Admissions Manager

Leweston is a thriving Roman Catholic co-educational day and boarding school for pupils aged 3 months to 18 years. It is located in 46 acres of Dorset parkland just outside Sherborne and educates just over 600 pupils. The school is known for its excellent teaching and places a strong focus on providing an individualised experience which challenges pupils of all abilities in a supportive manner. It is academic aspirational with pupils exceeding national averages at all of the key stages. Leweston prides itself on the strength of relationships between staff, pupils and parents and regards itself as a family community.

Admissions Process and Pipeline

• Own and manage the day-to-day admissions enquiry pipeline end to end, including CRM data quality, timely follow-up and conversion through to enrolment.

• Handle and coordinate incoming enquiries, school visits, assessments and offers across the Senior School, and oversee delivery of the equivalent process for Nursery and Prep through the Prep and Nursery Registrar.

• Identify where the pipeline is underperforming at any stage of the funnel and take corrective action, escalating to the Head where needed.

Admissions Events

• Own and run the full calendar of admissions events, including Open Days, Visit Weeks, Assessment Days and Sixth Form evenings, taking personal responsibility for planning, logistics and delivery on the day.

• Work with Marketing on the design, promotion and materials for these events, while retaining ownership of their delivery, attendance and outcome.

• Monitor attendance and conversion arising from events and adjust the events programme in response.

Projections and Reporting

• Produce and own accurate pupil number projections across all year groups.

• Provide monthly reporting on admissions numbers, waiting lists and conversion to the Head.

International Admissions and UKVI Compliance

• Manage overseas admissions administration for the school's sponsored pupils, including UKVI Student sponsor licence requirements and CAS issuance, working closely with the Head and the school's immigration advisers on any compliance matter.

• Maintain relationships with international recruitment agents and agencies to support overseas admissions delivery, working with the Marketing department on territory campaigns and agent-facing marketing materials.

• Manage and operate the short-stay boarding programme as a recruitment pathway for prospective boarding families.

Relationship Building

• Develop and maintain relationships with feeder schools and prospective families to support recruitment.

• Work closely with Marketing to ensure the wider brand and communications relationship with these audiences is properly aligned with admissions activity.

Team Management

• Line manage the Prep and Nursery Registrar, overseeing their delivery of Nursery and Prep admissions and providing clear direction and support.

• Conduct regular one-to-ones and an annual appraisal with the Prep and Nursery Registrar, in line with the school's performance management procedures.

Strategy and Collaboration

• Deliver the admissions strategy agreed with the Head, feeding front-line insight from the enquiry pipeline and events programme back into its development.

• Work closely with Marketing to ensure marketing activity and admissions delivery are properly aligned and sequenced across the calendar.

• Familiarity with UKVI Student sponsor licence requirements and international admissions processes.

• Experience of independent school admissions, or of admissions within the education sector more broadly.

• Experience working with international recruitment agents.

• Proven experience in an admissions, registrar or sales pipeline role, with evidence of managing enquiries through to conversion.

• Confident and organised, able to plan and personally deliver events under pressure, including on evenings and weekends when required.

• Experience using a CRM system to manage a pipeline of enquiries, ideally HubSpot or a similar platform.

• Strong relationship-building skills across families, feeder schools and agents.

• Confident line manager, or clear readiness to take on line management responsibility.

• High level of accuracy and attention to detail, particularly in relation to compliance, data and documentation.

• Discreet and trustworthy, able to handle sensitive family and pupil information with complete confidentiality.