At the beginning of May, the education secretary, Damian Hinds announced that the government will be attempting to give parents a wider choice in finding the right school for their children by delegating funds to expanding grammar and faith schools.
With this, the Selective School Expansion Fund (SSEF) has been created, to allow existing selective schools to apply on the grounds that they prioritise admission to pupil premium children and create an outreach programme with local primary schools.
By August 2019, all trusts have been told to clear any “related-party transactions” with the Education and Skills Funding Agency to make sure no trustee or committee member are abusing their position.
The pressure is rising for school business managers. With school budgets getting constantly tighter, the last thing you need is long, outdated processes and complex software slowing you down. At SAAF Education, our main aim is to make your school finances simple and efficient, so we try to help out where ever possible.
If you're a school or academy that uses Capita SIMS FMS, then we have put together four of our top tips in a helpful infographic for you; feel free to save or download for future reference.
It’s no secret that schools, academies and trusts face an onslaught of challenges to balance their budgets. If it’s not a cut in funding, it’s an increase in costs.
Even the most successful educational establishments in the country still have trouble facing the constant financial threats, so how do they manage to stay afloat and escape deficit?
Managing your school’s finances can be a difficult task because you have to constantly juggle the routine tasks as well as taking on the bigger challenges. These everyday duties however, can take up a lot of your time and resources, which can affect your financial responsibilities.
Working with school business managers, we know that they do an excellent job regardless of size or school type, but we also know that everyone needs additional support at times. The tips below will hopefully assist you with the day to day financial responsibilities of your job.
Last year, in April 2017, the Department for Education (DfE) launched the Strategic School Improvement Fund (SSIF), a £140 million grant that supports schools who need help improving performance and pupil attainment.
Applications for round three of the funding will close at midday on Friday 20th April 2018, but how do you know if you can apply? What can the funding pay for? What is the criteria for applications?
All these questions, and more, will be covered in this blog.
Christmas is only a week away, which means your Christmas holiday is getting closer and closer. It also means that your accounts submission deadlines are drawing closer.
Last month we posted some information and advice about the Accounts and Audit Management Report Submission that academies, trusts, and free schools must action before 31st December 2017.
Now we would like to talk about the Academy Accounts Return and ensure you’re aware that the deadline has been moved forward to the 19 January 2018.
Benchmarking can be a valuable process as it enables comparisons of income and expenditure with other schools. With this comparison you will then be able to consider how your resources can be used more efficiently and identify areas of improvement that may be required.
As the Christmas holidays draw closer, we know that your jobs are piling up by the second. Handling your budgets, health and safety records and asset register is already taking up all your time, the last thing you need right now is more work!
However, if you are an academy, multi-academy trust or free school you have until 31st December 2017 to submit your audited accounts to the ESFA.
Get to grips with all the issues facing the education sector at The Academies Show 2017
