Useful links
The following websites cover a variety of organisations and information relevant to bursars and other support staff in schools.
- National College for Leadership of Schools and Children's Services (NCLSCS) — has full details of the 'Certificate of School Business Management' course and the 'Diploma' pilots.
- National Bursars Association (NBA) - the largest professional organisation for bursars, school business managers and administrators in the United Kingdom.
- The Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) — works in partnership with all councils to enhance the performance of the best, accelerate the speed of improvement of the rest and develop the local government sector as a whole. Their responsibilities include: HR performance and capacity building, diversity and equality and workforce development
- Local Government Employers — website includes the 'School Support Staff — The Way Forward' guidance containing model job profiles, employment good practice and advice on training and development of school support staff agreed by the National Joint Council (NJC) for Local Government Services.
- GovernorNet - provides up-to-date information on all aspects of school governance, including theSchool Staffing (England) Regulations 2003 and the Staffing Guidance under Sections 35(8) and 36(8) of the Education Act 2002 which explain the responsibilities of both schools and LEAs when appointing support staff — see the 'Appointment of staff other than head teachers and deputy head teachers' section.
- TDA Development (formally NRT) — provides advice, guidance, case studies and training materials to help schools and LEAs implement workforce reform.
- Cutting Burdens website — includes a Toolkit and two volumes of good practice examples to help schools, particularly heads and bursars, to cut burdens and remodel effectively.
- Value for Money
website — covers
- Consistent Financial Reporting
- Best Value
- Analytical Work
- Good Practice
- Benchmarking
Bursars can play a crucial role in implementing 'Best Value' — by making the most of school resources so that more is available for teaching and learning. They can use a variety of financial management and performance information to 'benchmark' their school to assess how effective they are at using resources compared to other schools and businesses.
