The Key for School Leaders An Essential Guide to Academy Conversion
Case study : financial and operations management in a MAT
Case study : managing conversion to a single academy trust
Ben March , CFOO , STEP Academy Trust
The chief financial and operations officer
( CFOO ) role within STEP was developed in accordance with the mission , vision and values of the trust . This has meant that STEP has followed a non-traditional route for financial and operational services – neither fully centralising these functions nor leaving academies to create their own systems and processes .
Instead , STEP has a hybrid model which combines keeping decision making at an academy level – which is crucial to empower leadership and encourage ownership by headteachers and business managers – with a framework of support , challenge and guidance from the CFOO and the trust ’ s central team .
As an example , STEP has a trust-wide target for staffing expenditure as a percentage of income – however , it is within the remit of headteachers to recommend to their strategic governing body a staffing structure that meets the needs of the academy .
Coming the other way , the trust ’ s central team has strategies for ICT , premises and estates , catering , and HR and governance which guide the development of these services while being tailored to the needs and priorities of academies .
The diagram on page 23 shows the structure of the trust Ben works for .
( As of January 2017 , STEP has 13 academies across south London and East Sussex .)
From Olney Infant Academy , Milton Keynes
When Olney Infant School converted to academy status in 2011 , it did so in two stages :
1 . The school first applied for foundation status , which took 16-17 weeks . Becoming a foundation school meant that , when the school converted to academy status , it owned its land and buildings rather than having to lease them from the local authority . The principal told us this was important to the school , as it would allow more freedom to expand or make changes to the grounds in the future
2 . The next stage was to convert to academy status , which took about three and a half months . The principal said the process was relatively straightforward , but hard work
As the school is small , most of the conversion work fell to the principal and the school business manager .
Olney Infant Academy ’ s principal noted that his staff had many questions about the conversion . Staff members generally did not react negatively to the proposal , but they were concerned about what would happen to their terms and conditions should the current principal move on in the future .
The principal conducted team meetings and held two one-to-one meetings with each member of staff to answer individuals ’ questions , reassure them that he was not intending to move on , and explain that their terms and conditions would be protected by the Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment ( TUPE ) regulations .
The principal advises that schools considering conversion get support from a good solicitor , ideally one who has dealt with academy conversions before , and consult all relevant unions right from the start .
For further academisation case studies for school leaders and governors , visit :
https :// schoolgovernors . thekeysupport . com / school-improvement-and-strategy / schoolorganisation / academy-conversion /
https :// schoolleaders . thekeysupport . com / school-evaluation-and-improvement / academy-status / academy-conversion /
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