sewingismyhobby, wow thankyou for that site, it's great! I've already ordered some bags from vista to give away to new enrolments but I've just ordered a whole bunch of books to give away as well, thanks! Lots of books I've been wanting too and so cheap!

How did you're enrolment day go? I hope it went well would love to hear about it!

Claire_B wrote:

sewingismyhobby, wow thankyou for that site, it's great! I've already ordered some bags from vista to give away to new enrolments but I've just ordered a whole bunch of books to give away as well, thanks! Lots of books I've been wanting too and so cheap!

How did you're enrolment day go? I hope it went well would love to hear about it!

Well I had my enrolment day & was to say the least quite disappointed,as I only got a total of 12 enrolments! I have had a couple since but do expect a few more when school starts. I advertised in a small mag that is targeted at the areas of my school but it is very expensive & probably wouldn't do it again as I've had little response but in saying that it has given me the most contacts. I also was suppose to have an add run on "Jump on It" over the past three days but for unknown reasons it has not happened so to say I'm disappointed again is an understatement.
We start classes on Monday 30th Jan, & the first two days are pupil free days for us in the West so I don't expect too many new enrolments until the following week. I actually have dropped two days from my original timetable so hoping I will be able to get larger numbers with the allocated classes I'm offering.
Oh well all I can say is "Good Luck to me & hope it pays off by the end of 1st term!!" haha.

Hope you are more successful with your start.

I'm sorry to hear you were dissapointed with your numbers, it is still early days though so I'm sure you will get more. There are schools I know of in Melbourne that began with even less students than that and have grown to be very successful.

I have my open day tomorrow, I'm so nervous! So far I only have 3 definate enrolments (2 have even paid their fees in full!) but this week I've had a bunch of phonecalls with people saying they will come to open day. I'm a bit worried I might not get a big turnout due to the heat forecast for tomorrow though.

Have you thought about doing a bring a friend promotion? I've made up little hand outs to give to anyone who enrols tomorrow offering a discount if they bring a friend during term 1 and they enrol, they both get the discount, so hopefully even if my numbers aren' huge after tomorrow this will help bring in a few more, fingers crossed anyway!

Good luck with the beginning of term 1!

I opened in WA 2 years ago and after our enrollment day, we had 14 enrollments. Much the same as you did and we too were devastated. By the end of term 2, we had 52 and have continued to grow every year since! Don't be disheartened!!! Word of mouth is your biggest advertising tool.

Dancing_B wrote:

I opened in WA 2 years ago and after our enrollment day, we had 14 enrollments. Much the same as you did and we too were devastated. By the end of term 2, we had 52 and have continued to grow every year since! Don't be disheartened!!! Word of mouth is your biggest advertising tool.

1st week over & now have 23 enrolled. I've dropped down to 3 days - total of 9 hours of classes & only have Monday as the busy day so far. I've dropped some of my genres as well hoping to start off with jazz, tap & hip hop and offering acro next term. Our school term didn't actually start until Wed so I missed out on the Mon & Tues which is when my classes were but I'm sure I will grow (as you said word of mouth is the best advertisement). I have had most interest from the little ones so there is my future anyway. Will keep you posted....