How to Encourage September Enrolments for Your Class-Based Business

Aug 12, 2026

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4 min read

Melanie Durham

The new academic year is a busy time for everyone. Parents are sorting uniforms, schools are ramping back up, and families are booking their kids into all the activities they missed over the summer:

Dance classes
Gymnastics classes
Swimming lessons
Martial arts

If you're running a class-based business or a studio, September is one of your biggest opportunities of the year. So how do you make sure it's your classes filling up?

Here are four practical ways to get more September sign-ups from existing and new students.

1. Make your sign-up process quick and easy

If your sign-up process is long-winded, confusing, or not optimised for mobile, you're losing more bookings than you think. Parents are trying to sort this out in five spare minutes between school pickup and dinner. If it's not fast, they'll put it off, and "I'll do it later" often means "I forgot" or "I found somewhere else."

We go into this in more detail in 9 Studio Bottlenecks Class Management Software Can Fix, but the short version: strip out every unnecessary step.

How Class Manager helps: Send families a single link to your booking portal, where they can browse your class schedule and book a session straight from their phone. No forms to print, no calls to make, no waiting for a reply. Just browse, book, done.

2. Give your existing families first refusal

Your existing clients are your biggest win. They already know and trust you, and most of them want to come back each year anyway. So give them the chance to rebook before you open registrations to the wider community.

Tell them ahead of time when registrations open, for example, "September enrolments open on 15th August," and stick to that date. Then follow up with reminders so it stays on their radar over the summer break.

How Class Manager helps: Reach your families however suits you, by email, or through our new communication feature, Chats. Send 1:1 messages, group messages, or a broadcast to everyone at once. You can also post a Spotlight update announcing that registrations are open. Every one of these lands as a notification straight in your families' portals, so nothing gets missed in a crowded inbox.

3. Offer an early bird incentive

A small nudge can be the difference between "I'll sort it later" and "I'll do it now." Early bird discounts create urgency and reward the families who commit early, which also gives you a clearer picture of your September numbers sooner.

How Class Manager helps: Build early bird offers directly using Packages. Set up a trial, drop-in, or term package with a percentage off, available only in the week before enrolments open, so families have a real reason to act fast rather than sit on the fence.

4. Run a referral scheme

Word of mouth is still one of the most powerful ways to fill classes. A "bring a friend" referral scheme turns your existing families into recruiters, and rewards them for it.

We've covered how to set one up properly in Build a Referral Scheme for Your Dance Studio.

How Class Manager helps: Track referrals and reward loyal families without extra admin, so your community does some of the marketing for you.

The Right Class Management Software Can Help You

September enrolments don't have to be a scramble. Make it easy to sign up, give your existing families first refusal, reward early action, and let your community help you grow. Get these four right, and you'll spend less time chasing sign-ups and more time teaching.

If you're looking for a way to improve how you run your class-based business, Class Manager is the perfect fit. There's no monthly subscription, and we're adding new features all the time, including skill tracking, notes, multi-teacher support, and packages, to help you run a smoother studio and grow your enrolments year after year.

If you want to find out more about Class Manager and start running your business with it, along with the wide range of features designed to save you hours of admin every week, book a demo with our team, who can take you through it all. Or, create your free account.

Or, learn more in our past blog posts here: