Members' library

• Leading schools
  • Managing schools
    • Helping schools use resources well
      • Securing the best for less
        • Financial decision making
        • Using resources strategically
        • Creating an entrepreneurial culture
        • Developing robust systems
        • Using the knowledge of all staff
        • Shared understanding and responsibility
        • Openness to challege
        • Securing the best for less - case studies

Securing the best for less

The College has carried out two new research projects focusing on how to help schools manage their resources more effectively.

One, Securing the best for less, looks at how six schools have used their resources as efficiently and effectively as possible. We found that all the schools had developed an approach that is tailored to their context and needs – there is no single blueprint for efficiency and effectiveness – but all have been driven by clear values focused on wanting the very best outcomes for children.

The research project identified the following key themes of effective resource management:

• Financial decision making
• Using resources strategically
• Creating an entrepreneurial culture
• Developing robust systems
• Using the knowledge of all staff
• Shared understanding and responsibility
• Openness to challenge

The second research project, Efficiencies: helping schools balance the budget, offers hypothetical illustrative case studies to show how different types of schools may react to changes in funding. Whether a small rural primary or a large urban secondary, these case studies and recommendations offer a wide range of scenarios to help school leaders plan for the future. This work was carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on behalf of the National College.

Resources

• Download Securing the best for less: making resources go further
• Download Efficiencies: helping schools balance the budget

Six case studies explore the effective use of resources and offer strategies for how others can manage their budgets for maximum impact.  

• Read the case studies

The DfE has recently published a report Financial efficiency in schools. The report suggests that the key issues on which to focus should be:

• how to achieve financial efficiency in staffing
• localised advice
• how to work together in families or federations
• reactive information
• the perception that cost cutting may lead to lower standards of attainment