The Challenge

During summer 2026, I was brought in to provide a concentrated three-month period of senior marketing support (2 days per week), helping the College strengthen its positioning, raise its profile with prospective families and international agents, and support student recruitment during a traditionally dormant time for communications.

The challenge was not simply to generate more marketing activity. It was to bring greater consistency to the College’s story, identify the messages and evidence that would resonate with its audiences, and translate these into practical recruitment and reputation-building activity.

My Approach

I worked closely with the College leadership, admissions and wider King’s marketing team, combining strategic advice with hands-on delivery.

The project included:

• refining the College’s positioning and key recruitment messages
• reviewing and refreshing the prospectus
• strengthening communications with the College’s extensive international agent network

• reviewing and updating BBSN profile plus producing a number of key announcements on this valuable agent channel
• developing targeted content for LinkedIn, Instagram and agent channels
• identifying and telling compelling student and alumni stories
• planning and supporting targeted digital lead-generation campaigns
• developing messaging around the College’s one-year GCSE pathway and progression to King’s Sixth Form
• identifying PR and thought-leadership opportunities
• supporting award and reputation-building activity
• providing practical marketing and recruitment advice to the leadership team.

Central to the approach was identifying the evidence behind the College’s proposition. Small classes, international diversity, strong student support, academic outcomes and progression to King’s all provided powerful proof points which could be used more consistently across communications.

The Impact

In just 14 days, I was able to produce a significant amount of communications to boost enquiries and lay the foundations for a positive recruitment year ahead.

5x Summer enquiries, increasing from 6 to 30 year-on-year

51,000+ LinkedIn impressions across July and August

29,000+ Instagram views in 30 days

1 x new prospectus, focused on its unique and premium offer

1 x award entry (outcome tbc)

Alongside recruitment activity, I identified opportunities to position the International College as a source of expertise in international education.

One particularly successful example drew on Co-Head Dr Carl Lyon’s postgraduate research into homesickness and the College’s practical experience of helping international students adjust to life and education in the UK. I helped develop and promote the story, successfully securing publication by the Boarding Schools’ Association. This took the College’s expertise beyond its own channels and placed it in front of a highly relevant education audience.

Other communications created a stronger pipeline of stories around students, academic outcomes and the wider International College experience, providing valuable content for prospective families, international agents and the wider King’s community.

Client Feedback

“Sophy made a significant contribution to The King’s School International College Canterbury, particularly in the areas of admissions, marketing and lead generation.

Throughout her time with us, Sophy demonstrated tremendous enthusiasm and energy, bringing a consistently positive, proactive and professional approach to her work. Her knowledge of marketing, admissions and lead generation enabled her to make a valuable contribution to our recruitment strategy and helped us to present the College more effectively to our target audiences.

Sophy was a real asset to the International College, and the Senior Management Team greatly valued her contribution. She combines excellent knowledge and expertise with creativity, enthusiasm and an outstanding work ethic, and we would have no hesitation in recommending her.”

Dr Carl Lyon
Co-Head, The King’s School International College Canterbury

Flexible senior expertise, when schools need it

This 14 day project over a 3-month period demonstrates what focused additional senior marketing capacity can achieve.

By combining strategic thinking with hands-on delivery, I was able to quickly identify opportunities, sharpen the College’s story and turn ideas into tangible marketing, recruitment and reputation-building activity.

For schools, this type of support can provide an alternative to immediately increasing permanent headcount: experienced senior expertise for a defined period, bringing additional capacity, fresh thinking and the ability to get projects moving quickly.

I provide flexible marketing and admissions support to independent schools, from focused projects and strategic reviews to ongoing fractional support.

If your school needs experienced additional capacity to turn marketing strategy into action, please get in touch.