About Us

Welcome to AMCIS, the Association for Admissions, Marketing and Communications in Independent Schools.

It’s our mission to help independent schools thrive by advancing professional expertise in admissions, marketing and communications in a friendly, supportive membership community. We’ve been serving the independent schools sector for over 25 years and have a growing number of over 500 member schools across the United Kingdom.

Membership offers many benefits, not least support and advice, discounted rates at our many training and professional development events, and the opportunity to study for our own diploma qualifications. You can read more about membership benefits here.  

Our Values

Expertise
We provide varied opportunities for members and non-members to acquire expertise and be inspired to do the best job they can for their school. We also celebrate our members’ professional expertise through the annual AMCIS IMPACT Awards.

The sharing of knowledge and best practice
AMCIS members share ideas and act as a sounding board for one another through our online member forums and half-termly online ‘bubble’ meetings, as well as in our conferences and training events.  

Collaborative working
We often work with other organisations and individuals with appropriate expertise – such as IAPS and ISC – to offer learning opportunities for AMCIS members and the sector as a whole.

Networking
Our members tell us they value the professional contacts, new ideas, and sense of reassurance they gain from AMCIS networking opportunities.

Individual professional development
We offer our own professional qualifications, the highly specialised AMCIS diplomas in Schools’ Marketing and School Admissions Management. We also deliver one-day workshops that enable anyone working in independent school admissions, marketing and communications to continually develop their professional expertise. The AMCIS Jobs Vacancies service enables independent schools to recruit from a wide pool of talented individuals.

A supportive approach
We believe in a friendly, supportive approach to combat professional isolation and ensure that everyone, whatever their starting point, feels they can learn with us. Time and again, our members tell us that AMCIS membership means they no longer feel alone.

Diversity and inclusion
Whilst acknowledging that there is some way to go before the sector we work in is a fully diverse and inclusive environment, we are committed to contributing to positive, meaningful change. We have begun to provide platforms for diverse experts to share their knowledge and experience and we undertake to enable a diverse audience of members and non-members to acquire new skills and inspiration.

AMCIS Board of Directors

AMCIS is run by a board of 11 directors, led by three officers:

• Chair
• Vice Chair
• Treasurer

AMCIS Office

The daily management and administration of AMCIS, including all event, communications and training course management, is the responsibility of the AMCIS CEO, Tory Gillingham, and her team. Meet the full team here.