Project Managing the Free School Pre-Opening Phase The free schools programme has created over 400,000 places for pupils over the past few years, with 507 open free schools and another 226 in the process of opening. Providers with a strong track record can use this process to extend their educational success and create much-needed school places, improving educational standards across the country. …
Press release: PAG launches Kickstart for Schools Premier Advisory Group has launched a school specific Kickstart programme. This allows schools of any type or size, from a 1FE maintained primary school to a 20+ school MAT to offer employment opportunities to young people which are fully funded by the government. The scheme promises huge benefits to the sector as it …
Our positive retrospective on 2020 2020 has finally come to an end. It was a difficult year, with events that no one had expected. The pandemic has put tremendous pressure on our society, leaving almost no area of life untouched. Education was not spared. Schools faced closing, impacting the lives of millions of children and their families, and in particular, those …
Kickstart your schools in 2021Win-Win is often an overused term and it’s fair to say that good news has been in short supply recently. However, the Government’s flagship £2 billion Kickstart scheme could provide a win-win for schools and multi academy trusts. The initiative aims to provide 16-24 year olds at risk of long-term unemployment with six-month state-subsidised work placements, …
Prepping for your 2020-21 Condition Improvement Fund What?! Now? Really?While the surprise announcement of additional CIF awards is only a few weeks old, you would think that it would be a little premature to start considering bids to the 2021 fund. Far from it. DfE is due to issue guidance for CIF 2021 in October 2020 with the deadline for …
Pre-opening Project ManagementAt the end of last year, the DfE closed applications for another two waves of the national free schools programme. This included Wave 14 for mainstream free schools and Wave 2 for SEND/AP schools. Successful Wave 2 applicants have been announced recently and an announcement on the successful applicants for Wave 14 is expected in the coming months. At Premier Advisory Group, we have a wealth of experience in the pre-opening project management of new free …
PAG celebrates successful Wave 2 clients Premier Advisory Group is delighted to celebrate the trusts who were successful in their bids to open new SEND/AP Free Schools via Wave 2 of the DfE programme. These successful applications include a number of PAG’s clients: Ambitious about Autism Academies TrustAmbitious About Autism Academies Trust has been selected to sponsor a new 4 to 19 school for children and young people with …
Governance during COVID-19 Gary Brown is an experienced non-executive director and Academy Ambassador who currently sits on the board of a small all-through MAT in Warwickshire and a mid-sized MAT in the West Midlands. Read below to learn more about Gary’s experience as a governor during COVID-19. w Over the past few weeks, I have worked with a number of organisations to …
Policy Doctor: An Origin Story S taff meetings at PAG are often interrupted by shared experiences of interminable and less than effective governing body/trust meetings. The root of these frustrations is the same each time – wasted time and effort that could be expended more fruitfully on focusing on teaching and learning. One of the biggest drains on time is …
Brenda Mullen was appointed as CEO of LT2 in September 2017. Prior to this Brenda was CEO of MacIntyre Academies Trust, having formerly been Director of Children’s Services for the charity. Brenda has a background in teaching and has also been a successful independent consultant to schools and Local Authorities. Click the link to see her answers to questions on COVID-19.