School Admin News

The Public Accounts Committee has said the Department for Education (DfE) needs to improve its understanding of poor financial management in schools. The report states that the committee is alarmed at the worrying expenditure of some schools.

There is particular criticism of “very high salaries” being paid to some senior staff in some academies. They also don’t like the “excessive” expense accounts of some governors.

The issue raised is one that we have seen over and over again for at least 15 years – and in what follows I express my own views. (Indeed if you have been reading my comments for a while you might recognise my old hobby horse.)

We have seen a combination of government pushing through independence programmes without ensuring that every school has the controls and training to ensure that they not only know how to handle finances in a school but also how to spot warning signs and problems that do arise.

In the few high-profile cases we have seen of wholesale abuse of school finances or complete collapse of the school’s finances, it has invariably been the case that either the few who raised concern were told they were being “too negative” or that no one was checking at all.

Indeed, in some cases governors have signed off woefully inadequate accounts, Ofsted have given the school a good bill of health for its financial systems, and everyone has believed everything is working well.

While the vast majority of schools do the job properly, don’t pay excessive salaries or expenses, and have proper checks and balances, there are a few where modern accounting procedures, checks and balances are simply not set up.

Labour MP Margaret Hodge, who chairs the committee, said, “One in four Local authorities have cut their resources devoted to monitoring school spending. Many governing bodies remain too weak with one in four local authorities stating that only a few of their primary schools enjoyed governing bodies with sufficient, appropriate financial expertise.

“And there is a question mark over whether the Education Funding Agency will have the capacity and skilled staff to oversee the growing number of academies.

“We are already seeing instances where the Agency’s systems have proved insufficiently robust to ensure proper value for money of schools’ expenditure.”

Chris Keates, general secretary of NASUWT, “The Secretary of State recklessly has swept aside key financial safeguards, including abolishing financial management standards, removing the requirement for schools to secure best value for public money and diminishing the role of local authorities in securing good financial management practices in schools.”

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, argued that academies should be made subject to the same financial reporting framework as maintained schools.

In a statement the government said that it was doing all it could.

Tony Attwood
School of Educational Administration

We’ve discussed many times on this news group the fact that creating the right impression for visitors to the school is always going to be of the utmost importance.

The problem is that we all become so familiar with the quirks of our own buildings that it is easy to forget exactly how something will appear to an outsider. I have even stood ringing a door bell without gaining any attention, only to find later that the bell hasn’t worked for years and that one should tap on the window of the admin office in order to gain admission.

That was an extreme case, of course, but it reminds us that it is easy to ignore the fact that the comfortable furniture in the reception area we installed four years ago is now getting a bit tatty, the awards and school photos are a few years out-of-date, and so on.

But beyond that it is interesting that in some locations (and schools are by no means alone in this regard) it is assumed that the visitor’s experience starts at the reception area – when in fact it actually starts as the visitor looks for the signs to guide the way to that reception area.

And the impact of signs doesn’t stop there. Visitors will see signs on the doors of offices and classrooms, signs about safety, and so forth. Where these signs are printed on paper and stuck on with blue tack, all the hard work of making the reception area look smart is wasted.

The reason that some schools have been restrained in their use of quality signage has generally been because signs have been expensive to buy and install. You had to get quotes and then place the order (which may take a while to arrive). you may even have the pleasure of paying a delivery charge on top of everything else.

There are, however, solutions, and below are the details of one that I have had referred to me recently. I am grateful to the company concerned for supplying me with the information.

Their idea is to make it possible to print signs on your laser printer within school. The Quick-Mark Digital is a product that allows you to produce self-adhesive signs, front panels and labels up to A3 size, on a standard office laser printer at an extremely low cost and with the normal quality that you would expect from signs.

What the firm supplies is Quick-Mark Laser Film and Base Sheets and you can then print self-laminating, high quality self adhesive labels, panels or signs. The signs are highly durable, the laser toner is always sub-surface, and you can work on metal or plastic Base Sheets producing a polycarbonate finish if needed.

There is more information on – http://www.megauk.com/qmd_signs/

Alternatively, you can call the company on 01223 893900 or email sales@megauk.com.

Tony Attwood
Director, School of Educational Administration

One of the readers of this newsletter has emailed in the following question, and I would be grateful if anyone can offer some guidance. As ever replies will be posted here.

I am looking for some fountain pens that can be engraved for our yr 6 leavers this year. I have been to a few companies who will only do a minimum order of 50. We are a small school and only have 12 leavers this year.

Many thanks

Tony Attwood
Hamilton House Mailings Ltd

It is interesting for me, in reading through the reports written by those who have been on the Efficiency courses that the SEA runs, to realise how few people refer to nearby schools, when looking to make changes.

For example, if you are in a school in which printing is costing far more than it should and in which there is wastage, or if you are in a school that contacts parents via paper messages or on the phone, the chances are you are near a school that has tackled such issues and made changes.

Those administrators and managers on the SEA courses who report that they have contacted neighbouring schools with requests for information about a specific topic, invariably report back that virtually every school asked has come back with a fulsome response. In the same way, when we put out requests for help or advice via this newsgroup we receive many replies from you, all happy to share your experience with administrators in other schools.

It doesn’t matter whether the request is about electricity saving, boiler repair insurance, catering, security systems, communication with parents or anything else – valuable information is always gained.

Let me give one example. A number of reports I have seen on printing in school have said that each teacher has a printer in his/her classroom. When it has been suggested that it would be more cost effective to abandon these printers and instead have a central system, the staff have been in uproar. It has been suggested that teaching and learning would virtually break down if there was not a printer in every class.

Such protest can seem daunting, and I know of some people who have failed to reform the print situation in their school because of it.

But, it is almost certain that within the same area there will be schools which have utterly different systems – almost certainly much more efficient and more cost effective – and an enquiry to those schools will result in valuable information being gained.

From this information new arguments can be put, and those who wish to defend the current situation are forced back to the much weaker argument of “well that might work in that school, but it would never work here”. Such arguments have little going for them, and the road to reform is open.

I would strongly suggest that any school that wants to change the way it works starts by gathering information from other schools in the region. Schools, when asked, invariably co-operate – as you would expect.

There is more information on our courses at www.admin.org.uk

Tony Attwood
School of Educational Administration

I started writing about efficiency and cost savings for schools about three years ago.

Since then the School of Educational Administration has collected a vast amount of data on ways in which schools are making themselves more efficient and ways in which they are saving considerable sums.

However, on one issue everyone – schools, academies, and local authorities – have all been silent. And that is the issue of contracts and procurement.

By this I mean placing purchases for larger items and the placement of orders for smaller things where all the orders go to one company.

I know, of course, that at a certain level the school will be legally obliged to go to tender – but even then there are questions to be asked, such as: Who is vetting the contract that a supplier is offering? Is there any negotiation to be done? How is the risk to the school reduced? Is price the only issue here, or will discounts lead to problems with quality?

After looking into this matter for some time I discovered a company that specialises in helping schools to consider larger contracts and the whole issue of procurement. They are Corporate Contract Management, and recently they came to the SEA’s offices in Northants (where I am based) and showed my colleagues and I what they did.

As a result of this, I am pleased to say that CCM are offering a one-day training session for senior staff involved in procurement in venues around the country.

An overview of the one day training and details of forthcoming presentations are given at http://www.admin.org.uk/CCMseminars.html

Full details of everything covered within the one day training are given at www.admin.org.uk/CCMoneday.html

I do hope you will find this initiative of interest. If you have any questions about the course please do call 01536 399007 or email sam@admin.org.uk

Tony Attwood
School of Educational Administration

As always, many thanks to all of you who sent in replies to this query.

Here is one of the replies we received which is very much in line with what most of you said.

We are a large school and because it is obviously important that anyone in school knows when a member of their team or a colleague is absent, we have devised a system of reporting absences on a standard form on our staff drive. As soon as an absence is known it is added to the list, but we only give reasons for absence as CPD, Illness or Leave of Absence. We add the expected duration of absence, if known. I have no idea whether we’re flouting any privacy laws here – I hope not, as this system certainly has improved communication regarding absences, as well as providing accurate data for absence reporting and monitoring.

It seems to me that schools are automatically taking a pragmatic approach to this issue and are informing staff in schools about any absences and the general reason for that absence but are not going into any personal detail re that absence. There seemed to be a general feeling that this is an acceptable way to proceed – but without any clear idea as to what the law actually says.

I had one of my routine rummages round the internet in search of a solution and could not find any clear guidance anywhere. However, as one or two of your emails pointed out:

Schools have to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 which says “If an absence record contains specific medical information relating to an employee this is deemed sensitive data and you will have to satisfy the statutory conditions for processing such data”.
Also the second of the 8 principles of data protection states, “Personal data shall be obtained only for one or more specified and lawful purposes, and shall not be further processed in any manner incompatible with that purpose or those purposes”.
Now I am not a legal expert but it seems to me that given that cover needs to be organised for absent members of staff (for teaching as well as any other pupil/parent commitments) it is necessary that other key members staff should be informed of that person’s abence and have some general idea of the reason behind it whether it be due to illness, training course, school trip, study leave, personal reasons, etc – as long as no further detail is given which might breach that person’s right to privacy.

Please feel free to come back on this topic if you agree or disagree.

Tony Attwood
School of Educational Administration

The Giant Walking Bus is run by Brake, the national road safety charity, as part of its Kids Say Slow Down campaign and in aid of its services for road crash victims and their families.

Brake tells me that on 20 June they are having a fund raising and road safety awareness march; they anticipate that 100,000 schoolchildren will join them in marching for road safety from their school gates, raising awareness of both the dangers of traffic and how cool it is to walk.

For more information about Brake visit www.brake.org.uk

Three reasons to march:

1. Great summer term project

In the days leading up to the march, pupils can research traffic pollution, hazards and transport choices, and make their own ‘slow down’ and ‘get walking’ placards! It’s also a great way to meet safety and citizenship teaching goals and promote your school travel plan or healthy or eco school status.

2. Slow down drivers

The UK has one of the worst death rates in Europe of children killed on foot, most on their way to or from school. The march gives children a voice, helping them to tell drivers to slow down and drive less! The climax of your walk could be planting a tree in memory of road crash victims in a park, or holding a photo call for your local paper and school newsletter with children waving their placards.

3. Help bereaved families

Pupils can be sponsored by family and friends to take part, helping fund Brake’s campaigns and services for families bereaved by road crashes. Brake can give you free sponsorship envelopes and certificates to say thank you.

If you haven’t yet registered your school to take part in the event, you can do so online at www.giantwalkingbus.org or by contacting Brake on 01484 559909 or at walkingbus@brake.org.uk

This has always been the philosophy of the School of Educational Administration. That you should always notice a difference within the school once a course has been taken.

But we have taken this further. For our view is that not only should the school benefit from having had a member of staff on an SEA course, but the benefits to the school should start to be noticeable while the member of staff is still on the course.

Take, for example, the Certificate in School Efficiency course. As with all our courses, those taking part not only get a copy of all the course material but from the very start they also start to interact via email with those from other schools who are on the course so that ideas and thoughts can be shared.

Indeed in the case of this course, we expect everyone on the course to be able to make school efficiency savings during the time span of the course, which will save the school more than the cost of the course!

Thereafter the savings should continue to grow. Indeed some members of staff on the Diploma in School Efficiency course have reported making annual savings of considerably in excess of £10000 per year, just from a single project which they have implemented while on the course.

But it should not be thought that people taking our courses are always engaged in huge projects. Far from it. Some of these savings come from simple changes implemented very readily within the school.

For example, both the Certificate in School Administration course and the Work Management and Administration course include modules on time management, stress management and dealing with visitors. Straightforward changes made in these areas can rapidly make the school increasingly more efficient and effective.

Details of all four courses along with the forthcoming starting dates are available at www.admin.org.uk Alternatively for a printed prospectus please call 01536 399 007 or email prospectus@admin.org.uk

Tony Attwood
School of Educational Administration

The thesis behind this report is simple: just as there are a hundred ways of teaching a lesson in the classroom, so there are a hundred ways of organising a school office. The problem is that traditionally the focus of the school has been on what happens in the classroom, while the school office has been treated as something that is as it is. Because of this, school administration has tended to evolve quite slowly, while teaching and learning have undergone radical transformations.

However, observation suggests that different schools do organise their administrations in different ways, and that some approaches can make a significant difference to the effectiveness and efficiency of the school’s work.

At the heart of the book is the notion that there is a way of organising school administration that is much more effective than any other approach. This approach does not require a higher budget; it simply puts in place processes that inevitably lead to a smoother throughput of information and activity, which means there are fewer disruptions, fewer errors, and ultimately more time for everything to be done. The report covers issues such as the structure of the administration of the school, work management within the administrative department, change management, facilities management, budgeting, organisational behaviour and legal issues within the school office.

One of the fundamental issues within the report is that changes only work to the benefit of the organisation when everyone understands what is going on and why the changes are being implemented. For this reason Increasing the Efficiency of School Administration is available as a photocopiable report, which allows you to give sections of the report to your colleagues. There is no restriction on the number of copies that can be made. An edition of the book is also available on CD Rom for printing out via Word.

The report was written by Tony Attwood, the director of the School of Educational Administration. Since 2005 the School has been running the Certificate in Educational Administration course and recently launched a new Diploma in School Efficiency.

There are sample pages from the photocopiable book at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/bursar/T1744.pdf

Publisher’s reference: T1744EMN ISBN: 978 1 86083 798 2

Prices

Photocopiable book: £29.95 plus £3.95 delivery
CD with school-wide rights: £29.95 plus £3.95 delivery
Both the book and the CD: £36.94 plus £3.95 delivery
Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the report… please quote the order ref: T1744EMN

By post to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
By fax to 01536 399 012
On line with a credit card at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=26&products_id=568

This has always been the philosophy of the School of Educational Administration. That you should always notice a difference within the school once a course has been taken.

But we have taken this further. For our view is that not only should the school benefit from having had a member of staff on an SEA course, but the benefits to the school should start to be noticeable while the member of staff is still on the course.

Take, for example, the Certificate in School Efficiency course. As with all our courses, those taking part not only get a copy of all the course material but from the very start they also start to interact via email with those from other schools who are on the course so that ideas and thoughts can be shared.

Indeed in the case of this course, we expect everyone on the course to be able to make school efficiency savings during the time span of the course, which will save the school more than the cost of the course!

Thereafter the savings should continue to grow. Indeed some members of staff on the Diploma in School Efficiency course have reported making annual savings of considerably in excess of £10000 per year, just from a single project which they have implemented while on the course.

But it should not be thought that people taking our courses are always engaged in huge projects. Far from it. Some of these savings come from simple changes implemented very readily within the school.

For example, both the Certificate in School Administration course and the Work Management and Administration course include modules on time management, stress management and dealing with visitors. Straightforward changes made in these areas can rapidly make the school increasingly more efficient and effective.

Details of all four courses along with the forthcoming starting dates are available at www.admin.org.uk Alternatively for a printed prospectus please call 01536 399 007 or email prospectus@admin.org.uk

Tony Attwood
School of Educational Administration