Schools Financial Services Newsletter September 2022

The Budget Planning Software has now
been successfully updated to Version 14.0.
We have uploaded a copy of the 'BPS
Release notes Version 14.0' document to
your BPS, this can be located within your
help & User Guidance section.

The BPS Release Notes document, provides
a detailed explanation of all sections
updated within this update, and how this
affects the way you use BPS going
forward.

Should you experience any issues please
contact us by email, or phone, our contact
details can be located at the bottom of the
page.

We have collated all the responses for
those schools advising of the relevant
Employee Scenarios they want removing
from their BPS.

We have passed this information onto our
software provider to get these removed in
bulk, and will confirm once this has been
actioned.

There are still quite a few schools we
haven't heard from yet. If you would still
like to have your Employee Scenarios
removed, please still email into us, and we
will collate a new batch for us to delete.

Are you a recently appointed Headteacher? Or are you a Senior Leader who is aspiring to
become one?

The SFS Training Team are providing face to face training on a Senior Leader’s roles and
responsibilities within finance, FREE for Kent Maintained Schools, delivered in collaboration
with a Kent Maintained School Headteacher.

The training will help delegates develop strategic leadership with particular emphasis on
resources and will work through practical examples of school situations and budgets. There will also be guest speakers from the Schools Budget and Counter Fraud Teams.

The three half day sessions will focus on:

• Financial Leadership, Management and Accountability
• Budget Planning and Procurement
• Budget Monitoring, Benchmarking and Fraud Protection

There is also the chance to share good practice with your colleagues.

Course Dates/Code:

• 12th, 19th, and 27th September - SCH 22/651

• Budget Planning Software Updates
  SFS Training
• Budget Planning Software - Employee
  Scenarios
• Advance notice - helpdesk closure
• Senior Leaders Training Course
• School-led tutoring form deadline
• Academy Trust handbook 2022

The Training Team have now released all
the training courses for the Autumn and
Spring Terms and all are now available to
book via CPD online. These courses are
FREE for all Kent Maintained Schools.
There is a charge for Academies and
Medway Schools for the FMS6 and
Strategic Courses for School Leaders.

We currently have on offer courses which
cover FMS6, especially Healthchecks and
Closedown in the Spring 23 term, and The
Budget Planning Software and strategic
courses for School Leaders.
There are a mixture of face to face and
Zoom webinars so please take a look and
if you have any queries or wish to enquire
about other training on a one to one basis
(chargeable) please contact us by email, or
phone, our details can be located at the
bottom of the page.

We just wanted to take the time and advise
you that the Helpdesk will be closed on the
20th September for the whole day, and the
18th October between 9am to 1:30pm for
training.

We would just like to remind schools the
importance of completing their submission
of the School-led tutoring by 16 September
2022. Failure to complete the statement by
this date will result in all of the school-led
tutoring funding being recovered by the
ESFA. The form can be found here.

The revised Academy Trust handbook
came into effect as of the 1 September
2022. Academy trusts must ensure they
comply with this handbook as a condition
of their funding agreement. It provides an
overarching framework for
implementation of effective financial
management and other controls,
consistent with their obligations as
publicly funded bodies. The Academy
Trust Handbook can be found here.