Job Description
Job Title:
Marketing Manager, Hydesville Tower School – Walsall
Reporting To:
The Head and Cognita UK Marketing Manager
Working hours:
9am – 5pm Monday to Friday, full time, all year round and some occasional
evening and weekend working
Checks:
The job holder’s responsibility for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children and young persons for whom
she/he is responsible, or with whom s/he comes into contact will be to adhere to and ensure compliance with the relevant
Cognita Education Safeguarding Policy (including Child Protection Procedures) at all times. If in the course of carrying out
the duties of the role, the job holder identifies any instance that a child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm either
at school or at home, s/he must report any concerns to the School’s Child Protection Officer or to the Head or indeed to
the Regional CEO so that a referral can be made accordingly to the relevant third party services.”
Working with us
Achieving more than you believed possible – that’s what constitutes a quality education. At Cognita
it is what we strive for in our schools. We want it for our children, and we want it for the people
who work for us
Since Cognita’s launch in 2004, we’ve built an international network of 64 schools that serve some
30,000 pupils across seven countries in the UK, Europe, Latin America and South-East Asia.
Cognita’s international network of schools and regional offices, combined with our ongoing
investment in the professional development of our people, means we can offer first-class career
opportunities with a global dimension. If you want to take your career further, we want to support
you in achieving that goal within Cognita.
About the school
Hydesville Tower is a growing, successful, independent school for 3 – 16 year olds located in the
heart of Walsall, close to the famous Arboretum. The School has benefited from significant
investment in facilities in recent times with improvements to its Nursery, Library and Technology
provision.
Job summary
The Marketing Manager is responsible for leading the development of the marketing strategy to
support the growth aims of the School from Nursery through to GCSE studies. Driven from the
strategy, they will develop and implement timely tactical marketing campaigns, generating
admissions enquiries to achieve the school’s ambitious growth targets. Customer retention is also a
key aspect of this role and the Marketing Manager will be responsible for developing and
implementing sound customer retention and parent communications programmes, to ensure
maximum pupil retention during key transition periods and beyond.
TALENT
RECRUITMENT
REWARD
Key measures of success
This is a role with a high level of accountability and the key measures of success will be as follows:
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the number of new enquiries generated
the number of parent visits and registrations
the flow-through of pupils between the individual years groups at each school, particularly year
11 to year 12.
building and sustaining strong and effective working relationships with the Schools leadership
team and the Admissions Registrar
building and sustaining strong and effective relationships with the parent body of the school
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Marketing
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Identify (school and non-school based) feeder relationships within the local community and
establish close working partnerships to generate new enquiries
Develop a marketing strategy to support the school’s Nursery, Prep and Senior provision,
identity new markets from which to recruit pupils including UK and non-UK.
Identify relevant community based initiatives in which the school can play a relevant part, to
support awareness / positive brand perception etc.
Tactical Marketing and Communications
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Develop a term-by-term marketing action plan for the school to support pupil recruitment and
retention
Implement the marketing and promotional activity for the school (including online marketing,
local advertising and relations with the press)
Manage the marketing spend and ensure activities are planned within agreed budgets
Manage the promotion of admissions events (Open Days and Assessments) and help with the
organisation in conjunction with the Headmaster and other staff
Develop and maintain the content for School’s communication vehicles e.g. the website (keep it
up-to-date with recent news items on a current basis)
Develop communication channels including use of ‘Social Media’ to promote recruitment and
retention
Develop and manage production of any marketing collateral including prospectus and direct
marketing activities
Manage relevant marketing based communications with prospective and existing parents
including school newsletters
Relationship Management
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Working closely with the Headmaster, take a leading role in managing the relationship with
existing parents
Develop relationships with local nurseries, other schools and businesses within the catchment
area to raise the profile of the school and support recruitment
Management of all PR based media relations relating to promotion of the school including
proactive message placement through drafting of press releases and establishing positive
TALENT
RECRUITMENT
REWARD
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relationships with representatives from local media channels to enhance the reputation of each
school
Work alongside the Admissions Registrar in creating a culture of customer service and
responsiveness among staff, putting parents and pupils first
Develop and oversee the updating of the school website, its social media presence, newsletters
and other communications so that standards are maintained and the image of the school
promoted.
Lead the school’s monitoring of responses to Voice of Parent, its customer experience tool, and
ensure timely follow up with parents on occasional issues.
Other
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Any other duties, as required regularly or occasionally, to ensure the smooth running of
marketing, admissions and the schools.
Person Specification
Requirement
Knowledge and awareness of the independent schools
sector
Strategic and tactical marketing experienced gained within
an independent school environment
Excellent presentation and sales skills with the ability to
show empathy and authenticity
Highly polished and well-presented personal style
Excellent people management skills with the ability to
influence and persuade across a varied stakeholder group
Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the
ability to write high quality copy
Excellent attention to detail with the ability to effectively
quality control one’s own work output
The ability to build relationships quickly and to interact in a
pleasant and professional manner with external
organisations, staff and parents
Good ICT skills (e.g. Word, Access, Excel, PowerPoint),
experience of using Content Management Systems and of
social media
Ability to prioritize and use own initiative
A willingness to work flexibly as the needs of the role dictate
(including weekends and evening) and to travel on occasion
Educated to at least degree level
Essential
Desirable
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Remuneration
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Competitive salary
Contributory Pension Scheme
Professional development
School fee discount
25 days Holiday plus Bank Holidays (pro- rated to part time)
October 2015
TALENT
RECRUITMENT
REWARD