When it comes to successfully developing a school, while there are many factors at play, curriculum and branding being two of them, location will be the silent driver of growth. For education investors, selecting an optimal urban area, neighborhood and land plot will directly affect enrollment potential, operational feasibility and future profit for their schools. At Podar Smarter Schools, we have developed our school locations through evidence-based, strategic planning decisions rather than by guessing.
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Step One: Choosing the Right City – Demand Comes First
Where there’s a sustained demand, a school can thrive. In an ideal city, we find a balance in terms of population growth; stable incomes; and educated consumers.
Potential cities usually include:
- Increasing numbers of professionals and members of the middle class
- Increased residential developments (e.g., apartments, township, gated communities)
- Fewer than sufficient quality organized schools
Podar Smarter Schools identifies potential for Tier 2 and emerging Tier 3 cities to be high-growth locations. While parents in these cities are increasingly aspirational, they may have limited options when it comes to established school brands. This creates a greater opportunity for faster adoption and building of community trust. Before deciding on whether or not to locate in a particular city, Podar Smarter Schools examines city-specific data including migration trends, employment centres, and long-term urban development.
Step Two: Area Selection – Where Parents Actually Live
Once a city has been decided on, then the attention turns to the micro-market, the neighborhood that feeds into the school.
Most effective school catchments have the following characteristics:
- A high density of residential homes with families and young children
- Future new home developments where occupancy times align with the opening of the school
- Little or no competition from other schools in the same fee range
Parents like their schools close to them; ideally within a 15-20 minute drive time, especially for the youngest children. Schools located near busy highways but away from congested traffic provide a safe convenient alternative, two of the key decision making points for parents.
Step Three: Understanding Parent Behaviour Patterns
While location planning is a geographic process, it is ultimately a psychological process for parents. While they may make an initial list of schools by reference to:
- Average time required in each school’s daily commute
- Safety ratings for the area surrounding the school
- Reputation of the neighbourhood and social and peer options available
Podar Smarter Schools examine these behavioural responses to ensure that Podar Smarter Schools are located at locations which will enable parents to send their children to school on a daily basis, not merely because there is available land.
Step Four: The Right Plot – Functionality Over Size
Many investors incorrectly believe that larger land equates to greater performance when it comes to investing in a school. However, when it comes to investing in a school, plot usability (functionality) has much greater importance than simply having large land parcels.
The ideal school parcel of land will have:
- Few to no safety concerns with regards to bus and parent drop off/pick up locations
- Proper zoning for classrooms, playgrounds and administrative areas
- Meets all regulatory requirements from both educational authorities and local governments
Land title issues, access road issues and the ability to vertically expand or phase-in development are equally important. When evaluating potential parcels of land, Podar’s planning staff considers both immediate and long-term needs of the school and evaluate the parcel as if they were going to be using this parcel of land for the next 10-15 years.
Visibility and Brand Presence Matter
Schools’ physical presence is one of the most significant factors in developing a memorable brand. A location that provides visibility on a primary route (either a major road or residential area) will generally produce higher levels of awareness and walk-in inquiries compared to less visible locations.
Visibility can be very beneficial when finding potential students however, it is equally important for schools to strike a balance between visibility and safety. Podar places a high level of importance in selecting locations that are easily accessible and discoverable; but also provide sufficient distance to create a safe and peaceful learning environment.
Competition Mapping: Know Who You’re Up Against
A strategic location is an area in which there is enough competition to create pricing power, but not so much that it creates overcrowding. Podar Smarter Schools undertakes thorough competition mapping to evaluate factors such as:
- The number of schools within a defined geographic radius
- School fee structures and market positioning
- Gaps in curriculum offerings and the quality perceptions of students/parents
Through this competition mapping process, Podar identifies under-serviced areas or pockets in the marketplace where its competitive advantage (high-quality education through strong systems) will be evident and therefore able to differentiate itself from other school options.
Infrastructure & Future Growth Potential
Long term thinkers are smart investors; areas that have future infrastructure developments (new roads, new metro lines, commercial zones) will attract population growth over the next few years.
Podar analyzes:
- Development plans from local government
- Pipeline for residential projects
- Future connectivity upgrades
When you open an educational institution in a growing area Podar can grow at the same time the community is growing and this means that Podar will always have students to enrol.
Local Regulations and Compliance Ease
Selecting a city based on local zoning, building codes and education board guidelines reduces both costs and time associated with obtaining necessary approvals to open a school.
Podar Smarter Schools assists investors in navigating local education and land use regulations and selecting locations that are likely to be approved by local government entities and will not have operational limitations.
Why Podar’s Location Strategy Gives Investors an Edge
With Podar Smarter Schools, by combining operational knowledge with on-site intelligence, franchisee location decision-making is informed using a combination of data, operational experience and on-the-ground input, thus reducing trial and error risk as well as improving time to stability for new locations.
Investors receive the following benefits:
- Data-driven city/area selection support
- Plot evaluation support by experts
- Long term scalable growth planning.
Conclusion: Location Is Strategy, Not Chance
A school’s investment is not simply about selecting a piece of land or a building; it is a strategic business move. When selecting the best City, Neighbourhood and Plot of land, an investor will be able to attract students at a faster rate than their competitors, build trust in their brand and ultimately create a strong foundation for long term success.
Podar Smarter School’s structured process for creating a location science platform for investors will give them clarity and confidence when making an investment decision and provide a quantifiable competitive edge by establishing a school as a sustainable, community-based institution with potential for continued long-term growth.