Internal scrutiny is a powerful tool for trust improvement, but only if you read the reports and act on the recommendations made. Once you've had your report from your internal scrutiny partner, it's time to take a look at what they found. It might sound obvious, but you'd be surprised how often this step gets skipped! According to the Academ...
Safer recruitment: online candidate checks
Checking social media and online presence as part of safer recruitment practices was introduced as a 'should' in Keeping Children Safe in Education 2022 and as we all know with KCSIE, a 'should' is really an instruction to 'go and do'. The process itself is quite simple, but it can be difficult to know where to start when 'online' is such a broad t...
The undeniable importance of HR in expanding Multi-Academy Trusts
The role of HR in the expansion of MATs is multifaceted and central to long-term success. As MATs look to expand, strategic and operational HR practices can help or hinder both the attraction of schools to the trust, and the ease with which they convert and are assimilated into trust practices. What is strategic HR and why should expanding MATs car...
Effective HR in schools: the unseen key to savings
With today's ever-tightening budgets, schools face the challenging task of delivering exceptional education without stretching resources too thin. HR isn't something that automatically springs to mind when looking for cost savings, but effective practices can save both time and money. Let's explore how strategic HR practices can help save costs. Re...
Responsibilities around filtering and monitoring - KCSIE 2023 update
The latest version of Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) has been published and comes into force on 1 September 2023. The changes made in KCSIE 2023 are mainly clarifications on existing guidance – the key change that jumps out is around the implementation of the DfE's 'Meeting digital and technology standards in schools and colleges' (the ...
Great news? Teachers' pay sees an uptick
So, the long-awaited announcement is finally here! After painful strikes and heated debates, the government has given its full consent to the STRB's recommendations. What's in it for the teachers? A solid 6.5% pay hike. And the best part? It's not just a reshuffling of old funds but an infusion of fresh money that's fully backed. This is defin...
Uncovering the unseen: identifying new risks through internal scrutiny
Standard internal scrutiny practices, including compliance checks against legislation and internal procedures, are essential for any multi-academy trust. They offer a critical check and balance, helping to ensure the trust's legal and operational health. However, what happens when these traditional approaches overlook hidden risks, those which lie ...
Creating a positive culture around internal scrutiny
Internal scrutiny is an important part of your trust risk management and should be seen as a tool that provides reassurance, unbiased advice and strategic recommendations for your organisation. However, it is often viewed as a 'scary' audit where an outside company is picking fault with the processes and procedures in your trust. This shouldn't be ...
7 steps to efficient internal scrutiny (part 2)
Internal scrutiny is at the heart of risk management, providing oversight of your management controls, reducing risk to your trust and ultimately benefiting pupils by ensuring resources are protected and used properly. The first blog in this series focussed on the steps for effective internal scrutiny before any audits take place. In part two, we'r...
7 steps to effective Internal Scrutiny (part 1)
Internal scrutiny can be so much more than a tick box exercise to meet a regulatory requirement. With the right people and a strong plan in place, internal scrutiny becomes an effective tool which provides reassurance, unbiased advice and strategic recommendations for your organisation. Here at Keystone Knowledge, we believe that there are seven st...
Where does staff engagement start?
With today's difficult recruitment climate, retaining talented staff is more important than ever. Effective policies around wellbeing, workload and flexible working all help to improve staff morale and help retention, but at what point does staff engagement really start? The onboarding process? The interview process? Or even before candidates have ...
Strategic thinking around recruitment
Recruitment in the education sector can be a challenge, particularly in the current economic climate. Retaining talent and attracting quality candidates to your setting shouldn't just start when you have vacancies, it's part of a long-term strategy. Your strategic thinking around recruitment should include: What will your team look like in a year's...
Do you audit your approach to income?
The Academy Trust Handbook requires all trusts to have a programme of internal scrutiny to provide independent assurance to the board that its financial and non-financial controls and risk management procedures are operating effectively. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that internal assurance in a trust needs to focus mainly on expendit...
The 2023 version of thinking outside the box
"If you're don't like change, you'll like irrelevance even less." So goes a quote I read several years ago and became one of those screenshots that I keep on my phone. Brutal, but true. And as school business management continues on its inexorable curve of seemingly getting harder, it's ever more important that we can find creative ways of approach...
Eyes Wide Open? Growing your trust with thorough due diligence
As part of the Schools White Paper published nearly 12 months ago, the Government set out it's plan to have to have all schools "in a strong multi-academy trust or with plans to join or form one" within the next eight years. Whilst recent news has talked about this target likely to be missed, the move to greater academisation appears one way....