Agenda - Schools Resource Management Summit 2022

Agenda – plenary and work sessions

Thursday 8th June 2023

09:30 – 10:45 Plenary session

Chair: Tanya Arkle, Head of the School Resource Management (SRM) Division, ESFA

Baroness Barran MBE, Minister for the School System and Student Finance

Keynote Speech

David Withey, CEO, Education Skills and Funding Agency

Tom Goldman, Deputy Director, Funding Policy Unit, Department for Education

Claire Burton, Regional Director London, Department for Education

Lindsay Harris, Deputy Director Capital, Department for Education

Steve Taylor, CEO, Cabot Learning Federation

Opening panel and Q&A session – Current and future challenges facing the sector and the support we provide

Will Jordan, Co-Founder & CEO, IMP Software

What does embedded ICFP (Integrated curriculum and financial planning) look like in leading trusts?

The plenary session will end with Q&A, giving attendees the chance to ask questions and promote discussion on the issues which are of most importance to them.

Refreshment and networking break 10:45 – 11:15 (30 mins)

The day continues with work sessions:

Sessions 11:15 – 11:50 (35 mins)

1A Developing a cohesive estate strategy – joined up thinking
Your presenter is a building surveyor who is also a School Governor and a Director of a small MAT – so he understands matters from all sides. The session will set out how schools may establish the needs of their estates, so as to develop cohesive strategies for stewardship into the future. It will discuss the tools available to schools and how consultants can help you to ensure that you have effective estates management; in essence, GEMS, a good estate management strategy. The discussion will assist you to know what is required and where you can find the resources to demonstrate that you have GEMS across your estates.

Not least amongst the many things you need to consider is the amount, and type, of energy that your schools use; by 2025 you must all have a Climate Action Plan, and for that to be effective it must reflect the real state of the buildings you work within. It must be intrinsic and allied-to your estate strategy and all of your plans and actions must be cohesive if your strategy is to deliver, if you are to make your own contributions to Net Zero by 2050, and if your buildings are to remain a system that supports teaching, learning, and to build the future of our next generation.
This session will illustrate some of these challenges and shed some light on how we can assist you, allowing you to use your time to do the more pressing things you have to do, whilst we do what we are good at.

Gary Benn, Director – Building Projects and Consultancy, Eddisons

1B Use of the ISBL Professional Standards to support business professionals in schools and trusts
In this session you will hear from DfE officials about the importance of investing in SBPs and the benefits this can bring, you will also hear from ISBL CEO Stephen Morales about the refreshed ISBL professional standards, followed by a panel of SBPs and employers about how they have invested in their professional development.

Warwick Sharp, Director of Schools Financial Support and Oversight, Education and Skills Funding Agency
Stephen Morales, CEO, Institute of School Business Leadership
Debbie Beazer, School Business Leader, Blackhorse Primary School
Nina Siddle, Chief Finance & Operations Officer, Humber Education Trust; Fellow of the Institute of School Business Leadership; Specialist Leader of Education, Humber Teaching School; Chair of the Humber & East Yorkshire School Business Leaders Network

1C The future of education in an AI world
With technology evolving at an accelerating pace, institutions will consider the learner journey in a way that gives their students the attitudes and aptitudes that will serve them well in securing their future. In this session, we’ll explore the constants of learning and how 1:1 iPad deployments are delivering on equity, personalisation and lifelong learning.

Michael Conlon, Education Transformation Consultant, XMA

Sessions 12:00 – 12:35 (35 mins)

2A Sustainability and leadership: in conversation with Graham Macaulay, LEO Academy Trust Director of Innovation & Growth
In this session we’ll spend some time discussing LEO Academy’s path to sustainability and how leadership approaches central decision making for cost effective strategies to further develop teaching and learning through Edtech.

Hosted by Jeminatu Alabi-Isama, Google for Education England Lead
Graham Macaulay, Director of Innovation and Growth, LEO Academy Trust

2B Building school and trust business professional capability in the academy sector
A panel discussion:

Chair: Claire Burton, Regional Director London, Department for Education
Nina Siddle, Chief Finance & Operations Officer, Humber Education Trust; Fellow of the Institute of School Business Leadership; Specialist Leader of Education, Humber Teaching School; Chair of the Humber & East Yorkshire School Business Leaders Network
Alison Moon, TBL
Warren Carratt, Nexus
Stephen Morales, CEO, Institute of School Business Leadership

2C Unlocking the potential of the education estate
How can schools get the most out their finite resources? What can schools do to convert surplus land to benefit themselves and their communities?
From developing micro solar farms and improving biodiversity to releasing capital for new buildings and educational projects, this session explores the many ways in which schools can best utilise their estates and offers practical guidance on how administrators can realise these goals.

Will Attlee, Associate Director –Development, LocatED
Rav Cheema, Senior Associate, LocatED

Lunch and networking 12:35 – 13:25 (50 mins)

Sessions 13:25 – 14:00 (35 mins)

3A How are developing MATs embedding an agile, needs based approach to financial management?
With an unprecedented pressure on school budgets, embedding value for money principles into your Trust ethos and ensuring they are deeply ingrained in curriculum and financial planning ensures that resources are both deliberately allocated and regularly assessed against Trust/School priorities.

Embedding this approach goes way beyond ‘spending less’ and being frugal, it is around ensuring that priorities drive resource allocation and this principle is understood and bought into, from the top to the bottom.

In this session we will be outlining some of the strategies that developing MATs are using to embed an agile, needs based approach to financial management.

Will Jordan, Co-founder & CEO, IMP Software

3B Good Estate Management
This panel session will be led by DfE official David Fugurally, Head of Capital Efficiency and Capability (CEC). CEC aims to support schools in England to deliver world-class outcomes for children through world-class estate management. This session we will highlight ways in which CEC is working in partnership with schools and estate professionals and organisations, to support schools with advice, tools, and delivery programmes, such as the Capital Advisers Programme. There will be time for questions from the audience.

David Fugurally, Head of Capital Capability and Efficiency, DfE
James Murphy, Associate Director & Account Leader – Education, Arcadis
Andrew Dutton, Sector Leader for Education, Arcadis

3C Chart of Accounts – DfE’s automated financial reporting
Come and hear about the academies chart of accounts, and how this can improve efficiencies and data quality across the academy sector.
The academies chart of accounts is the foundation of the DfE’s automated financial reporting. The CoA is the new standard financial reporting structure for academy trusts which can enable trusts to automate their financial returns if paired with a suitable FMS system. Over 35% of trusts have now adopted the Academies CoA.

If you’re interested in finding out about the potential the CoA has to offer you, then come and find out how this can benefit your school and improve your efficiency, and your financial insights.

Nicola Summers, Project Lead, Academies Chart of Accounts and Automation, DfE
Elizabeth Pisani, Deputy Director, Corporate Assurance and Academy Returns, DfE
Tom Meeks, Partner & Head of Academies, Price Bailey LLP Auditors
India Payne, Audit Manager, Price Bailey LLP Auditors
Allan Keating, Chief Financial and Operations Officer, Omega Multi-Academy Trust

Sessions 14:10 – 14:45 (35 mins)

4A How ‘Get help buying for schools’ can help your school
‘Get help buying for schools’ is a service delivered by the DfE, which helps schools to buy goods and services. Our aim is to support schools and trusts to buy well and have peace of mind that they are getting good value in terms of cost, quality, and time. The service is free of charge to all state funded schools and can support schools to buy everything from transport to energy, catering to ICT services.

This session will showcase the Get help buying for schools service in action. The session will explain how schools and trusts can access the service and the support they can expect to receive, using case studies from schools that have already used the service to help them save time, money and ensure compliancy.

Laura Cahill – Head of Engagement and Outreach, Schools Commercial Team, DfE
Kevin Draisey – Head of Procurement Operations, Get help buying for schools, DfE

4B AI: A great member of your team or your next leader?
Uncover the potential impact of AI on the school business manager role and discover insights into leveraging AI applications for effective school and trust management. Delegates will learn about various AI applications, enhancing decision-making with AI, and preparing for the future by embracing AI and staying ahead of the curve.

AI applications for school business management, including budgeting and resource allocation, human resources, and facilities management
Enhancing decision-making with AI by using data-driven insights, predictive analytics, and optimization algorithms
Preparing for the future by embracing AI, understanding its benefits and challenges, and fostering a growth mindset

Take home points:

An understanding of the potential benefits and challenges of AI in school business management, and how it can transform daily operations and decision-making
Strategies for incorporating AI tools into daily operations, including resource allocation, human resources, and facilities management
The importance of fostering a growth mindset, staying informed about AI advancements, and preparing for the future by embracing new technologies

This session is for all School Business Leaders, AI will affect everything we do in the future.

Matthew Clements-Wheeler, Education Leadership Consultant, Keystone Knowledge

4C Resource Management in the alternative provision sector
A strategic session to help understand the context for resource management within a complex specialist sector, focusing on how the resource management tools can help to ensure full value for money for settings and commissioners.

The session will include:

Resource management challenges in alternative provision
Approaches to managing resources in this context
The role of DfE Resource Management tools
Further development ideas and thoughts

Mark Vickers MBE, CEO, Olive Academies Trust

Refreshments and networking 14:45 – 15:15 (30 mins)

Sessions 15:15 – 15:50 (35 mins)

5A Financial confidence and continuity for Schools and Trusts
How MATs and schools maintain the necessary level of financial expertise within their organisation, whilst facing the challenge of recruitment and retention of expert finance staff, often alongside growing a family of schools.

The challenge of recruiting and retaining expert finance staff in the sector has been a prevalent issue since the pandemic. Schools and trusts can be exposed to risk triggered by gaps in provision, that can ultimately impact on financial confidence and assurance.

Hear examples of how we have helped schools and trusts with short and long-term finance cover at all levels, including management accounting and strategic financial support.

Helen Dowsett, Finance Account Manager, School Business Services

5B Energy frameworks and sustainability
In this session you will learn more about the DfE’s strategy for Sustainability and Climate Change and one of the initiatives in the strategy, The Nature Park, which will enable children and young people to get involved in taking practical action to improve the biodiversity of their setting. The Sustainability and Climate Change strategy will provide learners with the resources to live, learn, work and participate in a contemporary global society. Through climate education, green skills and careers, hear how the DfE is helping to create a sustainable future through education, developing the skills needed for a net zero economy, and supporting our sectors to adapt to the impact of climate change. This session will also provide an overview of the DfE support available to help with buying energy and energy efficiency goods and services. We’ll show you how you can buy energy for your school using our DfE-approved frameworks. We’ll also talk you through how you can buy energy efficiency goods and services via our DfE-approved energy efficiency frameworks.

Sharon McHale, Head of Nature Park and Climate Leaders Award, Sustainability and Climate Change Unit, DfE
Ben Hardy, Stakeholder and Engagement Lead, Schools Commercial Team, DfE

5C Principles for effective and efficient workforce practice and teaching vacancies – The Department for Education’s free search and listing service
Teacher recruitment has been a national challenge for some time and all schools and MATs have had to look creatively on how to recruit and retain staff.
The Department for Education has worked with the sector to develop 6 key principles for effective and efficient deployment of the workforce, this will be published as non-statutory guidance later in the year. The session will focus specially on retaining staff by investing in their development and how teaching vacancies can support schools with their recruitment free of charge.

Anna Crawte, School Improvement Director, HEART Academies Trust
Arti Bhanderi, Policy & Strategy Advisor – Teaching Workforce Directorate, DfE
Will Bourke, Stakeholder Outreach and Engagement Lead, Teaching Vacancies, DfE

Sessions 16:00 – 16:35 (35 mins)

6A Making digital services work for you
Navigating the advice, guidance and services that DfE offers the sector can be a challenge and we know not all SBPs feel confident in keeping up to date with both mandatory requirements and new opportunities. This session will play back work in train to improve the way you can access the Department’s offer online and ensure you have the information relevant to your school and trust.

Speakers from Department for Education

6B How School Resource Management Advisers (SRMAs) can support you
This panel session, led by practising school business professionals who also work as SRMAs, will showcase the offer of SRMA deployments across the sector, including academy trusts, LA maintained schools and special/alternative provision. There will be space for questions from the audience.

Stella Lithgow, Operational Delivery Lead for the SRMA programme, ESFA
Jo Marchant, Head of Estates, Education for the 21st Century Trust and Co-ordinator, The Trust Network
Patrick Overy, Chief Operating Officer, Learning Partners Academy Trust

6C The Compliance Cake: Slice and Conquer!
Join this informative presentation where we unveil the secret recipe to making statutory compliance in your school a ‘piece of cake.’ Discover the effective ‘Slice of Cake’ approach that simplifies the overwhelming task of compliance management. Just like devouring a cake bit by bit, we’ll guide you through breaking down compliance into manageable portions, focusing on priority areas such as fire safety, asbestos, and legionella. Gain insights into the necessary tasks, including monthly and annual activities, and explore how to share the workload with trusted contractors. Leave with a comprehensive toolkit to ensure compliance becomes a breeze. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to savour the sweet taste of success in your schools statutory compliance!

Agenda – plenary and work sessions

09:30 – 10:45 Plenary session

Refreshment and networking break 10:45 – 11:15 (30 mins)

The day continues with work sessions:

Sessions 11:15 – 11:50 (35 mins)

Sessions 12:00 – 12:35 (35 mins)

Lunch and networking 12:35 – 13:25 (50 mins)

Sessions 13:25 – 14:00 (35 mins)

Sessions 14:10 – 14:45 (35 mins)

Refreshments and networking 14:45 – 15:15 (30 mins)

Sessions 15:15 – 15:50 (35 mins)

Sessions 16:00 – 16:35 (35 mins)

16:40 – 17:00 Closing remarks:

Tanya Arkle, Head of the School Resource Management (SRM) Division, ESFA

Warwick Sharp, Director of Schools Financial Support and Oversight, ESFA

School Resource Management Summit 2023

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