May 13, 2019
This week Tim travels to Coventry to speak to Bethan Cullen, Commercial Director of the Institute of School Business Leadership - the first port of call for academy schools looking for best practice.
On this episode Bethan talks about:
Being inspired by her primary teacher mother - running a budget and a school without the resources
Joining what was the National Association of School Business Management nine years ago
Schools now being their own professional entity
With core business strengths
How she thinks things have developed
The National College driving through efficiency in schools
Estelle Morris helping to develop core resources in schools
Helping head teachers to drive through better resource management
How education cannot stand still as a profession
Schools having to collaborate more
Schools having to develop further skills
Needing to be at the forefront of education
How the first 100 days after academy conversion are key
Schools needing to do due diligence before becoming an academy
Needing the right players to negotiate arrangements
Speaking to the local authority about the state of a building before conversion
The challenges schools go through in transition
Developing clear guidance of the processes for schools
How schools needs to build in time to benchmark buying in professional services
Looking at how the money is spent
Looking at what abilities are already in the organisation or the group
How some schools might be transferring with a legacy of problems
Issues with school buildings such as asbestos
Trying to make sure that every school stands the best chance of survival
Academisation being a difficult minefield for smaller schools to navigate
CPD being critical as can going to a network, having training, reading quality assured guidance
Trying to demystify what schools need to unwrap
The key moment being prior to academisation
Schools increasing need to specialise
Schools bringing increasing revenue streams from out of hours
ISBL’s member magazine writing a lot about the subject
How the term ‘income generation’ can put schools off
Primary schools having less available resources to manage such activities
No evidence to show educational standard is higher in academies
Evidence however that the high performing schools are more attractive
Environment in schools affecting performance
Organisations collaborating through aggregation
The greatest impact Bethan would personally like to bring
Setting the benchmark for good practise
Wanting school business leadership to be seen as a career
How the school sector can collaborate with professional services to ensure a smooth transition to academisation
How ISBL can help facilitate between all different partners