Freedom and Autonomy for Schools – National Association SBM Primary Cluster Grants 2014-15...

Freedom and Autonomy for Schools – National Associationwww.fasna.org.uk


Conference objectives

To give Clusters the opportunity to share emerging practice and explore ways of dealing with common issues

To clarify DFE expectations of ClustersTo update Cluster SBMs on national policy developmentsTo clarify the support available to Clusters from NASBM and FASNA


10.45 - 10.50am Formal welcome & introductions

10.50 - 11.15am Developing the school business management

profession in an autonomous educational system

11.15 - 11.30am The SBM contribution to national policy

implementation

11.30 - 11.40am Coffee break

11.40 - 12.00pm Buying collaboratively

12.00 - 12.20pm Buying collaboratively – Table discussion

12.20 - 1.00pm Lunch and networking


1.00 - 1.15pm ‘In at the deep end’ – how to make a success of the

Cluster SBM role

1.15 - 2.15pm Making a success of the Cluster SBM role:

identifying priorities and measuring impact

2.15 - 2.30pm Meeting DFE reporting requirements

2.30 - 2.45pm Final questions and burning issues

2.45pm Close of conference


Presenters and Facilitators

Carl Fagan – Senior Manager, Funding Policy Unit, Department for EducationHelen Lumb – Commercial Skills for Schools Lead, Department for EducationStephen Morales – Executive Director, NASBMTom Clark – Chair, FASNASarah Ray – Chief Operating Officer, FASNALiz Walters – Training and Development Director, NASBM


Presenters and Facilitators

David Allen – Associate Practitioner, NASBMJane Durkin – Associate Practitioner, NASBMWendy Farrier – Associate Practitioner, NASBMPeter Melville – Associate Practitioner, NASBMNina Siddle – Associate Practitioner, NASBMCharles Turvill – Associate Practitioner, NASBMHelen Albrow – Policy, Research and Resources Lead Officer, NASBMLouise Burkinshaw – Training Coordinator, NASBM


Joined-up leadership:

Head Teachers AND Governors AND School Business Managers

Tom Clark, Chair, FASNAStephen Morales, Executive Director, NASBM


NASBM is the leading professional association for school business management professionals, with over 2500 members

Our core objectives:

Representing and building the reputation of SBM professionals

Supporting our members to carry out their role more effectively

Assisting members to develop their career

Setting the standard for the SBM profession

We aim to be: impartial; authoritative; collaborative; sector- led; responsive.


FASNA is a ‘not for profit’ membership organisation with charitable status, which seeks to promote and secure autonomy for schools and evidence its success

Member schools include VA schools, Foundation schools, Trust schools, Type 1 ‘sponsored’ academies, ‘Converter’ academies, primary, secondary, and special schools

Members include Headteachers, Governors, Clerks to Governors and School Business Managers

FASNA is apolitical


Present landscape


There are 4296 academies

1879 secondary schools2260 primary schools 129 special schools28 alternative provision 71% of all academies are ‘converters’Academies are not all the same – ‘sponsored’ or ‘converter’; ‘stand-alone’ or in MATS; or in larger ‘chains’In addition there are over 2,500 independent schools, 3,750 VA schools and 736 Foundation Schools, so roughly 11,229 ‘autonomous schools’


Present Landscape Government has created a market of ‘free’ schools,

academies (‘sponsored’, ‘converters’ and ‘chains’), UTCs, studio schools, trust schools, foundation schools, community schools and independent schools

There is a crowded ‘middle tier’ – RSCs, LAs, Trustees, Governors, NLEs, LLEs, Teaching schools, NLGs, sponsored ‘chains’ of academies, MATS, commercial offers – which is more school-led than ever before

Patience is required for system leadership to grow and mature

‘Regulators’ include DfE, EFA, Ofsted and league tables


Standards have become more rigorous and narrower:‘Floor’ and ‘bar’ raised‘Satisfactory’ is ‘not satisfactory’Accountability frameworks different and tougherThis is true for ALL schools


Challenge to Governors

Governance – the 30 year default – Volunteers, usually parents, with single school perspectivebecoming… ‘Non-executive directors of autonomous not-for-profit public companies’ – a multi-school framework and perspectiveA movement away from the stakeholder model: a movement towards ‘skill-sets’ but also true for all schools


Effective Governance

Does your Governing Body PASS the test?Is it:Professional in practice and membership?Accountable with robust structures?Strategic in operation and outlook?Skilled in challenging and supporting?


The continuing future

There will be:

Some big external ‘chains’(some perhaps commercial) More local ‘chains’ of academies, led by schools 100s, if not 1,000s of small schools needing to collaborate to

remain viable Demand for real value for money under procurement deals Risk of financial implosion (‘perfect storm’) – NI, Pensions, Post

16 funding NO sight of National Fair Funding NO MORE MONEY


The continuing future

If Labour is elected:Fewer (or no more) ‘converter’ academies and not ‘subsidised’Definitely no more ‘grants’ of up to £175K to convertSome kind of ‘local management’, LAs or Regional arrangementSome freedoms – curriculum, school day, services but not full range of academy freedomsNO MORE MONEY


Joined-up future

Joined-up leadership

Headteachers, Governors and School Business Managers

For SBMs status and remuneration comes with co-professional responsibility for strategic direction and pupil progress, not just managing the finances


Strong school leadership is not about one person or one set of skills Schools need play to their strengths Schools need to trust and embrace the specialists skills of all their Leadership Team colleagues Schools need to nurture the talents of their best managers without the fear of being undermined Schools need to learn how to effectively manage, delegate and encourage engagement Strong school leadership through triangulation – we are better together!

Effective Engagement =

School Effectiveness

Head Teacher

School Business

Management

Effective Governance


Why schools need specialistsSchools are business operations

Specialist expertise is needed to complement teaching and learning and effective governance

As school autonomy and operational complexity increase school business management finds itself centre stage

The sector faces significant challenges but the new emerging opportunities are equally exciting


Leading School Business Management Professionals will need to ensure they….


Together we are stronger!


NASBM/FASNA Dual Membership Offerfor SBM Primary Clusters in receipt of DfE Grant

Dual membership benefits include: Membership of two associations uniquely dedicated to your profession and the sector Member-only e-bulletins, news updates and policy briefings Access to the member-only resources from both FASNA and NASBM An influential national voice with Government A trusted support network – school-led support from FASNA Members and NASBM

Associate Practitioners An online professional community providing access to networks of school business

managers across the country Termly member magazines: ‘The Voice’ from NASBM and ‘Academy Magazine’ from

FASNA Membership discount on training and National Conferences Free attendance at a NASBM Regional Conference and regional briefing


Developing your professional practice

Effective Financial Management Guide

Effective Governance Guide

Key questions, actions, information, case studies www.fasna.org.uk SBM Professional Standards Framework – Take part in NASBM’s national consultation in summer 2015 NASBM Fellowship Status – Apply from December 2014 Understanding the SBM qualifications – Contact the NASBM Advice Centre

To find out more visit www.nasbm.co.uk

The SBM Contribution to National Policy Implementation

Carl Fagan

Funding Policy Unit,

DFE

SBM PC Grant Conference

12th December 2014

Review of efficiency in the school system (2013)

• The Government gives schools around £40bn a year in revenue funding.

• Schools revenue funding remains has been protected in this parliament and remains protected in real terms in 2015-16.

• We must spend this effectively to deliver the best quality of education and best possible outcomes for pupils

• School leaders are the right people to decide how to spend the funding allocated to them.

• In DFE, it is our role to create a framework within which schools can improve their own levels of efficiency, while still maintaining the freedom to take the decisions that are right for them.

A Review of Efficiency in the Schools System 2013

The characteristics of the most efficient schools

Our research determined that the most efficient schools:

1. Deploy the workforce effectively, with a focus on developing high quality teachers

2. Make use of evidence to determine the right mix of teaching and education support staff

3. Employ or have access to a skilled school business manager who takes on a leadership role

4. Make good use of financial benchmarking information, to inform the school’s own spending decisions

5. Make use of school clusters, sharing expertise, experience and data, as well as accessing economies of scale when making shared purchases

6. Manage down back office costs and running costs

7. Have in place a strong governing body and leadership team that challenges the school’s spending

The holy trinity- an efficient and well-run school

The Department’s Priorities

Future challenges

A couple of questions…..

•What do you think are the most significant challenges in your cluster?

•How could we help you to foster a greater culture of efficiency at your schools?

[email protected]

[email protected]

Buying Collaboratively – how to make it work for you?

Helen Lumb

Commercial skills for schools lead

Why collaborate

• Become an intelligent customer

• Achieve procurement efficiencies

• Meet deadlines by sharing tasks

• Get better services by knowing what works for your schools “Walk in your users shoes”

Variation in spending?

The current climateSo………… where can we start?

Save money - time for a

financial health check?

Pareto Example

• Thinking about the previous questions – does the same situation apply in school?

• Think about the associated admin costs, yours and your team ?

• Where would your Pareto line be?• Can you identify Top 10 suppliers• Identify 5 things that you might do.

Lets try it………...

Kraljic Model

LeverageItems

StrategicItems

Non Critical Items

Bottleneck Items

L H

H

Significant Value for schooloutput –e.g. BroadbandAccess, schoolMI modules

Risk – item scarce, few suppliers or delivery difficult

Kraljic Model

Gap Analysis

• Analyse expenditure

• Review your contracts

• Identify opportunities for rationalisation

• Deliver admin savings

• Collaborate across key strategic spend areas

• Benchmark and compare http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/

What can you do?

What to consider?

• Risk

– What level of risk are we willing to take or will a higher level of risk give us more options?

• Are there any implications for senior leaders or Governors?

• Better planning will make for an efficient and secure, process with fewer legal risks

• Award to one supplier only

• Manage your contract

• Accountability issues

We’ve taken the work out of finding good deals in key spend areas…

The Department supports the development and delivery of procurement efficiency savings in schools. Through:

• working with partners to deliver the best procurement deals for schools on specific goods and services and to address procurement issues, change industry practice and raise awareness of the pitfalls of poor procurement practice

• continuing to ensure schools can access support to help them make informed procurement decisions

• raising awareness of efficient purchasing methods through our website and our partners.

• Energy

• ICT / Microsoft licenses

• Insurance and Risk Protection Arrangement

• Benchmarking products and services/Banking/acquiring services

• Professional services: legal, due diligence and audit

• Food

Examples of spend areas…

• ''By using the new CCS RM1599 framework the school is saving 90% on the new Xerox MFD agreement plus over 80% on the Service contract.'' Benthal Primary School, Stoke Newington, London

• We’ve accessed the new RM1599 Lot 1 framework and we’re saving over £1,500 a year. The greatest savings have been on the new colour capable device, 34% less for lease rental contract and 51% lower for the service contract. We’re glad to say the service has been excellent and we can now fund other vital resources." Meadowgate School

Examples of quick wins

Benchmarking Data Intelligence

• Develop a benchmarking tool to help schools /Academies identify typical costs for commodities and services to help procure better deals

• Working with CCS, JDP Procurement and a School Reference Group to identify and analyse a quarterly basket of school goods and services to agree “target prices”

• Pilot with a Schools Reference Group – Dec 2014

• Help Schools/Academies to negotiate better deals

Public Sector Procurement – what does it mean?

From 1st January 2014 EU Procurement Directives and

The Public Contracts Regulations 2006

For Schools & Local Authorities thresholds are:-•£172,514 Goods & Services (£111,676 for DfE)

• £4,332,012 Works (i.e. Buildings)

Regulations do not apply in full when the estimated value of contract is below threshold

but Treaty principles do

EU Procurement Directives – Financial Thresholds

Revised directives agreed by EC June 2013. Anticipated to be UK law by spring 2015

Changes to UK public sector procurement regulations are being highlighted to schools in www.buyways.co.uk

Cabinet office training

www.gov.uk/transposing-eu-procurement-directives

New EC Procurement Directives

Core changes to the new Directives

• ‘Most economically advantageous tender’ (MEAT) will become the standard award criterion replacing “lowest price”.

• This includes:

– Quality,

– Environmental & social

– Innovative characteristics

– Transparency in sub-contracting

– Rules on abnormally low bids

“Light Touch” regime for Education & Social Services

• Exemption negotiated for Education & Social Services (& Health) to use a “light touch” regime for services under 750,000 Euros.

• The UK is required to put in place “appropriate procedures” for the award of contracts under this process in the UK Regulations

• The Cabinet Office has consulted on this & we await their proposals

Build your procurement skills

• BuyWays – free eLearning for schools giving a basic introduction to procurement

• six modules in the course, including the Procurement Cycle, EU Legislation and the new rules applying to procurements from spring 2015, and Contract Management

• case studies to help you learn about real-life procurement, and short review sections where you can test your knowledge

Buying Collaboratively

Useful linksProcurement deals and information

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/buying-for-schools

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-procurement-buying-collaboratively

Buying collaboratively For school leaders, school business managers, back office staff and governing bodies in all schools

November 2014

[email protected]

In at the deep endA personal journey - 2009 to 2013

David AllenNASBM Lead Associate PractitionerDecember 2014

Content

• Background• My experience• Some things to have on the radar!

Norfolk – A Royal Rural County

1 High School 1 Children's Centre9 Primary Schools

Approx 1200 Pupils

Where to start?

• Governors – we need a Business manager• Heads – we need a Business manager• Assistant head – we need a Business Manager• Admin Team – we need a Business Manager

Deputy Head “I am not sure we need a Business Manager”

NCC Traded Services “You do not need a Business Manager”

Teachers “What's a Business Manager?”

What would you like me to do?

£500 000 Sports Development Grant

£500 000 Sports Development Grant Make us a lot of money!Make us a lot of money!

It was as new for them as it was for me!

Not everyone will ‘get it’

It was as new for them as it was for me!

Not everyone will ‘get it’

Self funding & sustainableSelf funding & sustainable

The Business Process

• Successful companies

Know your customerKnow your customer

Develop your productDevelop your product

Establish a quality delivery

Establish a quality delivery

Fact-findFact-find

Establish serviceEstablish service

Build capacityBuild capacity

Local issues?• Mixed year groups in Primary schools• Teaching Heads with significant in-class commitments• Falling rolls and Budget implications• Long term Sustainability• Ageing infrastructure • Development of IT• Flat management structure• Succession planning• Changing LA role – change in services provided facilitation v’s Provision

Become an advocate.....

‘Collaboration is part of the solution and not part of the problem’

Developing strategic direction

Demonstrate joined-up thinking…Engage in whole school ‘system’

leadership

…Together we create an environment where success is inevitable...

For your journey…

1. Be an advocate of what you do…2. Understand the Bigger Picture…3. Listen, think and do…4. What does collaboration really mean to you, your schools, your governors?5. How strong is your bond and vision?6. Are you clear that business management is part of the wider collaboration

strategy?7. Think short, medium and long term.8. Are your tasks goals realistic in year 1, challenging in year 2 and a recipe for

success in year 3?9. Have you allowed for training and development time?10. How will you monitor progress against your objectives?

Value professional networkingSo what about collaborative purchasing?

Haven't you got a prescription

for that?

I think I poured it on my cornflakes!

The changing landscape of

‘school organisation’

Youth services

Furthereducation

Social services

Police

Health services

PartnershipsPartnerships

Community Community

Academies Academies

Locality ClustersLocality ClustersThrough SchoolsThrough Schools

TrustsTrusts

CollaborationsCollaborations

Academy Chains Special Schools Special Schools

Federations Federations

Free School Free School

Faith School FederationsFaith School Federations

School Companies School Companies

What next?

• Feel empowered• Opportunity knocks

• Choose your own adventure

The Evaluation Process

Carl Fagan

Funding Policy Unit,

DfE

SBM PC Grant Conference

12th December 2014

The SM PC Grant

•Over 700 expressions of interest•106 Applications•72 successful•48 Appointments made so far•21 payments made to schools/LAs in October•Around 280 schools set to benefit from the Grant, the

appointment of a new senior, strategic SBM and from working in a cluster.

•Very unlikely to be a SBM grant in 2015-16.

Future challenges

Spending Review 2015?

Evaluation Process

•Mid year assessment of grant (mandatory)- Feb-Mar 2015•12 month grant assessment- autumn 2015•24 month evaluation- autumn 2016

Looking at • cost/time savings• efficiency improvements (i.e. getting more for less)• improving grant applications• revenue generation• saving head teacher time• impact on classroom• sustainability

Should be completed by responsible person at lead school i.e. the person who signed the Grant Offer Letter.

Ministers will be VERY interested in the evaluation of this project

Recommendations for a future grant so far

• Schools need a LOT more time in order to join together in clusters, agree a governance model for the SBM and make an application;

• We can afford to be more flexible about numbers of schools in the cluster;

• We can afford to be more flexible about match funding.

Questions

• Can you see any issues with us collecting this information as set out?

• How can we make changes to the grant scheme to make it more effective?

Freedom and Autonomy for Schools – National Association SBM Primary Cluster Grants 2014-15...

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Transcript of Freedom and Autonomy for Schools – National Association SBM Primary Cluster Grants 2014-15...