5. Julie Cordiner, Independent Education Funding Consultant
Release Date: 08/30/2019
DTT Edward Thomas Nov 2022
Developing the Trust
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20. Phil Reynolds; Formerly of Kreston Reeves and now PLR Advisory
Developing the Trust
For this episode Tim Warneford is in Sittingbourne in Kent to speak to Phil Reynolds. Phil has spent over 20 years specialising in academy schools accountancy firstly at pecialist accountants Kreston Reeves and now with his own consultancy PLR Advisory We explore how specialist accountancy can assist schools determine a trust strategy and how upskilling in house SLTT through training and development can achieve operational wins.
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19. James Robson, Chairman of Powerful Allies
Developing the Trust
For this episode Tim Warneford travels to Wiltshire to speak to Powerful Allies Chairman, James Robson, about the risks posed to academy schools for energy procurement in an un-regulated market place.
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18. CIF Update and How to Create a Successful Bid
Developing the Trust
The hot topic of conversation across the sector is the recent update from the ESFA, revealing that the much awaited publication of the 2021-22 round of Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) awards, have been postponed until ‘mid-June’.
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17. Harvey Sinclair, CEO E Energy PLC
Developing the Trust
On this episode Tim talks to Harvey Sinclair, a technology entrepreneur and CEO of E Energy PLC about the fast-moving world of lighting and also electrified heating discussing how schools can save energy and indeed costs by changing their electrics.
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16. Steve Bolt, Director of BCR Associates
Developing the Trust
Tim Warneford is in Alton, Hampshire, with Steve Bolt, director of BCR Associates, a cost management consultancy that support clients – including academies - to increase efficiency, manage risk, ensure compliance and rationalise procurement costs. Tim and Steve are also working on a collaboration with Lloyds Bank education team to support academy trusts seeking to assist academy trust to optimise resources and maximise potential.
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15. Kevin Yardley, Director of Income Generation of The Generations Multi Academy Trust
Developing the Trust
Tim Warneford is once again out and about now lockdown is easing – travelling and recording with all social distancing in mind of course - to speak to Kevin Yardley at The Generations Multi Academy Trust. Kevin is director of income generation and his role is to ensure the estates facilities yield substantial revenue streams through optimising letting opportunities and via external partnerships.
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14. Jeremy Pilgrim, School Property Matters
Developing the Trust
For this episode Tim Warneford is in Bedfordshire to speak to Jeremy Pilgrim from School Property Matters who are independent experts in pupil capacity and have worked with over 2500 schools so far.
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13. Graham Fitzgerald, General Practice and Audit Director at Baldwin Accountants, Baldwin Accountants
Developing the Trust
This week Tim Warneford is in Stockton-on-Tees to speak to Graham Fitzgerald, general practice and audit director at Baldwin Accountants. As well as dealing with commercial organisations, Graham specialises in the education sector, providing audit and advisory services and working with over forty academy schools including an increasing number of multi academy trusts.
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12. Lara Harvard and Zoe Forbes from Ecosphere and Gareth Williams from Eden Sustainable
Developing the Trust
Tim Warneford is in London’s West End with Lara Harvard and Zoe Forbes from Ecosphere and Gareth Williams from Eden Sustainable talking about how schools and academy trusts can both save money and also be much greener by installing better energy systems and also their exclusive offer available to both academy trusts and state schools.
info_outlineFor this episode Tim Warneford speaks online via Skype to Julie Cordiner, Independent Education Funding Consultant about her work in education finance for schools and academies, the successes and the struggles of the schools academies sector and her passion for education.
On this episode we cover:
How education was her own route out of poverty
Education being her passion
Opportunities for children they wouldn’t otherwise have
Working in education for 30 years
Being drawn into special needs
Returning to the finance side
School leaders starting off as teachers or admin
Being very little specific training in financial management side
Being on a mission to raise the profile in financial leadership
Drawing together fragmented information and making it easier to access
Tim working in social housing
Seeing the link between environment and output
Some schools not providing the optimal learning environment
School leaders being thrown into a massive responsibilities
Not being able to be an expert in everything
Knowing where to find the right people with those specialisms
Seeing a lot of school business managers struggling
Where Julie sees the successes the academy system has brought
Julie’s experience being mixed across LEA and academies
Academies having been successful when they have a strategic grip on their distinct things
DFEA being a bit misleading about the extent on the freedoms of academies
Where freedoms have been used they have been innovative
Academies being open about collaborating
Seeing some great MAT examples with special needs and disadvantages pupils
The choice of centralisation versus local autonomy
Some MATs doing aggregated procurement well
Some MATs having a good pool of school improvement specialists
The plight of the primary school that doesn’t want to be in a MAT
The difficulty of smaller primaries struggling with the emphasis on amount per pupil
The national funding formula brought the funding down
How it’s not only academies that can collaborate
Some LEA school collaborating with education partnerships
Schools engaging the community and using out of hours for revenue streams
Schools developing an income generating strategy
How understanding the community is very important
Where Julie sees the negative aspect of academy system:
DFE’s willingness to recognise the sector needs more money
2015-17 particular drain on resources
A huge brake on any responsiveness to changes in need
For the third year running there’s an increase in children with additional needs
The level of funding and the distribution of it just not doing the job
Frustration that academies is seen as the answer to everything
Schools are schools – not much difference between academies and LEA schools on a day to day basis
The government pitting one set of schools against another
Some LEA schools and academies working well together
‘Appalling waste’ in the DFE
The UK Statistics Authority wading in
‘Most academies living hand to mouth and can’t provide the basics’
Condition improvement funding being almost means tested
The majority of schools being in some sort of deficit
The poorer schools being continually punished
Schools being pushed into larger trusts for DFE convenience
The bigger trust getting school condition allocations not being subjected to an SRMA visit
The pressure on small trusts being pushed into larger ones by the DFE
Lord Agnew having a skewed view of waste in schools
Being far better to give schools the skills to do their own SRMA
How building capacity is the way to go
Tim talking to the ISBL about owing a duty of debt to the 14,000 schools yet to academise
Julie not accepting that all 14,000 LEA schools will eventually become academies
Lots of schools doing very well without become an academy
Needing greater understanding about serving all types of schools
Julie suggesting a forum where school leaders could share their biggest concerns
More joint approaches needed
Suppliers and professionals needing to get together and collect best-practice case-studies
Julie’s aim to help schools and academies understand what effective financial leadership means; being about achieving sustainable budgets, equipping governors to challenge and support better, wanting to try to make DFE see that they need to trust in the sector more, believe it when the sector say they need funding and top interfering at the operation level and instead focus on giving a strategic framework with core funding predictions
Julie’s book - Forecasting Your Schools Funding
The sector just wishing to be heard
DFE operating on a very minimal capacity
As yet being no spending settlement
The sector being in a funding crisis