Opportunities on the horizon A

PESTEL analysis

Iram Malik-Myford
Headteacher of St. Saviour’s C of E Primary School and St. Saviour’s
Nursery
Agenda

 Introduction
 Presentation
 Discussion and reflection
 Timeline of larger scale recommended
actions
 Conclusion of presentation
Introduction
 The MACRO environment
impacts on our schools.
Through horizon scanning I
have made recommendations
for Trust schools and subsidiary
private companies to help us
seize opportunities and
mitigate risks.

 To do this, I have used the

PESTEL model. Additionally, I
have used a SWOT model
where I have focused on the
opportunities and threats.
POLITICAL
 Political – The recommendations

 1. Invest in apprenticeships.

The apprenticeship levy forms part of UK tax law making it a highly stable
investment in a variable political landscape. Explore how the Teaching School
can capitalize on this and offer apprenticeships as part of recruitment and
retention. (Education and Skills funding agency, 2020).

 Target October 2020 report ready for governors.

Intended outcome – recruitment and retention increases due to apprenticeships
on offer. Staff are up skilled resulting in better outcomes for children.
 Political – The recommendations
 2. Rebuild reserves by mitigating future expenditure on catering
92% of all our private sector staff where put on furlough with 80% of their salary. If a new wave causes
schools to shut once more, we must prepare for the furlough scheme to not be so generous.

To prepare, I suggest we take our Academy’s catering services ‘in house’ eliminating the large monthly
bills we needed to pay to offset the outside companies losses during the pandemic. These are 30%+
above our usual invoices. The quality of the food has not been consistent which has led to discussions
about how we can improve this. I recommend the carting manager is a consultant chef themselves
who can manage and cook if schools partially close once more. A business model is being created and
thus far looks very promising. A TUPE process with initial consultation would need to take place – see
timeline.

This also means our hospitality costs (including inset days) which run at an average of £5000 a year
(average of past 3 years) can be significantly lowered.
 See separate timeline.
Intended outcome – the quality of school dinners will improve, the school will not be charged during
another crisis, hospitality costs will decrease.
 “Making no bold moves is
probably the most dangerous
strategy.”

(Bradley, Hirt and Smit (2018)

p.11)
 Political – The recommendations
 3. Systems Leadership.
It seems that the trend towards schools supporting schools is part of the political landscape for the
future. System leaders called, National Leaders of Education (NLEs) support the Department of
Education by assisting other school leaders to grow in their effectiveness and in raising standards
(Department for Education, NLE advisory group report, 2019). We have one NLE, two Local Leaders of
Education (LLEs) and over 20 Specialist Leaders of Education (SLEs). I suggest we aim to have 3 NLEs
which will be an asset to the trust and position us well for DfE grants. With Teaching school ‘hubs’ due
to replace teaching schools we need to ensure our longevity. (Department of Education, 2020)

NLEs will build the capability of the supported leader. Helping them to recognise which combination of
core practices – such as setting direction and shared vision; building relationships and developing staff;
developing the school environment, and evaluating teaching practice. The NLE will empower the
supported leader to drive forward improved outcomes (Leithwood et al., 2019). Having 3 NLEs in the
trust would mean that we can forge relationships with other schools which is part of our current
strategy.
 Target = 3 NLE’s – N.B. recruitment currently closed.
Intended outcome – our team of leaders are able to continue with outreach work and we will continue
to benefit from our leaders enjoying, learning and networking.
 Political – Why
Threats
Opportunities
- Tax law means -Brexit may impact on our
supply chains – especially
apprenticeships are
food
here to stay

- Continued emphasis on -Brexit may impact the

staffing team directly or
systems leadership
indirectly e.g.. Childcare
from the DfE
arrangements for staff
(Department of
falling through
Education, 2019)
- ‘Teaching School Hubs’ set
to replace Teaching Schools
(Department of Education,
2020)
Economic
 Economic – The recommendations

 1. Unemployment rates are increasing which means there is an opportunity for businesses to
capitalize on recruiting high quality staff. Traditionally an issue for schools, there is now an
opportunity to offer more flexible working patterns. For example, requests for part time hours
has been an issue as finding someone to work the complimentary shift pattern is not always
possible. These requests can and should now be re-visited.
 When considering these requests, stakeholders should consider what is in the best interests of
the children. Given that teaching is relational it is important to consider the impact on children.
 Target for review in next meeting.
Intended outcome – staff feel supported resulting in the children having the best possible education
 2. Demand for breakfast and afterschool club, particularly for the oldest children, has reduced.
Overall a 25% reeducation. I recommend offering ad hoc sessions for those who have given up
their places to support families who are attending interviews. Not only does this support
families, it supports an uptake in numbers of children joining the club.
 Target to offer from mid-September 2020
Intended outcome – families feel supported and numbers begin to increase as the economy does
 Economic – The recommendations
 3. Growth. Demand for nursery places has increased due to nursery closures.
Our waiting list has increased by 35% in the past 2 months.
Many of our staff have lost their childcare due to the pandemic. I recommend
opening a third private nursery so that each Genesis Trust school has onsite
daycare. This will support our teachers at St. Margaret’s School to return to work
full time and provide a funding stream for the school. I feel it is important that
each school has this advantage so that teachers can be placed for optimal impact.
 Consider a CIF application ahead of December 31st deadline for building work. (
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academies-planning-calendar)
 This business case has been prepared and groundwork is set for a January
opening. (see timeline)
Intended outcome – onsite childcare for staff meaning we can recruit the very
best teachers and a revenue stream for the school.
Economic – The recommendations

 4. Expansion
A fourth school joining the academy chain would enable us to spread recourses
further and enabling more buying power. The RSC requires us to present a
school willing to join the trust. Then we present this to the RSC and Head
teacher board for consideration. We will be able to then apply for the ‘Trust
Capacity Fund.’ (Department of Education, 2019). Because we have 2
Outstanding and one Good school, I believe we are in a good position to take on
a school in need.
 Target for September 2022
Intended Outcome – expansion of trust from 3 to 4 schools.
 Economical– Why

Opportunities Threats
- Teachers are set for a - Demand for breakfast
pay raise in 2021 and
(Department for afterschool club lowered
Education 2020) by
25%
- Part time working via
- Redundancies required
recruitment
opportunities due to lack of uptake
(see new contract
- Expansion opportunities mitigation in Legal.)
- Second COVID-19 spike or
new crisis
Societal
 Societal – The recommendations
 1. Capitalizing on Population Growth. It is possible that quarantine will lead
to many pregnancies. Many feel it will be the opposite (Taylor and Francis,
2020) which would mean more competition for nursery places. I recommend
we start an annual ‘baby show’ with a shop local theme. Taking place on the
school grounds, we will showcase the private nursery, school and the host of
local vendors in the industry. Offering emergency pediatric first aid and
product demonstrations will be a draw to expectant and new mothers. By
offering local vendors a space at a low cost will forage a good relationship
which leads to word of mouth recommendations. In my experience, these are
the most beneficial for nursery bookings.
 The baby show will focus on sustainability,
as well with parents sharing their experiences.
Societal – The recommendations

 Led by myself initially with a view to pass onto the Teaching School
Administration team, the target date is in May/June 2021.
Intended Outcome – advertising the school and nursery resulting in
oversubscription. Supporting the local community.
Societal – The recommendations
 2. Work life balance in education is on the agenda (Department of Education,
2019. School workload toolkit [Online].
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-workload-reduction-toolkit ) In the
economical section, I recommended looking at alternate working patterns. In
addition to this, I suggest considering (a) the school week itself and the
potential for a Friday half day with the option of afternoon enrichment clubs
and (b) homework being removed. Parents and teachers can agree on
homework where necessary but home work would be reading only.
Intended Outcome – lower workload
 3. Buying habits are veering towards online or convenience shopping (see
environmental for school uniform).
 Societal– Why

Opportunities Threats
- Work life balance Too greater encouragement
on work life balance may
- Shop local trend tip into workforce
complacency
- Shop ethically sourced
trend

- Population growth/
childcare needs.
Technological
 Technological – The recommendations
 1. Curriculum.
We have an excellent curriculum that fits well with Ofsted’s new Education
Inspection framework. This was evidenced by St Saviour’s being one of the first
schools in the country to move from good to outstanding under the new
framework.

I have supported a number of schools to develop their curriculum. I believe we

can develop this wider and deeper.
 Curriculum continued
Due to COVID-19, many of our lessons were made ready to share at home with teachers
speaking over the interactive presentations. I have sold these to a few schools now and suggest
we market our planning in 3 ways.
a) Curriculum design support – create your own curriculum with support
b) Using our curriculum and planning
c) Using our curriculum and planning and the electronic teaching to go along side the
planning

Option c would support schools in need. For example, if a school could not recruit a year 3
teacher, the school could use the online lessons to support a supply teacher. Or if there is
another lockdown, schools will have already have mitigated risk buy purchasing the holistic
package.
 Target, ready from end of September 2020
 Begin to consider the wider market – outside the UK in 2020 and how we can support schools
using the British curriculum abroad.
Intended Outcome – revenue stream for the school and up skilling for the staff. Additionally,
supporting schools in need.
Technological – The recommendations
 2. Big Data ethics in relation to children.
It seems we have hurdled towards online learning and thus increasing screen time
for our pupils exponentially. Certainly there are benefits in how we have been
able to reach the children but there are ethical concerns we must discuss.
Children are unknowingly grouped into political, moral and social groups and fed
a continuous stream of repeated and similar content. If our goal is to create open
minded children who question and balance arguments drawing their own
conclusions, then we must teach our children how the internet is able to feed
them one sided views and misinformation.
 Discussion of computing curriculum additions and target to have added to
computing programme by end September 2020.
Intended Outcome – children understand how targeted ads work and are
empowered.
 Technological – The
recommendations
 3. 3D Printers.
I recommend investing in a 3D printer for each school. This new technology offers huge
learning opportunities and the children will be fascinated by what they can create
through coding. Previously we have invested in robot making and virtual reality
headsets and found that the children's problem solving, vocabulary, imagination and
teamwork improved as a direct result. Not to mention the ‘awe and wonder’ moments.
It is evident that parents recognize the importance of technology in their children's
futures; the emphasis we place on technology has provided our school with a
competitive edge. By integrating printing design and coding into the already
experience rich curriculum, we will enhance it further. Instantaneous online – amazon –
style shopping is a buying habit and for this reason, I believe 3D printers with their
instantaneous manufacturing will become more common place in the coming years.
 Printers have arrived. Target to have integrated into our curriculum by October 2020
Intended Outcome – children gain experience in coding, design, manufacturing etc.
which is good experience for future careers.
Technological – The recommendations
 4. Training.
Increased screen time means children have more access to the internet
unsupervised. We have a robust online safety programme and lead online safety
training for local schools. We should digitize this training and offer it for free to
schools. We will offer our complimentary planning at a small charge. We should
record our parental training and share this widely twice a year with all trust
parents. In time, we should record as much of our training as possible to create a
bank of courses that work alongside certificates and a passport of training. E.g..
EYFS training passport for leaders.
 Target for all training to have a virtual counterpart by January 2021
Intended Outcome – our training is able to reach more people.
 Technological– Why
Threats
Opportunities
- Children being grouped
- Business opportunities to into political/social
capitalize on spheres

- Increasing reach to children - Children’s increased screen

and schools that are hard to time and increased access
reach e.g.. Opportunity to the internet
areas. unsupervised whilst parents
https://www.gov.uk/govern working from home
ment/publications/social-m
obility-and-opportunity-are - Online learning not
as meeting our vision, values
and mission.
Environmental
environmental – The recommendations
 1. Audit.
There is no doubt that the environment is on the agenda. I recommend an ethical sourcing
audit to take place alongside the catering being moved in house. In addition to catering, all
common cleaning products and resources to be audited with a benchmarking exercise to be
reported to governors to see where potential changes can be made.
 February 2020 ahead of yearly accounts audit.
Intended Outcomes – less carbon footprint.
 2. Learning.
Consider the introduction of the 3D printer and single use plastics to balance learning and
waste. This should form part of the ‘planning’ children undertake before creating their designs.
 September 2020 to be discussed in September inset.
Intended Outcome – Children consider how to balance technology and its environmental impact.
environmental – The recommendations
 3. School Streets.
The board should fast track the school streets application put forth by school parents. Competing
schools have already approved school streets to much praise. In addition, Trust schools should
consider and added environmental step such as solar energy or living walls to ensure the schools are
seen as ecologically ethical. This is important to our families and pupils.
 Target for December 2020 – if there is a second corona virus spike we may consider a delay.
Intended Outcome – cleaner air for the children.

 4. Buying habits are veering towards online shopping.

I recommend we produce and sell our own school uniforms removing the need for parents to order and
collect uniforms from shops. We can use ethically sourced materials and remove the need to travel to
the uniform shop as parents can collect at the school. We can ‘reuse’ by selling lightly used uniforms.
 Target to be ready for May ready for 2022 academic year
Intended Outcome – ethically sourced uniforms and ease of use for parents.
environmental – The recommendations

5. Policy
 Environmental policies and environmental clauses in core policies.

Intended Outcome – raise the priority of environmental considerations.

 Environmental– Why
Opportunities Threats

- Create greener schools - Increased energy bills

that are sustainable - Reduction in local

parking leading to issues
- Audit and action with teacher recruitment
ethical sourcing of and retention
resources and
sustenance - Unhealthy air for pupils

- Utilize parental - More reliance on cars

interests in the topic and less use of public
to help with the transport
workload
Legal
legal– The recommendations
 1. Private company contract update. Breakfast club, after school club and
nursery to have a ‘short time working/layoff’ clause as part of new
employee contracts. Thus allowing for layoffs if a second spike or new
pandemic where to take place. I recommend current contracts are not
changed as this would involve staff and union consultation period and no
doubt create distrust in an already stressful time. I feel we have a duty of
care to our now diminished staffing team. As we re-build, new staff (on
new contracts) will become the majority.
 On track to be ready from September 2020.
Intended Outcome – when another crisis occurs, people can be laid off for up 4
weeks in a row or 6 weeks in a 13 week period. This protects their jobs in
place of redundancies and protects the company profits. Source:
https://www.gov.uk/lay-offs-short-timeworking
legal– The recommendations
 2. Health and Safety at work act 1974 saw us update our policies and
procedures in light of COVID-19. Anecdotally we noticed that the number
of children being sent home unwell or common childhood illnesses
decrease. This is likely due to several factors (Chanchlani et al., 2020)
but would suggest that the ongoing cleaning routines and immediately
isolating poorly children from the environment are practices worth
continuing. It is likely that many parents will continue to work from
home, making the collection of poorly children more manageable for
families.
Intended Outcome – less poorly children and staff decresing the number of
absences.
 legal– Why

Opportunities Threats

- Update contracts and - Changes to laws

policies to meet
current climate and - Changes to employment
legal regulations law following COVID-19

- Consider positive
changes seen during
COVID-19 and how
these can be kept
Limitations of My singular analysis

 Please consider my recommendations as a group so that we have diversity in

perspectives. As a group, please critique and add to each PESTEL area as
appropriate.

 This is based on assumptions of the future so any changes need to be rooted

in the best interests of the children no matter what the future holds. Please
consider how this fits with our vision, values and mission.
Suggested Timeline for large projects
Catering
 Business case finalized including Brexit threats to food chains – November 2020
 Presented to governors for vote in Novembers meeting
 Baseline assessment of productivity and food quality / satisfaction – November 2020
 Give notice to current providers – December 2020
 TUPE consultation – January 2021
 TUPE kitchen staff – late January 2021
 Hire consultant chef/manager for 3 sites – February 2021
 Undergo benchmarked sustainability (ethical sourcing/carbon footprint) audit – February 2021
 Consult and create menus – sharing with parents – April 2021
 Open for April 2021
 Target for food quality to increase by 20% in May
 Target for productivity to increase by 10% and food quality to further increase by 10%
 *We can not legally earn money from catering, as part of free school meals funding.
 Extra earning are at 25% by June 2021 and are reinvested into the food.
 Target for 2022 is the Gold quality mark – to achieve this most food will need to be organic amongst other criteria.
Suggested Timeline for large projects
Nursery expansion
 Analysis of need October 2020 – engage with LA, staff and school parents initially, then widen
scope.
 Present this to governors for vote to move forward.
 Consider a CIF application ahead of December 31st deadline for building work.
 Advertising begins in November
 Opening in February (Ofsted need to do initial assessment to open any new setting and as they
are backlogged, suggest not aiming to open any earlier than February.) (Ofsted, 2020)
 Staffing is carefully matched to the number of children – slowly increasing. Core staff moved
from current sites
 April 2021, Target for 80% occupancy (keeping in mind 100% is not always possible due to
children’s dates of birth).
 June 2021, likely will have had Ofsted by this stage – good or better result.
 July 2021, profit being generated and opening costs being paid off
 July 2022, opening costs paid off in full.
For consideration

 We can convert the current nursery at St Margaret’s for 3 year olds to a

private setting. I have done this before at St Saviour’s due to a low uptake.
Presently, the nursery at St Margaret’s has a good uptake but as the area
changes, we may want to consider this option. E.g. in 2023
 In line with the EFSA, we would need to consult the LA and stakeholders. All
children on roll would be transferred to the new setting and the school would
benefit from the rental income from the private nursery using the space.
 (Education and Skills Funding Agency, 2013)
References
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References
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