Financial management

School business managers' role on the school leadership team

Some school leaders remain unconvinced that the school business manager should have a place on the leadership team. But there’s plenty of evidence that the SBM has a vital role to play – this week’s bulletin encourages SBMs to make sure their voice is heard in whole-school management

Linking the school budget to the school development plan

It’s vital that school business managers avoid inadvertently leaving gaps between the school’s budget and its development plan. This ebulletin flags up ways to avoid these gaps and keep your budget in line with the school’s development needs

The Financial Management Standard in Schools (FMSiS) – supporting your school through assessment

In an educational management world filled with assessment, the FMSiS may seem at first to be yet another drain on the school business manager’s time – but this ebulletin shows the vital supportive role it can play for all of those involved in leading the school

Educational visits coordinators – what you’ve asked to know

This issue takes a deeper look at the role of the educational visits coordinator, answering some of the queries raised by readers about charging, staffing and organisation procedures

Being an effective educational visits coordinator

The roles of school business manager (SBM) and educational visits coordinator (EVC) have many parallel responsibilities. As people often hold both posts, we look at what is involved in organising a school visit

Managing rarely cover

Welcome to the first edition of our new e-bulletin, School Financial Management, written by School Business Manager Lindsey Lester. This issue will be looking at the new staffing agreement of ‘rarely cover’

Improving school efficiency: valuable lessons from the Audit Commission

The Audit Commission’s report Valuable Lessons questions whether taxpayers are getting value for money from the education system. The Commission has also issued guidance on how schools can improve economy and efficiency while still optimising outcomes for children. Gill O’Donnell looks at the recommendations

Audit commission: SEN budgets

The Audit Commission wants schools, including SENCOs, to show that they are getting value for money from their SEN and AEN budgets, and has produced the tools they need

Academy schools: the ultimate career move for school business managers?

The role of finance director at an academy school is potentially a very attractive career opportunity for ambitious school business managers and bursars. Ruth Bradbury explains why

Value in linking school governors and school bursars

There is value in building a working link between school governors and school business managers says Crispin Andrews, who strongly advises bringing them into the senior leadership team

Independent schools: contracts and credit control policy

Timely fee payments at independent schools can be achieved through a clear fee policy and a watertight contract, but if this fails you may need to go to court. Maggie Moodie explains

The role of school business manager in support staff CPD

School business managers can use their influence and expertise to ensure effective CPD and professionalisation of support staff. Nina Siddle describes the role she recently played in reviewing her school's policies

Financial Management Standard made easy for schools

How can the process for meeting the government's Financial Management Standard be made more manageable for school governors? Lindsey Wharmby offers some tips

Specialist schools: what are the financial implications?

There can be inherent funding challenges involved with gaining specialist status for your school. Crispin Andrews explains how the expanded community role of specialist schools has important financial implications

Building Schools for the Future: a personal view

Jill Cameron gives a comprehensive briefing on the highs and lows of the Building Schools for the Future initiative from her personal experience with the programme

Reflecting on a school private finance initiative (PFI)

A private finance initiative (PFI) project can transform a school. Headteacher Brian Rossiter describes the final stages of his school's project, the initial aim of which was to turn his school into an educational establishment for the future

School bursars: advice when joining the senior leadership team

With an increasing number of schools placing business managers on the senior leadership team, Lindsey Lester offers some of her own experience to others who are about to embark on this role

The school business manager's role in sustaining a VLE

Once implemented, VLEs can be used as an integrated tool to improve students' progress and school administration. School business managers and bursars are key to this development, in terms of sustaining the VLE

Grants for schools: the Foyle Foundation

Is accessing a grant to fund educational improvements to your school something that interests you? Gill O'Donnell explains the scope of the Foyle Foundation and how it could benefit your institution

The school business manager's role in implementing a VLE

School business managers and bursars can play a key role in ensuring their schools establish efficient and effective visual learning environments

Benefits of in-house school catering

Bringing your school catering in-house can have benefits for your school finances while at the same time creating a better experience for students

School bursars as heads?

Should we be encouraging school business managers and bursars to progress into headship? Ruth Bradbury, who speaks on financial management at schools, voices her thoughts on the subject, as do three School Financial Management readers

How to finance and manage a sports hall

Gary Dawson provides a comprehensive briefing which explains how to ensure the build of your new school sports hall goes smoothly

The financial side of becoming an academy

Have you ever been attracted by the financial freedom of academies but wondered what the drawbacks are? Gary Dawson guides you through the issues read more

School business managers: utilise your advanced fundraising skills

Business managers and bursars are ideally placed to help their schools develop more robust approaches to fundraising, argue Paul Ainsworth and Josephine Smith

Speaking school finances: business and education

Ruth Bradbury considers the relationship and boundaries between the roles of school business manager and teaching and learning leader read more

Achievements and failures of 'local management'

School governor and former headteacher Peter Downes takes the long view on what 'local management' set out to achieve 25 years ago and where he believes it has gone partially wrong read more

Overcoming common outsourcing concerns: BSF

Steve Smith makes the case to governors for outsourcing the ICT element of Building Schools for the Future projects

Using accounting principles to improve school financial management

Prudence, consistency, accruals and going concern: Ruth Bradbury explains how the four principles of effective accountancy can help schools develop robust financial systems read more

Speaking school finances: making mistakes

To err is human, to forgive, divine... Ruth Bradbury ponders the fallibility of senior leaders read more

Developing medium term financial plans

Lindsey Wharmby puts cost prediction and risk assessment under the spotlight

Speaking school finances: the local authority

My new school is in a different local authority to my previous school, and since taking up my post I have met with a wide range of LA representatives to introduce myself and to get an understanding of the way that we can work together in areas such as finance, personnel, premises and extended services read more

Balancing workloads and creating staffing structures for the future

Josie Earnshaw outlines the benefits of a comprehensive support staff review at her Barnsley school read more

Saving money through energy monitoring

Lucy Fitzgerald highlights the financial and environmental benefits of more switched-on energy management in schools

Providing 'value for money' secondary education

Kim Sparling, headteacher of Oldfield School in Bath, explores the concept of 'value for money' in a secondary school context and outlines some suggestions on ways to achieve it

Understanding the classroom - what school financial managers need to know

Paul Ainsworth and Josephine Smith argue that it is increasingly important for school finance managers – especially those aspiring to lead schools – to understand the process of teaching and learning read more

Providing ICT network support to a cluster of schools

Nina Siddle explains how a primary cluster in East Yorkshire tackled the challenge of providing high-quality ICT support read more

A new era for school leadership?

A major new report could herald a new era in the leadership of schools, paving the way for the first headteachers to be appointed from finance, not teaching backgrounds read more

Budgeting for development

Tracy Doyle maps out a way to align the budget process with the school improvement plan read more

Meeting the procurement challenge: support from government

Schools face a huge procurement challenge, and the DfES has set up services to help them make savings read more

Nursery franchising

There are pros and cons of chosing to take the franchise option to expand. Angela Youngman reports read more

A key role in raising school standards

The school business manager’s role goes beyond simply managing finances, says Hilary Morrison read more

Moving forward with falling numbers

Sharon Wallwork provides comprehensive advice on dealing with a decline in student numbers. She argues that, far from being something that only schools in specific circumstances should be concerned about, all educational institutions need to assess the risks of declining numbers and the huge financial implications this can bring read more

Becoming a bank account school

What are the benefits of becoming a bank account school? We begin a series of best practice advice features with a look at the implications of a school having its own bank account

Speaking school finances: extended schools

I have just got back from the SFM annual conference in London: a long journey for me, but definitely worth it – not only because it gave me the opportunity to present a couple of sessions, but also because it is encouraging to see the quality and variety of business management professionals who are now working in our schools. read more

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