I have never been so busy in advising schools. Because I have such a detailed perspective on the market, I am asked to work with many schools on their strategic offering. There is not a region of the country, type of school and commercial challenge that I am not familiar with.
My consulting work involves feasibility studies to properly inform amendments to schools’ models:
- Should we amend our Early Years provision?
- Should we amend our Saturday provision?
- Should we amend our boarding offering?
- Should we extend – or reduce – our age range?
- Should we consider going co-ed?
- Should we merge with, or take over, another school?
It also involves catchment analysis to understand the characteristics, and sustainability, of the school’s local market:
- What is happening to our area, over time?
- How large is our local market, and is it growing or shrinking?
- How does our local market actually function?
- How are our competitors faring – financially, and in pupil numbers?
- How strong is our positioning vs. our competitors? Where are we in the local ‘pecking order’?
- Is this a good time to be investing in growth, or prudently scaling back?
I carry out this work personally. The above are all topics on which I have delivered masterclasses, as well as managing projects for numerous schools.
Mungo Dunnett
May 2024