Sam Freedman
In this session Sam will run through the main announcements from the 2024 spending review and analyse what it means for the school sector. He will then look forward to the second phase of the spending review, due to be announced in the summer, which will cover 2026-2028. We’ll explore what options the government have and what that means for school leaders.
The SEND system has become financially unsustainable over recent years. The number of pupils with SEND and EHCPs in particular, have rocketed since 2018 and funding has not kept pace with this rise. For those navigating the system, increased demand has led to significant backlogs, access has become more combative and the pressures on school trusts are significant and growing. Luke Sibieta gives an overview of the recent IFS report into the current crisis, and weighs up potential policy responses in conversation with Leora Cruddas.
Excellence in operations is key to the sustained achievement of any organisation's goals, whether it be to optimise shareholder returns or achieve social impact. Whilst the context of education is significantly different from other sectors, there are proven approaches in business that are highly relevant to school trust leadership. In her keynote, Joanne Dawson, Chief Financial Officer at Ormiston Academies Trust (OAT), shares her experience of applying the learnings from her global roles in FTSE100 companies in her trust, including applying bottom-up design principles, what relentless talent management requires, and how to address the barriers of silo working, and how this is enabling OAT's educational goals.
Claire Heald
In an era where data drives decision-making, understanding how to harness estate and energy data is crucial for educational institutions. This workshop will explore how digitisation can revolutionise your school estate, drive efficiency, and pave the way for informed decision-making. Our three highly experienced presenters will delve into the transformative power of data analytics in managing school facilities effectively. Key takeaways from this session will include, streamlining processes, evidence-based decision making and data driven spatial solutions.
Claire Heald
Procurement with purpose for school trusts focuses on achieving value for money through sustainable, ethical, and responsible procurement practices. It emphasises the importance of green procurement, fair labour practices, and delivering social value within schools. This session will explore key procurement strategies include competitive tendering, contract lifecycle assessment, and schools and community engagement to ensure medium-term benefits and positive social impact.
Lauren Meadows
At our last Finance and Operations Conference, we heard how Dixons Academies Trust was radically reimagining its business services to schools, and the rigorous foundations it had established for service transformation. A year on, we are delighted to welcome the Dixons' Project and Service Leads back to share their experience of implementation. Amanda Bailey, Orrin Campbell and Tom Rennie will set out what has been achieved in phase one, its impact, and the feedback received. They will also outline how and what the second phase will deliver in spring 2025, and their new approach to the continuous improvement of business services to their schools.
In IMP Software's recent CFO insight survey, “struggling to get buy-in from headteachers” was one of the main challenges that was found to be holding CFOs back from implementing trust-wide ICFP. In this session Andrew Robinson, CFO at Ebor Academy Trust and Donna Bedford, Headteacher at Robert Wilkinson Primary Academy, will outline how they have ensured a collaborative approach to ICFP alongside their headteachers, which enables resources to be targeted to school priorities whilst also ensuring a sustainable staffing model that is driven by educational need.
This session will explore how trusts can align operations and education to create a unified, mission-driven team. The next step for trust operational maturity goes beyond generating efficiencies and releasing time for educators, to contributing to school improvement; professionalising operational careers; and aligning all teams around the shared goal of improving outcomes for children. Join us to discover how fostering a cohesive "one team, one mission" culture can transform your trust, with real-life success stories from trust leaders.
What qualities do effective leaders of operations in education need and how do we nurture and develop people in these roles? In this session, Emma Hughes and Jo Marchant will reflect on their journeys into senior leadership and the learnings that have shaped their style and practice to consider how we build and support the next generation of operational leaders in our trusts.
David Shields
Opening new nurseries or extending existing provision to younger children are exciting developments that can bring huge benefits to the trust and its families. It can also present significant financial and operational complexity for the central team. This session explores the experience of the Lion Academy Trust, an 11-school primary trust that has extended nursery provision, taken it in house from private providers, and, most recently, set up a new nursery from scratch. Join David and Kelly to hear about the issues overcome by the Lion team, the opportunities created in their trust and wider community, and the insights gained along the way.
This workshop explores how trusts can generate substantial investment income with efficient and simple deposit strategies. It will consider what trusts are permitted to do, to help you understand the risks involved and the features of an effective deposit policy. It will also share insights from River Learning Trust on how such a strategy was implemented and the impact it has had to support frontline services in its schools.
This session will explore how to use data to get best value from your in-house or outsourced catering and cleaning services. Discussion topics will include the data you need and how to collect it, using benchmarks to track performance, where the biggest cost efficiency opportunities lie and balancing cost vs quality in service delivery. By the end of this session, attendees will gain a clearer understanding of how data can be used to measure and improve the efficiency of support services and receive practical steps to achieving sustainable efficiencies.
In this session we will focus on the Employment Rights Bill provisions to establish a school support staff negotiating body, which will make recommendations on pay, terms and conditions of employment, training, and career progression for school support staff working in both maintained schools and academies. Natalie, who sits on the DfE’s working group for this body, will explain the impact of the proposed legislation for trusts and will also consider the aspects which remain open to consultation.
How can all parts of a school trust contribute meaningfully to excellent educational outcomes? And how can trust leaders and boards align around strategic priorities and be assured that all endeavours of the trust are focusing on delivering the best education for pupils? Ben March, Chief Finance and Operations Officer at STEP Academy Trust will be talking to Samira Sadeghi, Director of Trust Governance at CST about how STEP uses KPIs to facilitate educational outcomes. This session will cover how operations within STEP enable excellent educational outcomes for pupils, and how trustees engage with and support this practice. Ben will share how STEP developed a framework that balances consistency of expectation whilst appreciating the context of each school, how KPIs are using as part of this process, the importance of establishing the right interplay between KPIs to avoid unintended outcomes, and the impact that this is having across the trust.
