Education is crucial to the shaping of future society. Money however is a necessary enabler of school business because it pays the wages of our teachers and support staff, repairs and replaces buildings and equipment, and enables all things associated with the operation of schools.
Over twenty five years of working with schools, Somerset Education has developed a deep understanding and appreciation of the educational, social and spiritual objectives of schools, and the need to balance these with financial necessities.
We apply our skills to help schools be sustainable – our contribution to achieving student dreams.
If your school wishes to improve its financial health, or if you are planning a significant capital development involving new borrowings, call us to assist with the risk assessment.
Typically, our work involves one or all of the following
- School participates in the latest School Financial Survey
- Benchmarking performance with a sample of similar schools
- Quantifying and dollarizing differences in operating surplus, income, expenses, staffing, cash reserves, asset maintenance, debt and debt servicing
- Completion of the SKI Report (accessed via somerset portal) with a minimal amount of financial and operational data from the past two years and future (budgeted) five years
- We peruse your school’s budgets if required
- We review a six-year historical benchmarking report (depending on the number of years school has participated in the survey)
- Prepare a Powerpoint presentation designed to inform the board and senior management on
- Background theory concerning school financial viability
- Basic understanding of financial statements and key ratios
- Financial sustainability cycle
- Assessing your school’s performance – solvency, profitability, sustainability
- Concluding remarks
- We present this as professional development/training service to the board via video conference or in person
Estimated professional fees are dependent on the scope of work and quality of information. For further information please email us using the contact form here.
Click here to download our information Brochures:
• Training for School Boards and Management
• School Consultations
WHAT SCHOOLS SAY ABOUT OUR FINANCIAL TRAINING
John Somerset has been an important partner with our school. His simple but clear presentations and regular, relevant analysis have been instrumental in providing commentary that has assisted our Board and School Management to understand the drivers that promote school sustainability and financial management. His work has been critical in enabling us to plan and grow. John understands the independent sector and provides deep insight to the key factors to support sustainable schools. His regular reports provide our Finance Committee with data to monitor and support careful stewardship, allowing us to monitor and benchmark our practice. John’s work has been instrumental in our success and I am thankful for his contribution to Calrossy and the education sector. I strongly recommend his range of services.
David Smith, Principal, Calrossy Anglican School, NSW
We are forever in gratitude to Somerset Education for supporting us …….
Good financial data is critical to a school in distress and you and the team helped us navigate this and also create ongoing financial transparency. Working with you gave the Board of Directors insights into actions that needed to be taken and the comfort and confidence that these actions will ensure our financial turnaround and secure our future. Having a keen eye through the Somerset modelling and monitoring the KPIs regularly has resulted in the most tremendous turnaround in sustainability. This is important to a smaller school as we are more vulnerable to enrolment fluctuations. John not only focuses on the numbers, he fully understands that long term success in schools is based on cultural factors, and worked with the Board with this mindset. On reflection, my only regret is not having engaged John a few months earlier when the understanding of enrolment loss first became apparent.
Sharonika Camplin, Board Chair, Cairns Hinterland Steiner School, QLD.