Business/Office Manager Cross-Phase Network 21-22

Networks provide a strong and supportive professional learning community, ideal for leaders and teachers who wish to work together to explore best practice education from a national and local perspective. They provide the opportunity for professionals to collaborate and share strategies to improve outcomes and experiences for pupils in all schools.

This network is designed to support and develop practice for business and finance colleagues, providing an opportunity to share best practice and offer support to one another.

The network will focus on the following areas:

Health & Safety and Risk - the risk 'bow-tie' approach, capturing risks facing schools, risk-assessments, approach to Health and Safety and Compliance.

Human Resources - recruitment: from advert to end of probation, how to recruit safely, merits and annual appraisals for support staff.

Disciplinary 1 - explores how to conduct an investigation into a disciplinary matter.

Disciplinary 2 - convenes a mock disciplinary hearing panel based on investigation undertaken in the previous session.

Finance - financial data - what it can tell us about our schools and how funds are used to support where it is needed most, pay assumptions - looking ahead, reporting finance to Governors or those who are not financially minded.

Network dates:

Thursday 2nd December 2021, 2-4.30pm (National C of E Academy)
Tuesday 25th January 2022, 9.30am-12pm (National C of E Academy)
Thursday 10th March 2022, 2-4.30pm at Minster School
Monday 16th May 2022, 2-4.30pm at Minster School
Tuesday 19th July 2022, 2-4.30pm (venue to be confirmed)

Venue:

The Minster School, Nottingham Road, Southwell, NG25 0LG

Network lead:

Jacqueline Straw has a back ground in finance and internal audit, with specific experience in schools. She has a first-class degree (BA Hons) in School Business Management, is AAT qualified (Association of Accounting Technicians), and holds an up to date IOSH (Institution of Occupation Safety and Health) qualification. Jacqueline also has significant experience in HR, having managed large teams for more than 15 years and is a trained mediator. Jacqueline is an SLE (Specialist Leader of Education) with a specific skill set in the financial and business leadership and management of schools and has been deployed on a number of occasions to support in this area to secure improvement. Jacqueline is currently the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of MITRE and heads up the central business functions of the Trust.