It's almost back to school time for parents and educators across the country. Shelves are filling with supplies and teachers are enjoying their last days of freedom before the influx of lessons and classes hit in early August. While students remain blissfully unaware of the stress back-to-school puts on studio owners, you must prepare as much as possible for everything that could happen between now and the holiday season. For the best guide on increasing enrollment and gaining new students in the new school year, download our Back to School Guide. To prepare for those lessons to start, here is a checklist of everything we recommend:

  • Determine your class schedule with sizes, teacher assignments, and what equipment you may need to purchase. Then, assign classes to teachers in your opus1 portal so teachers can upload curriculum, supply lists, and any necessary announcements for each class

  • Determine what private lessons you will offer, then set your own lesson schedule and upload it to your teacher profile in your opus1 portal. Each of your teachers that offer private lessons should do the same

  • Arrange classrooms and assign classes/lessons to the appropriate room

  • Decorate your front office or entrance for back-to-school time. Get students excited from the moment they walk in your door!

  • Is this your first year in a new location? Check with your local government to make sure you have all health, safety, and fire code signage prominently displayed in your classrooms

  • Compile a shopping list

  • Print business cards – students made new friends over the summer and have new classmates this school year. This is a great opportunity for the parents of your current students to refer new students

  • Create a referral program (if you don't already have one)! Encourage parents to refer new families by providing an incentive program for referrals

  • Write your welcome letter. This can be sent via automated email or SMS in your opus1 portal and should include all of the "what to expect" items for their first day of lessons

  • Create your enrollment package. Permissions, legal documents, student info, parent contact info, emergency documentation, and a photo of the child can all be required info on your enrollment package in your opus1 portal. When a parent visits the portal to register their student, you can make completion of all of this information required before they are able to complete the enrollment

  • Turn on automated payment reminders in your opus1 portal. This will automatically send a payment reminder to everyone who is already enrolled in your studio and remind them to make their payment prior to the first day of school. Everyone who enrolls later will be automatically enrolled in payment reminders once you activate this convenient feature

  • Make your copies, scan your documents, and organize everything in folders – don't wait until the last minute to prepare your documents!

  • Determine your recital/event schedule for the year. The more notice you give parents, the better! Our Recital/Event Management Module will help you plan, announce, and prepare for your events with less paperwork and stress – even generating your event program in one easy click!

  • Write your newsletters, social posts, and any marketing materials you know you will need in the coming months. Having a depository of marketing materials ready-to-go for the school year will save you time during your already busy schedule. Once you have newsletters and emails written, you can automate them in your opus1 portal. Set an audience and time you want them sent, then let us do the rest.

  • Schedule your free consultation with opus1 and explore the more than 25 modules we have in our feature rich, all-in-one solution for studio owners. We own performing arts studios – we know what you need. We are so confident you'll love our modern all-in-one studio management platform that we'll give you 30 days to love it for free – no credit card required.

And finally, if you want to go above and beyond this back-to-school season, host an open house! This isn't on our checklist because it is absolutely not a back-to-school must. There are benefits to you and your students when you host an open house. It isn't just an opportunity to gain new students – you can meet new students for the first time before their lessons and share announcements and business cards with current and future students alike. Parents love open houses because they can build trust with you, ask questions, and see where their child will be spending their time. If you are unsure of how to market an open house, see our Blog on summer marketing for some ideas. Make an announcement, gather your teachers, serve some light refreshments, and celebrate back-to-school. But most importantly, don't go another year without the right technology in place. Talk to us today and see why more than 300 performing arts academies have chosen opus1 to operate and grow their studio more efficiently.

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