Baby Steps Marketing - Step 1
If you haven't started your 2010-2011 school year yet (in terms of the fiscal year, that is), then you're going to be it starting soon. If you're a faith-based elementary school that has ties to a church or churches, then make this the year to follow the words of Scripture: "See, I do a new thing" (Is 43:19).
Many schools seem to be worried this year because their Kindergartens are not as full as they have been in the past, but seem to be happy if there are 20 to 25 students enrolled for the coming year. However, if you are a K-8, then chances are that there will be about 10 of those 20 remaining in your school as 8th graders in nine years.
If you don't have a Pre-K program, this would be the year to strongly consider instituting one, since it will provide a feeder for your Kindergarten program. Of course, I've heard schools with PK programs say, "Oh no - you don't understand. Those children only come here for Pre-K because we're competitively priced with other PK programs in the area. Then the children leave for public school when it's time to enter Kindergarten." That's when I ask, "Do you include the parents of Pre-K students in your school's activities, and treat them like they are part of your K+ program?" Guess what the usual response is - "Well, no, not really, because they're only in our Pre-K program, and since they're only here a few hours a day (or week!) we don't expect their parents to attend PTG meetings or participate in other programs that we have for our regular parents."
If that's your response, that's the problem. If they're a part of your school, they're a part of your school. Make them a part of your school's community.
If you do have a Pre-K program, next week we'll look at the second step of Baby Steps Marketing - getting parents to your Pre-K program.
If you do have a Pre-K program, and you're including those parents in your "regular" parent-teacher meetings and encouraging them to be a part of your school community - yet, they're still not enrolling in your Kindergarten, we'll look at that the following week.
© Michael V. Ziemski, SchoolAdvancement, 2010 (Original Publication Date: 20100705)
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