Couldn’t make the event and want to know what ArborFest is all about? We’ve put together a small roundup of the day, stage by stage below. If you were able to join us, remember to keep sharing your insights and photos from the event using #ArborFest.

The Main Stage

James and Sonia opened the day on The Main Stage, which was followed by an inspiring talk on leadership and collaboration by Diana Osagie, a showcase of our 2025 Product Vision, and a panel of Arbor users and Alex Jones (Ofsted) sharing how schools can get Ofsted-ready with Arbor.

The final talk of the day was from our keynote speaker, Baroness Mary Bousted, Chair of the Teaching Commission. Mary shared exclusive insights into the work of the Commission and highlighted its strongest recommendations to transform teachers’ working lives, in the context of the recruitment and retention crisis.

We finished up the day with our hotly contested Customer Awards, celebrating the customers who collaborate with us and challenge us to make Arbor even better.

The Innovation Stage

Over on The Innovation Stage, Arbor customers shared their insights and top tips on how school and trust leaders can both get started and make a measurable impact with AI. This was followed by a panel of data leaders (including Andrew Proctor, AWS) discussing which questions organisations should be asking of their data.

We finished the day on the Innovation Stage with ‘A data geek’s guide to improving attendance’, in which three Arbor schools and trusts shared their data analysis insights which have surfaced the hidden reasons for absenteeism.

–

The MAT Stage

Our MAT Stage was back by popular demand, opening with a panel on how exactly trusts can operationalise a merger.

Our second panel of the day featured three MAT leaders and Arbor users asking the question: what should a MAT of the future look like, which led to discussion around belonging, inclusivity and flexible working.

We closed the day with members of both the Arbor and SAMpeople community sharing how, why and when to join up your MIS and HR at trust-level, and how the joining up of systems has supported in the delivery of their overall trust strategy.

The Show and Tell Stage

Introducing, The Show and Tell Stage!

We designed this stage to bring to life on-the-ground insights from school leaders, and to open discussion around how to get the best out of the Arbor Suite.

It was standing room only for the first talk of the day, where school and trust leaders shared the ‘wow’ moments and advice which had made an immediate impact in their first 12 months of using Arbor.

Next up, the SAMpeople Team gave a show and tell demo of SAMpeople, for trust leaders and schools who are thinking about investing in HRIS.

And to finish off the day, we had an exciting hands-on session, led by Bex Campbell, in which ArborFest attendees got together in groups to pitch and vote for the next feature to be built in Arbor! The feature in the winning pitch has been added to our roadmap.

Roundtables, Arbor Labs Live and more!

The best bit about ArborFest is getting hundreds of school and MAT leaders together in one place, in-person. We had sessions running throughout the day to bring together these leaders to share best practice, see new features and collaborate with the Arbor Team! This year, as well as our Roundtables, we introduced Arbor Labs Live!

If you can’t tell, we’re already very excited for next year. Click here to see even more photos.

The post What you missed at ArborFest 2025 appeared first on Arbor.

Today’s blog is from Mark Wilson, CEO and Accounting Officer at Wellspring Academy Trust, which is made up of 29 academies.

Mark shares the ten things he would do as Education Secretary.

1. Abolish Ofsted

Ofsted drives perverse negative outputs at all levels throughout education and acts as a brake on innovation everywhere. That we’ve still got failing schools thirty-three years after it was formed proves precisely what an expensive, reactive and downstream institution it is. Get rid of it. That won’t happen, of course, because middle class parents want the reassurance that their children go to ‘nice’ schools. Abolition would come with a price that no politician is willing to pay.  

A number of the other things that I would change were I Education Secretary would come as a consequence of dismantling Ofsted. So, what would those other policies be?

–

2. If I couldn’t abolish Ofsted, I would move its focus upstream and away from the schools. 

Every school belongs to a strategic authority – Trust or Local Authority.  They’re the places we should be looking if we were serious about school effectiveness.  

• Does that authority have the capacity to support its schools?  
• Does it have a plan?  
• Is it doing its duty with regard to maintaining vital public infrastructure via investment in buildings and facilities?

Shifting the focus away from schools and placing it instead on those responsible for them would place accountability where it actually belongs and would give schools themselves the room to breathe.

–

3. I would streamline inspection down to ten-person teams per government region (saving around £130m per year)

These teams would be tasked with working alongside the regional intelligence networks to identify those schools most in trouble to quickly intervene, rather than relying on an antiquated system in which we might be waiting five years or more to find out, and thus failing an entire generation of children and young people.

–

4. Fix the £11.6bn gap between funding and the infrastructure needs of our schools

Over 1 million students in England are today learning in buildings that are neither weather-proof nor safe. We hear time and again that government should provide more money when we know that central government has no money. This is not an intractable problem. Schools have focused all of their resource on the front-line because that’s where they have felt the measure of accountability. As Education Secretary, I would redraw that line.

I would make schools (and their strategic authorities) partners with government, partners with the national mission. I would be clear that the quantum of resource they received was inclusive of their responsibility to national infrastructure – that means the maintenance and good management of their buildings and estates. That includes their contributions to the generation of clean energy, that includes their own investment in carbon reduction, effective water management and waste reduction. That includes improving their environmental credentials and use of their estates to support biodiversity and greening.

–

5. Require all strategic authorities to publish a 10 year plan that made explicit their commitments, intentions, intentional planning and resourcing.

This would ensure an adequate and ongoing employee pipeline, continuous workforce development programmes, school improvement strategies, leadership training programmes and environmental enhancement commitments. Where these plans were insubstantial, ineffective or not delivered on, I would use my intervention powers to transfer schools in question into other strategic authorities who were able to demonstrate a track record of turning plans into solid actions.

–

6. Intervene with those bad actors in the system who cynically game it

Those who operate selective schools via the back door, those schools who wash their hands of students because they do not bend to an every-narrowed interpretation of conformity, those schools who routinely signpost students towards Elective Home Education or who take less than their equal share of students with additional needs or who manipulate their cohorts in myriad other ways in order to score well in League Tables or whatever version of such is in place at the time. 2010-2024 were the halcyon days of cynical manipulation of a system by a minority of bad actors to the detriment of all bar them. The sooner we look upon that era as a period of shame for our nation, the better.

–

7. Reinstate the National College for School Leadership and make graduation from it a mandatory requirement for Headteachers

The programme would focus explicitly and very heavily on the upstream components of leadership that are fundamental to downstream outcomes.  They are: workforce pipeline, workforce development, the overall workforce proposition, infrastructure building, maintenance and management, sound financial planning, long-term thinking, planning and strategising.  

This is how we improve the lot of our schools everywhere and at once, in all places and serving all demographics: by understanding that there are holistic and structural interventions that we can make that will make things better.  Everywhere.

–

8. Offer the freedom to innovate

Not the kind of innovation which creates so many stable doors that the horses are even more constrained than they would be in standard stables. I mean freedom to innovate such as radical transformation of the notion of the school year in Special and Alternative schools. Why not 52 week per year schools that allow families to take their holidays when they choose, that allow school staff to take holidays when they choose or have enhanced freedom and flexibility to further their training and qualifications? Freedom to innovate with the curriculum to free our schools from only the narrow and restrictive diet of courses and qualifications that score well as far as Ofsted is concerned. Freedom to innovate in a way that allows schools to incline closer towards the wants and needs of the communities and areas in which they serve rather than a once-size-fits-nobody narrowed school pathway that offers the binary prospect of university or fail?

–

9. Require the authorities responsible for schools to publish their plans for increasing the bandwidth in their mainstream.

That means maintaining more children/ young people comfortably within mainstream settings and communities. That may mean enhanced training, focused resourcing, revised systems and policies, re-visioned facilities, environments and access. I understand that that means a move away from measuring schools JUST by the bluntest of instrument outcomes measure. I am certain that a far more nuanced series of measures to understand effectiveness offers much better prospects and value-for-money to the tax payer, to parents in general, to children and young people, to the workforce in schools and to the country at large.

–

10. Make clear that our schools are the vanguard of the nation’s renaissance

I would issue the rallying call to arms and be clear that our mission is to be the best in the world in terms of children’s and young people’s experience in school and their preparedness for taking their place in our society as responsible, capable, resourceful and discerning adults.  I would be clear that experiencing play, the outdoors, learning the importance of co-operation, collaboration and partnership, understanding with deep insight the dilemmas that they are faced with in their daily lives through emerging technologies, technological change, social medias and other are necessary, legitimate and crucial components of any curriculum alongside the basics of English and Maths. I would be explicit that our problem solvers, innovators, negotiators and fixers of the future require rich and ongoing opportunities to experiment, fail and try again, to explore, be creative, flex their imagination muscles and to become comfortable in environments that are beyond their current comfort zone. 

As Education Secretary, I would be clear that the entire world is our resource, that it offers us a wealth of learning opportunities about what is best in class, what is impacting and making the transformational difference elsewhere, what is delivering enhanced life chances and a citizenry more prepared for the future than are our young people right now. I would be encouraging us to go out into the world and to confidently explore those rich questions.

–

11. Then, I would do the next ten things. 

Alas, they may be for another day….

The post Ten things I would do if I were Education Secretary appeared first on Arbor.

This year’s ArborFest explores the theme “The future of work in schools.” From a new government to the rise of AI, schools and trusts have been faced with new challenges and opportunities over the past year. At the same time, the sector continues to brave budget cuts, staff shortages and a workload crisis. In this landscape of change and challenge, it’s important that school leaders have the space to explore what the future of work in schools will look like for them.

ArborFest will bring 800 Arbor customers together at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre on 21st May 2025 to do just that. Our exciting programme will look at the ways schools can innovate and evolve using Arbor and beyond.

See the full programme and get your free tickets here.

–

–

Join us for a day of thought-provoking sessions and practical talks from experienced school and trust leaders. You can expect to:

• Learn from fellow school and trust leaders on how they’re using Arbor to improve attendance, get Ofsted-ready and master AI 
• Hear innovative talks from experts within the education sector on leadership, collaboration, and flexible working
• Network with other Arbor users and share ideas at our Customer Roundtables 
• Be the first to see the reveal of our 2025 Product Roadmap
• Hear from Mary Bousted, Chair of the Teaching Commission, in an inspiring keynote on the future of education recruitment, workplace culture and workload reduction
• Test out upcoming Arbor features with our team at Arbor Labs, live!
• Ask your burning questions at Meet an Arbor Expert 

Above all else, ArborFest is a chance to celebrate the great work our schools do and have fun. You’ll leave with clear, actionable insights you can bring back to your organisation and implement right away, all focused on building a school, MAT or LA of the future.

And the best part is, it’s all completely free!

We can’t wait to see you there.

P.S. Can’t make it in-person? We’re live streaming the day too – so sign up for a digital ticket instead.

What will I get with my ArborFest ticket?

• Free entry to ArborFest
• Access to all our talks and workshops
• Breakfast and lunch are included
• An Arbor bag full of Arbor goodies
• Join us at an end-of-day drinks party

Not yet convinced?

Check out our video from ArborFest 2024 to find out what the event is all about.

ArborFest

The post You’re invited to ArborFest 2025 appeared first on Arbor.

But why not hear it directly from a handful of the 8,000 schools and trusts using Arbor? This Valentine’s Day, we’re sharing some of the lovely things that members of the Arbor Community think about Arbor.

“I love Arbor because the MIS and team helped us gain the GOOD rating that we so desperately deserved after a tough few years!”

Kate Kinney
Data Systems Analyst, Baxter College

“We genuinely love the Arbor system and the team behind it who seem to just want the whole system to succeed at the Lakes.”

Andy Cunningham

Headteacher, The Lakes Secondary School

“We love the MAT reporting tool – the ability to see MAT data in one place without having to contact all schools individually has saved us so much time!”

Lisa Sarikaya

Deputy CEO of Operations, St Bart’s Multi-Academy Trust

“Teachers love Arbor’s user-friendliness – they feel like they know their pupils better because of it, and that comes down to the information they need being right there in front of them.”

Kirsten Beaven

School Business Manager, Vaughan Primary School

“We love the look, feel and flexibility of Arbor. All of our “can we” questions have received a resounding yes. Support and communication has been excellent.”

Sue Ashton

COO, Woodland Academy

“What I love about Arbor is that they’re always ready to change… They’re constantly bringing in new features and listening to what schools need.”

Luke Mulhall
Digital Strategy, Kings Group Academies

“We absolutely love Arbor and it saves our admin staff 3 to 5 hours a week on time and we can’t thank you all at Arbor enough for that!”

John McMillan
IT Manager, ASSET Education

“It’s been one big huge win! Since we moved from our old MIS we have never looked back and there isn’t a day that goes by without someone saying, God I just love Arbor.”

Damon Murphy
IT Lead, Plantation Primary School

“We love it! There is nothing more to say – it’s great!”

Claire Lindsay McMillan

Former Administrator, Wallace Fields Infant School Manager

If you’re not yet using Arbor, but want an MIS which all your staff can fall in love with, we’d love to hear from you: hello@arbor-education

Already using Arbor? Make sure you’re signed up to Arbor HQ, where our community shares top tips, templates and best practice.

The post An MIS all your staff can fall in love with appeared first on Arbor.

The Vale’s primaries, secondaries and special schools will join our community of 8,500 schools, 700 MATs and 50 Local Authorities. We’re excited to go on this journey with the Vale of Glamorgan team as they use Arbor to transform the way their schools work for the better. 

–

How Arbor MIS is designed to support schools in Wales

Arbor was recently rated the best MIS in the UK for its functionality, integrations and intuitiveness. On top of these features that schools in England already know and love, we are building features specifically tailored for Welsh schools, including:

–

The UK’s most popular MIS

Last term, 3 in 4 English schools who switched MIS chose Arbor (Source: DfE Census). We are thrilled that the Vale of Glamorgan has joined our ever-growing community and are looking forward to making a difference in their schools.

To find out more about how to meet us and to hear from schools who have already made the switch, visit our dedicated hub for Welsh LAs. 

The post The Vale of Glamorgan chooses Arbor MIS for their schools   appeared first on Arbor.

–

The Arbor Help Centre 

Arbor is consistently rated as one of the most intuitive school management information systems in the UK, but if you find yourself stuck, we have a big support team on hand to help. 

One of the other ways you can find support is the Arbor Help Centre, packed with thousands of articles, how-tos, top tips and walk-through videos. You can easily search this content too, to make sure all the answers to your Arbor questions are at your fingertips, instantly. 

–

Feedback and roadmap

Those who work in schools know how an MIS can help them best – that’s why we actively encourage all of our users to give feedback on how we can improve. We update Arbor fortnightly, listening closely to what you tell us. 

Roadmap

Our roadmap is public, so you can upvote and comment on features that you want our team to work on

Webinars

Just like at ArborFest, we present our roadmap so that schools have transparency over what we’re working on

Customer Success Team

Our Customer Success Team work closely with the schools and MATs in our community to make sure they’re getting the most out of Arbor.

–

Our community

Over 8,000 schools and trusts use Arbor MIS! It’s important to us that Arbor users get the most out of this community and can learn from others in the network. Make sure to join us at events like BETT and ArborFest, where we bring our community together for a day packed with roundtables, panel discussions, thought leadership tasks and networking opportunities. Here’s a sneak peak of what ArborFest is all about.

Also make sure to join us over on Arbor HQ, your space to network with fellow Arbor users, share top tips and learn best practice. Just go to this link to sign up: https://arbor-hq.circle.so/.

We also have a big community on LinkedIn and Twitter/X – follow us on here to keep up with the latest news, events and top tips. 

–

Arbor MIS Training

It’s always daunting when starting to use a new system, but don’t worry! If you feel like you need a little more help with a particular area of Arbor, we have a Training Hub filled with courses and a Customer Education Team with a 99% satisfaction rating. 

Access the Training Hub here or find out more information here. 

The post New to Arbor MIS? Here’s four top tips to get you started appeared first on Arbor.

Plus, we’re delighted to be sharing our stand (Stand SJ31) with Arbor Finance, SAMpeople and TimeTabler, so you can see the full Arbor suite in action.

As usual, there are several ways you can meet us…

–

–

1. Join us for free lunch at Arbor’s Leaders’ Lounge

We’re pleased to share that our Leaders’ Lounge is back by popular demand, co-hosted with SAMpeople. We’ll be at Tapa Tapa (outside the ExCeL Centre) on Thursday and Friday, 10am-4pm. Open to everyone, no matter how much or little you know about us – look out for an invite in your email inbox! If you haven’t received an invite, make sure to get in touch at hello@arbor-education.com

This is the perfect chance to find out how Arbor is helping schools and MATs to transform the way they work. Hear directly from several of over 7,800 schools that have already switched to using our MIS.

–

–

–

2. Join us for breakfast at Arbor’s Leaders’ Lounge

If you’re more of a morning person, you’re welcome to join us for a pastry and tea or coffee at our Breakfast Briefings in the Leaders’ Lounge to kickstart each day of the event.

On Thursday, we’ll be hosting our Product Roadmap Reveal Breakfast. Join Arbor’s product team to find out what’s coming out next in Arbor MIS, over a coffee and delicious breakfast pastries. Then, split into user groups to meet other Arbor users and give us direct feedback on our plans.

On Friday, join us for Arbor Customer Breakfast: 5 ways to get more ROI from Arbor MIS. Join Our customer team will share the top 5 ways schools and trusts can get more ROI from Arbor. Customers can then get 1:1 advice on the best next steps for your school or trust, over coffee and delicious breakfast pastries.

–

–

–

3. Visit our stand

We’ll also be at stand SJ31 in the main BETT arena. Come by for a demo, chat to our friendly team, or join our Arbor classroom where we’ll be showcasing Arbor’s features.

This year, we’re excited to be exhibiting as the Arbor suite. As well as the UK’s most popular MIS, you can find out more about Arbor Finance, SAMpeople and TimeTabler.

–

–

–

4. Come along to our Tech in Action talk

Want to see how Arbor could transform the way you work? Join us at the Tech in Action theatre on Thursday 23rd, at 10:30, to see our very own Tim Ward presenting five ways that Arbor can make a measurable difference to your school or trust.

–

–

–

–

Looking forward to seeing you there! Any questions? Get in touch with us at hello@arbor-education.com

The post Four ways to meet us at BETT appeared first on Arbor.

This year’s ArborFest explores the theme “Transforming the way schools workBig ideas for the future.” Now, more than ever, we’re seeing rapid changes in technology having a big impact in education. But, at the same time, schools and trusts face continued budget cuts, staff shortages and ever changing policies. In this landscape of change and challenges, it’s important to explore the different ways schools can innovate to support students, staff, and their wider communities. 

ArborFest will bring 800 Arbor customers together at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre on 13th March 2024 to do just that. Our exciting programme will look at the ways schools can drive positive change by using Arbor and in their broader day-to-day. 

Plus, it’s all completely free! Sign up for your free spot here. 

–

What’s on at ArborFest? 

The day will be packed with inspiring talks from both experts within the education sector and school staff using Arbor. Explore everything we have on stage by stage.

–

Main Stage

• Professor Rose Luckin, Professor of Learner Centred Design at UCL Knowledge Labs on how to strategically integrate AI into your school
• Three Arbor users share how they’re using Arbor to transform parental involvement and engagement at their schools

• New Features Showcase from James Weatherill, CEO at Arbor

Plus, Jim Knight, former Minister for Schools under Gordon Brown member of the House of Lords, and Chair of E-Act Multi Academy Trust, will end ArborFest with a specially commissioned talk to wrap up the day.

–

Data Stage

• Data leaders from Birmingham Diocesan Multi-Academy Trust, Academies Enterprise Trust and Aces Schools join us for a panel session on how they capture, interpret and share data in their schools and trusts
• Phil Le-Brun, Director of Enterprise Strategy and Evangelism at Amazon Web Services (AWS), talks on how to create an impactful data strategy
• Two trust leaders discuss the power of data collaboration between trusts

–

MAT stage:

By popular demand, we’ve combined our best-selling MAT Conference series with ArborFest with a dedicated MAT stage full of thought leadership talks from experienced MAT leaders from across the country. 

• Amanda Hodder, COO at Emmaus Catholic Multi Academy Company on how, when and why to centralise different systems across your trust
• Three trust leaders share how they are navigating staff wellbeing and retention
• Two trust leaders explain how they’ve used MAT MIS to achieve their goals and drive measurable improvement across their MAT

You’ll leave with clear, actionable insights you can bring back to your trust and implement, all focused on growth, sustainability, and creating a cohesive MAT.

–

Customer roundtables

We’re excited to announce that our customer roundtables are back by popular demand! Join 10 fellow Arbor users to discuss your experience using different modules in Arbor, the impact on your students and staff, and your top tips for other staff using Arbor. 

In each slot, we’ll run four different roundtables – all you need to do is choose the topic you’re most interested in. We’ll be covering:

• Parental engagement 
• Behaviour management
• Assessment
• Arbor for Business Managers

You’ll leave with new ideas to take back to your school, based on other Arbor schools’ tips and advice. Perfect for schools looking to share best practice, or who want to learn from others.

–

Assessment workshops

Join us for an interactive assessment sessions, one for primary schools and one for secondaries, designed for those interested in our Assessments module. Hosted by the Customer Education Team, join other Arbor users to learn how to get started with school assessments.

The workshop will include:

• An overview of the Assessments Module and how it works 
• Top assessment tips from fellow schools
• Ideas for further assessment training and professional development to get started with Assessments at your primary or secondary school

–

How do I get involved?

Arbor customers will receive their ticket in their email inbox! Or you can book here.

What will I get with my ticket?

• Free entry to ArborFest
• Access to all our talks and roundtables
• Breakfast and lunch are included
• An Arbor bag full of Arbor goodies
• Join us at an end-of-day drinks party

Can’t make it in-person? We’re live streaming the day too –  keep your eyes peeled for the first release of our virtual tickets. 

What will I get with my online-only ticket?

• See all the talks on our Main Stage via live stream
• A digital delegate pack

We can’t wait to see you there! Look out for updates across our Twitter and LinkedIn, and share your experience using #ArborFest.

The post Join us at ArborFest 2024! appeared first on Arbor.

While the government gave an additional 2.3 billion to schools in England for each of the next two years (in Dec 2022), the extra funding takes spending in 2024 back to the same level as in 2010. It follows real-term cuts of 9% per pupil between 2009 and 2019, the steepest reduction in more than 40 years.

And while the share of total spending on education has been falling, the proportion of the UK population in full-time education has risen from 18% in the early 1980s to an all-time high of 20% during the 2000s, where it remains today. This is undoubtedly an incredibly tough climate for schools to operate in.

With that in mind, we’ve brought together the expertise of three trust leaders on how they’re approaching the cost-of-living crisis.

In our trust, we have a lot of families who we would refer to as just about managing. As is typical in a faith MAT, a lot of the families are not eligible for Free School Meals, they’re not eligible for Pupil Premium, but they are living really close to the edge, so it’s making sure that those families are supported.

I know the government is very keen on economies of scale. Our focus is on actual school improvement, making sure our schools are excellent and that there are development opportunities for our staff, so that we become an attractive employer through training, through developing our own teachers. This means looking into offering teacher training programmes and apprenticeships for our support staff, for the staff on fractionalised hours, term time only. We want to work with our schools to talk about innovative approaches like annualised hours. TAs may only be earning 13,000 or 14,000 pounds a year with little opportunity to do work in the time when they’re not employed. So looking at whether they can work a longer week but earn a full time salary so that their salary is more liveable. So there’s loads of strands that are going on in terms of how we manage budget pressures.

We’re fortunate in that our schools have all had good reserves and we have managed to maintain those reserves and increase them over the past two years. What we’re now looking to do is use some of those reserves to do things like employ therapeutic staff or specialist staff, partly to support those pupils, but also to make sure we can lever as much funding from local authorities as we should be getting.

–

In terms of taking a sector wide view, we’ve seen real term per pupil cuts over the decade. And I think what’s made that worse is, as well as actual school funding being cut, we’ve seen a 20% cut in real terms per child in wider children’s services. I fully 100% support the idea that in the public sector we should be looking at every single pound that we spend, but this idea of doing more with less is fairytale. You wouldn’t go to a supermarket and ask to pay less for the same amount of goods as the previous week.

In schools, two thirds of spending goes on teachers and support staff. So if you’re looking at doing more wiht less, essentially you’re saying that your teachers and support staff have to work harder, faster, longer. And is that really what we want for one of the most imporant parts of the public sector? I don’t think so. Theres going to come a point where, and many would argue that we’re there already, there’s literally no fat to get rid of.

And we’re also operating within a context where teacher retention, or lack of it, is at a critical point as well – ultimately as a result of pay and workload. At the Education Policy Institute, we believe two things should be looked at further: differentiated pay and flexible working. It feels to me that there are some easy wins there, when operating in such a challenging context.

–

At our trust, we’ve seen a significant increase in those who are able to claim free school meals. The funding for PPG will not come through until later, so there will be a lag. As a result, we’re focused on making sure our planning is on a one, two and three year basis. In terms of our staff, we operate and signpost a number of food banks across the trust and we’re seeing in a trust of 900 staff, 6% of our staff are accessing food banks.

Of course, we focus on our pupils, but our own staff are suffering from a cost of living crisis that plays out strategically in recruitment and retention issues. But it also plays out in a rural trust such as mine – a member of staff recently told me that the cost of fuel is a barrier to coming into work. That’s just one of the things that we are facing in our wider ecosystem that we possibly haven’t come across in decades. There needs to be a reconceptualisation, therefore, of our role in being there to safeguard and support our staff across the trust.

We’re also looking at what we’re able to do with the third sector. I think in our country, what is incredible is the amount of work that goes on in the charity space and first sector space. What is sometimes less effective is bringing that together into a real network so that everyone makes sure that we understand where the gaps and overlaps of provision are. So truthfully, I think as a multi academy trust, where we find ourselves in a budget position, this isn’t about us stepping into a breach financially because we’re just trying to pay our own bills. We need to better direct some of that focus in terms of strategic planning and look at it through the lens of what our pupils need, what our staff need, and how we engage in a wider community space.

–

This article is an excerpt from a panel at ArborFest, Arbor’s annual conference where we bring our community of schools and trusts together. Find out more about ArborFest here. 

Want to see how your MIS could save your trust money and time? Our recent report takes a look at the return on investment that schools and trusts can get from Arbor. Download it for free here. 

–

–

The post Three leaders share how their trusts are saving money during the cost-of-living crisis appeared first on Arbor.

But what exactly is ArborFest and why do we have it?

At Arbor, we believe that your school Management Information System is much more than just a piece of software. Our philosophy is that an MIS should be built to create a culture of collaboration and transformation. That way, your school or trust can constantly be seeking to change the way you work for the better.

And who better to learn from than a community of schools, trusts and staff all looking to achieve the same thing?

That’s why we hold ArborFest, back in-person this year for the first time post-pandemic. 300 schools from the Arbor community joined us at King’s Place, and a further 300 online, for what was our biggest customer conference to date!

This year’s ArborFest explored different facets of the theme “Transforming the way schools work.” With schools and trusts facing squeezed budgets, the challenge of Covid catch-up, and rapidly evolving policies, there has never been a more important time to explore the different ways schools can innovate to support students, staff, and their wider communities.

We’ve put together this Roundup to share some of the day’s main takeaways from across the event. Plus, we’ve added in extra insights and MIS top tips so you can start to put best practices into action straight away. 

I hope you enjoy seeing these insights from our community – and are already looking forward to the next ArborFest as much as we are. 

You can keep up to date with all things ArborFest by following us on LinkedIn and Twitter/X. 

The post The ArborFest Roundup appeared first on Arbor.