Open days and recruitment for 2027-2028: a working calendar

The families who will enrol their children in September 2027 are already starting to look at schools. They search on Google, ask other families, read reviews and, increasingly, ask artificial-intelligence assistants. By the time the admissions deadline arrives, many will already have a shortlist of two or three schools.

For a school, a nursery, or an academy, that means recruitment for 2027-2028 starts now, in September, and not in March. This article proposes a month-by-month calendar and how to get more from the open day.

September: look at last year's data

Before planning, it is worth knowing what happened in the last campaign:

• How many families showed interest and through which channel: website, recommendation, social media, Google, walk-in visits.
• How many visited the school and how many went on to submit an application.
• How many completed enrolment, and why the others were lost, if that is known.
• Places by year for 2027-2028: how many you will offer in each entry year. If you are a publicly funded school, take into account the proposed reduction in class sizes that we explain in the class-size and teaching-hours bill.

October: prepare the digital ground

• An admissions page on the website, with what families always ask: places, timetables, services, fees or how to look them up, and open-day dates.
• An information or visit request form that goes straight to the person who will do the follow-up, not to a generic inbox.
• An up-to-date Google profile: hours, recent photos, and replies to reviews.
• Open-day dates published early enough for families to sign up.
• Content that answers real questions, because that is what search engines and AI assistants cite. We explain it in how to appear in ChatGPT's answers.

November to February: open days and visits

In publicly funded schools, the admissions process usually concentrates in spring, on dates set by each region. Open days make more sense between November and the weeks before that deadline. Private schools have more freedom of calendar, although most families decide in autumn and winter.

A good open day has some features in common:

• Prior registration, with a short form that records the child's age, the entry year, and what the family is interested in.
• A reminder 48 hours before and on the day itself.
• Small groups or sittings, so families can ask questions.
• What is shown: classrooms in action if possible, spaces and services, and what the student's day will look like.
• Who speaks: leadership for the project, teachers for the pedagogy and, if possible, a current family from the school.
• Something for the children, especially in early years: a short activity while the families listen.
• Something to take away, better by email or by link than on paper.

Individual visits work as a complement for families who have already shown interest and have specific questions.

The following 48 hours

Most families are lost in the days after the open day. A family that has visited three schools in two weeks ends up remembering best the one that wrote first with something useful.

• A message within the next 48 hours: thank them for the visit and answer what they asked, not a generic email.
• Record where each family stands: interested, visit done, application sent, place reserved, enrolled, or ruled out.
• Assign an owner to each family, so nobody is left without a reply.
• Schedule the next contact, for example when the application window opens.

A school CRM is exactly for this; we develop it in school CRM: how to turn more applications into enrolments.

March to May: admission and enrolment

• Remind each interested family of the deadlines, with the link to the application.
• Answer questions about points systems, paperwork, or reserving a place.
• Complete enrolment with an online process that does not force anyone to print or come back to the school. We explain it in online enrolment step by step.

June: close and learn

With the campaign closed, it is time to review the data: how many families at each step, which channels brought the most enrolments, and where the most were lost. Those figures are the starting point for next September.

Conclusion

With the birth rate falling, each interested family counts for more than it did a few years ago. The schools that fill their places usually look after what happens before and after the open day: a website that answers, dates published in good time, and orderly follow-up of each family through to enrolment.

If you want to see how to manage applications, visits, and the follow-up of each family on a board by stage, see Edena's school CRM or book a demo.