NPQH Cycle 4: Leading Organisational Effectiveness
Formative Assessment Task Options
Option one: Effective resource management
Programme framework statements covered
Organisational management
Learn that…
7.4. Good financial, human and educational resource management, strategic planning, employee relations and risk management are the foundations of a good school.
7.5. Schools are public bodies and so have a duty to use all public money in the public interest.
Learn how to…
Prioritise, allocate and manage resources (including financial, human and educational) appropriately, effectively and efficiently to ensure sustainability, including by:
7.j. Recognising that there is a strong connection between strategic decisions and the associated resource implications (e.g., using Integrated Curriculum and Financial Planning to ensure that the timetable delivers the school’s curriculum priorities within the available budget) and using this knowledge to inform decision making.
7.k. Considering the opportunity cost of any allocation decisions.
7.m. Making good use of financial benchmarking information to inform the school’s spending decisions.
Introduction
The senior leadership and governors of schools are collectively responsible for determining the strategic management of their school’s finances and for ensuring that all expenditure provides value for money. To help governors fulfil these functions, the DfE has provided them with a series of questions they might use for challenging and supporting the school’s leadership. As headteacher, it is important that you are in a position to be able to provide governors with answers to these queries. This does not mean that you must personally collect the data; in fact, the expectation is that you would delegate much of the data gathering to an appropriate colleague according to the size of your school; e.g., in a large, maintained school a school business leader might be the appropriate person. It is, however, essential that you have a firm understanding of the significance of the questions and the implications of any information you provide to governors.
The ten areas governors are guided to explore are listed below, and each is accompanied by a series of suggested questions for governors to raise. You can access these questions at School resource management: checklist – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
1. Staff pay as percentage of total expenditure
2. Average teacher cost
3. Pupil-to-teacher ratio (PTR)
4. Class sizes
5. Teacher contact ratio
6. Proportion of budget spent on the leadership team
7. 3-to-5-year budget projections
8. Spend per pupil for non-pay expenditure lines compared to similar schools
9. School improvement plan priorities and the relative cost of options
10. List of contracts with costs and renewal dates
Resources
▪ DfE (n.d.). Schools financial benchmarking and insights tool. Schools Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool - GOV.UK (schools-financial-benchmarking.service.gov.uk)
▪ DfE (2018). School resource management checklist. School resource management: checklist – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Task: Effective resource management
For this task, you should place yourself in the position of the headteacher of your current school. The governors have asked that you respond to five of the items on the DfE’s checklist at their next meeting. (You will respond to the other five at a subsequent meeting.)
Step one: Select five areas to respond to
Choose five areas from the list that you will respond to. In selecting the five areas, you may wish to focus on areas that you currently feel least secure about.
Step two: Complete the proforma
Download and complete the ‘Review of financial efficiency’ proforma, available below. If possible, ask your school business manager or other relevant senior colleague to assist you in gathering relevant data and, where necessary, in interpreting its significance.
When you have gathered the information requested, write a report for governors which provides them with the information together with a commentary (maximum 600 words). Your commentary should address the following:
▪ a commentary on each of the five areas of focus
▪ key conclusions, e.g., ‘the school’s spending appears to be significantly above/below average in this area’, ‘our PTR seems to be very high/low compared to other schools’.
▪ recommendations for action, including the rationale for your proposals and a consideration of the implementation challenges that may arise
When you have completed your report, upload it in Canvas to your leadership performance coach within the timeframe identified.
Note: You do not have to submit the report to your board of governance.
Proforma: Review of financial efficiency
Guidance notes:
1. Choose five areas only.
2. Gather the information the governors have requested. Some questions involve comparing your school’s spending, etc., with other schools. You can do this by accessing the Schools Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool and/or the DfE’s Compare your school or trust’s budget: Financial benchmarking service, which allows you to compare your school’s spending with other schools in similar circumstances, to see if spending could be more efficient. Your school’s SBM/finance officer should be able to advise you on which tool is most appropriate for a particular question.
Areas and questions
1. Staff pay as percentage of total expenditure
Note: Staff pay is the single most expensive item in the school budget. It typically represents over 70% of expenditure. The Schools Financial Benchmarking Service will help with analysis.
Information requested
Information for governors
What percentage of our budget is spent on staffing compared with similar schools?
How does the percentage for teaching staff, curriculum support staff and other support staff compare with other similar schools?
How do our school’s pupil outcomes –such as our school’s progress score –compare with other similar schools, relative to spend on staffing?
What is the overall staff cost as a percentage of total income?
(Note: Staffing costs over 80% of total income are considered high.)
If our teaching costs are relatively high, is this due to the number of teachers or a relatively high proportion of highly paid staff?
2. Average teacher cost
Notes: This measure is calculated by dividing the total teaching cost by the
full-time equivalent (FTE) number of teachers.
The Schools Financial Benchmarking Service includes staffing cost per teacher (in the ‘Expenditure’ section).
Information requested
If the average teacher cost is high in comparison with other similar schools, why is this? Is this due to:
▪ the staffing grade profile, such as a high number of staff on the upper pay scale?
▪ the responsibilities structure in the school, such as the Teaching and Learning Responsibility (TLR) scale?
▪ another reason?
How far is our school using its pay flexibilities – for example, to differentiate pay by teachers’ performance?
3. Pupil-to-teacher ratio (PTR)
Note: The pupil-to-teacher ratio (PTR) is calculated by dividing the number of FTE
pupils on roll by the total number of FTE teachers. A relatively low PTR could suggest small class sizes.
Information requested
What is the PTR for different key stages within our school?
How does the school’s PTR compare with similar schools? If it’s significantly different, what is the reason for this?
How does the ratio of pupils to staff compare with similar schools?
(Note: You can calculate this using the ‘Workforce’ section of the Schools Financial Benchmarking Service and choosing ‘pupils per measure’.)
4. Class sizes
Notes: The smaller the class size, the greater the cost of delivery per pupil. Governors should ensure that class size plans are affordable while supporting the best outcomes for pupils.
You may find it helpful to look at the Education Endowment Foundation’s evidence on the impact and costs of reducing class size.
Information requested
What are our average class sizes by key stage, and by options at key stages 4 and 5?
What class sizes does our school aim to achieve – and what is the educational reason for this?
Are there any small classes where the per pupil funding does not cover the cost of delivery?
(Note: This can be especially important at key stage 4 and 5, where class sizes for some subjects can fall.)
Do we know the maximum average class size that the school can operate at within the context of the pupil admissions, the structure of the building, the numbers in different year groups and the need for intervention strategies?
5. Teacher contact ratio
Notes: This measure is calculated by taking the total number of teaching periods timetabled for all teachers in the school and dividing that by the total possible number of teaching periods (the number of teaching periods in the timetable cycle multiplied by the FTE teachers).
All teachers should have a guaranteed minimum of 10% timetabled planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time. Therefore, the teacher contact ratio will always be lower than 1.0.
The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) advocates 0.78 as an aspirational target for the ratio, on the basis that this represents approximately 10% of all teacher time in planning and preparation, 10% in management activity and allows 2% margin.
Information requested
How would changes to the teacher contact ratio impact on the overall budget?
Are teaching staff undertaking roles that could be done by support staff?
How does our school compare against the ASCL aspirational target (secondary schools only)? What is the reason for any difference?
6. Proportion of budget spent on the leadership team
Notes: Schools have many different leadership and management structures, and comparisons are not straightforward. The total number of staff in the leadership group (FTE) is included in the Schools Financial Benchmarking Service.
Some schools calculate the cost of nonclass-based leadership time as a percentage of total expenditure and compare to similar schools by collaborative exchanges of summary information. Likewise, multi-academy
trusts can compare across their member schools where they are similar.
Information requested
How does this compare with similar schools, taking into account any contact time the leadership staff have?
How has our school made decisions on the proportion of its budget to be spent on the leadership team?
If this is relatively high or low compared with similar schools, is this because of the size of the leadership team, or their pay?
7. 3-to-5-year budget projections
Notes: Governors should ask to see 3-to5-year financial projections, and the assumptions made to cost them.
Information requested
How confident are we that pupil number projections are realistic?
(Note: If there is uncertainty, boards should be given three scenarios: cautious, likely and optimistic. This applies to all key assumptions, but especially pupil
number projections and funding rate assumptions.)
If the optimistic scenario indicates financial difficulties, is our school developing a recovery plan now?
If the cautious budget indicates potential financial difficulties, what contingency plans does our school have to overcome them?
Are there any issues in the medium term that should be addressed now?
How will current decisions impact medium-term budgets?
What do we need to put in place now to ensure we have the necessary funding in the future?
8. Spend per pupil for non-pay expenditure lines compared to similar schools
Notes: The Schools Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool will allow you to compare your school’s pattern of expenditure with similar schools.
Information requested
What is our spend per pupil for catering, ICT, estates management, business administration, energy and curriculum supplies?
If benchmarking indicates a relatively high spend on a particular expenditure line, do we know why?
Are the reasons unavoidable or can our school secure greater efficiency?
If the cost of energy seems high compared with similar schools, have we considered switching our energy deal or provider?
If spend on supplies and services seems high compared to similar schools, are there opportunities for collaborating with other local schools to bring costs down?
Has our school checked whether it could get a better deal on the things it buys regularly?
9. School improvement plan priorities and the relative cost of options
Note: The budgetary process sits firmly within the strategic leadership framework and should link into the overall management and planning cycle, rather than being seen as an additional activity that is the responsibility of the finance manager.
Information requested
Are our school improvement initiatives prioritised, costed and linked to the budget?
Are all our new initiatives fully costed before our school is committed to the proposal?
10. List of contracts with costs and renewal dates
Note: Each year the school must review its contracts for all of its services to check which ones are due for renewal; check that contracts are good value for money (VFM) and meet the school’s needs.
Information requested
Are all our contracts due for renewal retendered/reviewed for VFM before renewal?
Are there any regular payments for services that are an invoice-only contract?
Are all contracts for the supply of goods and services captured and reviewed regularly on an up-to-date register?
Additional information for international schools
International schools often employ different methodologies for financial management than those employed by UK government schools. However, the use of funding comparisons linked to pupil numbers, effectiveness, and the workforce is a valuable tool for evaluating resource allocation. This formative assessment task allows international schools to compare their finances to those of similar schools in the UK, providing insight into the percentage of total income (fees) allocated to various services, as well as workforce comparisons such as the number of teachers, teaching assistants, and other staff.
Using the UK Department for Education's (DfE) Schools financial benchmarking and insights tool webpage, can support international school leaders to identify areas for improvement and make informed decisions about budget allocation.
You may find it useful to work with your school's finance team to model different scenarios and compare multiple similar schools' budgets.
Resources
https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/the-funding-of-school-education_9789264276147-en.html
Option two: Critical evaluation of approaches to school-to-school support
Programme framework statements covered
Working in partnership
Learn that…
9.6. Sharing effective practice between schools, and building capacity and effective mechanisms for doing so, is key to closing the attainment gap. To improve performance school leaders need to collaborate and work with colleagues and other relevant professionals within and beyond the school, including relevant external agencies and bodies.
Learn how to…
Work in partnership with other schools and school trusts alongside the community and other organisations including professional associations and local authorities, including by:
9.g. Clarifying, in writing where appropriate, the purpose of the partnership and the commitments and/or duties each partner has to it.
9.j. Contributing expertise to existing networks and partnerships (e.g., working with partner schools).
Introduction
School partnership working to promote improvements in pupil outcomes may be broadly categorised as ‘support activities’ and ‘joint activities’, although in practice the distinction is often not as clear.
Creating, and then sustaining, effective partnership working between schools should be focused on bringing about improvements in pupil outcomes.
School-to-school support
In their research into effective school-to-school partnership working that supports school improvement, Greatbatch and Tate (2019) identify the following as necessary enablers of success:
▪ strong leadership
▪ well-defined and robust structures and processes
▪ a history of collaboration
▪ clear communication
▪ a sensitivity to context
▪ trust between schools
▪ shared values/vision
We might regard this as the necessary architecture that school leaders need to build before beginning to implement practical strategies.
Greany (2018) provides us with guidance as to what these practical strategies might be with his focus on key processes necessary for successful school-to-school support. He refers to these as the fundamentals.
▪ Fundamental 1: Establish school improvement capacity – robustly evaluate the capability of the workforce – all schools will have outstanding practitioners and those that require development
▪ Fundamental 2: Forensic analysis of school improvement needs – go beyond headlines, get down to the classroom level, draw upon multiple evidence sources
▪ Fundamental 3: Supporting and deploying leadership – leadership is key; if you can develop leadership capacity this is preferred, if it’s not there provide it
▪ Fundamental 4: Access to effective practice and expertise at classroom and department level – it’s all about getting the teaching right – we all know that teacher quality is the biggest single determinant of pupil performance
▪ Fundamental 5: Monitoring improvements in outcomes and reviewing changes in the quality of provision – be there for the long haul
It is important to set these ‘fundamentals’ in the context of the architecture Greatbatch and Tate refer to. For example, ‘a forensic analysis of school improvement needs’ is likely to be a challenging process, but it need not be threatening if the ‘trust’ and ‘sensitivity to context’ identified as key architectural features are in place.
Joint practice development
Schools use joint practice development (JPD) strategies as both an internal and external tool to promote school improvement activities. Internally, many schools have found that properly focused JPD activities, which allow staff from within the school to work together to develop teaching strategies, have a bigger impact on staff development than traditional CPD activities. Externally, schools have found that working with other schools on jointly developing their curricula can be more powerful than simply sharing practice between them.
In its study, NCSL (2012) advised that for JPD activities involving several schools to be successful they needed to consider these key messages:
▪ Clearly articulated aims and improvement priorities for the alliance are needed to frame effective joint practice development.
▪ Developing trust is a crucial characteristic of effective JPD and one which school leaders will need to establish with teachers
▪ Building on existing relationships and networks between teachers is an effective strategy in achieving progress.
▪ Developing effective networks requires careful thinking and planning by school leaders in order to coordinate the work of alliances and support teachers’ practice
▪ Recognition of respective roles and contributions of individuals and schools within the alliance is critical to success.
▪ Multilevel (distributed) and multisite leadership should be viewed as essential.
▪ Challenge and support that is effective and appropriate across partners is vital to building capacity for sustainable JPD
▪ Knowledge should meet the local needs of schools (e.g., CPD is based in the classrooms of the teachers involved) with continuous exposure.
▪ Student participation in decision making and governance of schools within alliances will enhance the effectiveness of JPD, providing that it is meaningful and appropriate
Resources
▪ Greany, T. (2018). Sustainable improvement in multi-school groups. London: DfE. School_Improvement_in_Multi-School_groups_-_FINAL_10122018.pdf
▪ Greatbatch, D., & Tate, S. (2019). What works in school improvement through delivering school-to-school support. London: DfE. What_works_in_delivering_school_improvement_through_school_to_school_support_Ma y2019.pdf
▪ NCSL (2012). Powerful professional learning: A school leader’s guide to joint practice development. London: DfE. Powerful-professional-learning-a-school-leaders-guide-tojoint-practice-development.pdf
Task: Critical evaluation of my school’s approach to school-to-school support
Introduction
Choose one of the following perspectives from which to complete this task:
▪ Perspective (a): your school has significant experience of engagement in school-toschool support activities
▪ Perspective (b): your school has very limited experience in school-to-school support activities
Step one: Review of research literature
Access the research referenced above and make notes as appropriate.
Step two: Draft report
Produce a draft of your commentary (see below for requirements) and, if possible, exchange your draft with a fellow programme member.
Write a 600-word commentary titled ‘Critical evaluation of school-to-school partnership working’.
If you have taken perspective (a):
Evaluate your school’s current performance against Greatbatch and Tate’s seven enablers and Greany’s five fundamentals:
▪ Which items are strengths of your arrangements? What is your rationale/evidence for this evaluation?
▪ Which would benefit from development? What is your rationale/evidence for this evaluation?
▪ What evidence do you have that your current school-to-school support activities are having a positive impact?
If you have taken perspective (b):
Evaluate your school’s readiness for increasing its engagement in school-to-school partnership working. Consider Greatbatch and Tate’s seven enablers and Greany’s five fundamentals:
▪ Which of these are currently in place or easily achievable?
▪ Which will require significant planning, shifts in culture, etc., for them to become established in practice? (i.e., What implementation challenges might you face?)
▪ What is your rationale/evidence to support your judgments?
When you have completed your commentary, upload it in Canvas to your leadership performance coach within the timeframe identified.
Option three: Reporting to governors
Programme framework statements covered
Governance and accountability
Learn that…
10.2. Different types of school structures have different governance and accountability arrangements. Each set of arrangements has different regulations and statutory duties and therefore different policies, processes and systems associated with it (including the governance handbook and where appropriate the Academies Financial handbook).
10.3. School leaders are accountable for their decisions and actions and must submit themselves to the scrutiny necessary to ensure this.
Learn how to…
Appropriately participate in governance, and fulfil obligations to give account, be challenged, and accept responsibility, including by:
10.a. Understanding the governance arrangements of the school, the respective roles (including the chair and the clerk), and the policies, processes and systems associated with it.
10.b. Applying a good understanding of the Governance handbook and, where appropriate, the Academies Financial Handbook to the creation and continuous improvement of these policies, processes and systems.
10.c. Ensuring that formal papers that are prepared and presented are clear, concise and accurate.
Introduction
The landscape of school governance has become more complex in the current century as a result of the development of academies and academy trusts alongside the traditional local authority–maintained school.
As a future headteacher, it is essential that you are familiar with both the legal framework and best practice with regard to the roles and responsibilities of those responsible for governance, and how you can support them in carrying out their duties, before you take up a headship.
Core functions of all governing bodies
All governing bodies have three core functions:
▪ ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction
▪ holding executive leaders to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils, and the performance management of staff
▪ overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure that its money is well spent, including the pupil premium
Guidance on how governors should carry out these functions is provided in three DfE publications:
▪ Academy Trust Handbook 2024 (also known as the academies financial handbook)
▪ Governance in maintained schools
▪ Governance in academy trusts
In addition to the above, for those working in faith schools there is further complexity because aspects of their practice are covered by separate legislation. Faith schools are mostly voluntary aided (VA) or voluntary controlled (VC) schools; i.e., they get some funding from a religious organisation, which also usually owns the school buildings and the land. A certain number of the school’s governors must be foundation governors (governors appointed by the school’s faith authority to represent its religious ethos). In voluntary aided schools, the governing body, not the local authority, is responsible for deciding the admissions policy and appointing staff.
This task addresses the need for headteachers to support governors in carrying out the third function identified above, i.e., ensuring the school’s money is well spent.
Financial accountability
In order to fulfil their responsibilities for overseeing the financial performance of the school effectively, governors are expected to ‘challenge and support’ the school’s leadership team over their spending plans and allocation of resources. To assist governors in carrying out this function, the DfE has developed a list of ‘Top 10 planning checks for governors’ (see link below) together with a suggested list of questions for governors to discuss with the school’s leaders.
1. Staff pay as percentage of total expenditure
2. Average teacher cost
3. Pupil-to-teacher ratio (PTR)
4. Class sizes
5. Teacher contact ratio
6. Proportion of budget spent on the leadership team
7. 3-to-5-year budget projections
8. Spend per pupil for non-pay expenditure lines compared to similar schools
9. School improvement plan priorities and the relative cost of options
10. List of contracts with costs and renewal dates
Preparing for the task
Before beginning the task, you should check your understanding of the roles and responsibilities for the financial leadership and management of schools and academies. You may do this by accessing
the relevant sections of either the Academy Trust Handbook or the Governance in maintained schools or the Governance in academy trusts
You should then access ‘Top 10 planning checks for governors’ and confirm your understanding of the importance/significance of each item, together with the questions it suggests governors might ask. You can access each of these items below.
Resources
▪ Department for Education (2024). Academy trust handbook 2024 (also known as the academies financial handbook). https://www.gov.uk/guidance/academy-trusthandbook/academy-trust-handbook-2024-to-print
Academy trusts must comply with this handbook as a condition of their funding agreement. It provides an overarching framework for implementation of effective financial management and other controls, consistent with their obligations as publicly funded bodies.
▪ Department for Education (2024). https://www.gov.uk/guidance/governance-inmaintained-schools
Guidance on the strategic leadership and governance of local-authority-maintained schools. This non-statutory guidance replaces the governance handbook 2019. This is a reference document for those involved in local-authority-maintained school governance. It brings together essential information from a range of sources on the governing body’s roles and legal responsibilities.
▪ Department for Education (2024) https://www.gov.uk/guidance/-governance-in-academytrusts
Guidance on strategic leadership and the governance of academy trusts. This non-statutory guidance replaces the governance handbook 2019. This is a reference document for those involved in trust governance. It provides essential information from a range of sources on the trust board’s roles and legal responsibilities.
▪ DfE (2018). School resource management: Top 10 planning checks for governors. School resource management: Top 10 planning checks for governors - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Task: Reporting to governors
Scenario
It is the autumn term, and the governors of your current school are considering the budget for the next academic year in tandem with the school’s curriculum planning.
They have read ‘Top 10 planning checks for governors’ and recognise that before making key strategic financial decisions they need you to provide them with information on items 1 to 5.
Step one: Gather the raw data for each item
Before you begin this process, you must ensure that you follow any protocols your school has with regard to access to and use of budget information.
In some schools the information may be readily available. For example, in secondary schools that use a software package to construct their timetable, the software will often generate information on class sizes, PTRs. Other information may be available from your school’s business manager/finance officer/director of finance.
Step two: Compare your school’s data with other schools’ data
To do this, you will need to access the various links that are provided in ‘School resource management: Top 10 planning checks for governors’. Make notes on how your school compares to other schools on each item.
Step three: Responding to governors’ queries
The governors have prepared a list of questions they wish you to address (see below). Download this list and make notes on the information governors require.
When you have completed these activities, reflect upon the information you have gathered and the notes you have made to produce a report for governors (maximum 600 words), titled ‘Review of expenditure on staffing at [name of school]’.
In producing your report, you should:
▪ address all five items and explore the questions governors have posed
▪ headline key information/findings
▪ explore the ‘reasons behind the data’, e.g., if your school is well above/below the national average on a particular item, why might this be the case? Do not assume that being well above or well below national averages is a good or a bad thing. There may be very good reasons why an individual school’s spending may vary significantly from other schools. However, governors may be concerned if the school’s leaders do not know why their spending varies from the national average, i.e., it has not been a conscious decision.
▪ consider the language you will use for this audience. Whilst some information is technical (e.g., PTRs), avoid jargon and make the information accessible to a lay audience. You should aim for your report to be ‘clear, concise and accurate’ (‘learn how to’ 10c).
When you have completed your report, upload it in Canvas to your leadership performance coach within the timeframe identified.
1. Staff pay as percentage of total expenditure
2. Average teacher cost
3. Pupil-toteacher ratio (PTR)
4. Class sizes
5. Teacher contact ratio
Governors’ questions
These are the questions governors have asked you to provide them with information on.
▪ What percentage of the budget is spent on staffing compared with similar schools?
▪ How does the percentage for teaching staff, curriculum support staff and other support staff compare with other similar schools?
▪ How does the school’s pupil outcomes – such as our school’s progress score – compare with other similar schools, relative to spend on staffing?
▪ What is the overall staff cost as a percentage of total income? (Staffing costs over 80% of total income are considered high.)
▪ If our average teacher cost is high in comparison with other similar schools, why is this? (The Schools Financial Benchmarking Service includes staffing cost per teacher in the ‘Expenditure’ section) Is this due to:
- the staffing grade profile, such as a high number of staff on the upper pay scale?
- the responsibilities structure in the school, such as the Teaching and Learning Responsibility (TLR) scale?
- another reason?
▪ How far is the school using its pay flexibilities – for example, to differentiate pay by teachers’ performance?
▪ What is the PTR for different key stages within the school?
▪ How does the school’s PTR compare with similar schools? If it’s significantly different, what is the reason(s) for this?
▪ How does the ratio of pupils to staff compare with similar schools?
▪ What are the average class sizes by key stages 1 and 2 OR by options at key stages 4 and 5?
▪ What class sizes does the school aim to achieve – and what is the educational reason for this?
▪ Are there any small classes where the per pupil funding does not cover the cost of delivery (secondary only)? (This can be especially important at key stages 4 and 5, where class sizes for some subjects can fall.)
▪ How would changes to the teacher contact ratio impact on the overall budget?
▪ Are teaching staff undertaking roles that could be done by support staff?
▪ How does our school compare against the ASCL aspirational target (secondary schools only)? What is the reason for any difference?
Additional information for international schools
International schools often employ different methodologies for financial management than those employed by UK government schools. However, the use of funding comparisons linked to pupil numbers, effectiveness, and the workforce is a valuable tool for evaluating resource allocation. This formative assessment task allows international schools to compare their finances to those of similar schools in the UK, providing insight into the percentage of total income (fees) allocated to various services, as well as workforce comparisons such as the number of teachers, teaching assistants, and other staff.
Using the UK Department for Education's (DfE) Schools financial benchmarking and insights tool webpage, can support international school leaders to identify areas for improvement and make informed decisions about budget allocation.
You may find it useful to work with your school's finance team to model different scenarios and compare multiple similar schools' budgets.
In international schools there are a variety of governance structures. You may find the reports on governance in international schools (links below) to be of interest in addition to the ones cited in the task.
Resources
https://iscresearch.com/reports/school-governance-2022/ https://www.cobis.org.uk/about-us/policies/cobis-guide-to-good-governance
https://consiliumeducation.com/itm/2022/10/27/good-governance/