The school business leadership community is feeling the strain. Excessive workload has long been a driver of attrition within workplaces, and research in our sector backs this up. The NAHT report of January 2022 on school business leadership cited ever growing workloads, balancing the books and keeping pace with constantly changing Government guidance as the main pressure points on SBL’s NAHT School Business Leadership in Crisis?
It is suggested that primary school children probably spend up to a fifth of their time at school on the playground; socialising, having fun, interacting with one another and, of course, burning off a little excess energy. I read with interest the Charter for Play (1) , published by Play England in which they defined play as ‘what children and young people do when they follow their own ideas and interests, in their own way, and for their own reasons.’
A unique selling proposition or USP is almost certainly a phrase most of us are familiar with but usually associate with a commercial service or product. However, the harsh reality
is that most schools are in competition with one another, vying to attract the very best staff and ensuring they have a full pupil roll for the next academic year. Justin Smith, Managing Director of Chameleon Consultancy and Training Ltd, outlines how to develop a USP for your school.
Worrying about shrinking budgets, alongside growing energy and supply costs, is giving many school leaders a headache. While core costs might just about be covered, the idea of ring-fencing funds for enrichment activities or infrastructure improvements is an increasing challenge. Moving forward, it’s more important than ever for schools to adopt a strategic approach to income generation: if you’re able to express the needs of your school coherently and mobilise the support of your communities then you’ll be in a much stronger position.
With budgets stretched, schools are pursuing new funding streams to support the delivery of the curriculum and provide enrichment opportunities for pupils.
In this article, FundEd explain how accessing support from grant income is one way forward and how you can narrow down your search by using the UK’s leading school grant database: Funded.org.uk and outline how to prepare a successful bid.
When we talk about branding your school, we're really looking at building an identity – an experience that parents, pupils and staff can relate to. This session looked at what this means in practice and how you can develop values and messages as the foundation to your marketing strategy, to develop core values and fine tune those key messages. Justin emphasised the most crucial aspect of building a brand – to set you apart from others.
Increasingly, mainstream schools are accepting the need to take matters into their own hands when it comes to closing the gap between the funding they receive from the Government and the cost of delivering a high-quality educational experience for their children. The current administration is promising a significant uplift of the education budget but, as we’re all very much aware, we live in volatile times, uncertainty exists around Brexit and other world events.
Play is an essential element of education, yet many schools struggle to fund new resources. Here, school income generation expert Justin Smith shares his tips to get your campaign up and running.
Over the past few years, I have helped many schools develop fundraising and marketing strategies. Some issues come up again and again. School staff are overwhelmed with existing workloads and struggle to find time to dedicate to income generation. Often, schools don’t know where to start, or what to focus their limited resources on. On many occasions, there appears to be a disconnect between the work of the PTA (or Friends Association) and that of the main school. This can then impede the collective ability of the school to focus on income generation. Some schools haven’t got to grips with understanding their fundraising priorities, resulting in a stop-start approach that loses its way at the first sign of trouble.