Chris McGunnigle, DfE Banking Team Lead, returns with an update to his November 2025 blog. New tools are live, real results are coming in, and the question every school should be asking their bank has never been more important. Please …
For All Saints’ Trust, a multi-academy trust with seven schools across London, it meant new computers for one of their schools when Windows 11 arrived. Without switching to DfE Energy for Schools, they simply couldn't have afforded them. Your trust …
Managing a school's finances effectively has never been more important. With a focus on getting maximum value for money to best deliver for children, we want to make sure schools have the best possible tools and information to make informed …
In this blog post, Lara le Court de Billot, Senior Policy Advisor in the Department for Education’s (DfE) School Technology Services team, shares insights into plan technology for your school — a free, practical service designed to help schools make …
In this blog post, Bel Pennington, who leads the Energy for Schools pilot at DfE, tells us why changing the way schools and trusts buy energy could save money, and protect school budgets from the volatility of the energy market. …
Tony Diaram, Project Manager at Academy Transformation Trust, shares how specialist contract management training has helped deliver significant savings across his trust. Academy Transformation Trust is a not-for-profit charitable trust of 22 schools across central England, including primary, secondary, special, …
In our latest blog post, Charlotte Dowd, Policy advisor and sector engagement lead, introduces us to DfE Connect. What is DfE Connect?DfE Connect is a free service from the Department for Education designed to make life easier for school business …
It’s been 10 years since the DfE introduced its alternative to commercial insurance, the Risk Protection Arrangement (RPA). DfE Commercial Director Susan Dawson has been involved in RPA since inception. In this blog post, Susan looks back at what the service has delivered, and continues to deliver for schools and trusts.
Lisa Jones is Director of Finance and Resources for the Consortium Trust. In this blog post, Lisa shares her experience of using Get help buying for schools to buy cleaning services for 7 schools in her trust.
As Get help buying for schools celebrates its second birthday, Jane Davies, Head of Schools Commercial Operations at the Department for Education, reflects on what has been achieved so far, and the future aims of the service.