Head of Admissions

Head of Admissions
The Head of Admissions will provide inspiring and strategic leadership of Rendcomb College’s Admissions activities across the College’s Junior and Senior Schools. This role is crucial to delivering Rendcomb’s strategic ambitions, to increase its national and international reach and deliver a customer-focused application journey. This is an opportunity to lead the team into a new phase of the College’s strategy, with a specific leaning towards international recruitment.

The post holder will be responsible for building pupil recruitment and admissions strategy locally, nationally and internationally, to support the College’s further growth through the delivery of excellent and innovative admissions procedures and processes. The successful applicant will work closely with colleagues across the College and lead their team to ensure the development and implementation of effective pupil recruitment. Travel abroad for exhibitions and other recruitment purposes is a specific requirement of this role with up to 50% of time being overseas.

Line Management and Reporting
The Head of Admissions will manage a strong team of three Admissions Assistant staff. They will work closely with the Head of College and the Head of Junior School. The Head of College will be the line manager.

Core Duties
Admission Processes

1. Oversee the organisation and management of the admissions’ process from enquiry to entry for UK and international pupils
2. Oversee the organisation of visits, tours and Open Days for prospective parents and pupils, including meeting and greeting on arrival, and if necessary, conducting tours of the school.
3. Provide advice to parents/guardians about availability of places in all year groups and entry criteria.
4. Plan, coordinate and attend admissions events and external exhibitions, which can occur in the evening or at weekends.
5. Be responsible for accessing emails and telephone messages outside the school calendar to ensure prompt response to parents and pupils around admissions process and procedure.
6. Oversee the sending out of all parent contracts and relevant paperwork to all new parents, including scholarships.
7. Oversee and ensure the admissions process is timely, effective and efficient, and devise new procedures where needed.
8. While working closely with the Deputy Head (Academic) and others, manage effective arrangements for testing, interviewing, providing feedback to prospective pupils and parents, including the management of assessment days, scholarship and other award interviews.
9. Implement and refine all admissions related processes, including the preparation of suitable documentation and marketing related literature.
10. Oversee the entry of pupil information in the college database and ensure accuracy (Open Apply and iSAMS).
11. Ensure all necessary pupil records and notes are kept up to date, including SEN and medical information, and ensure compliance with the School’s policy on data protection.
12. Ensure that accurate and detailed records of all necessary admissions data is securely stored.
13. Work within agreed time-frames to ensure that decisions on prospective pupils are delivered swiftly.

Pupil Recruitment

1. Take overall responsibility for all pupil registration and admissions-related aspects, including initial contact with the School through to enrolment.
2. Oversee the arrangements for visits for prospective parents, liaising as necessary with the Head of College’s office and the Head of Junior’s PA.
3. Assist at School promotional events as may be required, including induction days and taster days for both internal and external prospects.
4. Lead and organise both the UK and International pupil induction days.
5. Manage and develop relationships with feeder schools both locally and nationally. Continue to preserve the warm rapport with existing contacts and nurture new leads in a similar manner.
6. In conjunction with the Head of Marketing, propose suitable recruitment events based on expected return and pupil enrolment numbers.
7. Work with the Head of Boarding to ensure that UK families understand Rendcomb College’s product and offering.
8. Ensure a suitable and adequate balance of international and UK pupils.

International

1. Organise programmes and testing of overseas pupils, meeting all entry requirements.
2. Conduct regular recruitment trips abroad to attract pupils from current and new agents through recruitment fairs.
3. Organise bespoke country trips to agents and families throughout the year.
4. Have a good working knowledge and experience of UK Student Immigration Route (Tier 4) requirements for overseas pupils.
5. Ensure Rendcomb College is compliant in its Student Immigration Route sponsorship duties.
6. Develop and build on relationships with agencies for international pupils and non-agency contacts overseas.
7. Develop an overseas alumni programme, working with past pupils to generate interest in Rendcomb College through in-country events and the alumni networks.
8. Work with the Head of Boarding to ensure that Rendcomb’s product is understood by agents and international families.

Marketing

1. Liaise with the Head of Marketing to ensure that all relevant marketing is up to date.
2. Attend regular Admissions and Marketing meetings, providing insight and guidance into where activity should be targeted.
3. Oversee the production of correspondence, reports, presentations and other documentation as required by the Head of College and Governors.
4. Attend marketing events and external exhibitions, which can occur in the evenings or at weekends including Open Days, Prep School fairs etc.

Communication

1. Ensure the Admissions Office is fully integrated and engaged with all aspects of school life.
2. Establish strong working relationships across all school departments.
3. Maintain the highest professional standards of communication whether in person, or using other communication medium.
4. Develop and maintain good relationships with Heads of feeder schools for Junior and Senior Schools.
5. Develop and maintain good relationships with International Agents.
6. Liaise with appropriate personnel regarding examination papers and results.
7. Be an active, approachable and engaging presence for all current staff, pupils and parents.

Reports

1. Use available performance data to review and fine tune the School’s recruitment and admissions policy.
2. Produce regular pupil number reports for the Governing Body and Head of College to inform future pupil forecast and recruitment strategies.
3. Ensure the Rendcomb College brand is used appropriately and communicates the vision and values of the School, including all advertising for all pupil recruitment.
4. Liaise with the Head of Marketing and Head of Boarding on the market research of the key target markets of prospective parents and feeder schools.
5. In conjunction with Head of Marketing, review statistics from events to ascertain successes and continuous improvement plans.
6. Maintain a regular analysis of pupil statistics and trends, including lost prospects, complete with reasons for non-selection.

General

1. Attend recruitment events both nationally and internationally, ensuring at all times that Rendcomb is represented in a positive and professional manner.
2. Ensure the Admissions Office is covered all year round to ensure that all enquiries are dealt with promptly and efficiently.
3. Liaise with the Head of College and the Bursar for all matters relating to financial queries around UK pupils.
4. Manage the Departmental budget.

Rendcomb College
Rendcomb
Cirencester
Gloucestershire
GL7 7HA
England

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