Colleagues from specialist settings from across England gathered for a day of discussion, debate and networking this week. The National Network of Special Schools for School Business Professionals (NNoSS) held its Annual Conference in Birmingham on Thursday. Powered by Schools North East, NNoSS provides a national community and powerful voice for School Business Professionals working in the specialist sector.
A National Network providing an essential community
Pauline Aitchison, Deputy Director of Schools North East and NNoSS lead, opened the conference acknowledging the challenges facing the sector and thanking colleagues for the fantastic work they do to keep pupils safe, supporting the delivery of a first class education for them, stepping into the vacuum left by other services and supporting whole communities in which their settings lie. And she applauded them for never losing sight of the end goal – the students.
Funding for the Special Sector
Keynotes of the day included Leora Cruddas CBE, CEO of Confederation of School Trusts and Tom Rees, Executive Director of Programmes at Ambition Institute. Together they delivered the joint session: A good life: towards greater dignity for people with learning disability. The session explored the principles for greater inclusion in our school system. The paper associated with this session can be read here.
Leora emphasised the urgent need to ensure adequate funding within the special sector and stated that there is an ‘absolute crucial reform required in SEND funding’. This follows the DfE press release on Wednesday confirming that every state school in England will receive a cash boost, as primary and secondary schools are allocated extra funding for the next academic year. This ‘boost’ is part of the £2 billion funding previously announced for schools. Although the release stated the first payments will be made by the 10th of May, there seemed to be little in the announcement concerning Special Schools. Leaders from the Special Sector raised concerns they felt like an ‘afterthought’ to the DfE, following the release.
Leora and Tom’s message was clear: all children are complete humans, all are equal.
Highlights of the day
Professor Steve Peters, psychiatrist and best selling author, delivered an afternoon Keynote titled ‘What is Resilience and how can we achieve it?’. Professor Peters is the author of four books including the best selling self-help book of all time, The Chimp Paradox, which sold over 1 million copies. Delegates at the conference commented on how inspirational they found the event, going back into school the next day feeling energised. Sessions throughout the day included topics such as facilities, cyber survivability, EHCP placements, income generation and community links. However, it seemed a main thread throughout the day was the funding issues currently being felt by School Business Professionals in the special school sector.
This was picked up in the panel discussion ending the conference, chaired by Sue Prickett, Chief Finance & Operations Officer at SENDAT. Panellists included Karen Smith, CEO at Nexus Multi Academy Trust; David Fisher, Education Specialist at School Business Services; Claire Walters, School Business Manager at Foxwood Academy; Tracy Darby, Financial Controller at SENDAT & Gareth Hunter, School Business Manager, Ravenscliffe High School and Sports College.
In the discussion, speakers raised concerns about the upcoming year and noted that their budgets were stretched not only due to unfunded pay awards but also by supply costs connected to staff absences. Some schools have talked about having up to 25% of staff absent regularly for a variety of reasons, and others have mentioned supply costs of up to £600K per annum.
Another panellist noted that what keeps them up at night is the worry and pressure that comes with a ‘lack of notice’ and ‘lack of planning’ around funding. The panel urged for ‘understanding’ from the government, as many schools in the specialist sector are facing deficit budgets. A poll asked attendees if they would be forecasting a deficit budget in the next few years and 36% answered that they expected it in the next year, whilst 50% expected it to be in a deficit budget within 2-3 years. When asked if special schools would submit a deficit budget to the ESFA or their Local Authority 28% answered no, that they will instead make savings to balance their figures. 44% answered they would be submitting the deficit budget to give a clear picture of the realities facing Special Schools.
On the theme of funding, another poll asked which schools had received the increase of 3.4% on top up funding, and base funding, from the Autumn Statement. 47% said they have received this, with 20% expecting it on top up funding only. 14% still did not know what they would be receiving and a small percentage are expecting less than 3.4%.
When asked ‘what funding worries keep you up at night’ delegates answered with words such as ‘staffing’, ‘unfunded pay awards’, ‘energy costs’ and ‘uncertainty’.
As the panel brought the conference to a close they reflected on the reason why they do the job, talking about the amazing achievements of some of their students. There was hardly a dry eye as delegates watched a video of Lucy pupil at panellist Gareth Hunter’s School, Ravenscliffe High School. This is why we do the job we do! Click here to watch the video.
A message from the NNoSS Team, Powered by Schools North East
Thank you to everyone who attended this year’s NNoSS Annual Conference. We hope that you will bring the information back to your school to help support your role. Also a big thank you to Vision for Education, who were once again the main sponsor, as well as the other organisations who supported the event. We appreciate your support.
Sign the petition for the government to fully fund pay awards for school staff.
Interested in finding out more about NNoSS? Read more here.
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