offer students the opportunity to achieve high standards in their chosen programmes, they unlock new ways to build camaraderie, grow community, diversify achievements and develop confidence.
• Valuing parents. Ultimately, parents make the decision about where their children go to school. 85% of parents want to play an active role in their child’s education, and a good parental engagement strategy will bring them along on the journey.
• Creating and communicating a retention strategy. Everyone working at the school should have a good awareness of this strategy to bring it to life. Retention can’t just be seen as a job for admissions departments — it needs input from everyone. 

Evidence-based decision making that is grounded in data is key to increasing enrolments at an optimal pace. Schools have an ever-increasing pool of technologies and education software available to them, which can manage, process and optimise data meaningfully, assist with the implementation of new strategies and lay the foundations for efficient, accurate operations to drive enrolment and retention activity.

Key technologies to consider for pupil enrolment and retention include:

• Budgeting and forecasting software. Automating the budgeting process helps schools remain proactive and agile, and it can help to make cost savings. With custom reporting based on the school’s own data, leaders and finance professionals can stay better informed, finding creative ways to market new initiatives and making clearly defined decisions. One of the most powerful features of budgeting software is scenario planning and forecasting, allowing schools to model potential impacts. This can shed light on the number of new enrolments need to achieve specific goals, and conversely, it can easily highlight the impact of decreasing pupil numbers, providing justification for new campaigns.
• Parental engagement tools. Keeping parents informed and engaged is crucial during the enrolment process and during their child’s time at school. Digital parental engagement can reduce the volume of phone calls and letters, giving parents access to news, academic information, day planners, reports, booking systems for parents evenings, payment systems and more, all in one place. Simple, accurate and focused parental engagement builds parent-teacher relationships and instils a sense of community. Plus, children do better on a wide range of measures when their parents are involved in their education, helping private schools maintain academic excellence which is crucial for attracting new families.
• HR software. Private schools maintain high standards, which can mean more work for administration and admissions teams. HR software can lift the burden, automating processes like payroll, absence management and record-keeping while increasing accuracy, freeing up staff time to support recruitment and retention initiatives. Good HR processes can also improve staff morale, and support new recruitment by enhancing the candidate experience; by making a case for the right HR technology, schools put themselves in a better position to attract talented teachers long term, which is so important for marketing and student retention. 

A long-term enrolment strategy relies on data-informed, strategic decision making, ongoing family engagement, enhanced operational efficiency and targeted marketing initiatives to drive continual and meaningful improvement. To get started, schools should consider an audit of current enrolment strategies and practices, focusing on:

• Key touchpoints. When do parents and students make initial contact, and what happens after this? As a starting point, map out the full enrolment funnel and the journey that parents and students will take, from initial interest to successful enrolment.
• Top-of-the-funnel marketing. If the aim is to attract more enrolments, how visible is the school? Is it easy for parents and pupils to find its online presence?
• Lead nurturing. Consider how leads are nurtured through the enrolment funnel. It’s important to strike the right balance, making sure potential families feel engaged and can get answers to all their questions, without bombarding them with too much messaging, too frequently. Where possible, run A/B tests to optimise communication content and frequency.
• Retention. How does the school build community, create a leading student experience and engage parents to make long-term retention the norm? Retention requires school-wide effort and a targeted strategy, so everyone is working to achieve the same aims.

Start putting it into practice — learn more about effective parental engagement, smart budgeting and tailored HR support, and develop an enrolment funnel built on best practices.