The resources here will help you get to grips with your school's income and different approaches to allocating your budget. Plus, find templates to help you confidently plan and present your budget to governors.
Get up to speed on how your school's income is calculated.
Get to grips with how maintained mainstream schools are funded. Find out about the national funding formula (NFF), as well as the other streams of funding that feed into your school's budget.
Find out how your general annual grant (GAG) funding is calculated, and what government funding you're entitled to on top of your GAG.
Understand how provision for pupils with special educational needs (SEN) is funded in your school, including top-up funding.
Data you submit in census returns is used to determine your school's funding. Read on to see which data is collected on each return. Also, learn how to address errors in census returns.
Find guidance and templates to help you get started.
Get to grips with school budget planning. Use our template 5-year budget plan spreadsheets to help you model a range of scenarios and then cost your chosen one in detail.
Find out more about integrated curriculum and financial planning (ICFP), which can help you improve your school's financial efficiency and maximise resources. Download and use our checklist to guide you through the process.
Understand the different ways you can allocate curriculum budgets. Download our curriculum budget formula calculator and see case studies from different types of school.
Feel confident working out your school's spending.
Get advice on how to approach staffing expenditure and which staffing costs you should include in your calculations.
Understand how to calculate staffing costs for SEN provision so you can better estimate how much money you're spending on your overall SEN provision. Download our tools to help keep track of how much each intervention costs and whether it offers value for money.
See how to calculate the cost of lessons and courses to help budget for your curriculum. You'll find variables to take into account and suggested methods to use.
Learn more about how to make the most of the DfE's financial benchmarking service.
See how you can identify schools similar to yours and make comparisons using the financial benchmarking tool from the DfE. Get to grips with both the benefits and limitations of benchmarking.
Download our list of questions to help you analyse your benchmarking data, and find guidance from the DfE.
Show governors that you're managing resources and finances effectively.
Keep your governors/trustees fully informed about your school budget planning and decision-making with our downloadable templates. You'll find a detailed budget planner, and a planning report that will help you explain your budget planning decisions.
With finances squeezed, use this guide to help you make the most of your school budget monitoring meetings. See what to cover and use our questions to help you spot issues and identify next steps.
If you're a Whole School member of The Key, or have Leaders+ membership with access to The Key Leaders and GovernorHub Knowledge, share our resources below with your clerk and chair:
The budget planning process is a good opportunity to review your suppliers to check they’re providing the right support for your team.
The Key’s Whole School membership is the most cost-effective way to cover your school’s leadership, governance, safeguarding and CPD needs.
Streamline your suppliers by upgrading to Whole School today.
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