GOVERNMENT TOOLS
business
CONSULTING
Planning schools in growth areas
Key highlights
The Client
Campbelltown Anglican School Councils
Challenge
Forecasting student demand in a rapidly changing location.
Highlights
Trusted population forecasts based on a detailed understanding of what is driving change in the area.
A spatial solution that mapped the location of students against the changing demand landscape.
Results
Immediate refocus of marketing resources to new locations to capture demand, as well as confidence to proceed with identified strategic planning initiatives.
Western Sydney is growing rapidly and the urban landscape is evolving quickly.
In this context, the Campbelltown Anglican Schools Council (CASC) found producing reasonable forecasts of student demand to be a challenge – a task further complicated by the emergence of competitor schools.
At .id we were able to ‘firm up’ the schools’ projections of student demand. We mapped out the existing catchment area to see exactly where students were coming from. We were then able to combine forecasts of future growth with estimates of market share within the identified catchment, giving the CASC the tools it needed to develop targeted marketing strategies and a blueprint for future growth.
Business Challenge
The Campbelltown Anglican Schools Council (CASC) is the governing body for two independent schools – St Peter’s Anglican Primary School (St Peter’s) and Broughton Anglican College (Broughton). Both schools are located in Campbelltown and service the Macarthur region.
St Peter’s has over 550 students from pre-kindergarten to year 6. Broughton offers education from pre-kindergarten to year 12 for around 950 students.
The schools are located in an area of rapidly developing residential estates and have experienced increasing enrolments. With this has also come increased competition via the development of new schools. The CASC came to .id with both strategic and operational questions.
The .id Solution
At .id’s consulting team were able to help the CASC identify the gaps in their knowledge, and start building a solid evidence base to work from. This work involved three stages:
Mapping the location of current students to determine the existing catchment areas.
Identifying the target market and assessing current market share each school was achieving.
Investigating key growth areas for school aged children across the region in the short-to-medium term.
Outcomes - Data Driven Success
Based on the results of the .id modelling, the CASC has already refocused their marketing resources around the key growth segments. The information has also augmented the schools’ annual strategic planning processes, and provided the CASC with the confidence they needed to proceed with strategic initiatives.