Customer Service
Answers every question the moment it arrives, evenings and weekends included, and checks families are happy once they have joined.
For independent and international schools
School admissions teams should be building trust with families, not answering the same enquiries all day.
Ember Intelligence takes school admissions enquiry follow-up off your team's desk, answering routine questions and booking visits at any hour, so they have more time face to face with parents, building the trust that wins a place.
The admissions team is overwhelmed, and the best part of the job gets squeezed
A school admissions team is often two or three people. They are expected to promote the school, answer every question, chase every form and keep the records straight, and still find time for the parent who is anxious about their child's next step.
So the day fills with what is urgent rather than what matters: the same questions about fees, dates and entry requirements, the reminders that need sending, the record that needs updating. The conversations that build trust, a parent and a member of staff, face to face, with time to listen, are the first thing to be squeezed. They are also the conversations that win a place.
Where the time goes
- 01Answering the same questions on fees, dates and entry requirements
- 02Sending reminders and chasing unfinished forms
- 03Updating a record that was already behind
What gets squeezed
- 01Time with a family who is deciding
- 02The call to a parent who has gone quiet
- 03Showing a family round the school
Fewer families joining means every enquiry counts
Few schools can simply spend their way back with more marketing. The enquiries a school already has are the cheapest place to protect a place.
5.6%
fewer new pupils joining, 96,828 in all
17.6%
fewer new international pupils joining UK schools
8.2%
fewer boarding pupils
£1.1bn
of fee assistance funded by schools, a record
20%
VAT on UK school fees since January 2025
ISC Census 2026, UK independent schools.
One admissions team. Five jobs. We take two off the desk.
Your admissions office is expected to do five jobs at once, often with two or three people. Here is which ones we take on, which we support, and which stay with your team.
We take these on
Administrator
Logs every conversation, updates the record, chases forms and tracks who has gone quiet.
We support this
Admissions
Moves a family from interest to visit to application, then from offer to acceptance. We handle the reminders, bookings and follow-up, so your team concentrates on the conversations that decide it.
This stays with your team
Counsellor
Guides an anxious family through one of the biggest decisions they will make. This stays with your team, always.
Marketer
Brings in the enquiry: open mornings, events, the website. Marketing fills the pipeline, and we make sure nothing in it is wasted.
Your admissions team does five jobs. We take two off their desk, so they can do the other three properly.
Read more in our guide: One school admissions team, five jobs.
Where school admissions follow-up breaks down, stage by stage
| Stage | What usually goes wrong | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| 01Enquiry | An evening or weekend enquiry waits until the office opens. | Answered at any hour, in the family's time zone, with a visit offered. |
| 02Visit | Dates go back and forth by email, and some families never settle on one. | Two times offered in the conversation, confirmed there, reminded the day before. |
| 03Registration | After the visit, nobody owns the follow-up and the form sits unfinished. | A check-in after the visit, and a prompt on the unfinished form. |
| 04Assessment | Families are unsure what happens on the day, or when. | Dates, reminders and practical answers sent ahead of time. |
| 05Offer | The family goes quiet while they weigh up other schools. | Questions answered while they decide, and staff see who needs a call. |
| 06Acceptance and deposit | A deadline passes because the reminder was never sent. | Deadline and deposit reminders tied to your own calendar. |
| 07Settling in | Nobody asks how the first weeks went until something has gone wrong. | A short check after joining, with a low score passed to a member of staff. |
| 08Re-enrolment | Siblings and next-stage moves are assumed rather than asked about. | Sibling and re-enrolment messages timed to your admissions calendar. |
Registration can come years before entry, or run all year. Deadlines follow your own calendar, fixed or rolling.
The visit is booked in the conversation, at any hour
A parent writes late at night, school time. Jenny, the school's AI-based admissions administrator, answers the question they asked, offers two times and confirms one. No booking link, and a person steps in when it matters.
Before
Friday 22:47, school time
Hello, we are relocating in August and looking for a Year 7 place for our son, Sami. Is September entry still open?
Thank you for your enquiry. The admissions office will reply when it reopens on Monday.
Monday 10:15
Thank you for getting in touch. Please find our prospectus attached, and do let us know if you would like to visit.
No reply. By Monday, the family has spent a weekend looking at other schools.
With Jenny
Friday, school time
Hello, we are relocating in August and looking for a Year 7 place for our son, Sami. Is September entry still open?
Jenny, AI-based admissions administrator supporting the admissions teamHello Leila, I'm Jenny, the AI-based admissions administrator supporting the admissions team at Example School. Year 7 applications for September are open, and the usual next step is a visit. Would you prefer to visit in person, or join a virtual tour?
A virtual tour, please. We are in Singapore until July.
Of course. I can offer Tuesday at 17:00 or Thursday at 18:30, Singapore time. Which would suit you?
Thursday, please.
That's booked: a virtual tour on Thursday at 18:30 Singapore time, for Sami's Year 7 entry. I'll send the joining details, and a reminder the day before.
Thank you. Sami has a learning-support plan at his current school. Who should I talk to about that?
That is a conversation for the admissions team. I've passed it to Mrs Alcott's team with everything we've discussed, and they will be in touch on Monday.
Conversation passed to Mrs Alcott's team, with the full thread.
School admissions enquiry follow-up, from first question to re-enrolment
Five parts, one admissions calendar: the Enrolment Growth Suite, set up around your entry points and the way your school admits families. Use the whole suite, or only the parts you need.
Speed to Lead
A website and WhatsApp assistant that answers questions, qualifies the enquiry and books visits, virtual tours and admissions calls in the conversation.
Early Nurture
Check-ins that follow the family's entry point and your admissions calendar, with different paths for families who have visited and those who have not.
Campaign Engine
Messages tied to the admissions calendar: open-morning countdowns, deadline and deposit reminders, waitlist updates, siblings and re-enrolment.
Online Reputation Management
We check in with families after they join to ask how settling in has gone, and invite every family to leave an online review. If a family scores the experience low, we ask for a little more detail, and it goes straight to your team.
Database Reactivation
Re-engages dormant enquiries around entry points that are still open: siblings, families who did not join this cycle, and mid-year joiners.
Read the guide: How to re-engage past school enquiries.
Works alongside the admissions system you already use. Integration is agreed in the walkthrough. Your team sees every conversation and can step in at any point.
What happens when someone finally asks
About half
of aged enquiries responded
10%
booked
18×
return on the pilot
When Summer Boarding Courses, part of Dukes Education, re-opened conversations with families whose enquiries had gone cold, around half replied, and one in ten booked. It is a summer boarding programme rather than a school, but the families, the decision and the silence were familiar.
Read the case studyStart with a conversation about your admissions calendar
- 01
A 30-minute walkthrough.
We show you how the assistant would answer, follow up and book for your school, and what it will never do.
- 02
Your rules, agreed first.
Your approved information, your tone, what always goes to your team, and a signed Data Processing Agreement.
- 03
We set it up around your calendar.
Your entry points, your open mornings and your deadlines. Your team sees every conversation as it happens.
- 04
We review it together.
In families answered, visits booked and applications made.
Safe by design
Built for the trust families place in your school
Adults only, consent first, sensitive topics to a person, and your school in control of its data.
Your school stays in control.
Your school is the data controller. We process data only on your instructions, under a signed Data Processing Agreement. Your data is never sold or used for anything else, and at the end of our engagement it is returned or deleted.
We only ever communicate with adults.
We only speak with parents and guardians who have enquired with your school. We never contact pupils.
Consent comes first.
We only contact families who have agreed to hear from you. Every family can opt out at any time, and that choice is honoured immediately across every channel.
An assistant, not a decision-maker.
It answers only from information your school has approved, and it never makes admissions decisions, guarantees a place, or gives legal, visa or medical advice.
Sensitive conversations go to a person.
Anything personal or sensitive goes straight to your team, including special educational needs, health, wellbeing and behaviour. We never ask families for health or SEND information. A family can ask for a person at any time.
Always upfront that it's AI.
Jenny is always clearly labelled as the AI-based admissions administrator supporting your admissions team, and says so in her first message. She never pretends to be a person.
Watched, never left unattended.
Every conversation is visible to your team. If a family seems frustrated, or a conversation goes off track, automatic replies stop and a member of staff decides what happens next.
Secure by design.
Data is encrypted, and access is limited to the people who need it, with multi-factor authentication and full audit logs. Families' contact details are never shared with the AI, and conversations are never used to train AI models. If anything ever goes wrong, you will hear from us within 72 hours.
Ember Intelligence is compliant with GDPR and messaging regulations, and secure.
Our full data processing overview is available for your Head or Data Protection Officer on request.
Questions
Questions about school admissions enquiry follow-up
01Will families know they're talking to an AI?
Yes. Jenny is always clearly labelled as the AI-based admissions administrator supporting your admissions team, and she says so in her first message. A family can ask to speak to a person at any time.
02Does it replace our admissions team?
No. It takes on the routine, time-sensitive work (answering questions, booking visits, reminders and keeping the record up to date) so your team has more time for the conversations that need a person.
03What happens if a pupil replies instead of a parent?
The assistant only messages the parent or guardian contact your school provides. If the person replying seems to be a pupil, it asks whether a student is responding and, if so, closes the conversation.
04Will it sound like our school?
Yes. You set the tone of voice, approve the information it answers from, and decide which conversations go straight to your admissions team. These rules are agreed with you before anything goes live, and can be updated as your admissions calendar changes.
05Who owns the data?
Your school does. You are the data controller and we act only on your instructions, under a signed Data Processing Agreement. Families' contact details are never sent to the AI, and conversations are never used to train AI models.
06Does it work for international and boarding families in other time zones?
Yes. The assistant replies at any hour, on WhatsApp or your website, so a family enquiring overnight from another time zone hears back straight away, and can book a virtual visit or a call at a time that suits both sides.
07Does it work with our admissions system?
We will go through exactly how it fits alongside your current admissions system and processes during the walkthrough. Whatever the set-up, your team can always see every conversation in full.
08Can it run across a group of schools?
Yes. Each school keeps its own approved information, its own admissions team and its own calendar.
09Can it follow up families who enquired in earlier years and went quiet?
Yes. It can re-open conversations with families from earlier cycles where an entry point is still open, such as siblings, families who did not join this year, and mid-year joiners, provided they agreed to hear from your school. For how to approach it, read our guide to re-engaging past school enquiries.
See how it would work for your school
Book a 30-minute walkthrough with our founder. We will show you how the assistant would answer, follow up and book visits for your families, and exactly where your team stays in charge.