What is Membership of the British Boarding Schools' Network?
- Would you like to recruit more international boarding pupils in an easier and more cost-effective way?
- Do you need to recruit pupils from a range of countries to create diversity in your boarding community?
If so, we invite you to attend the market-leading British Boarding Schools' Workshop.
- Meet with carefully selected, triple reference-checked educational agents who are experienced in placing pupils in British boarding schools.
- A cost-effective and time-saving way to meet hundreds of quality educational agents representing over 50 different recruitment countries without leaving the UK and getting on a plane.
The British Boarding Schools' Workshop (BBSW) has a well-earned reputation for being the most successful way for UK school staff to recruit international pupils by meeting face-to-face with quality educational agents recruiting from over 50 countries worldwide.
Over two days, school staff and agent delegates have pre-arranged 20-minute appointments, enabling them to meet personally with both new and existing partners. The meetings provide the opportunity for developing and enhancing long-term partnerships based on mutual trust and understanding, which underpins the success of any school's international pupil recruitment strategy.
Around 300 independent boarding schools have taken part in the BBSW since it was established in 2006. Read the feedback from participating schools.
We run two Workshops each year, in March and November, at the Radisson Blu Edwardian Hotel near London's Heathrow International Airport. Details of future events are published on the home page.
How does the British Boarding Schools' Workshop work?
Twenty-minute, pre-booked appointments allow school representatives to meet agents face to face. It is an ideal way to target, meet and assess agents you have never met before, and find out what is happening in their markets. Many schools find the Workshop a great way to catch up with their existing agents, either via the scheduled appointments, or less formally over a drink in the bar or at dinner. It gives them a chance to put a face to a name, update them with the school's news, and just as importantly, get to know them better which enhances the working partnership.
By taking part in this event you can maximise your marketing budget for recruitment of international students. Participation should be viewed as a long term investment; whereas recruitment fairs tend to be a one-off event recruiting students for one year's intake, this event will enable you to develop and enhance relations with agents who will provide a steady supply of students for years to come.
There is no other means of reaching so many quality, boarding-focused agents under one roof. We are committed to ensuring that the agents who are invited to attend the BBSW are already established in the market, are carefully selected, interviewed by our Director and are triple reference-checked. The reason for this is simple: so participating schools will have a high success rate in recruiting international students and achieve a good return on their investment.
The success of the event depends on ensuring there is a good match of agents and schools. We invite agents who are knowledgeable about the schools' market and committed to recruiting students for British schools. However, we also welcome agents who are new to the boarding schools' sector but are established in working with language schools and/or higher education establishments. By giving these agents the opportunity to take in the BBSW we can increases the number and efficiency of agents representing UK boarding schools. As a result, we have seen some very good success stories as reflected in this comment from a participating agent: