It’s Not Wrong For Schools To Sell Services To Other Schools
Schools shouldn᾿t feel squeamish about selling services to other schools when everyone can benefit, says Adam Lowing…
- by Adam Lowing
If I was headteacher, I would do this! If I was in charge, I would make sure all staff got that! If I controlled the budget, I would spend it on things that really make a difference! Before taking charge of a school, I made every one of these promises. All I can say now is be careful what you wish for.
As I᾿ve discovered, combining school improvement with fiscal restraint comes with some pretty big headaches – and we all know that budgets are only going to get smaller. Even so, at St Mary Cray Primary Academy we are managing to achieve both. My tenure as head began on the day the school converted to an academy, so I can᾿t make comparisons to how things might have been before, but the support we currently receive from the borough is minimal. Hardly a surprise, as 90% of the schools in our local authority are academies. As such, we haven᾿t got a raft of service-level agreements to buy into (even if we wanted to). Further to that, the cluster model has now gone, and the collaborative forums that used to be facilitated by the LA have all but disappeared. Under these circumstances, it᾿s easy to see how quickly a school can become isolated, which is a great shame. I᾿ve always been a big believer in inter-school working – be it on CPD, sharing resources or perhaps most exciting, joint projects with children. So in the last two years, we᾿ve chosen to do something about it – we᾿ve tried to do things ourselves.
Everyone is benefitting
I used to work in a Teaching School that provided the Outstanding and Improving Teacher Programmes (OPT and IPT), and know how valuable these can be. But when I did some research into sending four of my team on the OPT, I quickly realised there was a difference between what it was going to cost and how much I had left in the training budget. I also thought – with respect to these excellent programmes – that it would be better if the content more closely reflected our context.
My solution was to do it myself. For free. And now we offer the Developing Excellent Teaching Programme. As a result of this DIY solution, we have had 23 delegates from 12 different settings attend, which has given colleagues both at my school and others the chance to work together on CPD. It wasn’t free (we still had to pay for my time, and that of the AHT), but it was excellent value for money for us and everyone else involved. Feedback has been really positive, and we hope to grow it further next academic year, continuing to offer free training opportunities for our colleagues from other schools as, ultimately, everyone is benefiting.
A little creativity
Not everything we offer comes without cost; in balancing our budget we also offer paid-for services. When we discovered that SEMH / behavioural expert, Sue Byron, was leaving the local authority, we recruited her to work in our school and she has made an immense impact. But taking on an additional salary required some creative thinking, otherwise we would have run out of money.
The solution? Sue now offers a service to eight other local schools, all of which pay for her time (we charge a rate that covers costs, rather than making a profit). This means we᾿re able to break even, and other schools whose vulnerable children and families need support can also benefit from Sue᾿s expertise. Bringing in guest speakers is yet another example of invaluable CPD that comes at a high price. When we᾿ve brought in experts to talk to staff, we᾿ve offset the cost by selling additional places to other local schools and agencies. Again, by pricing very low and not seeking to make a profit, we᾿ve been able to afford some amazing training and ensure the benefits are not restricted to those at St Mary Cray. Some schools are wary of charging each other money, and I completely understand. However, if we didn’t take this approach, the CPD we want would be unaffordable to us, and to others. No school will ever have the budget to fulfil its complete wish list, especially in the current financial landscape – but with a little creativity you can make more services come within reach, to the benefit of the school, your staff and most importantly, the children.
Adam Lowing is headteacher at St Mary Cray Primary Academy in Orpington
