Specialists who have done the job, working alongside yours.
Internal scrutiny, finance, governance, people, estates and change, delivered by people who have run schools and trusts themselves, and who support them now.
Six areas of expertise, one way of working. Every engagement starts with a free conversation and is scoped to what you actually need.
Thirty minutes on your situation, online. We listen first, and we will tell you if we are not the right people.
What we will do, who will do it and what it costs, in plain terms. No retainer unless you want one.
We work as colleagues, not visiting consultants, and we stay to embed the change rather than leave a report behind.
Compliance you can rely on, and insight you can use. The Academy Trust Handbook requires every trust to run a programme of internal scrutiny that gives the board independent assurance that its financial and non‑financial controls, and its risk management, are operating effectively. We deliver that programme, and make it worth more than the requirement.
A structured annual programme: focus areas agreed with your Audit and Risk Committee each year, two on-site visits, clear written reports for the committee, and the end-of-year report that accompanies your external audit to the DfE.
Managing school finances is increasingly complex, with strict compliance and limited budgets leaving little room for error. We work alongside your finance team on budgeting, reconciliations, year-end accounts and progress reporting, and on integrated curriculum and financial planning, so staffing and curriculum decisions are made with the money in view.
Where a school or trust is in deficit we build a practical recovery plan: stabilise the position, set a route back to a resilient position, and prepare the ground where conversion or restructure is part of the answer.
Governors and trustees play a crucial role in holding schools to account, and to do it well they need accurate information and clear training. We provide governance training, templates and policy development, financial-management training for boards, and hands-on support with the risk register.
We also help boards get data protection right, with policy support and practical advice on subject access requests, breach management and record-keeping, so GDPR compliance is robust without consuming leadership time.
We help boards and executives set a people strategy and plan the workforce around it, design the organisation and lead restructures, and recruit at senior executive level. Where a structure changes, we manage the change with you so that the trust keeps running while it does. We also develop the people who run school business, with coaching for those applying for an SBL role and a structured programme for the first 100 days in post.
This is strategic rather than operational HR. Payroll, pensions, contracts and casework stay with your HR team or provider, and we work alongside them. Emma mentors CFOs and school business leaders across the sector, and 1st Pillar's training on communication and managing teams is a regular fixture for SBL networks.
Safe, well-maintained buildings are vital for learning, but funding pressures make that hard. We audit the estate, produce RAG-rated plans, support capital bids and set out long-term development plans, with a specialist build partner where delivery needs one. Health, safety and wellbeing sit alongside: templates, policies, risk assessments, reporting and staff competency reviews.
Every school is expected to have a nominated sustainability lead and a climate action plan. We design the strategy, set the goals and support implementation, working with a nationally respected leader in sustainability education.
Large-scale change, such as restructures, funded projects and academy conversion, needs coordination across finance, HR and operations. We project-manage the whole, hold the budget, and keep leadership informed. We also support IT strategy and infrastructure planning, data quality and compliance reporting.
Every engagement is shaped to the school or trust. If the challenge does not fit a heading, that is usually where we are most useful.
Tell us your priorities and we'll help you find the right support.