2. Baking a cake – scenario 1 Go straight to the shop
Recipe (£5.00 budget) 125g Self raising flour 2 eggs 125g Butter 125g of caster sugar
Purchased:
Bag of self raising flour
Bag of plain flour
2 pts of milk
Dozen eggs
Butter
Granulated sugar
Total cost £5.50
Consequence:
Over spent budget
Wrong ingredients
Ingredients not needed
A lot of surplus ingredients

3. Baking a cake – scenario 2 Go home first and check recipe
Recipe (£5.00 budget) 125g Self raising flour 2 eggs 125g Butter 125g of caster sugar
Purchased:
Bag of self raising flour
½ dozen eggs
Butter
Caster sugar
Total cost £4.00
Consequence:
Money left over to purchase icing sugar
Minimal ingredients left over
Produced a cake within the budget

4. Know your recipe

5. Know your recipe

6. Know your recipe

7. The Bishop of Rochester Academy (BORA)
2014/15 outcomes:
Recognised as at risk of special measures by RSC
GCSE outcome “significantly below for 5 A*-C against national average
Attainment of disadvantage pupils below that of others in the Academy and nationally
Year 7 first choices only 15% and surplus of over 50% pupil spaces from a 240 PAN
Opening balance sheet as at 1st September 2014 £220k deficit
Budget position for 14/15 forecasting a further in-year deficit of £582k (cumulative deficit of £802k)
Model for 15/16 suggested a total year end deficit at £1.9 million

8. All costs based on 50 lesson 2 week TT
Hidden teacher costs
Additional PPA time - £1,000 per lesson per teacher
Management time – 10 HODs 10% management time = £50,000
All costs based on 50 lesson 2 week TT

9. Where is the likely excess staffing?
The “Support” stream:
These students have to be taught in smaller classes because …….
Is this the best use of £60,000+ to support these students?
The odd sized year group:
A year group where we have shied away from larger 30+ class sizes.
A year group of 160 is still 5 classes of 32 rather than 6 of 26/27.
Potential saving £60,000+

10. Where is the likely excess staffing?
Core subjects – “we need more sets”:
Maths, English and Science often assume that they should have more sets than the number of forms.
Each extra class will cost £12,000+ to run and likely have little impact on outcomes.
Option blocks – “the hidden cost of choice”:
The number of options offered in an option block only needs to be the same as the number of classes for that year group.
For every additional option subject this will cost £6,000+

11. Impact Statement (since March 2016) The Victory Academy
2016/17 outcomes:
GCSE outcome has progress at +0.32
A-Level outcomes has progress at +0.23
Pupil premium outcomes has progress at +0.28
Highest performing high school in the authority
Year 7 first choices over 60% and for the first time ever a waiting list for on a 240 PAN
No deficit
Budget for 17/18 set as an in-year balanced position
OFSTED in June 2017 “Good” in all areas

12. Key messages
Focus on understanding the curriculum plan and the resources required
Use a model to map resources (there are lots)
Consider metrics and benchmarks
Start early
Review regularly
Talk to school leaders and get them to believe in the common sense approach
Remind all that it works

13. One half of the story
The analogy between managing school budgets and managing wedding is a good one.
Ultimately, everyone wants the best possible wedding they can have and “value for money” can be an uncomfortable conversation.
School budgets can have a similar feel – everyone in education is committed to delivering the best possible education for the children in their care. Having to discuss best value in this context can be challenging – how do you measure in pounds the value of a provision for a child that needs it?
However, the reality is that just as when you get married you have to make decisions about what you can and cannot afford we as school leaders have to do the same in our schools.

14. Questions