Admissions Manager

About us:

Little Dukes, part of the Dukes Education group, is a family of nurseries in London and the South coast with shared values and a commitment to delivering excellent early years education.

Surrounding our nurseries, we also have a collection of complementary education offerings - schools, day camps, summer schools, colleges and university application consultancies. This way, we create a wrap-around experience for every family that joins us, not just in school time, but beyond the classroom as well.

There's power in the collective. Our results are outstanding, but there's more to us than that...

Purpose of the Role

• To support in raising the profile of our nursery schools amongst key audiences (parents, staff, media, etc) and the wider public by delivering a seamless journey to enrolment.
• To be a prime point of reference for new parents when they require information about the nursery school, and to manage the admissions process through to enrolment, liaising effectively with all parties involved in admissions.
• The Admissions Manager is responsible for overseeing and managing all aspects of the admissions process. This includes developing, implementing, and evaluating strategies to attract and retain families, ensuring a smooth application process, and maintaining high standards of customer service throughout the admissions lifecycle.
• The Admissions Manager will collaborate with various departments to support enrolment goals and ensure an exceptional experience for prospective parents and children.
• The successful candidate will be an organised, enthusiastic and a hard-working team player with excellent written and verbal communication skills. They will also be digitally savvy and have had previous experience in a similar customer service focused role.
• The role will involve meeting agreed occupancy targets for a group of nurseries, delivering these targets through world class customer service, reporting and pipelining, and the use of technology to create a personalised customer journey for each family.

Key Responsibilities

• Providing telephone and email responses to new enquiries for early years care.
• Liaising with nursery teams to support parent tours, Open Days and touch points to engage with new and existing families.
• Working collaboratively with operations, marketing and finance colleagues to assess growth and pipeline of new children joining.
• Prepare reports for enquiry numbers, conversion rates, retention of families and feedback from new and existing families.
• Collate emails and registration/enrolment documents, providing on-going contact with prospective parents and ensuring everything is ready for their child to start at the nursery school.
• Control and maintain occupancy numbers and waiting lists.
• Input prospective child details into our CRM systems.
• Compile relevant lists i.e. contact list, class lists etc...
• Support in the administration of offer letters, deposit forms and terms & conditions.
• Send invitations and receive responses for Open Days, new children's parties and home visits.
• Liaise closely with the Admissions Manager and Finance Manager to ensure all details needed for invoicing, daily recording of registration fees and deposits is obtained.
• Support with events and Open Days.
• Data entry and follow-ups from various forms of remote and in-person contact.
• Other reasonable requests with a focus on enabling new families to join our settings, and ongoing excellent service to our existing families.
• Some out of hours work in evenings and weekends to facilitate events and respond to contact from parents that may be at work during the day.

General Responsibilities

• Sale of nursery school places, and encouragements of families to register.
• General admin. duties as required.
• Responding to correspondence.
• Recording of funds and paperwork received.
• Attend Open Morning/Open Day events Essential Skills Strong verbal communication skills.
• Excellent written communication skills.
• Excellent IT skills.
• Attention to detail and accuracy.
• The ability to work independently and flexibly.
• The capacity to prioritise and work across multiple projects.
• The ability to work as part of a team.
• Organisational skills with the ability to deliver a high volume of quality work.
• The ability to work well under pressure and meet deadlines.
• Networking and analytical skills.
• Ability to organise workload effectively
• Managing multiple incoming tasks.
• Good written and spoken communication skills - Responding to requests for assistance in a timely manner (both internally and externally).
• Flexibility to work across teams and interact at all levels as and when required

Admissions Strategy and Management:

• Develop and implement effective recruitment and admissions strategies to meet enrolment goals.
• Oversee the day-to-day operations of the admissions office, ensuring all admissions procedures are followed accurately.
• Manage workflow, assigning tasks, providing guidance, and ensuring deadlines are met.
• Analyse and report on admissions data to inform future strategies and decisions.

Prospective Student Engagement :

• Serve as the primary point of contact for prospective students, providing information about the institution, programs, and application process.
• Organise and conduct informational sessions, tours, and recruitment events to engage prospective students.
• Respond promptly to enquiries via email, phone, and in-person visits, offering a high level of customer service and support.

Application Review and Processing:

• Oversee the review of applications, ensuring timely and accurate processing of registrations.
• Communicate offers of nursery school places to applicants in a timely, professional, and supportive manner. Collaboration and Communication:
• Work closely with nursery school departments to ensure alignment on admissions and enrolment objectives.
• Maintain effective communication channels with prospective families.
• Support marketing efforts, providing input on content and outreach strategies for recruitment materials. Compliance and Reporting:
• Ensure compliance with all relevant policies, regulations, and accreditation standards in the admissions process.
• Prepare regular reports on admissions metrics, including conversion rates, application trends, and enrolment forecasts.
• Stay current on industry trends, best practices, and regulatory changes related to early years admissions. Leadership and Supervision:
• Share ways of working and collaborate with admissions colleagues, working closely to ensure alignment and consistency across the business.
• Foster a collaborative, positive work environment that encourages teamwork and high performance.

And what's in it for you?

• Competitive salary.
• Great opportunities for growth and personal development.
• Discounted childcare.
• Ongoing training and support.
• Dukes Education staff wellbeing programme.
• Access to the Dukes Club.
• Flexibility in working hours and location, dependant on the needs of the setting.

The role offers flexibility on a full-time basis, working 40 hours per week. Parents will occasionally contact us outside of normal working hours, so flexibility to respond to out of hours calls at peak times is essential.

Salary band - £35,000 - £45,000 per annum or pro-rata part-time. This role is offered on a permanent basis, subject to a 3 or 6 month probation period.