How Reigate Grammar School Drives Admissions, Not Just Manages It
United Kingdom
Jo Hughes
We did a survey with families that chose to join us, and with some that declined our offer. All of them said their admissions experience was absolutely excellent.
How RGS Uses OpenApply
Website Application Forms
Reports and Dashboards
CRM Email Campaigns
Smart Filters
The School
A School Where Every Child Belongs
Reigate Grammar School dates back to 1675, when London alderman Henry Smith left £150 towards a free school in the Surrey town. Three and a half centuries later, it sits at the heart of the RGS Group: a family of independent schools offering a pathway from nursery to age 18, alongside a growing international network.
The school’s belief is simple: happy children get great results. Every pupil should feel they belong, and every pupil’s strengths should be known and nurtured. That care doesn’t start on the first day of term. It starts with the first enquiry.
The Challenge
Keeping Track When Demand Is High
RGS has been oversubscribed for years. For Head of Marketing Jo Hughes, high demand brings its own challenge. "We're a very busy school, and we receive a lot of applications. It's very important that we can keep track of all that activity."
Marketing and admissions need to see the same picture: where applications come from, whether numbers are on track for the time of year, and where to focus next.
Data and Reporting
One View, From Website to Offer
Every application starts on the RGS website, where the form feeds directly into OpenApply. Jo pulls that admissions data into her marketing dashboard alongside Google Analytics and Meta, which gives her a live view of performance.
It gives us a live feed of where we're at. Are applications running where we would expect for this time of year? Do we need to do some more marketing in certain areas?
Jo Hughes
Head of Marketing
Because marketing and admissions work from the same data, the team can spot a gap early and respond before it becomes a problem.
CRM and Communications
The Right Message to the Right Families
When RGS upgraded to OpenApply CRM, the biggest change was segmentation. The team can now group families and send each group messages that are specific to them. Jo says the school's email campaigns "have been so much more successful" as a result.
For Head of Admissions Marie Walker, the CRM gives her confidence.
At the click of a button, just by doing a filter, we have the confidence that we're sending the right email to the right group of parents.
Marie Walker
Head of Admissions
Pastoral Care
Support That Starts at Application
The same level of detail helps the team support children with special educational needs (SEN). Marie can identify a child's needs at the point of application and put the family in touch with the right staff straight away. Support for assessments and interviews can then be arranged before the child arrives.
At RGS Surrey Hills, Head of Admissions Alison Jones uses filters in the same way. She finds children with SEN, or applicants from schools her team wants to work more closely with.
Without OpenApply, I wouldn't have that level of detail.
Marie Walker
Head of Admissions
The Result
An Experience Families Rate Highly
RGS surveyed families who accepted a place and some who declined. "All of them said that their admissions experience was absolutely excellent, and the whole journey had been superb," says Jo.
Alison puts it simply: "It makes the admissions journey really easy for the parents, really easy for the staff. It just makes life easier for everyone."
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