**COGNITA**

Market Orientation Questionnaire

OBJECTIVES

To make every school within the Cognita family the most distinctive and effective version of itself. To ensure each school is aligned with the Cognita brand principles and the 3 pillars of education:

Academic excellence
Developing character
Nurturing a global perspective

METHODOLOGY

A review and upgrade of:

Current brand positioning
Core proposition
Communications strategy
Key messaging and visual equity

KEY STAGES

Each school to complete and analyse the following info for brand refresh:

Competitive environment, local market dynamics, external factors
Customer segments/types and potential targets - existing, past, potential parent attitudes
Current proposition & communications

SCHOOL NAME

YOUR NAME

First Name

Last Name

YOUR EMAIL

SECTION ONE: Competitive Environment

01. Who is your closest competitor?

Links to their website, communication, key messages, fee levels

02. How does this competitive set diﬀer if you think about -location, educational oﬀer, pastoral care

03. If pupils leave where do they tend to go and why?

Is this diﬀerent by year group? Where are the admissions shortfalls by year group? Which is the biggest ‘exit’ school/university at the end of their school journey?

04. What other issues aﬀect the local educational environment?

e.g. good state school provision, local economy, commuting parents?

05. How embedded is the school in the local area and community?

What would the area lose if the school no longer existed? What is the potential for growth, who could we steal share from and why?

SECTION TWO: Customer Segments/Types/Potential Targets

06. How would you describe a typical parent? Create a ‘pen portrait’

• Are they working, at home, involved in the school, demanding or distant? • How ambitious are they for their children, what aspirations do they have? • What does success look like for their children? • How has this parent group changed over time?

07. Why are they sending their child/children to the school?

• Status? Academic reputation? Pastoral care? • What positives would you regularly hear? • What kind of criticism might current parents level at the school? (Summarise key surveys/voice of the parent) • When parents move their children what reason do they give? • Are there any underlying reasons? • What kind of children do well at the school and who struggles? • Any famous alumni from the school?

08. What would parents from competitor schools say about the school?

What’s its external reputation for teaching, academic record/excellence and pastoral care?

09. What kind of parents do you wish you had more of in the school?

10. What one thing would make the biggest diﬀerence to current and potential parents?

SECTION THREE: Current Proposition & Communications

11. What do you think that the school does well? What does it uniquely oﬀer? How diﬀerent is this to what competitors oﬀer?

Consider: • Teaching staﬀ & teaching methods • Curriculum • Academic rigour • Pastoral care • SEN • Extra curricular • Facilities • Sports

12a. How does the school currently communicate the Cognita three pillars?

• Academic excellence • Developing character • Nurturing a global perspective

12b. What role does the Cognita brand play in the school currently?

13. What has been the most eﬀective piece of communication/activity for the school?

Please bring examples of all online/oﬀ line communications to the workshop.

14. What are the School’s logo, brand line and colour palette and the meanings and associations with these?

15. If you could wave a magic wand and change one big thing in the school tomorrow what would it be?

16. What’s the one thing that the school is famous for? Now and in the future?