Spotlight on Education - Issue Autumn 2019 - Thorne Widgery

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Spotlight on Education - Issue Autumn 2019 - Thorne Widgery
Spotlight on
Education

                Issue
          Autumn 2019
Spotlight on Education - Issue Autumn 2019 - Thorne Widgery
Contents
02 Academy handed final notice to improve
03 Coasting’ measure no longer a trigger for intervention
04 Population boom means 80 more special schools needed
05 ESFA gets tough on third party transactions
06 Academies told to justify ‘excessive’ pay
07 Schools and Academies Show / First MAT summary evaluation
08 DfE to rethink funding cuts
09 Tougher stance on illegal and failing schools
10 Tougher stance on illegal and failing schools

__

                            Welcome to Thorne
                            Widgery’s latest
                            Spotlight on Education,
                            which highlights
                            some of the latest
                            educational, financial
                            and accounting issues,
                            affecting academy
                            schools and colleges.
                            At Thorne Widgery we’re proud to be the leading
                            accountancy firm in Herefordshire when it comes to
                            assisting schools and colleges in our region and beyond.
                            If you have any comments on our bulletin, or would like
                            further information on the services Thorne Widgery is
                            able to offer to single academies and multi-academy
                            trusts (MATS) both pre and post conversion, or to
                            schools in the independent sector, please contact us.

                            Meet the TW Senior
                            Education Team...

01     Welcome to Thorne Widgery’s Spotlight on Education
       thornewidgery.co.uk
Spotlight on Education - Issue Autumn 2019 - Thorne Widgery
Contact Us
                                                                                             01432 276 393
                                                                                             info@thornewidgery.co.uk

Lisa Weaver                                  Kevin Tong                                       Rebecca Jenkins
Lisa has nearly 25 years of accounting       Kevin has more than 30 years’                    Rebecca joined TW in 2010 as an HGTA
and auditing experience. She joined          experience, providing business                   accounts apprentice and has since
our team in 2012, having been                advice to clients, mainly working in the         gained her AAT and ACCA qualifications.
head-hunted from a leading national          education, charities and agricultural            Her role within TW now concentrates
firm and is now our Head of Audit            sectors. Kevin currently works with              on the management of many of the
and Assurance and a Registered               19 educational establishments,                   firm’s audit clients including Charities,
Auditor. With an in-depth knowledge          assisting them with financial reporting,         Companies and Academies in addition to
of the education, charities and              budget forecasting and management,               preparation of client accounts. She also
other non-profit industries, she is          as well as VAT issues affecting                  works closely with Lisa, Head of Audit
particularly involved in developing          the education sector. He also the                and Assurance, in managing the charity
our services to meet the needs               Senior Statutory Auditor for our                 independent examination clients.
of clients in these sectors.                 education/charities sector audits.               rebecca.jenkins@thornewidgery.co.uk
lisa.weaver@thornewidgery.co.uk              kevin.tong@thornewidgery.co.uk

                                                                                              Hannah Ayres
Sarah Jenkins                                Sam King                                         Hannah joined TW in 2013 as a HGTA
Sarah joined TW in 2010 after                Sam joined TW in 2014 and is our Xero            apprentice and is now working towards
moving from the banking sector and           accounting software guru. He oversees            ACCA. Hannah is an integral part of the
is both AAT and ACCA qualified.              training with our education clients on           audit team, supporting Rebecca and
Sarah works on a varied portfolio            the Xero for Education software system           Lisa in particular and is heavily involved
including the education, charity,            - which has been exclusively developed           in academy accounts and audit work.
agricultural and corporate sectors.          for use by schools. As Xero is so user-          Her role also includes preparing client
sarah.jenkins@thornewidgery.co.uk            friendly, our clients find that after initial    accounts and VAT returns as well as
                                             training they’re quite at home using             supporting the audit team. Hannah is
                                             Xero, but Sam and his team are always            also involved in the development of less
                                             on call to provide ongoing support.              experienced members of the team.
                                             sam.king@thornewidgery.co.uk                     hannah.ayres@thornewidgery.co.uk

02    Thorne Widgery senior education team
      thornewidgery.co.uk
Spotlight on Education - Issue Autumn 2019 - Thorne Widgery
Contents
03 Additional school money / Academy re-brokerage reforms                                   Call for
                                                                                            academy
04 Labour proposals threaten existence of independent schools
05 Six figure golden handshake / Is your school ready for teacher pay?
06 Compulsory minimum per-pupil funding levels

                                                                                            re-brokerage
07 Teachers’ starting salaries / Two independent schools close their doors
08 New academies chart of accounts
09 Study reveals academy teachers

                                                                                            reforms
10 XfE making accounting for schools easy

__

                                                                                            The former director of a chain of
                                                                                            academy trusts has called on the

Survey reveals                                                                              Government to reform the academy
                                                                                            re-brokerage process, so that both

how parents would                                                                           parties have sufficient time to decide
                                                                                            if they are a good fit for each.

like to see additional                                                                      Frank Norris, the former director of the
                                                                                            Co-operative Academies Trust, claims

school money spent                                                                          MATs are hurried into takeovers which
                                                                                            might not be in the best interests
                                                                                            of either party, which sometimes
Following the Government’s                            child mental health and SEND          resulted in schools being left in limbo.
recent announcement that it                           services – particularly among         In 2018-19, 307 academies moved to
intends to provide a £7.1 billion                     those eligible for free school        a new trust and the Department for
cash injection into the country’s                     meals – and for improving             Education has provided £31 million
schools, parents have been                            buildings and maintenance.            in grant funding since 2013 to enable
giving their views on how the                                                               MATs to take over struggling schools.
extra money should be spent.                          “These are critical to a positive
                                                      learning environment without          Mr Norris pointed to the fact that
According to new research, 55                         which we are failing our children.”   although diligence is carried out to
per cent of parents wanted to                                                               investigate school’s finances and HR
see extra cash for textbooks,                                                               issues, there is no requirement to
laboratory equipment and                                                                    check whether the cultures are similar.
technology. 39 per cent of
respondents wanted additional
funding to support SEND
                                                      £7.1 billion                          He is now recommending the
                                                                                            implementation of two-step approval
pupils while 26 per cent felt                         cash injection                        process. “You’ve got this slightly
school maintenance deserved                                                                 odd world where you’ve applied
                                                      Parents were also asked
a greater share of the money.                                                               to the headteachers’ board, they
                                                      what measures their child’s
                                                                                            then like it and approve it, and that
The annual Parentkind survey                          school had introduced in
                                                                                            then becomes the trigger to say
also found that parents have                          order to balance the books.
                                                                                            it’s going to happen, he said.
increasing concerns about
                                                      22 per cent said they had been
meeting the cost of uniforms,                                                               “The RSCs see it as ‘we’ve approved
                                                      asked to make a financial
school dinners and trips.                                                                   it, therefore it’s got to happen’,
                                                      contribution for school clubs
                                                                                            when actually there’s still a lot
Some respondents provided                             which had previously been free,
                                                                                            more due diligence going on.”
examples where they had been                          while 20 per cent said they were
asked to provide their child’s                        being asked to pay for events         Meanwhile, Michael Pain, the
schools with additional support,                      such as sports day or concerts.       chief executive of Forum Strategy,
including requests for cash                                                                 which represents MATs, advocates
                                                      Around one in six had received
donations, providing basics such                                                            a “try before you buy” approach,
                                                      requests to supply teaching
as toilet roll and even being                                                               by allowing schools to become
                                                      equipment, while 6 per cent
asked to help with maintenance.                                                             associate members of trusts.
                                                      had been asked to supply
John Jolly, chief executive of                        essentials, such as toilet rolls.     “The current approach to due
Parentkind, said: “It’s interesting to                A further 11 per cent had             diligence is very narrow,” he said.
see parents are embracing a wide                      been asked to pitch in with           “Organisational development and
set of priorities beyond academic                     maintenance activities, such as       sustainability is also about culture,
attainment, calling for more                          redecorating classrooms and           vision, values, and being responsive
investment in learning resources,                     cutting grass and hedgerows.          to the needs of communities.”

03      Additional school money / Academy re-brokerage reforms
        thornewidgery.co.uk
Spotlight on Education - Issue Autumn 2019 - Thorne Widgery
Contact Us
                                                                                      01432 276 393
                                                                                      info@thornewidgery.co.uk

                    Labour proposals
                    threaten existence of
                    independent schools
                    New plans have been unveiled                  Independent schools’ charitable
                    which, if successful, would see               status would also be abolished,
                    independent schools ‘integrated’              adding £3,000 to the average annual
                    into the state sector.                        cost of day school fees. Full business
                                                                  rates would also be applied to
                    The announcement at the recent                schools, which critics argue would
                    Labour annual conference                      result either in a further increase
                    followed an earlier pledge by                 in school fees or putting smaller
                    the Party to apply VAT to private             independent schools out of business
                    school fees if it wins power at
                    the next general election.                    In a further move against the
                                                                  independent sector, universities
                    Matthew Adshead, vice-chair of the            would have their intake of
                    Independent Schools Association               privately educated students
                    (ISA), which represents 470 fee-              capped at 7 per cent.
                    paying schools, condemned
                    Labour’s new manifesto pledge                 Mike Buchanan, executive
                    as a “worrying proposition”.                  director of the Headmasters’ and
                                                                  Headmistresses’ Conference
                    Mr Adshead, who is also head of the           (HMC) claimed that the proposals,
                    independent Old Vicarage School               if implemented would amount to “an
                    in Derby, said: “For me, it seems             act of unprecedented vandalism”.
                    quite incredulous that in 2019 I’m
                    discussing whether my private land            He added: “Any government has
                    will be seized and then redistributed.”       a duty of care to all its citizens
                                                                  and this would harm children in
                    He told BBC Radio 4’s Today                   independent and state schools,
                    programme: “It doesn’t feel like              harm families and harm freedom.”
                    I’m living in the UK anymore,”
                                                                  The proposals could face a legal
                    Under Labour’s proposals,                     challenge as the European Court of
                    all property and assets held                  Human Rights “guarantees the right
                    by private schools would be                   to open and run a private school.”
                    “redistributed democratically
                    and fairly” across the country’s
                    state educational institutions.

04   Labour proposals threaten existence of independent schools
     thornewidgery.co.uk
Spotlight on Education - Issue Autumn 2019 - Thorne Widgery
Contents
03 Additional school money / Academy re-brokerage reforms
04 Labour proposals threaten existence of independent schools
05 Six figure golden handshake / Is your school ready for teacher pay?
06 Compulsory minimum per-pupil funding levels
07 Teachers’ starting salaries / Two independent schools close their doors
08 New academies chart of accounts
09 Study reveals academy teachers
10 XfE making accounting for schools easy

__

Academy trust                                              Is your school                       It is worth remembering that
                                                                                                the rules only apply to local
pays out six                                               ready for                            authority-maintained schools as
figure golden                                              teacher pay                          academies can set their own pay
                                                                                                scales, although they will need
handshake                                                  increases in the                     to be mindful of retaining their
                                                                                                competitive edge as an employer.
despite financial                                          year ahead?
distress                                                   Following the announcement by
                                                                                                Will teaching
                                                           the Government that teachers’
A Norfolk academy trust has
admitted paying a former employee
                                                           salaries will rise from September,   assistants
                                                           many schools will be taking a
£122,000 in a severance deal,                              close look at their budgets.         receive a pay
despite having “significant”
financial challenges of its own.                           As the arrangements currently        rise too?
                                                           stand, schools will need to fund     Salaries for TAs are set at
The Right for Success Trust, which                         the majority if the pay increase
is responsible for 11 schools,                                                                  a local level and so are not
                                                           from their existing funds.           affected by the Government’s
admitted in its accounts that it had a
“significant financial and operational                                                          latest announcements.
challenge” and a “deterioration”                           What is the
of its financial position.
                                                           increase?                            How will my
In spite of its precarious financial
position, it was the only Trust                            Minimum and maximum salaries         school’s budget
to pay more than £100,000 in                               in each pay grade will increase      be affected by
severance pay to a single former                           by 2.75 per cent. The pay rise
member of staff during 2017-18.                            will apply to unqualified, main,     the pay rise?
                                                           upper and leadership grades.
The £122,000 severance figure                                                                   Schools will be expected to pay
was initially detailed in the annual                                                            the first 2 per cent of the pay
academy sector accounts published
in July and, following a Freedom of
                                                           Will every                           rise, which is estimated will cost
                                                                                                around £280million in total.
Information by Schools Week, the                           teacher receive                      The Government has promised
identity of the trust was discovered.
                                                           a pay rise?                          additional funds to top up the
This year the Government                                                                        remainder of the pay increase
announced plans to put an end to                           Not every teacher in England will    for 2019/20 and is setting aside
six figure public sector settlement                        automatically receive a 2.75 per     £105million from the existing
deals, capping pay outs at £95,000,                        cent pay rise, as each school        DfE budget for this purpose.
although the Treasury has yet                              will still be allowed to determine
to confirm a date when the new                             their teachers’ salaries.
rules will come into effect.                               However, the lowest and highest
A spokesperson for Right for                               ends of each teacher pay band
Success said it could not comment                          will increase by the relevant
on individual cases, but insisted                          amount. For those on either the      Each pay grade
                                                           highest or lowest salary in each
all payments were “subject to
strict scrutiny [and] are fully                            grade will receive an automatic      will increase by
compliant” with funding rules.                             increase in their salary.            2.75 per cent.

05      Six figure golden handshake / Is your school ready for teacher pay?
        thornewidgery.co.uk
Spotlight on Education - Issue Autumn 2019 - Thorne Widgery
Contact Us
                                                                              01432 276 393
                                                                              info@thornewidgery.co.uk

                    Compulsory minimum
                    per-pupil funding levels to
                    be introduced from 2020
                   Local authorities will be forced to    “However, as a first step towards
                   pass on new minimum per-pupil          hardening the formula, from 2020-
                   funding to schools, as part of the     21 the Government will make the
                   new national funding formula.          use of the national minimum per
                                                          pupil funding levels, at the values
                   Although councils will still be        in the school NFF, compulsory
                   allowed to set their own local         for local authorities to use in
                   funding formulae, the new minimum      their own funding formulae.”
                   per-pupil funding levels set by
                   the Department for Education           Addressing Parliament, Education
                   (DfE) will be compulsory.              Secretary, Gavin Williamson, said:
                                                          “I can reaffirm our intention to move
                   This means that minimum per-pupil      to a hard national funding formula,
                   funding rates will rise from £3,500    where schools’ budgets are set
                   to £3,750 at primary level and from    on the basis of a single national
                   £4,800 to £5,000 at secondary          formula, as soon as possible.
                   from September 2020. The primary
                   funding rate is then set to increase   “We recognise that this will
                   again to £4,000 in 2021-22.            represent a significant change
                                                          and we will work closely with local
                   In a written ministerial statement,    authorities, schools and others to
                   schools minister Nick Gibb             make the transition as smooth as
                   confirmed the move is “a first step    possible. We are determined that
                   towards hardening the formula”.        no pupil will be held back from
                   The DfE proposes that any schools      reaching their full potential.”
                   that fall below the minimum            The DfE is expected to publish
                   levels in 2020-21 will receive         illustrative school level allocations
                   additional top up funding.             and provisional local authority level
                   “In 2020-21 local authorities will     allocations in the next few weeks.
                   continue to have discretion over
                   their schools funding formulae and,
                   in consultation with schools, will
                   ultimately determine allocations
                   in their area,” said the minister
                   in a written statement.

06   Compulsory minimum per-pupil funding levels
     thornewidgery.co.uk
Spotlight on Education - Issue Autumn 2019 - Thorne Widgery
Contents
03 Additional school money / Academy re-brokerage reforms
04 Labour proposals threaten existence of independent schools                                  The DfE has yet to provide detailed
05 Six figure golden handshake / Is your school ready for teacher pay?                         information on how the salary
06 Compulsory minimum per-pupil funding levels                                                 increase will affect individual
07 Teachers’ starting salaries / Two independent schools close their doors
08 New academies chart of accounts                                                             school budgets, although analysts
09 Study reveals academy teachers                                                           have estimated that it will cost
10 XfE making accounting for schools easy                                                   around £130million per year.
__
                                                                                               The minimum salary increases
                                                                                               on the main pay scale will be
                                                                                               incremental, until the new starting
                                                                                               pay grade reaches £30,000 in

Teachers’                                             The rise of up to £6,000 is equivalent
                                                      to a 25 per cent increase but the
                                                                                               2022. However, as almost a quarter
                                                                                               of current teachers are paid less

starting
                                                      education sector has been warned         than £30,000 a year, schools will
                                                      that funding will need to be found       face a much higher salary bill.

salaries will
                                                      from existing budgets. Announcing
                                                      the move, education secretary            Jon Andrews, director at the
                                                      Gavin Williamson said teachers           Education Policy Institute think

rise to £30k                                          should be in “no doubt that this
                                                      government fully backs them in
                                                                                               tank, said that whilst the DFE’s
                                                                                               announcement represented a

by 2022                                               every stage of their career, starting
                                                      with rewarding starting salaries”. He
                                                                                               “much-needed policy shift”, schools
                                                                                               will be “mindful this creates an
                                                                                               increased cost pressure on their
                                                      continued: “I want the best talent to
The Government has announced                          be drawn to the teaching profession      budgets that will erode some of
a significant increase in teacher                     and for schools to compete with          the increases” – referring to the
starting salaries over the next three                 biggest employers in the labour          additional £1.5 billion per year
years in a bid to attract and retain                  market and recruit the brightest         being provided to schools to cover
individuals to the profession.                        and the best into teaching.”             the rise in employer pension costs.

Two Independent schools
close their doors days
before start of new term                                                                       The school
Two independent schools have been                     The independent school,                  had 160 pupils
forced to close, just days before
they were due to welcome pupils
                                                      which had 111 pupils on its
                                                      register, confirmed that while
                                                                                               on its books
at the start of the autumn term.                      its creditors will all be paid in        in 2017 –
Rastrick Independent School in
                                                      full, it did not have sufficient
                                                      funds to continue operating.             representing
West Yorkshire posted a notification
on its website, giving parents no                     In a letter to parents, head teacher     a 30% drop in
explanation for the sudden closure.                   Stephen Crump admitted that              just two years.
                                                      the school had not been able to
Head teacher, Susan Vaughey,
                                                      “attract and retain enough pupils
stated that the school would                                                                   The school, which charged
                                                      to remain financially viable”.
close from 30 August, leaving 71                                                               £5,210 a year for day pupils and
pupils searching for alternative                      According to an Independent              £9,760 a year for boarders, had
places. In Norfolk, Hethersett                        Schools Inspectorate report,             provided education for girls aged
Old Hall School was forced to                         the school had 160 pupils on its         three to 18 and for boys, aged
write to parents admitting that                       books in 2017 – representing a 30        three to 11, but had planned to
it was going into liquidation.                        per cent drop in just two years.         go fully co-ed from this term.

07      Teachers’ starting salaries / Two independent schools close their doors
        thornewidgery.co.uk
Spotlight on Education - Issue Autumn 2019 - Thorne Widgery
Contact Us
                                                                               01432 276 393
                                                                               info@thornewidgery.co.uk

                   New academies
                   chart of accounts – a
                   first step to automated
                   financial reporting?
                   The Department for Education (DfE)      Parliamentary Under Secretary
                   has launched a new academies            of State at the DfE, Lord Agnew,
                   chart of accounts which could           said: “We have recognised that
                   signal the first step towards           the current system of submitting
                   automated financial reporting           financial data to the department
                                                           is time consuming and offers
                   Although voluntary, the DfE hopes       insufficient benefit to academy trusts.
                   the initiative will become the new
                   standard for financial data, as         ‘By having a standard chart of
                   part of an academy’s accounts           accounts, we create the essential
                   and budget forecast returns.            building blocks for the new
                                                           system as it provides a consistent
                   According to the National Audit         way of recording financial data
                   Office, the existing system causes      for all academy trusts.
                   issues regarding the ‘truth and
                   fairness’ of the reporting of academy   ‘This will allow us to reduce the
                   finances in DfE accounts, resulting     burden on trusts through the
                   from the fact that the DfE’s year end   electronic submission of financial
                   differs from academies’ year ends.      data directly from finance systems
                                                           and adding greater value to trusts
                   Any academy which voluntarily           by enabling us to create new
                   adopts the new standard is set to       financial efficiency tools as well
                   benefit from an automated data          as improve the timeliness and
                   transfer from their finance system,     quality of the existing tools.’
                   for the 2019/20 financial year.
                                                           Although the DfE recognises that the
                   The DfE claims academies that opt       new chart of accounts will require an
                   in will also receive more accurate      investment in both time and effort on
                   financial benchmarking information      the part of Trusts, it claims the long
                   that will in turn allow them to         term benefits makes becoming an
                   compare their finances with similar     early adopter extremely worthwhile.
                   academies more accurately.

08   New academies chart of accounts
     thornewidgery.co.uk
Spotlight on Education - Issue Autumn 2019 - Thorne Widgery
Contents
03 Additional school money / Academy re-brokerage reforms                                     Hundreds of
04 Labour proposals threaten existence of independent schools
05 Six figure golden handshake / Is your school ready for teacher pay?                        ‘outstanding’
06 Compulsory minimum per-pupil funding levels
07 Teachers’ starting salaries / Two independent schools close their doors                    schools
                                                                                              accused of drop
08 New academies chart of accounts
09 Study reveals academy teachers

                                                                                              in standards
10 XfE making accounting for schools easy

__

                                                                                              Ofsted has downgraded almost a third
                                                                                              of schools that had previously been
                                                                                              graded as outstanding. According to
Study reveals                                                                                 data which covers the period from
                                                                                              September 2018 to March 2019, only

academy teachers are                                                                          16 per cent of ‘outstanding’ schools
                                                                                              maintained their top grade. Twenty-five

promoted sooner and                                                                           per cent were downgraded to ‘requires
                                                                                              improvement’ while 5 per cent were

also more likely to quit                                                                      judged to be ‘inadequate’. A further fifty-
                                                                                              four per cent were graded as ‘good’.
                                                                                              Although ‘outstanding’ schools are
A study has revealed that teachers                    Commenting on the findings,             usually exempt from routine inspection
in the largest academy trusts are                     Melanie Renowned, Ambition’s            for up to ten years, Ofsted can
promoted on average three years                       interim chief executive, said: “Every   inspect if concerns have been raised
sooner than colleagues in local                       governing board, CEO and head           about performance or safeguarding
authority maintained schools.                         teacher needs to prioritise taking      issues. During the seven month
                                                      care of their teachers and leaders.     period up to March 31, 2019, Ofsted
However, despite fast-tracked                         The evidence on exit rates shows        inspected 305 ‘outstanding’ exempt
career progression, the research                      that we cannot afford not to do so.”    primary and secondary schools.
finds that they are also more
likely to quit the profession.                        The report’s authors have               Its inspectors found that only 49 of
                                                      recommended that trusts support         the 305 ‘outstanding’ exempt schools
According to the findings of the                      staff by offering promotion             remained at this grade. This compares
survey conducted by the Ambition                      opportunities across their schools      with 49 of 150 outstanding exempt
Institute and the Education Policy                    and develop specialist expertise        outstanding schools inspected during
Institute, teaching staff in “system                  by moving staff to roles at the         the previous academic year. Amanda
leader” academy trusts, with 12,000                   same level in other schools.            Spielman, the chief inspector of
or more pupils, were promoted to
                                                                                              schools, who has previously called
senior leadership positions at an                     Jon Andrews, the EPI’s deputy head
                                                                                              for the exemption from routine
average age of 35. By comparison,                     of research, said: “This research
                                                                                              inspection for outstanding school
peers in LA schools reached                           confirms that larger trusts are well
                                                                                              to be lifted, claimed that the latest
similar positions by the age of 38.                   placed to do this, with these groups
                                                                                              figures should set alarm bells ringing.
                                                      more likely to take on new entrants
The larger trusts, which were                         to the profession, and their teachers   “The fact that outstanding schools are
found to employ “high proportions                     and leaders more likely to receive      largely exempt from inspection leaves
of new entrants to the profession”,                   a promotion. However, we also           us with real gaps in our knowledge
also have the highest rate of                         find that academies are seeing          about the quality of education and
teachers quitting the profession.                     higher workforce turnover rates.        safeguarding in these schools, she
It revealed that the proportion of                                                            said. “Some of them have not been
                                                      “The favourable structure of multi-
classroom teachers in place in                                                                inspected for over a decade, and
                                                      academy trusts means that there
2015 who had left the education                                                               when our inspectors go back in,
                                                      are opportunities for them to drive
sector by 2016 was 18.7 per cent                                                              they sometimes find standards have
                                                      improvements in the retention and
in “system leader trusts”; 16.1 per                                                           significantly declined. We believe
                                                      progression of teachers. Trusts
cent in “national trusts” of 5,000                                                            most schools judged outstanding are
                                                      should now look to capitalise
to 12,000 pupils; 14.7 per cent in                                                            still doing outstanding work. But for
                                                      on this potential, and contribute
“established trusts” with 1,200 to                                                            the outstanding grade to be properly
                                                      positively to workforce outcomes
5,000 teachers, compared with 14.6                                                            meaningful and a genuine beacon
                                                      in the sector as a whole”.
per cent in LA-maintained schools.                                                            of excellence, the exemption should
                                                                                              be lifted and Ofsted resourced to
                                                                                              routinely inspect these schools.”

09      Study reveals academy teachers
        thornewidgery.co.uk
Contact Us
                                                                                    01432 276 393
                                                                                    info@thornewidgery.co.uk

XfE — making
accounting for schools
as easy as A, B, C
Is your school or trust still struggling    Our solution is beautifully simple       “I wasn’t happy with my previous
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Does it feel like a battle of               cost effective for schools and          system where I would get help and
wills to get your accounting                academies of all sizes.                 support. The team from TW were
system to provide meaningful,                                                       very patient. On-site training was
easy to understand data?                    But don’t just take our word            good, and they broke things down into
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                                                                                    Julie Hancock – Business
XfE is a cloud-based accountancy
solution specifically for schools
                                            Very user-                              Manager, Lugwardine
                                                                                    Primary Academy
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makes the job of managing                                                           “Xero gives me what I want… the
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                                            able to just pick it up and use it…
     Straightforward fund                   Xero is so easy to understand and       flapping from a finance point of view
     and GAG accounting                     intuitive. Compared to our previous     – so that’s got to be a positive!”
                                            system, Xero is clearer and easier      Peter Rickard, Lead Head of
     Designed to meet
                                            to use, the screen layout is a lot      the Severn Bridges MAT
     ESFA’s requirements
                                            more user friendly, the dashboard
     Bank feeds direct                      means everything is accessible and
     from your bank                         support is a lot easier to access.”
     Powerful, accurate reporting           Emma Stackhouse – Business
                                            Manager, Holmer Church                  Xero gives me
     Secure multi-user access               of England Academy
                                                                                    what I want.
     Increased efficiency
                                                                                    If you would like to find out how XfE
     Backed up and secure
                                                                                    could benefit your school, contact
     at all times
                                                                                    our team now on 01432 276393
     Regular automatic updates                                                      for a free, no obligation trial.

     Quick and easy to
     correct posting errors
     Compliant with ESFA legislation

10     XfE making accounting for schools easy
       thornewidgery.co.uk
Hereford
2 Wyevale Business Park
Wyevale Way, King’s Acre
Hereford, HR4 7BS
T. 01432 276 393
Ludlow
5 Parkway Off, Corve St,
Ludlow SY8 2PG
T. 01584 872222
info@thornewidgery.co.uk
thornewidgery.co.uk

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