What is the OSSD?

The Ontario Secondary School Diploma or OSSD simply put, is the

certificate awarded the secondary school students in the Canadian
province of Ontario upon the successful completion of their secondary
school education. To obtain the OSSD a student must complete a total of
30 high school credit courses (18 compulsory courses and 12 optional
courses), pass the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT), an
English language proficiency test developed by the Ministry of
Education of Ontario, and complete 40 hours of community service.
Why the OSSD?
There are many reasons why your child should get the OSSD. Here are
the few most important ones.

Admission into Canadian Universities

Universities’ admissions policies in Canada are favourable towards
students with the OSSD and as such, applicants with the OSSD have
better chances of getting admitted into top Canadian universities than
students without the OSSD.
Admission into Universities in the US, the UK, Australia, and
Europe
The OSSD gets the same level of international recognition as other
diplomas like IB, A-level, and AP. Students that have obtained the
OSSD easily get admitted into universities in Europe, North America,
and Australia than their counterparts who don’t have the OSSD
certificate.

MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR ENROLLING NEW STUDENT

INTO THE OSSD AT SPRING VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL
1. Redesign our Website
There is plenty of industry research that tells us that a poorly designed
website can be the Achilles heel of most brands. A bad website
experience — especially on mobile — can mar your reputation and lead
to a decrease in engagement, site traffic, and more.
Consider these stats:
79% of people who don’t like what they find on one site will go back
and search for another site
52% of users say that a bad mobile experience made them less likely to
engage with a company
Mobile users are 5 times more likely to abandon a task if a site isn’t
optimized for mobile
40% of website visitors will leave if the site takes more than three
seconds to load, and 47% of visitors expect your site to load in only two
seconds.
94% of first impressions are design-related. (An article from ISM
suggests — “website first impressions are like job interviews, you only
get one.”)
Blog Stats 94% first impressions
We know that launching a new website is a lot of work in order to do it
right. But before you invest any time, budget or effort into any
marketing strategies, you need a strong foundation. If your school or
district’s current website checks any of the following boxes, this is your
top marketing strategy for this year:

2. Improve Your Search Engine Strategy

Every school’s search engine strategy has three main elements:

Search Engine Optimization

Paid Per Click Advertising (PPC)
Online Reviews
Depending on your school’s short- and long-term goals, you may need
to invest in one, two, or all three of these essential search engine
strategies.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is a long play that many school marketers don’t have the time or
resources for. It requires keyword research and implementation across
your site’s title tags, meta descriptions, on-page content, and in most
cases, the creation of a good blog. And because the results often aren’t
as instantaneous as a paid ad, many school marketers put SEO on the
back-burner. (Often, the implementation of an SEO strategy can take
many months to reap benefits from because of how long it takes Google
to crawl and recrawl site pages.)

However, an SEO strategy is essential to your school’s survival in the

digital world. With 90% of all online experiences beginning in search,
and abysmal click-through rates for any results beyond page one, it is
very clear that if you want your school’s website to be found, you need
to find the time and/or budget.
Blog Stats 90% online experience
Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC)
PPC ads are a powerful digital advertising tool you can use to help
generate more awareness and website traffic for your school. If your
school’s website isn’t ranking well in Google and you don’t have the
time to wait to develop your SEO strategy, you can also opt for a paid ad
strategy which can land you at the top of page 1 almost immediately.
Online Reviews
Online reviews are now your school or district’s first impression, and if
you don’t have a four-star or five-star review, you may never even earn
a click-through to your website.
90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business.
84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal
recommendation.
65% of people see online search as the most trusted source of
information about people and companies. That's a higher level of trust
than any other online or offline source.

3. Build Email Workflows

Email workflows — also often commonly referred to as an "email drip
campaign" or "automated emails" — are a staple of a school's inbound
marketing strategy. An email workflow is a set of emails that are
automatically sent based on the subscriber's contact information,
behavior, or preferences. For example, an email workflow can be
triggered by a contact submitting a form, but it can also be triggered by a
parent's enrollment year or persona.
These set-it-and-forget-it emails are proven to save you time and
increase email engagement. They can be used for almost every purpose,
including:
Welcome newly enrolled families
Nurture prospective families who recently inquired
Onboard new faculty and staff
Remind community members of upcoming events and deadlines
Promote an event

4. Start a School Blog

A blog is a great way to share advice, build thought leadership, tell
stories that aren’t being told elsewhere, elevate the voices of your
community, create a strong content library, and improve your organic
performance in search. While a school blog is by no means as important
as some of the other marketing strategies on this list (i.e. your website!),
for schools and districts looking to take greater control of their online
storytelling, a blog is a great place to start.
Before starting a school blog, ask yourself:
Who is going to write our blog content?
Where will our blog content live?
What will our editing process look like?
Who is our target audience?
What are the types of topics we want to write about?
Do we have the resources to post consistently? (We recommend at least
once per week.)

5. Create Your First Content Offer

For most private, international and charter schools, the first time that
they get a prospect’s information is via an inquiry form. While inquiry
forms are great for capturing the information of individuals ready to
learn more about your school, consumer behavior tells us this: If they’re
inquiring, they’ve already done their research and you’ve made their
“short list”. This means that without a content offer, you’re missing out
on a huge audience of individuals who are still weighing their options
for their “long list”.
A content offer provides prospective families with something of value to
aid in their decision-making process, such as a whitepaper titled “5
Reasons to Attend an All-Boys School” or “How to Choose the Right
Preschool.” It can also be a copy of your school’s viewbook.
6. Invest in Consistent, Meaningful Social Media Ads
If your school hasn’t invested in social media ads yet, now is the time.
Your prospective families spend a lot of time on social media, and this is
a smart (and affordable) way to build awareness and eventually increase
enrollment. Social media is a great advertising tool because:
The average cost-per-click is significantly lower than search ads
You can diversify your reach with a variety of lists and campaigns
There are a variety of ad formats to experiment with
But, it has to be done right.
If you’ve run social media ads in the past without success, it could have
been an issue with your ad content, creative, audience, or even goal. For
example, promoting your school’s open house to a list that has never
heard of your school is going to fall flat. If you want to invest in social
media ads this year, here are three smart campaigns to get you started:
A Top-of-the-Funnel Campaign to Build Awareness: Want to reach
new audiences? Upload a list of demographic information about your
current families to create a lookalike audience. For this campaign, keep
the ad content and creative light with no heavy-hitting “pitch.” The goal
here is to get your school’s name in front of new audiences.

A Middle-of-the-Funnel Campaign to Increase Conversions: Engage

individuals who have already visited your website using a Facebook
Pixel retargeting campaign. For this group, prompt them to inquire or
apply.
A Bottom-of-the-Funnel Campaign to Encourage Re-Enrollment:
We all know that your job isn’t done once a family enrolls. Run social
media ads to current families during re-enrollment season with value add
content such as student success stories.

7. Consolidate Your Social Media Accounts

While paid ads can help your admissions funnel gain momentum, a
consolidated organic social media strategy can help with all-around
marketing and communications. If your school or district is struggling to
manage a variety of rogue Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts
that are either out-of-date or off-brand, this could be an easy win for
you!
Schools should only have one Facebook page, one Twitter account, and
one Instagram profile. While Twitter is often seen as the “exception to
the rule” as schools and districts alike use this platform for sports teams
and clubs to provide timely updates, it is essential that your school or
district maintain a single profile on Facebook and Instagram — as well
as other channels like LinkedIn.
Consolidating social media accounts has numerous advantages,
including:
Increased traffic and engagement to your school or district’s primary
pages
Consistent tone, voice, brand, and content
Streamlined access to passwords and privacy settings
Fewer comments to manage
Streamlined online reviews

8. Invest More Time and Resources into Video

Video gets more engagement than any other form of content — so begin
taking tiny steps to integrate it into your marketing strategies for your
website, social media, and even email.
If you’re already strapped for time and resources, there is good news for
you! Creating video has never been easier, and after a year of connecting
via low-res video, no one expects Hollywood-level quality.
If you’d like to incorporate more video into your marketing this year,
consider the following:
Start small! Aim to post one new video on social media each week. It
can be something silly – like following recent Instagram Reel trends —
or a promotion for an event. Tools like Canva and Animoto make editing
videos easy for any skill level.
Come up with a list of video ideas. Testimonials, tips from teachers, and
interviews make fun and engaging videos.
Invest time into a YouTube strategy. If your school is consistently
creating longer-length videos, investing in YouTube can help increase
your school’s organic search performance.
Go live. Livestreaming used to be a “nice-to-have”, but now it’s a
“need-to-have” — even if you’re returning to in-person events.
Enlist the help of your community. Students in particular are great
resources for creating video content.
Key Takeaway
Parent expectations are higher than ever, and it’s essential that your
school’s marketing and communications strategy adapt along with them.
This is our “new normal”. As your school or district begins to plan its
marketing and communication plans for the new school year, use the
ideas in this blog to create a list of “must-haves” for ensuring your
marketing and communications strategy is future-proofed.
STAFFERS

 Professional:
General Service:
 Main Fields of Expertise Relevant to OSSD program:

 Administration
 Education/Training
 Finance/Accounting
 Human Resources Management
Teacher/ Supervisors
Teachers are responsible for providing the students they serve with
direct instruction in the area of content in which they specialize. The
teacher is expected to use the OSSD-approved curriculum to meet state
objectives within that content area. The teacher is responsible for
building relationships with parents of children which they serve.
Counselor
A counselor’s job is often multifaceted. A counselor provides counseling
services for students who may struggle academically, have a rough home
life, may have gone through a difficult situation, etc. A counselor also
provides academic counseling setting student schedules, getting students
scholarships, preparing them for life after high school, etc. In some
cases, a counselor may also serve as the testing coordinator for their
students

School Support Staff

Support staff employees are those who help the program function on a
day-to-day basis, including operating the main office, performing vital
behind-the-scenes tasks, cleaning and maintaining the classrooms,
assisting teachers with students, and even transporting students to and
from school(that is if there will be a boarding house).

Administrative Assistant
An administrative assistant is one of the most important positions in the
entire program. An administrative assistant often knows the day-to-day
operations of the program as well as anyone. They are also the person
who communicates most often with parents. Their job includes
answering phones, mailing letters, organizing files, and a host of other
duties. A good administrative assistant screens for the school
administrator and makes their job easier.

ACCOMODATION
Having a Boarding house will be helpful to running this OSSD program
especially if we are looking to enroll students from across the south-
South region of Nigeria. Research has shown that Spring Valley
Schools would be among the first schools to begin the OSSD program in
Port Harcourt and its environs. Already this has given us an edge. In
connection with this, if we begin our advertisement, we would most
likely get inquiries from parents in places like Abia, Delta, Imo, Akwa
Ibom etc.
Nowadays, most parents are showing interest towards admitting their
children in boarding schools that provide learning in a more disciplined
home like setting. We don’t have to start to anything elaborate. It could
be just a small apartment with about 3-4 rooms.
HOW TO START A BOARDING SCHOOL
Develop a plan of action – First you need formulate a business plan
which must include the operational plans (such as financing, marketing
strategies & recruitment) and educational plans (such as curriculum,
assessment procedure etc.). Carry out an extensive research to get a
better know-how about establishing a boarding house. For that, you may
talk to the founders of already existing boarding schools.
Form a committee –
Arrange for funds –
Obtain permissions
Find location
Hire staff –
Market your boarding school –