Jenny's Update

Kia ora koutou ngā whānau!

He rawe te hoki mai – It’s great to be back! Term 4 is always a busy one for all of us, so brace yourselves – you’ve got this!

In this update I want to revisit some of our key sales strategies and look at your role as Kaiako and Kindergarten Champions/Toa.

How do people hear about us?

It’s always hard to know exactly what influences enrolment, as there are so many factors at every step along the decision making process. We do ask when people apply where they heard about us, and here’s what they tell us. Bear in mind the end result is always a combination of many different factors, and often people will just name the last source they engaged with.

What we know for sure is our greatest sales tools are still friends and family (44%), followed by our digital marketing (28%). Kindergarten signage is named as an influence by 9% of respondents.

There’s so much you can do to raise the profile of your kindergarten, and convert walk-ins to waitlists, and waitlists to enrolments. Read more about the ways people hear about us here and ways to make sure your kindergarten shines here.

Stay & Play Term 4

Ka pai kē – well done to all who have sent through their Stay and Play dates for Term 4. It will be great to reconnect with our waitlist whānau and create new whānau connections after our lockdown/COVID hiatus last term. All of your promotional material has been updated and sent out to you – get those posters up and pamphlets out into your communities! We’ll be promoting your events on Facebook, too.

Send us through some photos of your Stay and Play session (with permission of course) – we can promote it further with a Facebook post.

Flags, banners, and signs

Your new flags have been sent out, and your sales banners are up on your fences now. Hopefully they catch some eyes in your community. Remember, your flags are your very best promotional tool, they can be seen from afar and carry our brand proudly. But they don’t work unless they are out! Every day that you don’t put them out may be a missed opportunity for new enrolments – same goes for those who have footpath signs. Get them out to the nearest main thoroughfare, not just out in front of your gate. Read More...

What makes your kindergarten special?

While we are all Kidsfirst, and we are all kindergarten, each of our kindys is unique in its own way. Everybody faces their own challenges and competition, too. It’s important to know what is special about your kindergarten and why people choose it so you can encourage more whānau to experience its magic. Read More...

Ngā mihi maioha

If you’ve read this through to the end – thank you! Remember, even if you’ve heard it all before, there’s now always kindergarten kaiako who may need our support. We ALL play an important part in securing a solid future for kindergarten, and the foundation for this is bringing new families in.

If you need new signage or flags, or have any ideas, please give me a call or email me. I’m always keen to hear new ideas.

E hara taku toa i te toa takitahi he toa takitini.

My strength is not as an individual but as a collective.

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