And just like that, Schools North East in-person conferences have come to an end for the 23/24 academic year. While it’s sad to be putting a temporary pause on hosting our physical events because of the summer break, we’re thrilled to have finished on such a high with yesterday’s School Business Management Conference 2024.
On Thursday 13 June, we had the pleasure of welcoming 300 North East School Business Professionals to St James’ Park for a full day of engaging professional development and unique collaboration opportunities.
It really was a glorious day, and a great way to round off another fantastic year of Schools North East events. Let’s briefly recap what was explored.
Welcome speech from Chris Zarraga
As always, we kicked the conference off with a warm welcome speech from Chris Zarraga, Director of Schools North East, who touched on the upcoming election and the 2024 conference theme (Great North School Business Leaders: Partners in Progress).
In his speech, Chris said: “North East schools are ‘Great’ in every respect, and everyone in here is most certainly a ‘Great North School Business Leader’; Irreplaceable partners in the hard earned progress our schools make each and every year.
“One of Schools North East’s most important messages – to the media, politicians, and policymakers – especially now as we approach a general election, is that our schools are not only ‘Great’ but also ‘vital national strategic architecture’.
“Vital is an inadequate descriptor to do justice to who and what you and your colleagues actually are to so many children and communities, and this last year has again proven how true that is.”
Jonathan Peach – Keynote speaker
On the day, we were joined by hundreds of BRILLIANT School Business Leaders, so it only made sense to start the day with a BRILLIANT keynote speech!
Jonathan Peach, Motivational Speaker from The Art of Brilliance, took to the main stage at 09:30 to deliver a session titled, unsurprisingly, The Art of Being Brilliant.
He was a breath of fresh air and a fantastic way to start the conference, interacting with the audience throughout to ensure full concentration and engagement. At one point, he even settled himself down at a table to discuss with delegates what they thought their biggest barriers were.
Imposter syndrome, confidence, time, and “not being able to say NO” were just a few of the barriers highlighted by our School Business Professionals, and JP used his skills, knowledge, and experience as a motivational expert to share tips for improvement. As expected, there were lots of pens scribbling on notepads throughout his speech.
JP pointed out that we typically tend to be great at critiquing ourselves, and terrible at praising ourselves… that sounds about right! So, delegates were also asked to describe their best selves in three words, and it was heart-warming to see so many affirmations explode on the screen. Via Slido, people were sharing words such as ‘confident’, ‘alive’, ‘energetic’, and ‘resilient’.
It’s safe to say that, following Jonathan’s inspiring speech and encouraging (‘cheesy’ – his word, not ours!) videos, delegates felt energised and ready to tackle the rest of the day’s insightful agenda.
Session round one
We built our conference around four key strands (HR, finance, risk management, and supporting outcomes), giving SBPs a unique opportunity to hear about the latest developments in these crucial areas.
For session round one, Graham Vials (Partner, Ward Hadaway) expertly covered the ‘managing risk’ arm with a presentation that explored pupil suspension and exclusions, including guidance and tips for different roles.
For ‘supporting outcomes’ Julie Liddell (Managing Director, Still Human) supplied knowledge and understanding of what menopause is and how we can create a more supportive and inclusive environment for those experiencing this transition. Julie approached the session with expertise and sensitivity, but still managed to have the audience laughing at times!
As the two above sessions were taking place, David Shields (CEO, Value Match Services) ticked off ‘finance’ with an exploration of how to deliver commercial activity in the most efficient and effective way possible, explaining how cashable savings can be repurposed back into frontline education.
And lastly, the ‘HR’ strand was being tackled by Jill Donabie (Partner, Muckle) and
Claire Druery (Chief People Officer, BCCET) who each contributed exclusive insight to the (very hot!) topic of flexible working, discussing policies and procedures as well as top tips for managing requests.
Session round two
From 12:05 to 12:45, delegates once again broke out into their chosen session rooms to absorb further knowledge from industry experts.
Unpeeling another layer of ‘managing risk’ was Debbie Pettiford (Data Protection Officer, The DP Advice Service) with her update on the DPDI bill that’s currently going through Parliament. She also shared some very helpful key information about data protection compliance in the context of schools.
For those interested in the ‘supporting outcomes’ strand, Bryan McCourt (Energy Solutions Consultant NE, Zenergi) and colleague Mandip Bhamra hosted an informative workshop which shared practical information to help SBPs take control of energy budgets and lower costs.
Meanwhile, Dan Newton (Business Development Manager, Charles Garth Chartered Surveyors) was in the Heroes Suite with a ‘finance’ session that explored effective financial management within estate operations. Dan covered the basics of estate management to improve the knowledge and confidence of our SBPs, including budgeting, risk management, and sustainability efforts.
And Polly O’Malley (Partner, Browne Jacobson) had ‘HR’ adeptly covered with an instructive session which revealed key issues and potential pitfalls of agency staff and seconded staff, providing the audience with the tools and knowledge necessary to make the best decisions for their individual situations.
Stephen Morales – Keynote speaker
After a tasty lunch and exhibition break (the bingo cards were in full swing!), we were fortunate enough to be joined by Stephen Morales in the main room.
Stephen, Chief Executive of the Institute of School Business Leadership, brought with him specialist knowledge and exclusive insight as he delved into ‘Operational Excellence and How it Intersects with SBP Professional Standards.’
Across the 40 minutes, we explored ten domains, including process and quality, training and development, human performance, and technology effectiveness.
When discussing point five (Skills, training and development), Stephen revealed a statistic that he found sobering… “Over 50% of SBPs in the system don’t have a performance management conversation every year.”
He revealed that he’s spoken to SBPs in the past who have said that ‘they’d love to do CPD’, but there’s simply no time to do it, or there are other people ahead of them so they don’t push forward with it. Stephen insisted that it’s so important to put yourself first in this situation and used the advice we receive on flights as an analogy: put your own oxygen mask on before helping others.
Moving onto point nine of the domains (data and information), he reaffirmed that it’s easy to be flooded with data, but that data is only meaningful if the person receiving the information can actually understand what it’s telling them, and that they can answer the ‘so what?’ question.
As we know, fancy colourful charts and graphs on a dashboard looks great, but it really is no good if we can’t use the data to inform critical decision making. Stephen warned that we must “be cautious of data overload.”
Panel discussion: What do School Business Personnel need from the government? What will really make a difference?
The panel discussion followed Stephen, and was hosted by Pauline Aitchison (Deputy Director, Schools North East) and featured panellists Andy Collishaw (Chief Operating Officer, New College Durham Academies Trust), Claire McDonald (Finance Business Partner, NEAT Multi Academy Trust), Sarah Jones (Operations & Business Manager, Inicio Academies), and Emma Swansbury (Trust Business Manager & CFO, Discoverer Learning Trust).
As the general election is fast approaching (only 20 days to go now!) we thought it was important to discuss what School Business Professionals in the North East would like to see from the next government.
At the beginning of the conference, we asked attendees to log into Slido and answer that critical question in one or two words. Almost instantly, the screen blew up with words such as ‘funding’, ‘recruitment’, and ‘budgets’.
To kick off the discussion, Pauline asked the panel how they see the recruitment and retention crisis playing out in their individual settings.
Claire confirmed her trust has seen a fall in applications right across the board, and their solution has involved open days to give potential staff a taste of what it would be like to work for their organisation, as well as lots of conversations around CPD, appraisals, and flexible working.
On the topic of SEND specifically, Pauline asked if there needs to be more training and measures in place to educate the workforce. Emma confirmed what we’re all too tragically aware of – that this is a problem that’s becoming more than the system can cope with. Emma said we need to be able to invest in our people so that they can deliver the best service for those most vulnerable.
Pauline touched upon how there are far too many schools that are deteriorating and they don’t have the funds to take a strategic approach to fixing this. In response, Andy touched upon a fully-costed refresh plan, while Sarah pointed out that there’s simply not enough money to keep buildings in the expected standard.
Overall, the panel discussion served as an incredibly interesting 40 minute session, and it was helpful for us here at Schools North East to hear directly from SBPs about what they deem a priority from whichever party is elected on 4 July.
This knowledge will certainly go a long way towards our lobbying and campaigning efforts – amazing work from all involved in the panel (including our very own Pauline!). If you haven’t already filled in our 2024 Manifesto Refresh survey, you can do so here.
Session round three
Before the conference came to a close, our four critical strands each got another spotlight in session round three.
Mick Little (COO, Ascent Academies’ Trust) expertly covered the ‘managing risk’ strand with a presentation that set out steps to develop a risk management process for schools and academies, including policy and an effective framework, as well as lessons learnt and common pitfalls.
For ‘supporting outcomes’ Claire Mitchell (Leadership & Governance Partner, Berry Education) offered knowledge to help SBPs ensure effective and efficient management of complaints in schools, with a focus on adhering to statutory requirements and minimising the potential for escalation.
At the same time, Harry Rashid MCIPD (Head of HR Commercial, NYES) had ‘finance’ covered with an exploration of the current trading environment in the education sector, sharing top tips on how schools can manage short notice supplier withdrawals. Another extremely hot topic right now!
And lastly, the ‘HR’ strand was being tackled by Pam Mee & Jane Warburton (Director of HR & Senior HR Manager, BWCET) who both contributed expert insight into how best to deal with difficult conversations in schools and academies.
A fantastic way to end a fantastic year (of SNE events)!
Overall, the School Business Management Conference was everything that we hoped it’d be. Critical knowledge was shared, contact details were exchanged, and smiles were beaming from ear to ear – especially from Janette Davison of Rossmere Academy, who won two hospitality tickets for a Newcastle United match in our exhibition bingo!
Janette revealed her father is a huge NUFC supporter and after going blind last year, this prize was undoubtedly going to delight him after recent tough times. We’re thrilled that our conference was able to facilitate something so special.
But above all, it really is the delegates, speakers, sponsors, and exhibitors that make these events as amazing as they are. So, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much to everyone who took the time out of their busy schedules to help us celebrate our eleventh SBM Conference yesterday.
Every member of staff can be credited for making our schools and trusts great, but yesterday was specifically about recognising the hard work and dedication of our SBLs, and giving them a platform to develop not just professionally, but personally, too. They really are the backbone of the school community!
And of course, a special thanks to our main event sponsors, Education Mutual, for all their help and support in the run-up to the conference and on the day, and to Tes, our Conference Media Partners.
Already eagerly looking ahead to the next in-person conference? Summit 2024 bookings are now open.
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