ISBL Spotlight: Helen Burge, Trustee

Meet ISBL Trustee Helen Burge, Deputy Chief Operating Officer at The Priory Learning Trust.

Thank you for sitting down with us, Helen. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your career so far in education?

I’ve been working in education for nearly 25 years in a variety of roles, initially as an IT lecturer as a result of meeting someone who was on my reflexology course. Then whilst on maternity leave for my eldest son, a good family friend suggested a role in the school finance office of a local private school where she was a Trustee. So I fell into the role of a Bursar’s assistant in a private school.

When that closed down, I then moved into assessment data analysis for primary schools, before moving into school office administration. It fitted around my young family and I really enjoyed the varied work, working in a school environment, listening to children playing outside or singing in assembly. I completed the CSBM and I became a Bursar, then I moved schools and became a School Business Manager and completed my DSBM and ADSBM and now I’m Deputy COO of a Trust.

The role is slightly different, as I now no longer see and hear primary school children on a daily basis as my office is located in a secondary school, but it’s still a constant reminder of why I do my job - it is all about them, even if they don’t know who I am or what I do, I’m helping to make a difference in their lives and that’s what matters most.

You are currently Deputy Chief Operating Officer at The Priory Learning Trust. Can you tell us more about The Priory Learning Trust and what your role entails?

This is a great role, I work with Central Team Heads of Service (HR, Finance, IT, Estates & Compliance, EYFS) to ensure the smooth operations of the Trust including procurement, improving service delivery, aligning practice and of course sustainability.

I also manage the Operations Managers across our 3 secondaries and 5 primaries. Our settings also include a 6th form and 4 nurseries, 2 of which are all year round. Working with the Operations Managers to improve their settings is great fun! I love seeing their impact and encourage them to share their good ideas and practice with each other.

I also get involved in the onboarding of new schools to the Trust, which is always interesting, especially as we have pooled GAG and centralised a lot of functionality. I manage the Estates & Compliance team as well, which is great, as there is so much going on within this area right now, especially since the Energy Efficiency funding was announced.

Why did you join ISBL, and what does your role as a Trustee for the Institute involve?

I joined ISBL while I was completing my Advanced Diploma of School Business Management a good few years ago now. I had met some wonderful new colleagues including Sally Boaden and Maggie Duncan at the face-to-face sessions and heard from them about ISBL. Maggie became a Fellow of ISBL and she inspired me to apply to be a Fellow. Then I got more involved with ISBL volunteering for some small tasks and working groups, so it then felt very natural to apply to be a Trustee.

The education sector is in constant flux - what do you believe are the key issues facing the sector today?

Depending on your school’s context the key issues might vary slightly, but funding is a huge issue, especially for SEN provision; the prospect of unfunded staff salary increases; recruitment and retention of teachers and support staff, including IT teams; cyber security and of course creating schools which are sustainable and net zero.

What impact do you think these issues have on our members and SBPs in particular?

Massive! School funding drives school improvement and school operations, without adequate funding student outcomes can be threatened.

Every SBP I know cares deeply about their school, their students, and their staff and often feel personally responsible if the budget can’t support the school improvement which is required. We have already seen an increase in SBPs struggling with the demands of the role in addition to the demands on the budget. Sometimes it is incredibly overwhelming.

How are our Trustees helping to direct the Institute’s strategy so that we can take on the important challenges facing education? How can we make, and how are we making, a difference for our members – and most importantly, the students they work with?

It's a real honour to be an ISBL Trustee and help develop the school business profession. We have a relatively new Board of Trustees, but everyone brings their own unique perspective and strengths and is fully committed to the school business profession.

I think we are making a difference by being part of the strategic conversations about school business leadership, whether that’s via the development of the SRMA programme or contributing to initiatives such as the CFO mentoring program or the CEO Development Framework.

Students within our UK schools ultimately benefit as a result of the sharing of best practice and of highly skilled individual school business professionals contributing to the school improvement strategy and implementation.

Can our members get involved and help to overcome the challenges our industry faces? If so, how?

I think networking is really important, as it is an opportunity to reflect on practice and share good initiatives and understand that you are not alone, even if you are the only school business professional within your school.

I also believe that school business professionals have a voice and should use it, therefore sign up to working groups, contribute to discussions, write articles, present at conferences, lead workshops and share their ideas. Sometimes this can inspire others to feel like they can take on the current challenge they are facing and also helps them build resilience ready for the next challenge!

What advice would you give to someone looking to start their journey to becoming a school business professional?

Go for it! Network with other school business professionals and if appropriate for you undertake formal CPD.