From curious to confident: how one school transformed its procurement capability 

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: CIPS, Learning and Development, Training, Workforce, Recruitment and Development
Image of Sannah Mundy. Text includes a quote from Sannah which reads: “It just covered everything - from people and leadership to contract negotiation to the supply chains. It was great. It was a whole overview of procurement.”

Professional curiosity about procurement has been transformed into applicable knowledge and skills for Briarwood School finance and business development assistant Sannah Mundy - thanks to the Department for Education (DfE) and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS).  Sannah had already been asking about the school’s buying activity when an …

How Southwark Council used Get help buying for schools to transform catering procurement

Image of catering staff serving food in a school kitchen alongside a quote from Gillian Boundy, Senior Public Health Programme Manager at Southwark Council, which reads: "The Get help buying for schools team have all been very professional and incredible flexible, paid great attention to detail and have educated me along the way."

An innovative collaboration with the Department for Education’s (DfE) Get help buying for schools (GHBS) service helped Southwark Council to set up its own bespoke school catering services framework — one that is already attracting wider interest across London. The …

'Slick and easy' cleaning services procurement with Get help buying for schools

Picture of cleaning equipment in a school corridor, alongside a comment from Amery Hill Secondary School business manager, Nicola Wells, which reads: “Get help buying for schools saved me so much time as a school business manager. They support you through the whole process, and at no point did I feel like I was on my own.”

Nicola Wells is the school business manager at Amery Hill Secondary School – a single academy trust in Hampshire with approximately 1,000 students. Here she shares her experience of using Get help buying for schools to procure cleaning services for …

Supply staff savings allow Lime Trust to invest in schools and pupils

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Picture of Lime Academy Trust head of finance, Ricky Barton, with a comment from him which reads: "The improvements to the quality of supply staff, the consolidation of processes and the cost savings we've made have made such an enormous impact."

Lime Trust made significant savings on supply staffing by using the Government Commercial Agency (GCA) framework agreement – with the money saved being reinvested in its schools and pupils. The multi-academy trust - which comprises four primary and five special …

Plan technology for your school: get help using the right digital and technology infrastructure

Picture of Hattie Barham-Colwell with test which reads: "Increasingly more schools are benefitting from having a digital strategy which includes a vision for how they will use technology in the long-term to meet their needs."

Hattie Barham-Colwell, of the Department for Education's Safe and Reliable Technology team, explains how the plan technology for your school service can help you meet government digital and technology standards. In today’s fast-changing education landscape, technology plays a vital role …

Over £1 million saved - how Shaw Education Trust turned supply staffing into a strategic asset

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Workforce, Workforce, Recruitment and Development

This is the final post in a three-part series. In our first post, we outlined the supply staffing challenges Shaw Education Trust (SET) faced. In our second post, we explained how they built their compliant master vendor model. Here, we …

How Shaw Education Trust built a compliant, trust-wide supply model - and how yours could too

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This is the second post in a three-part series. In our first post, we described the supply staffing challenges Shaw Education Trust (SET) faced and why acting early was essential. Here, we explain how they built their solution.  Once SET …

How Shaw Education Trust took control of supply staffing - and what your trust could learn from it

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For Shaw Education Trust (SET), a multi-academy trust of 31 schools across England, supply staffing had become one of the largest and least controlled areas of expenditure, with annual costs rising to over £5 million*. SET took a step back …

Free procurement training for schools - apply now

Image with Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply logo. Text reads: Free training opportunities for school business professionals.

If you work in school or trust procurement, free training is now available to help you build confidence and improve how your organisation buys. Two programmes from the Department for Education (DfE) and the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply …

Energy sorted: why over 1,000 schools have handed their energy buying to us

Energy meter

Over 1,000 schools have already signed up to the Department for Education (DfE) Energy for Schools Service. If your energy contract is up for renewal, joining is simple. Our DfE Energy Team are here to help. Here's what you need …