“It’s so challenging now – people want consistency and stability…”
The CFO & COO INSIDER is a live, regular discussion about the academy finance topics that matter most: next session 29th Feb >
School Business Services Managing Director Leyla Tovey meets Kingfisher Learning Trust Chief Operating Officer Michael Unsworth.
Michael Unsworth, COO of Kingfisher Learning Trust in Oldham, is presented with the same budgeting and people management issues faced by trusts up and down the country, but it’s not going to get in the way of his primary focus: people.
“You can always get bogged down about there never being enough money – it’s about how you develop and support your people,” he says. “It’s about creating our trust family and giving our people opportunities to get a better life for themselves, whilst all the while giving pupils at all our schools their very best.”
Those values have certainly been noticed by local families. It was demand for places at the then Kingfisher Community Special School – at the time the only primary school in the town for children with severe and complex learning difficulties – which eventually led to the creation of the trust. The process was driven by Anne Redmond, the then Headteacher who is now the Trust CEO and Michael, who joined the school two decades ago as bursar following a successful career in corporate banking.
An Oldham local authority-commissioned report into the future of Oldham’s schools by the former Labour Education Secretary Baroness Estelle Morris kick-started the formation of Kingfisher, Michael explains. “We had a large waiting list and we needed to grow the school and the report’s recommendation was that the only way to do that was through opening up a free school and forming a multi-academy trust.”
The free school plan was approved by the Department for Education in March 2016 and the trust opened with Kingfisher as the lead school in the September of that year.
It was a long and sometimes arduous journey to develop the free school which became Halcyon Way School, for children with severe to moderate learning difficulties. There were a few issues to tackle to secure access to the site to the rear of Kingfisher Special School, but these were eventually overcome, and the new school opened in January 2022.
The trust has grown gradually since it was established, with the addition of Medlock Valley Primary and Littlemoor Primary and, in autumn 2023, Blackshaw Lane Primary.
The expansion continues; in December a secondary special school from the neighbouring Tameside authority will join and there are hopes that a sixth school – another special school – can be welcomed in spring 2024.
The decision to have a mix of special and mainstream schools within the trust was carefully planned, says Michael. “We wanted to look at how different schools can support each other, taking that best practice from each school with schools learning from each other to create a continuum of excellent provision no matter which school you were at.”
While the trust remains focused on the needs of all of its children, the challenging financial situation affecting every school isn’t far away from Michael’s thoughts.
“We've been prudent in building up some reserves, but the projections for the next few years are concerning,” he says. “That’s primarily down to special school funding and unfunded pay rises. Nearly 60% of our salary bill in our special schools is for support staff. Staff absolutely deserve the pay rise, but it’s against the background of rising costs across the board.”
This makes special school budgets particularly acute – and the issue isn’t getting the attention it deserves, says Michael. “You can't get it on the agenda. Political parties aren’t really saying anything about it and the SEND Green Paper just seems to go around and around without ever really getting anywhere. The big one for us is how do we get special school funding right to support a more complex cohort of pupils”
Pupil numbers is a key stress point for Michael and his team, he admits. “Planning is really frustrating because there's no certainty at the moment. Medium term predictions are difficult because numbers are changing all the time and funding is a year behind in mainstream schools. This year's funding, for example, was based on a census showing 272 but last week, we had around 300 children. Special school funding is out of date and not sufficient to ensure medium term balances budgets”
Recruiting staff is another concern, with TA recruitment presenting a far greater challenge than bringing in new teachers. “TAs are very difficult to recruit,” Michael says. “We used to have 100 applicants for 4 to 5 jobs but over the summer we had seven applicants for 13 jobs. That means we have to use more supply people who cost more.”
There are few levers to pull that will make a difference, he says. “Financially we can’t do much – there’s just not the numbers out there to offer better flexible working. It’s a tough one and I don’t know the answer to it. We do try to be flexible with staff to retain them – we don’t have a high turnover in our trust but getting new blood into the system is really important.”
Looking after staff is central to the Kingfisher Learning Trust retention strategy. The trust is developing a range of staff benefits, including physio and wellbeing support and a partnership with Holland and Barrett to offer staff healthy living advice and discounts.
There are also plans to appoint a director of people. “Once this person is in post they can deepen our strategy to develop and support our strategy and I want to focus on an offer that will help make our people’s lives easier,” Michael explains. “We want to build a directory of services for our staff full of recommended local businesses who will do special deals for our trust. Booking in a staff member’s car for a service at the local garage is a good example. It’s a little thing but it can help make a difference."
Plenty of innovative thinking, then, but Michael is keen not to create disruptive change at a time when so many members of staff face turmoil and upheaval in their lives.
“I tried the ‘if it ain’t broke, break it’ approach for a few years but I’ve moved to ‘sense check it before you break it’” he says. “Life is so challenging for so many people at the moment. People want consistency and stability.”
Next CFO & COO INSIDER:
Laying a Foundation for Growth
Thursday 29th February, 10:00-10:40
The CFO & COO INSIDER is a live, regular discussion about the trust finance topics that matter most. In this session Leyla Tovey (Managing Director at SBS) and Christopher Dryer (Director of Finance & Operations, St Bartholomew's CE Multi Academy Trust) will explore the benefits of ensuring scalable systems and processes are in place prior to MAT growth.
