Admissions season rewards the schools that are easiest to choose. Not always the biggest, or the ones with the largest advertising budget, but the ones that reply quickly, show proof parents trust and make the next step obvious.

This plan is for school owners, principals and admissions teams preparing for the 2027–28 intake. It works whether your session starts in April or September: count back 16 weeks from the day your admissions open, and start at week 1. If your admissions are already open, do weeks 1 and 2 anyway. A faster reply helps the families who are already asking.

What makes parents choose a school?

Parents rarely choose from an advert. They choose from a shortlist built on conversations, visits and research. One of the most detailed recent studies is Independent Schools Queensland’s What Parents Want survey of 3,308 parents, published in August 2025. When parents named the three sources that influenced them most, they listed:

• Family, friends and colleagues: 69%

• A school open day or visit: 58%

• Other parents with children at the school: 51%

• The school’s website and social media: 40%

The website matters more than that 40% suggests. In the same study, 92% of parents visited a school website, and 79% of them visited two or more. Parents also start early: two in three began researching at least two years before their child started school.

Two newer habits sit on top of this. Parents read reviews: 97% of consumers read reviews for local businesses, according to BrightLocal’s 2026 survey. And they ask AI assistants. In EAB’s 2026 survey of more than 2,500 parents of high school students, 57% had used AI tools such as ChatGPT to evaluate colleges, and 34% said AI helped them discover schools they had not considered.

So your marketing has four jobs: get onto the shortlist, make the visit easy and memorable, give current parents something to talk about, and reply faster than the school down the road.

How many enquiries do you need to fill your seats?

Start with the seats, not the advertising budget. Work backwards through your admissions funnel using last year’s conversion rates. If you don’t have them, use the example below and replace it with your own numbers after four weeks.

These rates are an illustration, not a benchmark. The point is what happens when one rate improves. If half of your visiting families apply today and you lift that to 60%, you need about 335 enquiries instead of 400 for the same 60 seats. That is 65 fewer enquiries to pay for, and the improvement usually comes from better follow-up, not bigger ads.

The 16-week admissions plan at a glance

Weeks 1–2: Fix the enquiry path before you spend on ads

Many schools lose families before any marketing problem begins. A parent fills in a form on Friday evening, calls on Saturday and hears back on Tuesday. By then they have visited two other schools.

List every way a parent can reach you: phone, WhatsApp, website forms, walk-ins, Instagram and Facebook messages, Google Business Profile calls and listing sites. Then route all of them into one list. A CRM is best, but a shared sheet with these columns is a good start:

• Parent and child name, and the grade applied for

• Source (how they found you) and channel (how they contacted you)

• Date and time received, and the time of the first reply

• Owner, next step and status

Set one rule for speed: the first reply goes out within 15 minutes in school hours, and the same evening otherwise. Speed is the cheapest admissions lever you have. In a widely cited Harvard Business Review audit of 2,241 US companies, firms that contacted a new lead within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify it as firms that waited longer, and more than 60 times as likely as firms that waited a day or more. Only 37% replied within an hour, and 23% never replied at all.

Education is not immune. Edified’s 2025 mystery-shopping study of 103 higher-education institutions found that only one in four prospective students received any follow-up after their first enquiry, and fewer than one in ten phone enquirers heard back after the call. WhatsApp performed best: every student who used it got an answer, and 80% of those answers arrived within two business hours.

Before week 2 ends, mystery-shop your own school. Ask a friend to enquire by phone, WhatsApp and the website form, and time each reply.

Template: first reply to a new enquiry

Hello [Parent name], thank you for your interest in [School name] for [Child name]. I’m [Your name] from the admissions team. Admissions for [Grade] in 2027–28 open on [date]. Would you like to visit? We have tours on [day] at [time] and [day] at [time], or you can pick a time here: [link]. I can also send the fee structure and transport routes now if that helps.

Weeks 3–4: Make your admissions page and Google profile answer parents’ questions

Parents compare schools on their phones, often late at night. If your website makes them call to find out the fees or the age criteria, many will move on to a school that answers.

Build one admissions page that answers, in plain words:

• Fees, or at least a fee range and what it includes

• Admission dates, age criteria and the documents needed

• The process from enquiry to confirmed seat, step by step

• Transport routes and timings, and school hours

• Curriculum or board, class sizes and what makes your teaching different

• Results, outcomes and achievements, with dates

• A “Book a visit” button that works on a phone

Use real photos of your classrooms, labs, grounds and events. In the ISQ study, 73% of parents said the school’s look and facilities were highly or totally influential, and stock photos hide exactly what parents are trying to judge. If your website can’t do this easily, it is worth fixing before the season starts. Our website team builds school sites that your own staff can update.

Then complete your Google Business Profile: the right category, opening hours, a link to the admissions page, real photos and a post with this season’s admission dates. Keep the same name, address, phone number and description on your website, social profiles and education directories.

This consistency also matters in AI search. When a parent asks ChatGPT or Google’s AI Mode for “the best CBSE schools near Dwarka with transport”, the answer is built from pages the assistant can find and trust: your website, your Google profile, listings, reviews and local news. Our guide on how to get your business recommended by ChatGPT explains how those answers are chosen.

Weeks 5–6: Collect reviews, parent stories and referrals

Word of mouth is the strongest channel in every survey, so give it fuel.

Reviews. Ask every month, not once a year. BrightLocal’s 2026 survey found that 74% of consumers only care about reviews written in the last three months, 68% will only use a business rated four stars or higher, and 89% expect owners to reply to reviews. Ask after good moments, such as the first week of term, annual day or results day, and send a direct link to your Google review form. Reply to every review, including the critical ones, calmly and specifically.

Stay inside Google’s rules. Its policy prohibits offering incentives for reviews, setting review quotas for staff, and discouraging negative reviews or asking only happy parents. Ask everyone.

Template: review request

Hello [Parent name], we hope [Child name] is enjoying [this term]. Many families choose a school based on other parents’ experiences. If you have a minute, would you share yours on Google? [link] Thank you, every review is read by our principal.

Parent stories. Record five short stories with parents who joined in the last two years: why they chose you, and what changed for their child. A 60-second phone video is enough. Get written consent before you publish any child’s name, photo or voice, and keep the consent on file.

Referrals. Give every current parent a ready-to-forward invitation to your open day. If you offer a referral benefit, keep it modest and say so openly.

Template: invitation for current parents to forward

Hello! [School name] is opening its doors for 2027–28 admissions on [date]. If friends or neighbours are looking for a school for [grades], they’re welcome to visit. They can book a tour here: [link]. Thank you for recommending us.

Weeks 7–10: Run visits and open days families remember

The visit is where most decisions are made. In the ISQ study, 92% of parents attended a one-on-one visit or an open day, and one-on-one visits were rated the most useful source of information, ahead of open days and websites.

Offer more than one way to visit: small-group tours on weekdays, an open morning at the weekend, and a short video tour for families who live further away. Let parents book a time slot online, then send reminders 24 hours and 2 hours before, with the location pin, parking details and the name of the person who will meet them.

On the day, every family should:

• Be greeted by name by the person they will deal with

• See a real class in the grade they are applying for

• Meet a teacher and, if possible, a current parent

• Leave with the fee structure, the key dates and one clear next step

This is also when paid ads earn their place. Use search ads for high-intent searches such as “CBSE school near [area]” or “IB school in [city]”, and social ads to promote the open day to families within commuting distance. Send every ad to the visit booking page, never to the home page, and judge campaigns on visits booked and admissions, not clicks. Our performance marketing team reports on exactly those numbers.

Weeks 11–14: Follow up until every family decides

Families rarely decide on the day of the visit. They compare, talk it over and wait for a nudge. A simple sequence keeps you in the conversation without pressure:

1. Day 0: thank them for visiting and answer any question you couldn’t answer on the day.

2. Day 1: send the application link, the document checklist and the fee structure.

3. Day 3: share one parent story that matches their concern, such as fees, sport, results or learning support.

4. Day 7: a phone call from the head of admissions.

5. Day 14: a reminder of the application deadline, only if the deadline is real.

Template: after the visit

Thank you for visiting [School name] today, [Parent name]. It was lovely to meet [Child name]. As promised, [answer to their question]. When you’re ready, the application takes about 10 minutes: [link]. If anything is holding you back, reply here and I’ll help.

When a family says no, record why: fees, distance, timings, curriculum or another school. After a month, these reasons will tell you more than any survey.

If enquiries arrive faster than your team can answer them, automation and a CRM can handle reminders and routing, as long as a person approves every message that reaches parents.

Weeks 15–16: Close the season and learn from it

• Confirm seats in writing and send a welcome pack with first-week details.

• Tell waitlisted families where they stand and when you will update them.

• Compare every number with your targets, and work out the cost per admission for each paid channel.

• Ask new parents why they chose you. Their answers are next year’s messaging.

Retention is admissions too. Every family that re-enrols is a seat you don’t have to fill, and a parent who speaks well of you at the school gate.

What should a school track every week?

Common mistakes that cost admissions

• Buying ads before fixing reply speed and follow-up

• Sending ads to the home page instead of a booking page

• Hiding fees, dates or age criteria

• Holding one open day with no follow-up

• Using stock photos instead of your own campus

• Asking for reviews once a year

Where to start this week

If you only do three things this week: put every enquiry into one list with an owner, set the 15-minute reply rule, and mystery-shop your own school. If you’d like a second opinion on your admissions plan, book a 30-minute call with our team.

Sources

• Independent Schools Queensland, What Parents Want 2025: key findings, August 2025

• BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, February 2026

• EAB, More than half of parents use AI to research colleges, August 2026

• James B. Oldroyd, Kristina McElheran and David Elkington, The Short Life of Online Sales Leads, Harvard Business Review, March 2011

• ICEF Monitor, Mystery shopping study finds broad improvement in student enquiry handling, October 2025

• Google, Maps user-contributed content policy: prohibited and restricted content