We’re making some significant changes that we think you’ll love…

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By Somerset Education  


 

Dear School Leaders,

Thank you to the over 500 schools that participated in our Financial Survey for Schools (FSS) last year. This year, we’re making some significant changes that we think you’ll love.

If you participated last year, please ensure by Tuesday 7 April 2026 that you’ve completed any outstanding 2024 data entry and saved a pdf of your survey. From 7 April, the system will be switched over to start capturing 2025 school-year data.

🚀 | Here’s the exciting bits
The new process is dramatically simpler—provide us with your Financial Questionnaire (FQ) and Student and Staff Census data (in Excel format) that you’ve already lodged with the Commonwealth Government (SchoolsHUB), and we will upload it for you. This year no data dissections are necessary to produce a KPI report. But you’ll also have the opportunity to enter additional data to unlock even more ratios and insights.

For a few weeks, while 2025 data is coming in, 2024 reporting will remain available. And here’s the really exciting part: We expect to have 2025 school-year reporting available by mid-May, which is three months earlier than previous years.

Once 2025 reporting is made available, you’ll receive instant KPI reports benchmarked against similar schools, drawing on both current and historical survey data (using 2024 dollar figures increased by the Department of Education 2025 School Resource Standard indexation rate of 3.1%). The timing couldn’t be better—your benchmarking reports will be ready much closer to when you’re presenting 2025 audited accounts to the board.

If you’ve never participated before and time has been the barrier, that barrier is now gone. We’d love to welcome you to the FSS community this year.

🗓️ | Important dates
> Tuesday 7 April 2026: Data entry for 2024 closes and 2025 opens
> Mid-May 2026: Reporting for 2024 closes and 2025 reporting opens.

Q | Any questions?
For FSS, budgeting, reporting tools, or financial governance training contact us via email survey@somerseteducation.net; or telephone 1300 781 968 (International +61 7 3263 5300).