Job Description
| Post title: | Senior Admissions Manager | |
| Department: | Admissions & Marketing | Date compiled: April 2026 |
| Salary (1 FTE) £40,000 per annum commensurate with experience | All year round/Term Time only: All year round Hours per week: 37.5 hours per week (plus approx. 12 Saturday mornings per year, on a rota basis) Weeks per year: 52 weeks Holidays: 25 days (plus English Public Bank | |
Immediate line manager: Director of Admissions & Marketing
Designation and grade of any staff line managed by the post holder: Admissions Managers x 2.
Each Admissions Manager has an Admissions Assistant reporting to them.
Job purpose:
The Admissions Department is responsible for the effective management of all enquiries and applications to Oakham School, across day and boarding pupils from the UK and overseas, and for ensuring that every family encounters a warm, professional, and values-driven welcome to the school.
Reporting to the Director of Admissions & Marketing, the role is to lead and inspire the Admissions Team in the recruitment of new pupils, ensuring an excellent admissions experience at every stage. This includes modelling proactive, positive, and inclusive behaviours; fostering a culture of curiosity and continuous improvement; and working collaboratively with the Marketing Department and colleagues across the school.
Operating within the framework of the Admissions Policy and the Admissions & Marketing Strategy, the role supports the strategic needs of the school by maximising capacity with the right mix of pupils across all year groups. Just as importantly, it ensures that the way we work reflects the school’s ethos - welcoming, thoughtful, ambitious for every child, and committed to high standards of service and communication.
The Admissions Team’s primary focus is to:
• Convert enquiries to applications
• Convert applications to acceptances
• Maintain the excellent reputation of the school through every interaction
The team achieves this by:
• Being proactive in communication, anticipating needs, and removing barriers for families • Creating a warm, inclusive, and confidence-building experience for every prospective pupil • Demonstrating positivity, professionalism, and pride in the school • Offering thoughtful guidance to families to help them make informed decisions • Seeking opportunities to improve processes, strengthen relationships, and elevate the school’s profile
Principal duties and responsibilities:
The role may encompass all the following duties. The exact duties and responsibilities and balance of workload will be determined in discussion with the post holder’s line manager.
Team Management & Structure
Lead the day‑to‑day work of the Admissions Team with clarity, positivity and proactive planning, ensuring workloads are balanced, communication is open and the team feels supported and empowered.
• Set clear frameworks and priorities that enable Admissions Managers to build strong relationships with families, encouraging curiosity, thoughtful challenge and consistently high standards of service.
Maintain and refine the annual admissions cycle so that deadlines, events, assessments and communications are well‑paced, transparent and designed to create a warm, confidence‑building experience for families.
Design and embed processes, procedures and templates that deliver consistency and quality while also being accessible, empathetic and easy for families to navigate, removing friction and enabling positive interactions.
Work with the Director of Admissions & Marketing to support the performance, development and wellbeing of the team, fostering a culture of continuous improvement, shared learning and pride in delivering an exceptional admissions journey.
Events Leadership & Visit Management
• Lead the planning and delivery of online, onsite and offsite admissions events, ensuring clear objectives, well-structured schedules, effective staff involvement and smooth logistics.
Set and uphold consistent, high standards for all events and visits so that every family experiences a warm, professional and well-organised introduction to the school.
Oversee the administration of interviews, scholarship assessments and entrance assessments, working closely with the Admissions Team and teaching staff to ensure a seamless process.
• Ensure all communications to colleagues and families are timely, accurate and supportive of an excellent event experience.
Work collaboratively with the Marketing Team to align content, promotion and materials so that events are engaging, informative and reflective of the school’s values.
Reporting & UKVI Compliance
Provide the Director of Admissions & Marketing with clear, regular reporting and analysis, including weekly pipeline view, monthly trend reports and conversion analysis.
Maintain high standards of data quality and structure, ensuring reporting is accurate, timely and meaningful across the admissions cycle.
• Interpret data to identify trends, risks and opportunities, offering proactive recommendations to support operational and strategic decisions.
• Support Admissions Managers with systematic tracking and follow-up across their pipelines.
• Track and record all starters and leavers (UK and international), ensuring timely updates to the LEA and relevant school staff.
Work with the Director of Admissions & Marketing to ensure robust processes for UKVI compliance and to prepare the team for audits or inspections made by the school’s immigration lawyers or by UK Visa & Immigration service.
Admissions Process Oversight & Quality Assurance
Ensure enquiries and applications are handled promptly and professionally so that families receive excellent service from first contact to joining the school.
• Provide hands-on support to Admissions Managers during peak periods and for complex cases.
• Present clear, comprehensive information on prospective pupils to support decision-making in line with the Admissions Policy.
Oversee the offer and acceptance process, maintaining strong communication with families and identifying opportunities to improve conversion.
• Work with the Director of Admissions & Marketing and SLT to support pupil retention, particularly at key transition points.
Ensure the accuracy and integrity of all prospective pupil data within the school’s MIS to enable reliable reporting and analysis.
Market Insight & Marketing Collaboration
• Build and maintain a professional network to stay informed about sector trends and developments.
• Act as a key link between Admissions and Marketing, ensuring frontline insight and data inform messaging, campaigns and recruitment activity.
• Collaborate with the Marketing Manager on tactics to nurture enquiry and application pipelines.
Work with the Director of Admissions & Marketing and Marketing Manager to identify market trends, explore opportunities and shape strategic responses.
Contribute to the development of promotional campaigns, materials and initiatives that support admissions objectives.
Support the development and implementation of recruitment plans for UK and international markets, including engagement with agents, military families and feeder schools.
Coordinate with Marketing and relevant staff to produce high-quality new joiner information and support an excellent induction for all new pupils.
For the avoidance of doubt, the duties and responsibilities contained within this job description may change from time to time according to the requirements of the role and it is not intended to have a contractual effect.
SCHOOL
Special requirements:
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All staff are expected to comply with the School’s Health & Safety policies and the Staff Code of Conduct in the performance of their duties.
| Job description drawn up by | Director of Admissions &Marketing | Date: April 2026 |
| Approved for department by | Director of People | Date: April 2026 |
| Agreed by Jobholder | Date: |