Understand the potential funding opportunity behind filling unoccupied places at your school.
Enter your available places, campaign budget and expected application figures to estimate first-year funding, longer-term value, cost per enrolment and the number of pupils required to recover your campaign expenditure.
The initial calculation is free to view. Complete the short form to unlock your full results and download a personalised PDF report.
Your results
Enter your admissions figures to estimate the potential value of filling available places.
Your initial result
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Full results
Unfilled places can represent more than an admissions challenge. They can also affect the funding available to deliver education, support pupils and invest in the future of the school.
The School Admissions Value Calculator helps mainstream primary and secondary schools in England estimate the potential funding opportunity associated with attracting additional pupils.
It combines your available capacity, expected applications, application-to-enrolment rate and campaign expenditure to provide a clear financial forecast.
The results can help school leaders, marketing teams, trusts and governors evaluate whether investment in an admissions campaign is commercially justifiable.
The estimated number of campaign-generated applications that could become enrolled pupils.This figure is capped at the number of currently unfilled places entered into the calculator.
The minimum number of additional pupils required for the indicative first-year funding to equal or exceed the campaign expenditure.
The minimum indicative funding associated with the forecast additional pupils during their first year.The calculator uses the 2026/27 National Funding Formula minimum per-pupil levels for mainstream schools in England.
The campaign expenditure divided by the expected number of campaign-generated applications.
An admissions campaign may be commercially worthwhile when the school has genuine capacity and the potential funding from additional pupils materially exceeds the cost of reaching and converting prospective families.
However, the funding forecast should not be the only consideration.
Schools should also assess:
A campaign cannot create unlimited demand. Its role is to improve awareness, communicate what makes the school distinctive and make it easier for suitable families to take the next step.
The funding associated with an additional pupil is not the same as profit.
Schools use pupil funding to provide education, staffing, resources, pastoral support and other essential services. Enrolling additional pupils may also create further operational costs.
For that reason, the calculator describes the relationship between campaign expenditure and indicative funding as a funding-to-spend ratio.
For example, a ratio of 5:1 means the forecast represents £5 of indicative pupil funding for every £1 of campaign expenditure. It does not mean the school has generated £5 of profit.
This provides a more responsible basis for considering an admissions campaign.
Understanding the potential value is the first step. Achieving it requires the right strategy, message, targeting and admissions journey.
Blake Mark Productions helps schools create and deliver campaigns designed to reach prospective families, communicate what makes the school distinctive and generate measurable admissions enquiries.
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