One aspect of headship that I find daunting is the budgeting process. I've been told different things about what to expect: everything from, 'you don't need to worry about it - the authority will help you balance the books' to 'it's the worst part of the job'. Over the last few months I've tried to get involved with the school budgeting process as much as I can.
As many schools are, due to certain changes in funding, our financial figures haven't been quite as straightforward as they could be. So it was interesting to watch the head, bursar and finance governor go through each budget code, discussing the predicted spend and if it needed to be reduced or increased. The authority's budget officer amended the figures as suggested and then gave a final amount at the end.
The process was logical and considered, and it made sense. Of course, though, the budgeting meeting is the easy bit, I guess. The hard part is staying in control as the year goes on.
When I'm a headteacher I would want to know the finances regularly so that I am sure of our position. I can do this through regular meetings with a business manager and my finance governors.
