Recurrent Parental Patronage

The fourth social contract relates to recurrent parental patronage of the school. It exists between parents and the school. Under this social contract parents enroll their children in the school and exhibit their commitment to the school by re-enrolling them annually. In return for the patronage of parents, the school commits to provide high quality learning opportunities and a compelling overall value proposition.

This social contract is fundamentally important, but is often overlooked. A school's success is largely determined by the extent to which its overall value proposition (leadership, teachers, learning system, level and number of grades offered, co-curricular activities, fee structure etc) is attractive enough to cause parents to enroll and re-enroll their children in the school. Without the ability to influence parental choice in favor of itself, a school will fail.

School Ventures evaluates recurrent parental patronage by looking at:

• Enrolment rates;
• Re-enrolment rates;
• Enrolment to capacity ratio;
• Length of waiting list;
• Ratio of student applications to school acceptances;
• Ratio of school acceptances to new student enrolment.