Picture the scene: You’ve written an incredible email, put together an unmissable offer, completed an optimised landing page, and you’ve just hit send.

You’ve been so consumed in your creative endeavours, that it’s only after hitting send that you realise that you’ve released your carefully crafted email into teacher inboxes on a Saturday morning!

Ensuring your emails are landing into inboxes at the perfect time is essential for a successful campaign.

While we’d usually recommend avoiding sending on a Saturday morning, there are endless other school events, awareness days, budget release dates, and much more that could have a dramatic impact (positive and negative) on your email results.

Why is it important to stay up to date?

Increase open rates

Plan your campaign and create your campaign around a date. Perhaps your product relates to mental health? Make sure you’re aware of and planning content to coincide with Children’s Mental Health Week and Safer Internet Day in February.

Create a personal connection

Of course, you don’t have to plan a whole campaign around every event in the calendar, but making a passing reference to dates that are important for your audience will increase the connection. Take Teacher Appreciation Week. If you’re sending an email to teachers that week, it’s a nice touch to reference this and let them know their hard work is valued.

Avoid offending anyone

Paying attention to sending dates and avoiding any big religious holidays or sensitive awareness days will help you avoid upsetting any of your contacts. More generally, it’s worth being aware of the busy, challenging periods of the year, such as exams season.

To give you a head start on the new academic year and help you plan an effective marketing calendar, we’ve pulled together a selection of key dates to start filling your diary with.

Among the well-known dates and events, there could be some that you’ve never even heard of before!

You can also download our free desktop calendar including key dates by clicking here.

Want access to our full education calendar?

Speak to us about Campus. Our Education Insights Calendar, available only to Campus users, is the most detailed education calendar available to sellers for schools, including events, deadlines, exams, awareness days, holidays, and much more. It will take the guessing out of your marketing to schools forever!

Just click here and complete our contact form or give us a call on 01684 297374 to find out more about Campus and our Education Insights Calendar.

SEPTEMBER 2021

International Literacy Day – 8 September

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to help teachers plan a day of literacy activities.

UCAS undergraduate registration – 8 September

Students can send their applications to UCAS and colleges and universities can begin making decisions.

Exam result appeals window - 17 September

The final opportunity for students to challenge the teacher-assessed grades they’ve received for GCSE and A-levels.

Annual teaching staff appraisals

Typically 12 months long, appraisal cycles tend to run from 1 September to 31 August.

New academic year education trips and music tours

The start of the new academic year is a popular period for school trips, both home and abroad, to re-engage students in their learning.

Swimming galas

These typically run throughout the end of summer and into autumn.

Harvest festivals

Harvest arrives quickly after the summer holidays. It’s a great opportunity to link STEM activities and products.

Final UCAS entry deadline – 21 September

A date to be aware of if your product or service is targeted towards older students.

Pupil premium instalment released

Schools get pupil premium grants based on the number of pupils they have each year from disadvantaged groups. The grants are released in quarterly instalments throughout the financial year. Although the main aim of the pupil premium is to raise attainment, schools have some flexibility in how they spend the money. They are entitled to spend it on non-academic outcomes, such as improving pupils’ mental health, boosting attendance, and providing activities that will also benefit non-eligible pupils.

OCTOBER

Black History Month

An important opportunity to support schools celebrating and honouring the accomplishments of Black Britons in every area of endeavour throughout history.

Parent evenings

Schools must hold at least one parents evening a year, with most schools opting to hold two. Parents evenings held in the autumn term are generally an opportunity to meet the teacher and check how pupils are settling into their new year.

World Dyslexia Awareness Week 4 – 10 October

NOVEMBER

Sports premium instalment released

The PE and sport premium provides ring-fenced money to primary school Head Teachers to improve the quality of the PE and sports activities they offer their pupils. Schools receive PE and sport premium funding based on the number of pupils in years 1 to 6. They can only spend this money on developing or adding to the physical education activities, and sports that they provide. PE and sport premium funding is released in two separate payments in a year.

Guy Fawkes Night 5 November

Remembrance Day 11 November

Anti-Bullying Week 15 – 19 November

The week is dedicated to sending a clear and positive message that bullying is neither acceptable nor inevitable in our schools and communities.

Road Safety Week 15 – 21 November

The week aims to inspire schools, organisations and communities to take action on road safety and promote life-saving messages during the Week and beyond.

St Andrews Day 30 November

CIF registration deadline for new applicants 29 November

DECEMBER

World Aids Day 1 December

Nativity Plays, Christmas concerts, carol services, and festive trips begin

Typically a very busy period for schools running up to the holidays. December tends to see lower open rates than other months throughout the year.

International Day of Persons with Disabilities 3 December

This year’s theme, for the annual celebration of people with disabilities, is ‘Not all Disabilities are Visible’. The day will focus on spreading awareness and understanding of disabilities that are not immediately apparent, such as mental illness, chronic pain or fatigue, sight or hearing impairments, diabetes, brain injuries, neurological disorders, learning differences, and cognitive dysfunctions, among others.

The Ashes 2021 8 December – 18 January

The Ashes will kick off in Brisbane, Australia.

Human Rights Day 10 December

Human Rights Day commemorates the day in 1948 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

CIF application deadline 13 December

The Condition Improvement Fund is available for eligible academies, sixth-form colleges, and voluntary-aided schools to apply to. The priority for the fund is to ensure buildings and facilities are kept safe and in good working order. Eligible schools must apply for the annual capital funding with proof of good financial management. Schools are notified of the outcomes of their applications in March.

Kwanzaa 26 December

Kwanzaa is an annual, 7-day celebration of African-American culture.

JANUARY 2022

Winnie the Pooh Day 18 January

The BETT Show 19 – 21 January

The leading education technology trade show and conference takes place in London, welcoming thousands of educators and EdTech businesses from across the globe.

Burns Night 25 January

Holocaust Memorial Day 27 January

The theme for HMD 2022 is One Day, offering an opportunity to interpret the theme in many ways – One Day in history, One Day when life changed, One Day at a time, One Day in the future, One Day is a snap shot.

FEBRUARY

Sports premium instalments 1 February

Parents evenings

For schools holding two parents evenings a year, a date in February or towards the end of the spring term is an opportunity to provide parents with an update on progress and discuss areas for improvement.

National Heart Month

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) declares February as National Heart Month to raise awareness of heart conditions.

World Cancer Day 4 February

Charles Dickens Day 7 February

Children’s Mental Health Week 7 – 13 February

Safer Internet Day 8 February

International Day of Women and Girls in Science 11 February

A global celebration of the women who work and contribute to the major scientific findings that shape our world.

MARCH

Ski trips

The first few months of the year are often a popular time for school ski trips to coincide with the ski season in most European resorts.

CIF notification of outcomes

Notifications of outcomes from CIF applications take place throughout the month.

St David’s Day 1 March

World Wildlife Day 3 March

World Book Day 3 March

Held annually since 1995, World Book Day was launched to provide every child in full-time education in the UK with a voucher to be spent on books. Schools often celebrate by encouraging pupils to dress up as their favourite fictional characters.

International Women’s Day 8 March

As well as celebrating brilliant women, this annual celebration is also used as a day to highlight issues and raise awareness about issues that women still face around the world.

British Science Week 11 – 20 March

A ten-day celebration of science, technology, engineering, and maths.

Holi 19 March

The Hindu festival celebrates the coming of spring and the end of winter.

World Poetry Day 21 March

Introduced in 1999, World Poetry Day promotes the reading, writing, publishing, and teaching of poetry around the world.

Pupil premium instalment released

APRIL

State school budgets released

National Poetry Month

A month-long celebration of the joy, expressiveness, and pure delight of poetry.

SATs regular registration deadline 4 April

Ramadan 2 April 1 May

Ramadan is a month-long period of fasting, prayer, and spiritual reflection. Observed by 1.8 billion Muslims around the world, it is one of the biggest religious events on the planet.

World Health Day 7 April

World Health Day is an annual celebration dedicated to promoting the benefits of good health and wellbeing worldwide.

School sports tours

Spring and summer terms are popular times for schools to consider taking their various athletics teams on sports tours.

MAY

KS1 SATs

KS1 SATs are informal assessments taken throughout the month. The 2022 KS1 SATs will be the final year of KS1 SATs tests before they're phased out and replaced by a Reception Baseline Assessment.

KS2 SATs 9 – 12 May

The assessments take for Year 6 pupils test English (grammar, punctuation, spelling and reading) and Maths.

Deaf Awareness Week 2 – 8 May

Teacher Appreciation Week 2 – 8 May

A week-long celebration in recognition of teachers and the contributions they make to education and society.

World Asthma Day 3 May

Founded in 1998, World Asthma Day is an annual event, which aims to raise awareness of asthma and how it impacts sufferers.

NSPCC Number Day 4 May

NSPCC Number Day is a maths inspired fundraising day, designed to get pupils taking part in maths activities, wear an item of clothing with a number on it, and make a donation.

GCSE exams begin

Usually running between mid-May to mid-June.

A-level exams begin

The exam period marks a particularly busy time in a school’s calendar.

JUNE

LGBTQIA+ pride month

Typically June is known as Pride Month in the UK. LGBTQIA+ pride is the promotion of self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people as a social group.

Bike Week 8 - 15 June

Held in June each year, Bike Week is an event that seeks to raise awareness of the benefits of cycling and aims to get people on their bikes.

World Oceans Day 8 June

More than 140 countries take part and pledge to consider the importance of the ocean and how we can protect it.

World Refugee Day 20 June

The United Nations' World Refugee Day is an international event honouring the courage, strength, and determination of women, men and, children who are forced to flee their homeland under the threat of persecution, conflict, and violence.

RSE Day 30 June

RSE Day (Relationships and Sex Education Day) is an annual event that encourages parents, teachers, carers, and educators to talk openly about relationships and sex education with their children.

Pupil premium instalment released

JULY

US Independence Day 4 July

A date to remember if you’re sending to a US audience.

Eid al-Adha 9 – 13 July

The ‘Festival of Sacrifice’ is considered to be one of the holiest festivals in the Islamic calendar and commemorates Allah's test of the prophet Ibrahim's devotion.

St Swithin’s Day 15 July

According to folklore, the weather will remain as it is on St Swithin’s Day for 40 days and 40 nights.

2022 Commonwealth Games 28 July – 8 August

Commonly known as Birmingham 2022, for the year, the event is an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth.

AUGUST

A-level results day 11 August

GCSE results day 18 August

You can also download our free desktop calendar including key dates by clicking here.

For full access to our Education Insights Calendar, call us on 01684 297374 to find out more about becoming a Campus user.

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