School Business Professional
This programme is designed for apprentices who want to further develop their skills, knowledge and behaviours for a job role involving supporting school leadership teams with various aspects of school life.
You will have opportunities to provide essential support to school leadership teams, implementing their financial and business decisions. Successful completion of the programme will lead to an Apprenticeship Certificate as a School Business Professional.
What types of activities are covered as part of the School Business Professional Standard?
School Business professionals may work in any school phase (primary, secondary, special) and in different school structures: single academy trusts, multi academy trusts (MATs), local authority-maintained schools and federations.
Consequently, they can work in very different settings with varying numbers of people that they report to including the headteacher or School Business Director (SBD).
Within this context, SBPs have a shared number of roles which shape their day-to-day activity to make this a homogeneous role in schools.
The role typically includes and is not limited to drafting and monitoring the school budget, setting up financial controls and financial reporting, managing payroll, maintaining accounts, management of the school site alongside any specific staff such as caretakers; procurement of goods and services including overseeing contracts, identification of small income opportunities, marketing materials, responsibility for office management, developing and maintaining administrative systems, policy compliance, implementation of school HR processes and interacting with all stakeholders.
What does the School Business Manager Apprenticeship Standard consist of?
Skills - Project management, change management, strategic management, communication and relationship building.
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Knowledge - Finance, procurement, human resources, managing support services, governance and risk, marketing, and infrastructure.
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Behaviours - Change catalyst, decision maker, skilled negotiator, collaborative, resilient and challenge.
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Functional Skills - English Level 2 and Maths Level 2
Delivery
The period of learning, development and continuous assessment is managed jointly by the employer and Quest Training. The on-programme pace will be driven by apprentice as well as by the breadth of experience an employer can offer, but will be a minimum of 18 months, prior to the end-point assessment taking place.
​There will be a combination of on the job and off the job learning and the off the job learning will include:
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There will be a combination of on the job and off the job learning and the off the job learning will include:
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Workshops
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Meetings with Tutor
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Online Learning
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Learning about a new product/service/resource
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Supervised learning – knowledge or practical skill
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Attending a review or appraisal
End Point Assessment
The synoptic EPA has become a core feature of new apprenticeship standards because it assesses the apprentice’s performance across the whole standard rather than for individual tasks
The End-Point Assessment is planned with the Independent End-Point Assessor, Employer and Apprentice
The End-Point assessment consists of three elements:
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· Simulated task to write and present a report
· Project Report & Presentation with Questions & Answers
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Each assessment method directly assesses the knowledge, skills, and behaviours of the Standard. The assessment is then graded.
The simulated task is provided to the apprentice on the EPA day and the apprentice has 1.5hrs to prepare, submit the report and then present it orally to the End point assessor.
The project report is based on the work-based project completed during the learning timeframe. Upon completion of the gateway process the apprentice has two weeks to prepare and submit the report to the end point assessor.
The apprentice will then prepare a presentation on their work-based project and report to present to the end point assessor on their assessment day.
The apprentice will also be required to submit their portfolio of evidence to the independent assessor by week 2 post Gateway.
Independent assessors must review the portfolio of learning prior to the Q & A session. They must prepare to discuss the key areas of the Standard that were not part of the workplace project or the simulated task (report to governors).
