With soaring costs and real-terms funding cuts, balancing the books has become one of the biggest challenges facing schools today. This episode offers practical advice for effective school financial management during the cost of living crisis.

We consider the funding situation on the ground and contemplate some of the worst-case scenarios for the year ahead. We discuss how we can approach the challenges we face, touching upon ideas for generating efficiencies, managing cashflow, benchmarking, financial planning metrics, costing our development plans and more.

We consider how business managers can work effectively with the headteacher and governors/trustees – including offering robust challenge.

We look at the specifics of MAT finances as well as budgeting in standalone schools, including the processes of setting budgets and general principles.

We discuss the different funding streams (SEND, Pupil Premium) and associated reporting obligations.

The podcast is hosted by Matt Bromley, an education advisor and author with more than 20 years’ experience in teaching including as a secondary headteacher and MAT director. Our guests are:

  • Annette Southworth has been a school business manager for 20 years and has spent the last decade working at St Bede’s Catholic High School in Lancashire.
  • Mark Wood is the chief finance officer for Wellspring Academy Trust, which has 28 schools across Yorkshire, The Humber and Lincolnshire.
  • Susanne Kiff has worked in education for more than 15 years and is currently deputy trust leader at Dartmoor Multi-Academy Trust and has oversight and responsibility for finance and operations across the MAT.

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For details about The SecEd Podcast, or to suggest future topics, email editor Pete Henshaw at editor@sec-ed.co.uk