It is not the fault of schools that the number of babies born in England fell 18.6 per cent between 2012 and 2025, or that women are now having an average of 1.4 children, down from 1.94 just over a decade ago.<\/p>\n
The blame for this demographic crash lies with the people responsible for, in chronological order, the 2008 global financial crisis and recession, post-2010 austerity in the UK, Brexit and Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. Covid also played its part.<\/p>\n
The birth rate in developed countries falls when times are bad economically and rises when times are good.<\/p>\n
Occasionally, something else impacts fertility. In the UK of the mid-1960s it was the legalisation of abortion and contraception becoming available on the NHS.<\/p>\n
But generally, birth rates climb when people feel better-off. Which is why it won\u2019t be too long before Trump\u2019s tariffs and wars will be added to the list of things that have made starting a family less affordable.<\/p>\n
However, while our schools aren\u2019t remotely to blame for the demographics of the past decade, they are definitely among those suffering most as a consequence of them.<\/p>\n
The numbers are terrifying. Some 127,520 fewer children were born in England in 2025 than in 2012. That\u2019s the equivalent of 2,125 two-form entry primary schools we no longer need.<\/p>\n
The projections are equally scary, with the Office for National Statistics predicting birth rates staying at current levels for the next three decades.<\/p>\n
Attempts to tackle the problem have been ineffective. Initiatives in East Asia and Scandinavia to make having children more affordable have not worked, suggesting that a fall in fertility rates driven by economics has become something more worrying \u2013 a new social norm.<\/p>\n
What, in this new world, can schools do to avoid the cuts, redundancies and closures that are a consequence of a system in which funding is handed out on a per-pupil basis \u2013 and when there will be about 130,000 fewer pupils every year from now on?<\/p>\n
Sadly, nothing can realistically be done to help the sector as a whole.<\/p>\n
Changing the way education is funded to prevent the tragedy of communities losing their local school morally may be the right thing to do, but it is unrealistic to think that future governments will have the money and motivation do it.<\/p>\n
There is, however, plenty that individual schools can do.<\/p>\n
The good news is that the marketing bar is currently set very low in the state sector.<\/p>\n
Headteachers can make a solid start by simply buying a decent website and getting some photos, a prospectus, a banner and even an admissions video.<\/p>\n
Too few schools have these basics, so schools that do stand out before they have to demonstrate any genuine marketing expertise.<\/p>\n
From there, marketing is all about keeping in mind the following questions: What do we offer? Who wants what we offer? Where are they? How do we reach them? What do we show them to inspire them?<\/p>\n
Where do we take them so they can find out more? What practical information might they need to make their choice? How do we make them feel valued throughout this process?<\/p>\n
And if you would like two top tips from me, free?<\/p>\n
Number one: change the way you think about your website.<\/p>\n
Most heads use their website to run their school rather than to sell it. They use it as an admin and compliance tool rather than a marketing tool and are too concerned with engaging with the parents of current pupils or, every so often, with Ofsted inspectors.<\/p>\n
This made sense when there enough children to go around, but it doesn\u2019t now.<\/p>\n
Number two: embrace the right form of social media.<\/p>\n
Instagram is engaging and loved by many parents. But it isn\u2019t the form of social media you want.<\/p>\n
It is great if you’re looking to deepen engagement with existing parents, but they are not your primary marketing audience.<\/p>\n
Facebook is where you want to be. It gives you the space within a post to tell a story as well as show it, and it makes it easy for people to click through to your website and find out more information.<\/p>\n
Instagram fails on both counts.<\/p>\n
More importantly, Instagram doesn\u2019t have Facebook\u2019s secret weapon \u2013 community groups. Schools that post marketing content in Facebook community groups can reach tens of thousands of local people all year round free.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a start. And in an era when demand has collapsed by 18.6 per cent and is not set to rise, schools have to start somewhere.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tumbling pupil numbers make it vital that schools start to tell their stories, starting with a decent website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":247280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"post-theme":[],"class_list":["post-247277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t