Enrollment Manager

Position Summary

This position is a full time enrollment, marketing and communications position.  The Enrollment Manager is responsible for managing the strategic enrollment process at The Valley School, including recruitment, admission, and retention of mission and culture-appropriate students. Working closely with the Head of School, the Enrollment Manager will market the school to prospective and current families, grow the school’s profile in the community, and support internal communication.

This position will report to the Head of School.

The Valley School

The Valley School is a co-educational elementary school, serving students in grades pre-kindergarten through the fifth grade. Founded in 1985, The Valley School offers a high-quality academic foundation in a small school setting, rich with opportunities for creativity, exploration, and play. We celebrate childhood. Our learning program is a mixture of playful work and purposeful play and is designed to be developmentally appropriate at each grade. Social emotional learning and skill development form an important pillar of our program, in addition to academics, specialist classes, and dynamic playground spaces designed to offer myriad opportunities for students to learn and grow. 

Mission 

At The Valley School, we ignite children’s natural passion for learning. Our students develop an academic foundation and become joyful learners through playful work, purposeful play, and the practice of community. 

Values 

Collaboration, Creativity, Equity and Belonging, Kindness, Respect for Individuality, Childhood

Diversity, Equity, Belonging, and Justice (DEBJ) Statement

The Valley School honors diversity, practices inclusion, and invites courageous conversations. We strive to create a community where each individual is valued, respected, and included.  Though the journey can be muddy – much like our playground – we aim to give every child the tools necessary to flourish.

Essential Functions of Enrollment Manager

• Develop and implement long- and short-term strategic approaches to attract, admit, yield, and retain diverse and mission-appropriate students
• Oversee all phases of the admissions process, from outreach to potential applicants to point of inquiry and on through enrollment.  This includes but is not limited to: interviewing and assessing applicants and their families; organizing, advertising and conducting tours; facilitating open houses and revisit days; and serving as an ambassador for the school to external constituencies
• Generate and maintain data models and statistical information regarding the School’s enrollment trends and utilize them in decision-making about enrollment strategy, resource use, and planning efforts. Report information to the Head and Board of Trustees.
• Collaborate with the Director of Finance and the Head of School in the strategic use, marketing, and deployment of financial aid to ensure enrollment of the most diverse, talented, and mission and culture-appropriate group of students possible
• Coordinate orientation and community events that build a sense of inclusion for new and returning families
• Maintain and strengthen close relationships with feeder schools, including regular visits with relevant administrators and placement counselors
• Coordinate all re-enrollment activity with constant monitoring of attrition and retention, coordinating engagement with current families to understand their needs and enhance their satisfaction with the school experience, including conducting and interpreting internal surveys of current families.
• Support fifth grade families in the middle school search process by being familiar with all local middle schools and their admissions officers.
• Remain current with admission trends among peer schools, locally and nationally; participate in external admission organizations and conferences, as appropriate
• Assist the Board of Trustees and the Director of Finance and Operations with enrollment and admissions matters as needed, including preparing reports related to budget-setting, setting enrollment predictions, and attending periodic board meetings
• Import information from the admission database (Ravenna) into the school database (BigSIS) and create rosters, email lists, etc. Create contracts for re-enrollment and new enrollment in Clarity platform.
• Coordinate all marketing and communications, ensuring that all current and potential community members are well informed about school events, programs, and philosophy.  
• Write and publish a periodic newsletters for current families and for alumni and community
• Develop marketing collateral, such as pamphlets, advertisements, and videos, that captures the essence of the school and its educational program. Manage the school website, including content management and graphics, and coordinate future design processes
• Provide leadership in implementing parts of the school’s Strategic Plan related most closely to responsibilities in enrollment and admissions 

Additional Responsibilities

As a small school, all staff members participate in all aspects of school life, including assemblies and social events.  All staff contribute to supervision duties, such as recess or lunch supervision.  All administrators are expected to cover the front desk as scheduled, and may be asked to step in to support when others are absent.

Qualifications

• Strong admissions or sales and marketing experience, including leadership responsibilities, ideally at either an independent school or college or university
• Demonstrated proficiency with data collection and analysis, and its utility in influencing policy and enrollment management strategy
• Understanding of market trends, including those pertaining to schools
• Record of engaging all community constituencies in the admission process
• Record of establishing close working relationships with colleagues, students, parents, and trustees.  Must be able to work in a collaborative environment
• Superb oral, writing, and public relations skills
• Ability to work in a high energy environment, flexibility to adapt to change and willingness to jump in wherever needed, even if it’s not technically in your job description.  
• Enjoy being around elementary school students