The ten second version
$80.62Spent this week17–23 Sep, both platforms
52Visits to the school websitefrom ads, this week
1Enrolment enquiriesthis week, from Google
3Taps on your phone numberthis week, from ads
What's on your plate from Monday:
- A recording date for the three Term 4 videos, any time after Chris is back on 23 October
- The go-ahead on the three LinkedIn post angles below, so we can draft them properly
- Nothing else. Everything else on the list is ours.
What we agreed on Monday
Catch-up at the school, Monday 21 September 2026. This is the written version so nothing gets lost.
01
2027 advertising
- Facebook and Instagram budget splits 80% enrolment enquiries, 20% boosting your own posts
- Recruitment advertising stays switched off until you ask for it. No always-on recruitment campaign
- Google search advertising carries on as it is
- The current enrolment campaign stays the centrepiece for 2027, with Kindy as the main push
02
No public open day
- Agreed: no public open day, ever
- The Term 3 open night stays as it is, for current families only
- Enrolment tours are the real conversion step, so that's where we point families
- We won't build open day campaigns
03
Three new videos, Term 4
- Video 1: Kindy 2028, with an early childhood teacher on camera rather than you
- Video 2: a "day in the life" of a Year 1 or Year 2 teacher, cut into an enquiry ad
- Video 3: you to camera
- Recording after Chris is back from Perth on Friday 23 October, Term 4 week 2. We need a date from you
04
The learning tour idea
- Once a term, a principal-led tour for prospective families: "come and see St Paul's learning in action"
- You liked it, so we're drafting it properly: suggested term dates, the ad, and the page it points at
- Coming to you for sign-off before anything is built
05
Employment page
- Agreed to put live listings on the school site for EA relief, EA and special needs EA roles
- Linking through to the careers portal or the existing form
- We're drafting the page structure. You're speaking to your side about it
06
Your LinkedIn
- Goal reset: no follower target, the aim is simply to stay relevant. One post a month
- Moving away from enrolment numbers and anything that reads as self-promotion
- Three angles agreed: "school holidays are not a perk of the job", "the induction mistake that changed how I lead", and a real Tuesday as a Pilbara principal
- Where enrolment growth comes up it's worded as the school's result, never yours personally
One change to how we report to you, from Monday. You said these updates need to be scannable in ten seconds and not make more work for you. So the numbers now sit at the very top of this page, the detail sits underneath for when you want it, and you'll get a one-line message whenever this page updates instead of having to remember to check it.
Facebook enquiries, and why they've dropped off
Every enrolment enquiry from your Facebook and Instagram advertising, month by month, since it started in July 2025
96 enrolment enquiries in total since July 2025. The drop from April onwards is real, and September has produced none.
What's behind it, plainly. For most of that run the work was being done by one ad, the Kindy 2027 one. It came off when the 2027 intake closed, which was the right call, there's no sense advertising an intake you can't take enrolments for. What's been left running since is the relocating families ad, and over the last 60 days it's had 67 clicks and produced no enquiries. So the campaign is spending a small amount each week on the one piece of creative that isn't converting.
What happens about it. The replacements are already built: a Kindy 2028 campaign and a properly funded Relocating Families campaign are sitting in the account waiting to go. What they need is new wording and the new videos, which is exactly what the Term 4 shoot is for. That's why the recording date matters more than anything else on this page. In the meantime Meta stays on a deliberately small budget, around $30 a week, rather than being switched off, so the account keeps its history and the audiences stay warm.
The thing not to read into this: your Google advertising is a separate story and it's still producing enquiries, including one this week. The two platforms do different jobs. Google catches families already searching for a school; Facebook puts you in front of families who weren't looking yet. It's the Facebook half that needs the new creative.
Last 7 days
17–23 September 2026, against the 7 days before (10–16 Sep). Pulled live from Google Ads and Meta.
Google Ads
$49.18Spend▼ 30% vs prior 7 days ($70.24)
26Clicks to the website▼ 47% vs prior 7 days (49)
1Enrolment enquiry formsprior 7 days: 1
3Taps on the phone numberfrom ads, last 7 days
Plain English: the local campaign (families in and around Karratha) and the Australia-wide campaign (families relocating from interstate) are both running. An "enrolment enquiry form" is someone who filled in the enrolment enquiry on the school website after clicking an ad. One a week is roughly where this has been sitting, and it's the steadier of the two platforms.
Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram)
$31.44Spend▲ 3% vs prior 7 days ($30.54)
4,585Times your ads were seenprior 7 days: 4,964
26Clicks▲ 18% vs prior 7 days (22)
0Enrolment enquiriessee the section above
September so far
1–24 Sep 2026, both platforms, against the full month of August
$325.55Total ad spendAugust full month: $532.67
135Google clicksAugust: 243
4Enrolment enquiry formsAugust: 6 for the whole month
19Phone taps from adsGoogle Ads, month to date
Lower spend than August is deliberate: the Assistant Principal recruitment ad finished on 10 September once the role was filled, and the brand-name campaign was retired in early September because it was mostly serving existing parents looking for the absentee form, not new families.
What's next
Live from our internal task tracker
- 21 SepDoneCatch-up at the school, 2027 plan agreed
- 24 SepDoneFull review of why the Facebook enquiries dropped off, written up above
- NowIn progressWriting the new Kindy 2028 and Relocating Families ads, so they're ready the moment the videos are shot
- NowIn progressDrafting the learning tour concept: term dates, the ad, and the page it points at, for your sign-off
- NowIn progressDrafting the employment page structure for EA relief, EA and special needs EA roles
- Term 4PlannedThree new videos recorded, then the new campaigns go live
- Early Term 4PlannedWe'll check in about 2027 staffing, once you know what you're backfilling
- For youA recording date for the three videos, any time after 23 October
- For youA yes or no on the three LinkedIn post angles above
Notes & feedback
Anything you want changed, or a question about the numbers
Got a question about anything above, or something on your mind? Write it below, it'll go straight through to Chris.
Sent, thanks!