Academy Schools Update
Posted: February 17, 2012
Having not mentioned Academy Schools and Free Schools for a while, this seems like an opportune moment to do so, having found out yesterday that a Free School will be opening in the building next door to us from September 2012.
A quick look at the development of Academy Schools over the last 2 years shows the growth they have gone through.
May 2010 203 Academy Schools
Apr 2011 626 Academy School
Feb 2012 over 1500 Academy Schools
In summary, the number of Academy Schools has more than doubled year on year since 2010.
Now, please excuse my laziness here but it seems appropriate to offer a little explanation about what an Academy School is for those who don’t know. To do this, I have regurgitated some of the information I sent out a few months ago.
What is an Academy School?
An Academy School is different to a traditional school in a number of ways. In the words of the Department for Education website, they are “publicly funded independent schools that provide a first class education.”
To add some substance to these words, a quick summary;
- They have freedom from local authority control, meaning they can set their own term dates, decide the length of their school days, be more creative about how to deliver their curriculum and set their own pay and conditions for staff
- Academy Schools receive the same level of funding per pupil as other schools, but also receive extra finance to cover the services which would otherwise have been supplied by the Local Authority
- Funding is received from the Young Peoples Learning Agency (a Department for Education agency) rather than the Local Authority
- Academy Schools can also seek sponsorship from businesses, universities, charities and other bodies
Do Academy Schools have different spending patterns than other schools?
Academy School’s financial years run differently in that they are managed between September and August. This means that the start of a school year, traditionally a good time for marketing to schools, could be even more lucrative for those selling to Academy Schools since budgets will just have been allocated and money will be available to spend. It also means that the traditionally quiet month of April could be a good time to promote to Academy Schools.
How can I sell to Academy Schools?
Academy Schools can be contacted like any other schools, using the traditional schools marketing methods of post, email, telephone, etc. We currently have data for all Open Academy schools, and continually update this data. The Academy Schools Database
We can supply a full database of Academy Schools, containing postal addresses, email addresses and telephone numbers for £199 plus VAT. The database is supplied on a multi-use rental and comes with a free 6 month update. To order, call 01257 460036 or email info@schoolmailings.com. Alternatively, you can visit www.schoolmailings.com/academies for more information about our Academy Schools programme.Thanks for your time.
School Mailings
Telemarketing To Schools
Posted: February 13, 2012
I was a little irritated earlier this week to receive a telephone enquiry. This is not something I would normally say as, like all businesses, we always want to find more clients.
All seemed to be fine when the caller enquired about our Academy Schools Database (available for £199 with a free 6 month update – shameless plug). I explained the features of the database to him and waited for his thoughts. He explained he was calling from a print company and asked if we ever did any printing. The quick answer is that we do, though we are fortunate to have our own presses and do the vast majority of our printing in house. Where we do send out the odd bit of printing, we have a very good relationship with a partner and wouldn’t want to change this. The caller asked if he could send me his promotional pack showcasing their print services. Ever intrigued by how other companies promote themselves, I handed over our address details and waited for him to go back to the original discussion about the Academy Database.
It never did and he said thanks for my time.
To some extent, I had been ‘had’. He had called with no intention of engaging in business with us and simply wanted to find an angle by which he could get my attention. He certainly got my attention but used a very unethical way of doing this. His promotional pack, which was pretty impressive, went straight in the bin.
This leads on to telemarketing. We often get calls asking if we offer telemarketing services. It is not our area of specialism so we don’t (though are happy to recommend a very good company if necessary). There are also some difficulties associated with telemarketing to schools.
In fact, there are 3 main problems;
Whilst we can’t help with points b and c (though can advise on things which might help), we can certainly supply lists of names and telephone numbers.
If you would like to find out about our telemarketing lists, or schools databases in general, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Thanks for your time.
School Mailings