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Busy behind the scenes
24th June 2022
We rightly talk a lot in this bulletin about the ‘outward facing’ activities of our schools – outreach programmes, sports days, educational trips, science days and professional lectures. However, it is important to remember that these activities are just the tip of the iceberg, and are only possible due to the huge amount of hard work every day ‘behind the scenes’ in our classrooms, offices, PPA rooms and caretakers workshops.
One of the benefits of being part of a multi-academy trust is the potential for us to work together to make ‘behind the scenes’ work more efficiently and effectively – allowing us to support each other and achieve even better outcomes. It is for this reason that the trust runs Governor training sessions, curriculum networks, CPD sessions and SBM meetings – by working together, we can share best practice, come up with new ideas and keep each other sharp.
A particular area of focus for the trust at the moment is ‘back-office systems’. While perhaps not the most exciting of topics (disappointingly, this ‘feature’ didn’t make the final cut of the trust video that was sent out last week…), the reality is that the systems we use are core to the work of many of our non-classroom-based staff. Historically, the education sector has not been very effective in this area and, like many schools, we have been using systems that are in some cases out-dated and ineffective. This can be very frustrating for the staff involved, who have to spend too much time entering the same data into multiple systems, correcting errors, manually creating communications and regularly collating data to report to the trust, SCC and the DFE. Imagine how long it takes to manually produce salary statements for all 1,100 staff across the trust – yet with joined-up systems, this could be done at the click of a button.
Earlier this year, we rolled-out a single finance and budgeting system across the merged trust, which allows us all to work in the same way, to be confident in the accuracy of our data, and to share information across our schools. Next year, we plan to expand our use of this system to make our systems increasingly ‘paperless’ and to allow the option for budget-holders and approvers to submit information online, rather than having to use separate request forms and payment authorisation.
We have recently placed an order for a trust-wide HR system. This system was chosen by a focus group of school users, and will be a vital tool for our office staff by automating many processes that currently take a disproportionate amount of time and effort, and allowing us to improve the service that we offer to all our staff. Ultimately, we hope that all staff will have access to this system to allow them to view policies, update their personal data (eg changes of address) and to manage their objectives and appraisals.
Finally, another group of school users (SBMs, site managers and caretakers) has been supporting us in assessing possible new systems to help us manage the requirements associated with our estates and buildings – ensuring that we have robust processes in place to keep our schools safe and well maintained. Again, an automated system will reduce the workload involved in carrying out tasks that are currently very labour intensive, meaning that our staff can focus more of their time on adding value in their schools.
I’d like to thank all those who have been involved in selecting and implementing these systems. There is a lot of work involved in this, and the time-saving benefits of the systems don’t arrive until they are properly embedded, so this does require significant effort, for which we are grateful.
We are determined to ensure that our staff have the right tool with which to do their jobs, and can only do this with your support and feedback – thank you.
Patrick Overy, CFO, Learning Partners
We rightly talk a lot in this bulletin about the ‘outward facing’ activities of our schools – outreach programmes, sports days, educational trips, science days and professional lectures. However, it is important to remember that these activities are just the tip of the iceberg, and are only possible due to the huge amount of hard work every day ‘behind the scenes’ in our classrooms, offices, PPA rooms and caretakers workshops.
One of the benefits of being part of a multi-academy trust is the potential for us to work together to make ‘behind the scenes’ work more efficiently and effectively – allowing us to support each other and achieve even better outcomes. It is for this reason that the trust runs Governor training sessions, curriculum networks, CPD sessions and SBM meetings – by working together, we can share best practice, come up with new ideas and keep each other sharp.
A particular area of focus for the trust at the moment is ‘back-office systems’. While perhaps not the most exciting of topics (disappointingly, this ‘feature’ didn’t make the final cut of the trust video that was sent out last week…), the reality is that the systems we use are core to the work of many of our non-classroom-based staff. Historically, the education sector has not been very effective in this area and, like many schools, we have been using systems that are in some cases out-dated and ineffective. This can be very frustrating for the staff involved, who have to spend too much time entering the same data into multiple systems, correcting errors, manually creating communications and regularly collating data to report to the trust, SCC and the DFE. Imagine how long it takes to manually produce salary statements for all 1,100 staff across the trust – yet with joined-up systems, this could be done at the click of a button.
Earlier this year, we rolled-out a single finance and budgeting system across the merged trust, which allows us all to work in the same way, to be confident in the accuracy of our data, and to share information across our schools. Next year, we plan to expand our use of this system to make our systems increasingly ‘paperless’ and to allow the option for budget-holders and approvers to submit information online, rather than having to use separate request forms and payment authorisation.
We have recently placed an order for a trust-wide HR system. This system was chosen by a focus group of school users, and will be a vital tool for our office staff by automating many processes that currently take a disproportionate amount of time and effort, and allowing us to improve the service that we offer to all our staff. Ultimately, we hope that all staff will have access to this system to allow them to view policies, update their personal data (eg changes of address) and to manage their objectives and appraisals.
Finally, another group of school users (SBMs, site managers and caretakers) has been supporting us in assessing possible new systems to help us manage the requirements associated with our estates and buildings – ensuring that we have robust processes in place to keep our schools safe and well maintained. Again, an automated system will reduce the workload involved in carrying out tasks that are currently very labour intensive, meaning that our staff can focus more of their time on adding value in their schools.
I’d like to thank all those who have been involved in selecting and implementing these systems. There is a lot of work involved in this, and the time-saving benefits of the systems don’t arrive until they are properly embedded, so this does require significant effort, for which we are grateful.
We are determined to ensure that our staff have the right tool with which to do their jobs, and can only do this with your support and feedback – thank you.
Patrick Overy, CFO, Learning Partners
