A recipe for retention

Aubrey Bursch is passionate about supporting small and independent schools to increase enrolments, retention, and revenue. As the daughter of lifelong educators and the mom of two independent school students, she combines her passion for schools with her 20+ years of marketing and development experience to help schools identify and implement high ROI initiatives.

Aubrey co-hosts the Mindful School Marketing podcast, leads free Small School Leaders monthly meet-ups, facilitates the Small School Solutions professional development program, hosts the Small School Leaders Virtual Conference, and speaks nationwide.

"Learning and growing is part of working in a school. We expect it of our students and teachers, and we should also do it ourselves. Setting aside time for professional development - like watching The Admissions Club - gives us fresh strategies and resources that can have a profound impact on how we plan our year and meet our goals." - Aubrey

Paul is a Partner at Emmet Consulting, a company made up of education strategy and marketing specialists, and experts in cross-team alignment.

Having personally worked with schools and those who provide services to them for over a decade, he’s passionate about education for students of all ages and proud to play a small part in supporting such a meaningful industry.

Emmet’s work spans some of Australia’s best-known educational institutions, across departments including marketing, admissions, and advancements. Its projects range from brand strategy through to the establishment of digital marketing best practices. Emmet also handles Digistorm’s implementations, and supports schools who are undertaking wholesale repositioning within their local markets.

"As someone who works to align different teams towards shared goals, I’m a first-hand witness of the power of individual self-improvement. The Admissions Club was created to help marketing and admissions pros level themselves up in their professional lives, and in the process level up their teams with them." - Paul

Lindsay is a school marketing professional with an MBA from Mount St. Mary’s University. She began her career in healthcare marketing, and has worked in school marketing since 2019. Lindsay is currently the Senior Manager of Marketing and Admissions at Maryland International School (MDIS) and Children’s Manor & Magnet Montessori Schools (CMMS), which has 10 locations across Maryland, USA.

MDIS is a private, 1-12 school and is the only school in Maryland (and the second school in the mid-atlantic region) to offer all three International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes. CMMS prepares children to excel in a global society by providing an academically rigorous, engaging, and supportive learning environment using the Montessori Method.

"The Admissions Club can provide school professionals with practical tips from marketing and admissions experts from around the world. Take some time to get a fresh perspective to help your marketing and admissions efforts; you’re bound to learn something new!" - Lindsay

During her time at Digistorm, Monica was all things customer facing. Spending her career in digital transformation, she has seen first hand the importance of considered change management with an empathetic approach to the impacted stakeholders.

Working in the front line of hundreds of process improvement implementations across multiple industries she has lent on many tools and frameworks to ensure their success.

Digistorm builds websites, apps and admissions management systems for over 700 schools around the world. Specialising in the K-12 school sector, Digistorm’s easy-to-use and custom branded tools help schools attract, nurture and connect with their communities.

"There are always opportunities to improve how we do things. The best place to start and to gain confidence in your ability to implement change is exposure to new information and learning how others are doing things. The Admissions Club gives you direct access to applicable and relatable ideas for you to pick up and run with at your school. You don’t have to sift through corporate related content to find information that relates to your everyday, The Admissions Club experts have done that for you." - Monica

Following a career that spanned over twenty years in higher education admissions, Kim now serves at the College and Career Counsellor and Admissions Coordinator at the Maryland International School.

Maryland International School is a private 1-12 school, and the only school in Maryland and the 2nd school in the Mid-Atlantic region to offer all three International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes (Primary Programme, Middle Years Programme, and Diploma Programme).

"The Admissions Club is a unique opportunity for educators to learn from experts in a wide range of professions. The Admissions Club will encourage its members to think about their work from a different perspective." - Kim

When it comes to pulling enrolments out of a nosedive, you want Bianca Coleborn on your team. After cutting her teeth in the corporate world, Bianca has more than 12 years of experience working in senior marketing roles for coeducational schools in Australia. A specialist in developing strategies that create cut-through in competitive markets, Bianca was the instigator of Concordia Lutheran College’s Queensland’s Best Kept Secret video that went viral (in the best possible way) and went on to win international recognition.

Bianca also heads the School Marketing Manifesto, which provides time-poor school marketers with the tools to stop getting stuck doing the “busy work” and find time for the deep, strategic work. It provides a user-friendly strategic framework to take the guesswork out of generating positive word of mouth in your school’s community by optimising the parent experience.

"The Admissions Club is a game changer for school professionals because it provides an avenue for real collaboration within an industry that can be notoriously competitive at times. By working together and sharing our collective wisdom, we can move our industry forward as a whole." - Bianca

Mary-Lou has a very varied background, that includes being one of Australia's internet pioneers when she started one of Australia's first online retail businesses in 1997. She then moved into the Higher Education sector, followed by K-12 in 2009.

After 9 years as the Director of eLearning at Melbourne Girls Grammar, in 2017 she accepted the role of Chief Digital Officer to complete the school’s digital transformation. She was a finalist for the CIO of the year award in 2018, and she and her team were widely recognised for their innovative approach, winning numerous innovation awards from 2015-2019.

Most recently, Mary-Lou was appointed Director of Digital Innovation at Redlands in Sydney. Redlands is a leading Independent P-12 School in Sydney, Australia, which has provided a coeducational learning environment since 1978. It has a unique international flavour, with students representing 50 countries, and it offers both the HSC and the International Baccalaureate. Redlands is a school on the move when it comes to digital transformation, and as the ICT and Marketing teams continue to collaborate on projects together, The Admissions Club video series supports the professional learning across both teams.

"The series highlights how we can continue to attract, engage, and convert future families, as well as connect with our current Redlands community." - Mary-Lou