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Often the backbones of Schools and Trusts, Business Managers can be the unsung heroes and heroines who oversee the smooth running/ working/ functioning (all!). Aptly, we were glad to start this new term purposefully with the Autumn Term Business Management Professional Community. Chaired by Matt Burrell, Business Manager at St Cuthbert Mayne School, there is a collaborative and informative tone to these online sessions. Fellow Business Managers are encouraged to participate actively, share feedback, and engage in the sessions and to feel empowered through practical insights and professional development opportunities. Professional Communities are FREE for SWIFT Members and are designed to provide updates on priorities that connect to the best of regional, national available evidence. In this session there were five pacy presentations that covered services and tools for reducing food waste, wising up to Artificial intelligence, CPD pathways for School Business Managers, eco-friendly printers and the thorny issue of school recruitment.  Educatering has grown from supporting one school to over 150 across the South West in only four years. Increasingly the go-to for school catering, Head of Educatering, co-founder and passionate and caring foodie for schools Rob Stevens provided some tried and tested ideals to tackle food waste and the dual challenge of unnecessary costs and food waste in school catering. Consider your menu planning tailored to what pupils like to eat. Educatering treating school meals like a restaurant experience, with the children and young people as valued customers. Think about your portion control. Weigh the ingredients to see what they look like as visual guides for the catering team to avoid over-serving. Graduated portion sizes should be based on age groups. Two fish fingers for Foundation children going up to four for Year 6 to meet those growing appetites. Trayless dining. A revelation! Without the temptation of a pudding in waiting on the tray the children are more likely to focus on their main course first and foremost. Almost à la food detective, monitor waste patterns by literally checking the bins to see what food is not being eaten. Engage children in healthy eating initiatives to find out what they like to eat and include on your menus. Pre-order lunch systems are a big way to reduce waste and improve efficiency. And then if you have over-catered at the end of the day, you can tap into the donation route to local charities in your area, use composting procedures, and as a lovely one – package up leftovers and sell to staff to take home for tea. Reducing food waste in schools not only benefits the environment but also increases profitability for your catering budget. We like Educatering’s practical and impactful approach.
Director at SchoolPro TLC, Ben Craig delivered an insightful presentation on AI and Data Protection in education. With rapid advancements in processing power, schools face both opportunities and risks and highlighted the importance of understanding AI as both a friend and foe - not least in sensitive contexts and keeping up with the children and young people in your school who are increasingly savvy about AI. As experts in Data Protection and Compliance and former teachers and school leaders themselves, Ben shared the essentials of AI good use through training your staff, integrating AI responsibly, and maintaining robust Data Protection practices.  Do you know about open and closed AI systems? You might find the following checklist a helpful start in thinking about your use of AI: ✅ Do’s Fact-check AI-generated information before using it. Use AI to assist with lesson planning, resource creation, and administrative tasks. Use school-approved, closed AI tools where possible. Train staff and pupils on responsible AI use and ethical considerations. Be transparent—disclose AI use in reports, planning, or educational content. Monitor AI’s impact and regularly review policies to ensure compliance. ❌ Don’ts Assume AI outputs are always correct or unbiased. Let AI fully replace teacher judgment or professional decisions. Enter personal or sensitive pupil data into public AI tools. Allow students to use AI for plagiarism or to bypass independent work. Use AI in ways that could mislead, manipulate, or automate sensitive decisions. Forget to update privacy notices and AUAs when introducing AI into school workflows. SchoolPro TLC works with nearly 1,000 schools across the UK, offering compliance checks, guidance packs, and policy updates. Their online data protection portal provides essential documents and tools help schools to stay compliant. Practical applications of AI were discussed, such as using it to scribe meetings - but with a caution that it is not a perfect tool. Key to good use of AI is on training your staff, integrating AI responsibly, and maintaining robust Data Protection practices. You might remember the AI focus in our September UDPATE that you can review again here
The ISBL (Institute of School Business Leadership) session focused on tools and pathways to support School Business Managers (SBMs) in their professional growth. A key highlight was the self-assessment tool, which is available free for three months. This tool helps users identify gaps in their knowledge and skills, aligning with what future employers might seek and encourages SBMs to create actionable development plans and apply new skills in their roles.  The tool uses an algorithm to generate a visual report based on average scores across different competency areas. It offers customised feedback, suggested training, and qualifications, and allows users to download a Performance Development Plan. This is particularly useful for performance management discussions, salary negotiations, or transitioning into new roles. ISBL also offers accreditation pathways and a range of training programmes and webinars. The OpEx (Operational Excellence) framework was introduced, focusing on the impact of teaching and learning, CPD, data, skills, and HR. Attendees were encouraged to plan their development journey over one, three, and five years, and to overcome barriers such as time and cost by starting small. Even an hour a week on CPD can make a significant difference.
MyNewTerm addressed the challenges of school recruitment, particularly the high costs and declining support staff applications post-COVID. Founded in 2019, the platform offers a localised and digital solution to streamline recruitment processes and key benefits include:
The platform helps schools to revolutionise recruitment through technology, offering user-friendly tools, reporting features, and a centralised portal for equal opportunities data. Schools using MyNewTerm have seen a noticeable increase in applications and now consider the platform indispensable. RISO’s presentation focused on the eco benefits of print technology. Founded in Tokyo in 1946, RISO has developed durable, energy-efficient machines that produce 96% less waste compared to traditional printers. Their oil-based ink offers advantages over water-based alternatives, including fewer breakdowns and lower energy consumption.  RISO printers are the fastest on the market, with no heat involved so that paper jams are reduce and with improved reliability. They offer the lowest colour copying charges and are considered the greenest product available. RISO provides print audits for schools to assess energy usage and identify cost-saving opportunities, and their approach encourages schools to “do things differently” by adopting sustainable and efficient printing solutions.
We thank all our presenters and Matt Burrell for facilitating this event.
Report by Jude Baylis, SWIFT Executive Assistant
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15/10/2025 0 Comments SWIFT EVENTS | Issue 2 | October 2025 The next EVENTS issue has landed with a featured article, highlighted programmes, courses and events from our delivery partners to support your professional development and enhance the work of your school.
Coaching for Leaders The Coaching for Leaders workshop is designed to equip leaders and coaches with the confidence and skills to make a real impact. Participants will gain practical coaching tools, receive feedback on their style, and learn how to engage teams, align goals, and navigate challenging conversations with ease. Find out more and book here. Highlighted Courses/Support:
 We are pleased to bring you this next EVENTS newsletter with details of professional learning opportunities to support you.
SWIFT Summer Conference 2025 | #SWIFTConf25 If you have yet to sign-up for our SWIFT Summer Conference 2025 on Thursday 19 June 2025 at the Future Skills Centre in Exeter, we are pleased to invite you now. This is a premier event dedicated to empowering educators, fostering innovation and driving excellence in education, the conference promises to be an inspiring and enriching experience for all attendees. Highlighted Courses/Support:
14/11/2024 0 Comments SWIFT EVENTS | Issue 5 | November 2024 We are pleased to bring you this next EVENTS newsletter with details of professional development opportunities.
Supporting your Professional Development This issue includes the following programmes, courses and events from our partners for your professional development intended to support and enhance the work of your school:
SWIFT Autumn Term 2024 Leadership Forum | A WEEK TODAY | Thursday 21 November 2024 Committed to bringing together leaders from all educational settings within the area, our online Leadership Forums link to the best of local, regional and national. For our 2024 Autumn Term event, we have two speakers: Sarah McGinnis, Ofsted Assistant Regional Director and Professor (Dr) Tanya Ovenden-Hope, Dean of Place and Social Purpose and Professor of Education, Plymouth Marjon University. Find more information here It was a lovely and uplifting way to end the penultimate Monday in November. The Character Education Professional Community is designed for all Primary (and Secondary) School Leads who wish to develop the ethos, culture, curriculum and personal development of pupils within their own school setting. At the heart of Character Education is teaching character and embracing a characterful approach to teaching and learning. This second session in the series followed the inaugural event that explored ‘why’ we should teach character and embrace a characterful approach to learning and teaching, and now explores the next step of ‘How?’ Andy Ogden, Director of Tarka CPD & Director of Devon Training School Partnership welcomed delegates to the session and introduced session lead, Lyndsey Bolton, Character Education Lead at Alumnis Multi Academy Trust.
For Alumnis, it was their new CEO Neil Moir who gave leaders and teams the opportunity to “refresh” the direction of travel and Trust identity after the Covid lockdown, which led to a reframed a holistic curriculum, termed the “C360.” Alumnis is passionate about and committed to personal development for their pupils and young people and has developed a character led way of working across the Trust. The Mission at Alumnis is a commitment “to providing an education that is unsurpassed: developing in students the academic skills, intellectual habits, character virtues and wellbeing that enable each unique individual to flourish as a global citizen” and the C360 is based on four essential cornerstones:
 We all colloquially use the phrase, s/he/they is a “character” to describe our students and fellow human beings. But if you are wondering how to define character, here are some helpful pointers:
Character Education allows learners to understand who they are and how they impact people and the world around them and supports learners to develop positive personal strengths As Character Lead, Lyndsey Bolton developed a Character Education approach for two – 11-year olds, which was rolled out across all the Trust schools in 2020/2021 This approach is rooted in Aristotle virtues and based on the work of The Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues (part of the University of Birmingham) Across the Trust character is taught explicitly as well as caught and taught as part of a 'flourishing for all' curriculum. The heart and soul of Alumnis Character Education is that the children become inspiring changemakers.  With Character as the foundation, children are encouraged to seek to put a wide range of virtues into action. They “live the virtues” (rather than laminate the virtues). Change is inspired through a layered approach. Consistent language is used throughout all the schools and feeds directly into the Conduct Policy, and is the basis for behaviour and all relationships – both between pupils and staff; but also, in how adults talk to each other. This way, the children know and increasingly understand the language of virtue in every situation and the whole school learns, discovers and acts out the same virtue and ultimately reflects on it. Hence, the Alumnis logo of the tree with character at the core; nourishing all learners at the roots and encouraging them to seek to put virtues into action as the fruit. And the best bit? The children are proud of their character virtues and proud of the differences they can make, no matter the size. They can talk about how they develop their character. They even delight in spotting when characters in a story are not showing good character virtues. Putting virtues into action includes the children engaging in adventures, research projects, preparing their own TED talks, using the UN goals on sustainable development for research talks and fundraising as they work towards a certificate and celebratory badge at the end of the year. Small and big successes are all rewarded and recognised. Characterful approaches are explored that go beyond the ‘taught,’ which shape the culture and ethos of schools, and impact on curriculum evolution, and have positive effects on pupil attainment and radiate out to impact on parents and the wider community.
St Helen's Church of England (one school within the Alumnis Trust) can vouch for the value of the Character Education approach that has been developed. Headteacher, Bex Northcott is also the Character and Curriculum Lead and shared how St Helen’s is explicitly and effectively implementing Character Education with a positive impact on school improvement. Pupils at St Helen’s engage in an enquiry-based curriculum from the moment they arrive, which is underpinned by the Church of England Christian, as well as civic and moral values. For example, at the moment, the whole school is currently investigating what it means to show courage. Bex had countless moving and motivating examples. To name but a few, Year 4 are leading an enquiry into why people move, migrate to/ from the UK through the context (lens) of courage. Year 6 are looking at why people live where they live, and are inspiring inclusive, character-driven researchers looking at what is necessary within 20-minute community. As well as in the classroom collective worship is an important vehicle to reiterating the termly and in-the-moment virtues. Genuine opportunities are sought for the children to practise and access a character virtue every half term, enhanced across curriculum areas, looking to what is happening in the world. Keen volunteers and fundraisers, the children have recently taken the initiative to create Christmas boxes to donate to the local Ukraine refugee point. The children are inspired changemakers. But of equal value, it is when the best character is not shown that the children learn the most. One story should be retold. A Year 6 pupil was a committed and able sportsperson, but was unhappy about what she perceived to be an injustice in how women’s sport was portrayed in the media. She took it upon herself to write to the England Rugby CEO. A well-structured and thoughtful letter. But she warned not to expect a reply. However, she received a reply from the CEO and CFO who asked to visit her rugby club and invited her to be a young ambassador. This characterful pupil is now in Year 8 and she and the English Rugby CEO have kept in contact and there are currently 21 rugby girls playing in her team. Another must tell. A Year 5 boy read a news article about the risk of cardiac arrest and was concerned that the nearest defibrillator in the village was in the local pub. He put his mind to raising money and reached out to crowdfunding. He raised £1700 that was match-funded and there are now three open access defibs in the village. So many uplifting stories thanks to the value of Character Education. Cake sales run by the little ones donating toys and clothes. An inspiration across the whole Trust to so many children. A recent Ofsted inspection in a local school looked deeply into personal development and noted that the children were living the vision of virtues. The Behaviour Policy is now called Attitudes to Learning Character Development and demonstrates that it is powerful to praise children for having the confidence to be honest, and for having a sense of justice. Even when there are challenging conversations around forgiveness and restoration, to be able to praise children when things have gone well is life-enhancing.  SWIFT sponsor, Lyfta presented on how they bring Character Education into school through an immersive digital platform. Director of Education and Impact, Harriet Marshall explained how Lyfta provides a platform for young people to explore and understand the world and themselves better. They can develop their own character through storyworlds and connect across the world in a social and interpersonal sense.
Meaning to “lift up” from the Nordic word, Lyfta attempts to lift the world into view for students. The platform uses carefully curated short documentary films that support character and values through a connection with real-life stories. Schools across all the phases use Lyfta storyworlds as educational resources linked to their curriculum, working with teachers to develop into subject and PSHE Schemes of Work to support lessons and help boost an all-important sense of belonging. Lyfta shows how it is powerful for young people to feel included. At a West London Primary School with 49 different languages, one pupil was moved from watching the storyworld about Deenpal, a young football-loving Sikh growing up in Denmark who tells his own story about striving to be a famous goalkeeper and finding the courage to dive after the ball. It is perhaps the words of a Year 10 student at Upton Court Grammar School who wonderfully encapsulates the work of Lyfta: “I think what you're doing is brilliant… I love that you can learn about people. Because there's a word, it's called sonder. It means, the realisation that everyone has their own story, and everyone has their own life as complex as your own. And that we are all like ants crawling around an anthill, trying to figure out where to go, without looking at other people. And some people, they look at other people and dismiss them, some people look at other people and want to know the story behind them, and Lyfta makes all of us the second kind of person.” Find out more about trying Lyfta for free and benefit from training and access to all the storyworlds for a trial month.  Director of Schools Engagement and Partnership, Andrew Pettit from the Association for Character Education (part of The Jubilee Centre) provided an insight into their bespoke consultation work supporting schools, based on the unwavering belief that character development is essential from nursery to Post-16. Andy Ogden concluded the session by acknowledging schools are often so busy in curriculum development that they need to pull out the core themselves and focus on the internal character of the child and how they see themselves. It is a useful exercise in pushing the reset button after Covid with essential links to identify and a sense of belonging. “It’s not what you put on the plate, but the plate itself.” Schools are re-evaluating and starting a powerful conversation. The SWIFT Character Education Professional Community will continue to build a network of leaders and practitioners across the Southwest who are passionate about designing and implementing holistic educational provision that acknowledges the importance of personal development as well as the importance of academic attainment. Report by Jude Owens, PA to the SWIFT Executive Team
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