Here, Kerry Wilson, admissions registrar at Latymer Upper School outlines the 4 main benefits of a digital admissions process.
Improving your school’s reputation
First impressions are everything and a poor experience or interaction early on in the admissions process can create real anxiety - potentially even causing parents to choose a different school for their child.
At Latymer, we believe that these initial interactions should always be treated as a form of engagement or relationship building, demonstrating our commitment to providing outstanding educational experiences. The schools that can offer the most streamlined and simple process stand the best chance of impressing and it’s important that education institutions adapt and modernise.
Investing in technology
According to one article published in 2020, homeschooling gave the edtech sector a strong tailwind. With over 1000 companies based in the UK ranking amongst the strongest in Europe, the industry saw a 91 per cent increase in investment during 2019.
Investment in new technology shouldn’t be limited to the classroom, and at Latymer we believe in empowering support teams with easy-to-use tools. Around three years ago we switched from using paper admissions forms to using the My School Portal software and this has made a huge difference.
Previously the team had to collate packs of paper forms. This pack was then posted out to parents and had to be filled in at home, before being posted back to us - a real drain on our resources that could have been put to much better use.
Improving accuracy
Given the time-sensitive nature of school admissions, it’s crucial that deadlines are met and that our admissions team can access a 360-degree view of each applicant's progress. Previously we had to run through endless paper checklists, cross referencing which forms were still outstanding and which ones we had received.
The introduction of editable PDFs did make a slight difference, but it was by no means watertight. Now, we can log in to the system and immediately see which forms are outstanding and the ones we have received. We can then send automated reminders or messages to other team members or parents, to prompt a rapid response.
We process over 200 new joiners each year and I’d estimate that the software has saved us around 100 hours of time throughout the admissions process.
Offering a user-friendly experience
Aside from the time the My School Portal software saves the admissions team, we know that the system provides parents with an engaging and user-friendly experience.
We want to demonstrate our high standards from the word go and I believe the eradication of paper-based processes has made a massive difference. As the software can pre-populate information already collected during the enquiry stage, the application journey continues seamlessly for parents.
To find out more about the My School Portal software, please click on the banner below.