I’m slowly getting into the holiday spirit here in Vancouver. You won’t believe it but we just had our first day of frost on Monday! After setting records in November for rainfall and days without sunshine, December has started with a bang, with three consecutive days of sun. Of course the rain has translated into record amounts of snow on the local ski hills (in preparation for our Winter Olympics in February). However, to avoid the traffic, we’ll be in Belize snorkelling. Oh, and did I mention our Vancouver Canucks hockey team won last night? Back on the band wagon. ;^)
I also wanted to let you know that I’ll be in Los Angeles next week (Dec 8-10) for meetings with clients. If you’d like to make arrangements to meet with me in the evenings, please send me an email to info@halladayeducationgroup.com
Many of you ask what HEG specializes in. In short, we focus on the development of new and established private and public schools. We’re a consortium of internationally recognized educators and business professionals with first-hand experience in starting, operating, leading, and improving schools internationally, with clients based in the USA, Canada, and internationally. We’ve helped public and private schools, major corporations, and institutions maximize their established institution’s performance or support the development of new for- or non-profit private schools; be it one school or part of a planned land development project in new city. Our services include:
- Private School Formation and Expansion
- Strategic Planning
- Board Governance
- Institutional Assessments and Audits
- Mergers, Sales, and Acquisitions of Schools
- Site Selection and Zoning
- Advising on financial structures and Grants
- Government Education Regulatory Relations
- School Management Services
- Head of School Evaluation and Support
- Executive and Faculty Searches
- Publication Development and Admissions
- International Marketing and Recruiting
- Fundraising and Development
To find out more about our school development services, please click here.
Today I want to share some thoughts in the eNewsletter on how to begin the process of starting your own school. Our firm receives many inquiries from parents, investors, and land development corporations about how to start their own private school (K-12 or college). The starting point we recommend is the completion of a Feasibility Study and Business Plan. It becomes your Blue Print to define what has to be done before you move forward, and how much is needed to be invested to do it successfully.
We always advise clients to avoid the “field of dreams” syndrome; building a school and hoping students show up. We think it’s wiser to make the investment at the beginning, determining what the market demand is and statistically project enrollment against demographics, and then develop the start-up and operational business plan and budget based on hard numbers. This approach provides a crystal clear picture of what your vision will cost and what your donors or investors need to contribute to ensure success.
Please read on to find out more about how you can develop a feasibility study and business plan.
To your success,
Doug Halladay
President
Halladay Education Group Inc.
>> TWITTER ->> Receive our updates by clicking here.
P.S. Don’t forget to go to our secure Online Store for our Strategic Planning or School Start-Up Toolkits.
IN THIS ISSUE
1. In The News
2. Focus On Our Key Services
3. Feasibility Study and Business Plan
4. Products At Our Online Store
1. IN THE NEWS
>> IN A CLASS OF HIS OWN
Forbes: That's why most private schools are governed by nonprofit "trusts". As a result, investors were wary of putting money into any K12-focussed entrepreneur..
>> INDEPENDENT SCHOOL TO OFFER ITS OWN DIPLOMA
SFS Group: Harrow School, an independent school located in north-west London, has announced it is to become the first to offer it own diploma to students...
>> CONFESSIONS OF A TWILIGHT ADDICT
Jennifer Morrison says that, despite its reputation, there's a lot for language arts teachers to like in the Twilight series. ...
2. FOCUS ON OUR KEY SERVICES
(A) STARTING A SCHOOL
Starting a school can be challenging and you never have a 2nd chance to make a 1st impression. That’s why you need a firm with experience starting schools in USA, Canada, and Internationally.
(B) STRATEGIC PLANNING
We can lead the development of your school’s Strategic Plan, which will build consensus, motivate donors, and define critical priorities for your Board and Administration for school improvement.
(C) BOARD GOVERNANCE WORKSHOPS
Do you want your school to have the best board possible? Our full-day governance workshop (in combination with our informative online self-assessment survey) will fine-tune your board’s performance and focus priorities.
(D) SCHOOL EVALUATIONS
A school review is critical to knowing if you’re heading in the right direction. As a board member, are you sure your school is doing the best it can? Get the whole picture with our “In-Depth School Performance Review and Action Plan.”
(E) BUYING AND SELLING SCHOOLS
HEG and our certified Brokerage Associates assist buyers/sellers with the purchase and sale of for-profit Private K-12 Schools, Post Secondary Institutions, and Career Colleges in Canada, United States, and Internationally. HEG and our Licensed Brokers are experienced in acquisitions, mergers, and advising established schools.
3. FEASIBILITY STUDY & BUSINESS PLAN
I’m a strong believer in performing due diligence when starting a school. I believe that you should develop a school based on facts rather than gut instincts. Don’t get me wrong, most schools start over a conversation between parents or investors who are either dissatisfied with the present educational options or have an entrepreneurial drive to start a school in their community that is not yet available, or would be a magnet to their land development. That being said, there are a number of qualitative and quantitative survey tools (e.g., phone, mail, online, focus groups) that need to be utilized to determine the level of demand for the school you envision.
The purpose of the Feasibility Study which HEG utilizes is to provide reliable data that will help answer the following questions:
- What is the level of demand for the school you envision?
- Who is the target market?
- What is the likelihood of parents enrolling their children at your school?
- How many students will enrol (grade, gender, origin, present school-type)?
- What will prevent families from enrolling?
- What level of tuition would they pay?
- Would they need financial aid?
- What is the impact of pricing on enrollment and features or benefits to reduce price sensitivity?
- What is the response to the educational programs?
- What are the critical milestones?
- Does the founding group have the capacity to start and/or operate the school?
- What types of facilities are available and/or needed for the school?
- What are the financial assumptions and costs to start and/or operate the school?
- What are the obstacles that need to be overcome to achieve success?
- What will generate confidence in a brand new, premium priced private school?
- What are the most effective strategies to promote enrollment?
Once you’ve the hard data for projected enrollment, we then develop your business plan, which includes Proformas for start-up budget and five year operational budget. The plan illustrates the opportunity, program requirements, timelines, facility needs, leadership structure, and investment structure. We focus on:
- Projected resource/facility needs and costs
- Timelines for each stage of school formation
- Competitive market analysis to determine demand and niche segment
- Economic analysis to determine tuition price point
- Marketing/admissions strategies and positioning
- Facilities and location for the school
- Financial and investment framework
- Initial start-up and five-year operational budget
- Construction and Renovation Budget
To find out more about our firm’s school formation services, or learn more about how we can help provide you solutions, please email HEG at info@halladayeducationgroup.com to discuss your needs in more detail. To find out more about our firm’s services and how we can help, please click on to download the following PDF’s that provide an overview of our firm’s detailed School Formation Services, staff bio’s, and school formation projects click here.
4. ONLINE STORE
Here are 2 popular Toolkits to help you to either start your own school or develop your own strategic plan, step-by-step.
(1). STRATEGIC PLANNING TOOLKIT (#1 BEST SELLER)
Learn how to develop your own Strategic Plan with step-by-step instructions contained in our detailed Workbook and Manual, along with $500 worth of bonus CD’s. It’s all here to help you develop your own plan.
(2). START-A-SCHOOL TOOLKIT (#2 BEST SELLER)
Are you still struggling with starting your school? Four experienced school leaders share how they started their own school from the ground up. You’ll also receive our bonus CD on developing your strategic plan.
To your success,
Douglas Halladay
President
Halladay Education Group Inc.
P: 604.868.0002
F: 868.472.8737
Email: info@halladayeducationgroup.com
www.HalladayEducationGroup.com
