About us

• Initiatives
  • School business management activity
    • Primary partnerships
    • School business manager advocates

School business management activity

The role of school business manager (SBM) is now widely recognised as being an integral part of helping schools make better use of their resources and facilities, enabling headteachers and other leaders to focus on leading teaching and learning.

Professional development

SBM training opportunities have been designed by the National College and the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) to provide participants with the essential skills and competencies that will enable them to operate effectively within a school business management role. There are now five programmes and an option to undertake individual modules from the CSBM programme:

• Certificate of School Business Management (CSBM)
• Diploma of School Business Management (DSBM)
• Advanced Diploma of School Business Management (ADSBM)
• School Business Director Programme
• Certificate in Financial Reporting for Academies
• Certificate of School Business Management (CSBM) modular study

SBM development workshops

We have developed a set of workshops to provide SBMs with additional training opportunities outside of our traditional programmes.

The workshops are open to all school leaders and address specific learning needs over the course of either a half or full day.

• Conversion to academy status
• School income generation: guidance for school business managers
• How to get the most out of your SBM
• Leading procurement in schools
• Marketing and promoting the school
• Supporting teaching and learning
• Project management in schools
• Schools financial value standard: implications for school business managers

SBM primary partnership grants

The Department for Education released funds and commissioned the College to introduce SBM primary partnerships. These partnerships aim to increase access to skilled SBMs within the primary sector.

SBM jobs

The SBM jobs page is a service we provide to support our school business management provision. The page lists current vacancies for school business managers, bursars and similar positions in maintained schools throughout England.

School business manager advocates

SBM advocates operate within the nine government regions. Their remit is to raise awareness of the SBM profession, promote avenues for career progression and demonstrate how the role can improve school effectiveness. For further information see school business manager advocates.

Resources

A number of school business management resources are available.

You may also be interested in our wealth of SBM-related publications, case studies, presentations and evaluation reports.

Links to related organisations

• National Governors' Association
• Schools Recruitment Service
• National Association of School Business Management
• Institute of Administrative Management
• Association of School and College Leaders
• NAHT: the association for all school leaders
• Department for Education - schools pages
• TDA - School Business Management Pages
• TDA - support staff training materials
• Association of School Business Officials, in America
• Association of School Business Officials of Alberta, Canada
• Victoria State Department for Education and Early Childhood Development
• Western Cape Education Department, South Africa
• SBM jobs - current job vacancies across England