MANAGEMENT
SIX WEEKS OF SUMMER
Six weeks of summer – an SBP perspective
A
Longer days, lighter evenings and the chance to reflect. CLARE SKINNER takes us through her end of year process and reminds us to look back on our successes with a warm summer glow
s we reach the end of July and the children have left the premises cheering (with the staff not far behind them), all that remains is the SBP (and probably some of their operations team). So, relax... Or, more likely, make sure all contractors are on site and doing the works that have been booked, that all statutory testing is being carried out and that deep cleans are underway. Then it’s time to get some work done. GOING STRATOSPHERIC This is a time of year that sees our normally fantastic efficiency go stratospheric as all the term-time interruptions and distractions are
32 Summer 2024
removed from our daily lives, and we can be fully focused on the matters at hand. I find that I can get so much more achieved and completed in a day during the school holidays, sometimes to my own shock and surprise at how quickly things can be done! I’ll spend some time clearing up the leftovers from the summer term, removing all jobs that could be distracting or annoying (or even forgotten) over the holiday period if left unresolved. I’ll prepare policies that need to be updated for September and review the operations training that I always deliver on the first day back for all staff just to remind them of how to do things. I’ll prepare my team meeting for the first
day back to thank them for last year and prepare the focus for the new. Then the bulk of August as a business manager in a stand-alone academy means year end reports and audit preparation. I collate all the data that my team and I have been preparing through the year and check it all through, dropping documents and spreadsheets into a One Drive file for my auditors. I sit diligently and plough through my fixed asset register, reviewing my additions and calculating depreciation ready for verifying by the auditors. I review payroll summaries, analyse income and check my related party transactions have all been reported, all ready for my lovely auditors.