Online enrolment for your school: how to set it up step by step

Online enrolment means the family sends the application, uploads documents, signs and, where needed, pays the deposit from their phone, and the office receives it ready to review. Putting a PDF on the website to print, fill in and email back is not online enrolment: the paperwork stays the same and simply moves to another inbox.

This guide walks through the process in seven steps, from mapping what you do today to testing with a small group of families before you open the campaign.

Step 1: map the process you have today

Before touching any form, write down how a new student is enrolled now:

• Which channels applications come through and how many arrive in a normal campaign.
• Which documents you ask for and when.
• Who reviews each application and who decides on the place.
• When and how the deposit or first fee is collected.
• Where it gets stuck: missing documents, families who do not reply, data typed in twice.

That map tells you what to digitise and what to simplify first. Moving a process with unnecessary steps online only makes those steps faster.

Step 2: split enrolment into stages

Asking for everything at once is the surest way to make families give up halfway. It works better to spread the information over four stages:

• Application: details of the student and the family, year group of interest and how they heard about the school.
• Place and deposit: confirmation of the place, the service contract and, if the school asks for one, the deposit.
• Documents and signatures: image and trip authorisations, people allowed to collect the child, health and allergy form, direct debit mandate.
• Registration: complete student record, services taken up (lunch, bus, extracurricular activities) and the first bill scheduled.

Each stage should have someone responsible in the office and a message to the family when it is complete.

Step 3: design a short, mobile-first form

Most families will open the form on their phone. A few guidelines:

• The first screen asks for the minimum: who the student is, how to get in touch and which year group they are interested in.
• Fields that check themselves, such as email or phone, to avoid mistakes that are hard to fix later.
• An immediate confirmation that says what happens next and when.
• One application per student. If a family enrols two children, they should not have to repeat their own details.

The form has to feed directly into the system the office uses to manage applications. If it arrives by email and someone copies it across, much of the benefit is lost. The guide on the school CRM explains how to organise that follow-up.

Step 4: signatures and documents without paper

Authorisations generate most of the paper. With an electronic signature from the family app or portal, each document is stored in the student's record with its date, and the office can see at a glance what is missing.

Ask for documents at the stage where they are needed and not before. Health information, for example, is needed for registration, not for an information request.

Step 5: deposit and first payment

If the school charges a deposit, the usual moment is when the family accepts the place offered, within the same process and before final registration. The deposit confirms their commitment and the school knows which places are really taken.

The deposit bill should come from the same system that will later invoice the fees, with its Verifactu record. If the deposit is collected in one place and the fees in another, reconciling September becomes harder.

Step 6: tell the family about every change

Many of the calls to the office during the campaign come from families asking whether their application arrived. A notification on their phone at each change of stage prevents them:

• Application received, with the next step.
• A document is missing, with a link to upload it.
• Place confirmed, with the deadline to accept it.
• Enrolment completed, with the first bill and access to the app.

Step 7: test with a small group before opening the campaign

Before opening enrolment to every family, try it with a small group: siblings of current students, staff families or a single year group. Look at three things:

• How many families finish the form out of those who start it. If many drop out, it is too long or asks for something at the wrong moment.
• How long the office takes to review a complete application.
• Which questions arrive by phone or email. Every repeated question is a line missing from the form.

Adjust what is needed and open the campaign when the process works without explanations.

What changes by type of school

• Nurseries: places are few and waiting lists are common. The list should be one more stage of the process, with a clear order, and health and feeding information should be collected before the settling-in period.
• Schools: besides new students there is the renewal of current ones, which can be handled with a simple confirmation. Services (lunch, bus, extracurricular activities) must be taken up at enrolment so the first bill is right.
• Academies: enrolment is continuous throughout the year and groups are organised by level and timetable. The form should show the places available and the system should warn you when a group fills up.

Common mistakes

• A standalone form that sends an email instead of creating the application in the system.
• Asking for every document on day one, while the family is still comparing schools.
• Not assigning owners: in the middle of the campaign, what belongs to everyone gets done by no one.
• No in-person alternative for families who cannot do it online.
• Opening the campaign without testing it with real families.

How it works in Edena

In Edena, online enrolment uses the same pieces as the rest of the school's management:

• The enquiry forms of the school CRM are published on the school website and each application enters a board by stages, with its source and owner.
• Families sign authorisations and documents from the app, and they are stored in the student's record.
• The deposit and fees are invoiced with Verifactu and collected by SEPA direct debit, bank transfer or card from school billing.
• Families receive notifications in the free app for iOS and Android.
• With the Automation module, the student's registration can be created automatically once enrolment is confirmed.

Conclusion

Online enrolment works when the family can do everything from their phone and the office receives every application complete and in one place. To get there, split the process into stages, ask for each document when it is needed, connect the deposit with billing and test it with a few families before opening the campaign.

If you would like to see it with your school's process, book a 15-minute demo.