by Matt Carr
In May this year, middle-aged boy band Take That took the ‘difficult decision’ to switch venues for their This Life tour after the original venue, Manchester’s brand-new Co-Op Live Arena, was beset by technical issues and postponed its opening date. This caused minor upset amongst Take That’s ageing fan base, with some having to see their idols a day later than originally planned. Needless to say, despite the change of venue the shows went ahead and Gary, Jason, and the other one made everything alright for their adoring fans.
Missed Milestones
Failing to hit an opening date or another significant milestone, is the cause of many sleepless nights for project teams the world over. Letting people down is never a good outcome. When it comes to opening a new school, you’re not dealing with adoring fans. Instead, you’re dealing with parents. You’re dealing with their hopes and dreams for their children’s education. Whilst Take That’s fans might forgive, in my experience, parents can at times be a lot less forgiving.
The first day of term is a hard project end date. No matter what obstacles you encounter along the way you can’t miss this date. Even a delay of a few hours can have serious repercussions. For each school I’ve opened, this date has been carved into my consciousness. So, as I boarded my flight to China in early January 2023, my mind was not on the present but focused on a date several months ahead: 1st September. That initial journey took place in the time of COVID-19, it was the time of PCR tests within 24 hours of flying, and it was the time of mandatory mask-wearing throughout the 32-hour journey. It was also the day that China lifted its strict 14-day quarantine requirement, and I was on the first flight into the country.
Pressing the Flesh
I took the journey even though there was no formal agreement for the new school. I’d known our potential partners for some time. We’d had numerous online conversations and meetings and were constantly exchanging ideas via WeChat. However, we’d never actually met in real life. I didn’t feel I could sign an agreement without witnessing first-hand the situation on the ground and staring my counterparts in the eyes. Having those face-to-face discussions prior to signing any deal was important to me. Having me show up in the middle of Covid to support their project was important to them. After a few days, the deal was duly signed, and the clock started ticking. We had 231 days until the first day of term.
The first few weeks were a whirlwind of planning and an all-important round of meetings with varying levels of government officials. I was struck by the genuine warmth conveyed during these meetings. Covid has been difficult for everyone. I got the impression that being able to open up, to meet again, after the hardship of lockdown was a welcome sign that things were getting back to normal. I would meet some of the same officials months later and was immediately struck by how different they looked without their masks. Somewhere in my mind, I had imagined their faces based solely on the only information available to me – their eyes. I was staggeringly bad at this and tried to hide my disappointment. I’m sure they did the same.
If You Build it, They Will Come
A school is nothing without children. When your school is actually a building site, one of the biggest challenges is getting parents to sign up. For this you need an admissions team that will pull out all the stops. Fortunately, the team at the newly named Yingya St Peter’s School were more than capable of stop pulling. I was constantly floored by the quality of the admissions events they created. I was invited to speak at an early event and, in line with previous experience, had planned for a cosy little meeting with 30 or 40 parents, an assortment of grandparents and a few noisy children. I was given the opportunity to rehearse at the venue the night before but politely declined due to jetlag. I’m glad I didn’t go to rehearsals as I’m pretty sure it would have done little for my sleep pattern. On arrival the next morning, the venue for my ‘cosy little meeting’ was a cavernous conference hall laid out for an Oscars-like ceremony. There was a compere ‘off of the telly’, numerous guests from every government department, as well as hundreds of parents. To top it all off, there was a press room at the back for the TV cameras and assorted newspaper and radio journalists. Clearly, having a bloke from Yorkshire speaking poor Chinese was big news that day.
The Show Home
All the pazazz of such events was backed up by a suitably impressive admissions suite in the heart of the city. At this location, much smaller-scale events were held, just like those I’d imagined earlier. I felt however that something fundamental was missing. It was great to put on a show. It was great to bring parents into the city to look at a model of the school. However, I felt that what the parents really wanted was to see the actual school itself. I broached my concerns with the local team. My suggestion was met with respectful resistance. It was a building site they argued. There was nothing to see.
Over the next few days, I suggested that failing to take parents to the school site would lead to them making the journey themselves. My fear was that on arrival, they’d be confronted with a building site and conclude that we’d never be ready to open in September. We’d therefore lose those parents. The local team began to understand my concerns and, to their credit, put in place a plan to create a ‘show home’ within the construction site. This was somewhere we could fit out to look like a completed school with accompanying classrooms and grassy play areas. This was the place that we could use to sell the dream to parents. In true fashion, this was constructed at breakneck speed and our ‘hard hat tours’ soon commenced. The plan worked and soon thereafter the sign-ups came thick and fast.
The Greatest Day
After several months of frenetic activity, the first of September duly arrived. I was delighted to welcome the first tranche of excited students to our fabulous new campus. All the hard work in construction, admissions, and the all-important recruitment of staff came together on that day. A new school is truly a special place. It was wonderful to see the students and staff take those first steps together. In true Yingya St Peter’s style the opening ceremony was suitably lavish and included some remarkable performances from these new students. The first academic year came and went in a flash, and everyone is now on a very well-deserved summer break. I personally can’t wait to see what the next year will bring. As Take That might say, opening a school takes ‘Patience’ and ‘Hope’. You need to plan to ‘Get Ready for it’ and ‘Everything Changes’ on the first day of term, which is arguably the ‘Greatest Day’. However, if Take That were to suggest ‘It only takes a minute’, they’d be showing their lack of knowledge of school project management and should leave such things to the experts. Stick to the singing lads.
Matt Carr is the Director of International Schools, St Peter’s School, York
To connect with Matt on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mattcarr88
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Excellent thoughts and so well told. The maxim is ‘never over promise and under deliver’ – not sure if this is a ‘Take That’ song or not. For aspiring leaders I would say the key takeaway from this piece is ‘control the messaging’. You might be absolutely clear in your mind about the logistics and schedules for the ‘grand opening’ but all it takes is the wrong messages to leak out from anywhere across the school team or the governance team and you will be playing catch up to get things back on track. Been there, got the T-Shirt – and believe me you don’t want to ‘Take that and Party’. Thanks Matt!
Having visited the school, we can see just how impressive e a project delivery this was. The lesson being for international schools as Chris rightly points out above, is that setting achievable goals and over-communicating progress to parents will gather the momentum the project needs.
Great read! Thanks for sharing a journey on overcoming obstacles and achieving a successful school opening!
Love your ‘hard hat’ tours! You were absolutely correct- they would have visited anyway, but with you controlling the tour and the narrative you were even able to sell a building site! Really well done and good luck- so looking forward to visiting your beautiful school one day 🙏🏻