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Our 10th annual SBM conference took place at St. James’ Park on Thursday 15 June 2023 and followed the theme ‘Education: The Greatest Show on Earth’.  A tribute to the region’s amazing school business professionals who do such an incredible job of ‘keeping the show on the road’. 

A huge thank you to the 300+ delegates, the speakers and exhibitors who made this year’s School Business Management Conference such a massive success.

Highlights from the day

Chris Zarraga, Director of Schools North East kicked off the day, stating:

“I am delighted that well over 300 colleagues from across our region gathered at this year’s SBM Conference. As ever, we’re very, very proud to welcome guests from literally every part of our region: from the Scottish to the North Yorkshire borders. Schools North East is a network for ALL schools in the North East and we’re extremely proud to be supported as strongly in the North of the region as we are in the South, by schools large and small, rural and urban; especially as so many attend as part of groups from their local areas. “

This year’s theme was ‘Education: The Greatest Show on Earth’.  Inspired by the famous film The Greatest Show on Earth, a dazzling spectacle of life behind the scenes with Ringling Bros.-Barnum and Bailey Circus, the best three-ring circus in the land. It celebrates the extravagant circus and depicts the passionate scenes of love and jealousy behind the Greatest Show on Earth.  The circus must hit its targets or disaster will befall it; unbridled competition, love triangles, cryptic clowns and villainous racketeers threaten its future. Yet the circus is above all else. What will it take to keep The Greatest Show on Earth running? Now if that doesn’t sound like education, and in particular School Business Management, then we don’t know what does.

Paying tribute to the amazing efforts of the region’s school business management professionals, Chris noted that It has been a strange couple of years and we all are still feeling the lingering effects of Covid plus the challenges of the cost of living crisis -but this is exactly what makes education The Greatest Show on Earth! The balancing acts, sideshows, characters; the drama, the thrills, the juggling! The plot lines may be ever changing, but who can ignore the sheer courage of its main performers, our school business management professionals, who work miracle after miracle to keep the Show firmly on the road. Policies fail, but they ensure that the Show goes on.

Education is simply The Greatest Show on Earth.  In the words of the great Ken Robinson, it enables young people to engage with the world within them as well as the world around them; it enables them to understand their own cultures and respect the diversity of others; it enables our children to become economically responsible and independent; and it enables them to become active and compassionate citizens.

And, far too often in the North East, education, and specifically our schools, enables them to eat, to be safe, be warm, loved, and helped to navigate the various crises that some communities are too fragile to navigate alone.

Because of that, whatever is thrown at our SBMs, the Show must and does go on. They walk the tightrope and keep the plates spinning, massively impacting on the lives of future generations. They are the ringmasters in the Greatest Show on Earth. And SBM 23 was a  celebration of how Great that Show really is.

Highlights of the day

Keynote Speaker Diana Osagie energised delegates with her inspirational  morning session ‘Captains in the Army of Change’. Julie Liddell, from Still Human taught delegates about mindfulness and how to ensure that they look after themselves as well as everyone else around them. The event followed four strands of sessions: Managing Risk, Finance, HR, and Supporting Outcomes for Young People.

Through the finance strand, delegates learnt about bid writing, budgets setting and ‘Thriving not Surviving’ – marketing strategies for boosting school admissions. For HR, sessions included embedding values to improve staff retention. HR updates, employment law and an afternoon session from the DfE on School Resource Management.

Within the supporting outcomes strand, attendees were invited to learn about managing stress, panel hearings, consider the marriage between education and business and a deep dive into poverty proofing with Lorna Nicoll from Children NE. Finally, the managing risk strand included sessions on GDPR, nationals threats within schools, cyber resilience, planning tools, managing contracts and handling complaints.

Thank you once again to the delegates, speakers and exhibitors for making the 10th SBM Conference such a roaring success.

We would also like to say a special thank you to Education Mutual who supported the School Business Management Conference as main sponsor this year!

Schools North East Partner Schools are at the heart of everything we do. If you’d like to find out more about our Partner School Programme click here.

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