Here's a rundown of this month's most eye-catching campaign stats...

1) September 2016 Vs September 2017

We say it every year but September was busy, very busy! In fact we sent more campaigns for our clients last month than ever before. This didn’t detract from the open rate though. The average open rate for all our clients' campaigns was 1.12% higher than September 2016 which is a testament to Sprint Education's Data Team (who continue to make 20,000 average open rates every 30 days).

Also, the average click-to-open rate this year was a mammoth 4% higher than September 2016, showing that our move to fully mobile-responsive email design has really paid off and delivered better engagement rates for our clients. Great to see!

2) Thursday’s reign is over!

In recent months, Thursday has been consistently the best day to send in terms of open rates. As I write, Friday has crept into the lead! It’s still really close as you can see from the graph below, but the strong performance of Monday and Friday continues to dispel the myth that teachers don't engage so much with marketing when they're catching up after the weekend or winding down at the end of the school week.

3) Open Rates Per Subject Staff

I’ve never produced this graph before, and I hope you find it useful! It shows how teachers of different subjects are opening our clients' emails. Here you can see that targeting D&T, MFL and Humanities teachers produces the best open rates, possibly due to them receiving less marketing than other staff types.

Here’s the latest news in the Education sector over the last few weeks!

Child Sex Offences

The number of reported sexual assaults by children on other children is increasing, according to a report by the BBC's Panorama programme.

The number of reported sexual offences by under-18s against other under-18s in England and Wales rose by 71% from 4,603 in 2013-14 to 7,866 in 2016-17, according to figures from a Freedom of Information request.

Reports of sexual offences on school premises also increased from 386 in 2013-14 to 922 in 2016-17, according to 31 police forces - including 225 rapes on school grounds over the four years.

Social Media Decline

A survey of 5,000 pupils across England has indicated that that almost two thirds of children would be happy to live without social media. The study was carried out by Digital Awareness UK and the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, and suggested that many children saw social media as having a negative impact on their well-being.

56% said they felt like they were close to being addicted to social media, while 52% of pupils in the study said that social media made them lack confidence or question how interesting their life was. In order to improve social media, students listed less advertising, less fake news, and more creative content.

Co-founder of Digital Awareness UK, Charlotte Robinson said, ‘Social media allows us to be creative, connected, to campaign for things we believe in, to become entrepreneurs. It's a platform that should be celebrated and if online abuse or fake news stops it from flourishing we all lose.’

HMC chairman Chris King added that, ‘The findings of this poll may surprise teachers and parents but it will help them understand the pressures young people feel in the digital age.’

If you feel your business is able to offer an alternative to social media, or offer support and advice surrounding the issue, it could be really useful to teachers and parents alike!

Tuition Fees

Lower earning graduates will now benefit from a delay in their student loan repayments. The government plans to raise the income threshold to £25,000 per year compared with the current £21,000 level.

The government is also to freeze undergraduate tuition fees at £9,250 a year in England, and the PM announced a review of student funding to look at long-term issues, such as a return to maintenance grants and varying tuition fees for courses.

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