Shared Services
Shared Services Overview
Shared Services is led by the Finance Director and Chief Operating Officer, Stuart White, and encompasses Finance, IT, Data, Facilities and Compliance, Business Development & Administration, and Catering & Leisure Services.
Shared Services is structured to deliver exceptional value for money and a high standard of services. The model ensures that the return on the allocation of scarce financial resources and the value of the services provided to the children and staff of the Trust are maximised.
Staff are by far the largest cost any academy trust incurs, and with finite financial resources, an inefficient support staff structure unnecessarily diverts funds away from the classroom. The shared services model removes duplication of function and related staffing by the consolidation of the staffing model into single teams supporting all schools in the Trust. The shared services teams are led by a single functional lead for the Trust, reporting to Stuart. The managers of each team are experts in their fields; recruitment ensures that the people within each team have specific experience and qualification. Investment in professional training and personal development across all teams, complements the organisational structure ensuring that the Trust maximises the staffing resource available.
The financial economy of scale resulting from the consolidation of functional teams is enormous. The focus on highly skilled shared services managers combined with professional development programmes ensures a high value service. The formula delivers a significantly reduced shared cost and a significantly enhanced service for all schools in the trust, regardless of their size. Less is indeed more!
Stuart and the shared services management team are the business partners of the Heads and the CEO. Shared Services unencumber the Heads and the school SLTS from having to invest time in any of the functions and operations included within shared services. Rather, these functions are managed on behalf of the Heads, allowing much more of their energy to be focused where its impact will be the greatest: on the education of the children: the perfect example of the right way to achieve value for money and high impact by aligning skill sets with the task in hand.
Finance
At ESW, “Finance” is not a passive recorder of historical activity but a proactive contributor to direction of the Trust and to the delivery of the Trusts goals. The integrated shared services structure is an important element of strong financial management and controlled allocation of revenue and capital resources, because it provides a trust wide perspective on all aspects of the trusts cost base, permitting joined-up control, management and planning.
The Finance team are based in one location and perform all of the finance functions for all of the schools in the Trust.
The core finance team is led by Andrew Dodden and comprises 8 staff, 2 of them part time. In addition to the core team, 2 people manage the in-house payroll function and personnel record keeping for the 700 staff and casual or supply staff.
The finance team provide:
- internal management accounting reports
- planning ,management and control budgets and expenditure
- financial business partnering for the catering and leisure operation, preschools, IT services, Facilities, and Marketing
- capital planning and financial management of capital projects
- all external ESFA reporting
- production of statutory accounts (all completed in house) and management of the external audit process
- an in-house payroll service
The ESW Heads are very appreciative of the expertise of the team and the confidence which this gives them in knowing that the finances of the schools are secure. In a recent review, Heads feedback included : “Budget setting is an excellent iterative process, and the support is awesome”.
IT Services
The IT Services team is led by Tom Dring.
A recruitment strategy which has ensured the appointment of highly qualified professionals means that the ESW IT team are a highly expert team and are completely self-reliant with respect to the management of the entire hardware and software infrastructure.
The ESW IT team lead the way with respect to ensuring that the IT platforms remain current and that innovation in the IT sector is understood and considered as part of the overall strategic plan for schools and the Trust as a whole. Like all shared services leaders the IT Manager provides expert partnership to Heads and senior management across the Trust.
Education South West holds the following industry standards with respect to cyber security:
- Cyber Essentials Plus
- IASME (Standard Information Assurance for Small and Medium Enterprises) Gold
Data
The Data team is led by Rob Skeggs.
The Data team is one of the first totally centralised data teams in the world of multi-academy trusts; the team is a small and very effective and efficient team of the equivalent of only 3 people. The formation of the team significantly reduced the total staffing resources previously connected to each individual school, repaired processes which had become too dispersed across far too many people, enhanced the accuracy and consistency of data, and completely unencumbered senior educational leaders from, crunching data (as opposed to using data).
The centralised function provides standardised analysis and reporting from common platforms. The efficiency gains mean that capacity is released for the team to extend the application of data analysis, greatly assisting Heads and SLT in making better use of the information available.
The team are responsible for a wide spectrum of services, by example : the management of the consolidated MIS database, management of all admissions data onboarding, assessment data collation, analysis and reporting, parental reporting, attendance reporting, behaviour tracking, census, class groups, mark books, cohort analysis, Dfe returns, exam results and analysis, exclusion tracking, free school meal registrations, options, parental engagement, sixth form course data, pupil premium data, as well as reporting to senior management and the Trust Board.
In a recent review Heads feedback was summarised with the comment “Brilliant, responsive, proactive. Couldn’t do more – a gem”.
Facilities and Compliance
The Facilities and Compliance team is led by Zoe Williamson, who is also the Data Protection Officer for the Trust.
The Facilities and Compliance team is managed as one team across the Trust, albeit site teams and cleaning teams are assigned to one/or more than one school. The one-team approach with respect to the operational site supervisors, maintenance caretakers, and cleaners maximises the flexibility of resource management, including the sharing of specialist skills which reside in different members of the team. The leadership and administration of the team is centralised resulting in an effective and efficient management of the facilities across the Trust.
The team are responsible for delivering all building maintenance and development projects, health and safety and statutory compliance, and management of the Trusts’ estate. Zoe is also the Data Protection Officer for the Trust.
In a recent review Heads feedback was summarised with the comment “Brilliant, very quick and approachable, with no request for help seen as too small”
Business Development & Administration
The Business Development & Administration team is led by Lesley Whitley.
A mixed portfolio of responsibilities resides with this team which includes:
- Procurement
- Marketing and admissions
- Business Administration and Resources
- Project Management
All procurement for all schools is centralised, in order to ensure tight control over expenditure and access to the best market prices; schools are not permitted to purchase goods and services directly. The system is efficient and effective, ensuring that all schools received the resources which they need.
Marketing and admissions are paired to ensure a high level of focus on growing the rolls of all of the schools, and providing a high degree of service and support to prospective parents.
The efficiency of the team is reflected in the numbers of staff, with only 1 person required to manage the day to day purchasing for the whole trust, and less than 4 staff producing all of the teaching consumables.
In a recent review Heads commented on the high level of professionalism and the superb support always provided by the team
Catering & Leisure Services
Catering and Leisure Services is led by Sarah Bretherick.
Catering for all schools is in-house with no reliance on external contract caterers. This enables us to deliver financial value for money and control the quality of the food provided for students and staff, and adapt and change to meet changing circumstances.
The principles of business are applied to how the catering operation is run. Our students are our customers and that remains the philosophy underpinning the choices we provide, the quality of presentation and the open communication channel between the students and the leaders of the catering operation. Strong business management means implementing our own procurement framework to ensure that we can receive the best service and product at the best price. Business partnering with the finance team ensures that the operation remains self-sufficient and does not drain school funds.
Appetising, healthy and nutritional menus are central to the catering delivery. No better example of this is the Food for Life scheme which has been rolled out to all of the primary schools in the Trust, with Blackawton Primary school winning first prize from the overseeing body 2019.
After graduating from Sheffield University with a B.A. in Economics and Geography, I started my career working for the accountancy firm Ernst and Whinney (now Ernst & Young), after which I moved into the investment banking sector in London. Over a 15 year period I held a number of senior roles, leading the finance team for Goldman Sachs International, also the finance and back office team for the European, Middle Eastern & African emerging market business for Chase Manhattan and then for the Global emerging market business for ING Barings, before becoming Head of Strategic Change for Business Finance at Credit Suisse First Boston.
Then followed ten years of running my own business as a business consultant and project manager, during which time I mainly worked in the international real estate sector, mainly in the Caribbean, India and Europe, supporting clients with the development of business plans and financial models, representing them to investors and international lenders to secure equity and debt financing for their developments. I also oversaw development projects on behalf of clients, managing construction, marketing & sales, and financial management.
My somewhat eclectic career before joining education has provided the perfect context to draw upon in this role, in which I have responsibility for ESW Shared Services, encompassing Finance, IT Services, Facilities & Compliance, Data, Procurement, Marketing & Admissions, Catering & Leisure Services, and Administration. The challenges are relentless but the satisfaction of knowing that the energy one commits to the role directly benefits the lives of the children in our care, is limitless and the reason that the years since I joined the education sector in 2010 have been and continue to be the most rewarding years of my career.
I graduated from Cardiff University in 2009 with a BSc in Business Management, joining the Graduate Finance Programme at Debenhams Retail PLC later that year. As a Management Accountant at Debenhams my focus was as a Business Partner, directly linking financial management with the commercial side of the business, specialising in the Logistics, Food Services and Store Card business units.
I transferred my commercial financial experience to Channel 4, joining the company in 2013. There I acted as Finance Business Partner to the Head of Production, Controller of Broadcasting and the Marketing division. In 2015 I completed my professional training, becoming a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
In 2018 I relocated from Sussex to join Education South West where I lead a consolidated Finance & Payroll team supporting all the schools in the Trust. Working in education has given me the opportunity to enjoy a very varied role, with the reward of knowing that what I am doing directly contributes to the community in which I work.
After graduating with a degree in Computer Network Management and Design, I started my career in the commercial sector at Interactive Transaction Solutions a company specialising in the financial services sector. As the Network Services Team Leader I supported the software and hardware infrastructure systems underpinning the processing of transactions made by, for example American Express, for numerous banks across Europe.
I joined the education sector in 2012 and lead a centralised shared services team of technicians and engineers which supports all of the schools in the Trust. I thrive on the diversity of the services we provide, and the wide spectrum of staff and students who we support. No day is the same.
The reason I continue to work in education is because of the satisfaction that at the end of the day, you have been able to provide the tools and resources that a student needs to be able to progress in life. Somebody did the same for me and it’s a privilege to be able to do the same for others.
I am education through and through, having worked (as of 2020) for 17 years in the sector. I have held a variety of roles, at various stages being an IT Technician, Attendance Officer, Exams Officer and Data Manager, and at times all of them at the same time leading the combined functions for an academy. This breadth of background has been an enormous advantage as I decided to pursue data management as an area of specialism.
I lead the formation of one of the first centralised data teams in the world of multi-academy trusts, leading the Data team for Education South West, supporting all the schools in the Trust.
I have stayed in the education sector because the work we do on a daily basis is makes a difference to the experience pupils have within our schools, giving them the best opportunity to succeed. The ever-changing data requirements within schools keeps the role fresh – new performance measures are being released by the DfE all the time! Along with the challenge of driving continuous improvement to extend the application of data to support the quality of education of all of the children in the Trust, the personal satisfaction from what we are doing is high.
As of 2020 I have worked for over 21 years in the local government sector, 9 years of which have been in education.
Initially commencing my career in local government tourism where I led the first ever green grading scheme for the southwest, I moved to Teignbridge District Council and then Torbay Council focusing on performance and service improvement across all council services, drafting policy to ensure best value and efficiency.
My career in education allowed me to apply my previous experience as well as broaden my expertise. Initially a business manager at Rydon Primary school, encompassing finance, personnel and building management, subsequently roles have included health and safety, sustainability and risk management.
Now responsible for all facilities and compliance across all the schools in the Trust, I lead a team of over 60 people – project officers, site teams, and cleaning teams – delivering all building maintenance and development projects, health and safety and statutory compliance, and management of the Trusts’ estate. I am also the Data Protection Officer for the Trust.
I moved to education as I felt that my work and actions would make a difference to the educational journey of young people. Throughout my time with Education South West we continue to provide a support service to enable safe, clean and compliant school sites so that the school environment is at its optimum for teaching and learning for both staff and pupils.
For many years before coming into the education sector, with my husband, I ran a successful retail and events business specialising in golf, with customers spanning multinational businesses, nobility and celebrities. The result is a diverse skill-set and experience base, covering business operations, marketing, sales and events; I am very much a “people’s person”. All of this experience has been invaluable given the broad spectrum of responsibilities, I now lead a team covering marketing and admissions, procurement, business administration and project management.
Working in the education sector and seeing how what we do directly impacts the students in the Trust is incredibly rewarding. Education South West is forward thinking and the environment I work in is stimulating and challenging. Anything is possible.
I started my career in the catering and hospitality sector as a management trainee for Mount Charlotte Hotels initially based in The Merrion Hotel, Leeds, but also working in sister hotels in Oxford and Glasgow. Since then I have held a number of leadership roles, including The Conference and Banqueting Manager responsible for a large staff delivering business conferences, weddings and private functions.
A career break followed coinciding with two children and a move to Devon. When the children were at school age, I resumed my career, joining the education sector, initially responsible for the catering operation at Kingsbridge Community College. I now lead the entire catering operation for all of the schools in the Trust, as well as driving the leisure and community use business.
A lover of the outdoors combined with enjoying working with children, led me to open a new Rainbow guide unit in the early 2000s. I have been active in the Guides ever since and simply love guide camp each year.
The opportunity I have had in Education South West, in particular as senior manager in shared services has been amazing; and to work with so many different people (including all the students from primary to secondary and 6th form), and form life-long friendships has been personally satisfying. I don’t think, even as a parent and before working in education, I really appreciated what goes into keeping schools running to a high standard, and to be part of that is both challenging & rewarding every day!