The Schools Management Support Ltd (SMS) team is led by Barry Walder, who has extensive experience in the education sector.
Barry has over 25 years of experience working in the Education Sector. He started working for the ILEA in 1984 and following the abolition of the ILEA in 1990, worked for the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham and introduced LMS. In 2001 he setup a finance support service to schools within a private company (Public Private Associates) which at its peak provided finance management support services to over 200 schools.
In 2008 Barry decided to set-up his own support service and now has a team of consultants who have also been working in the Education Sector for many years either as a school business manager or within a Local Authority support unit.
Schools Management Support now provides support to over 70 schools (20/21)
The aim of Schools Management Support is to support schools in improving the financial management of schools by
improving budget planning and especially ensuring that it is the school improvement plan that drives the school budget plan.
improving budget monitoring and ensuring that the school produces accurate monitoring reports and adopts the principle of commitment accounting.
Schools Management Support has developed spreadsheet tools to assist with making these improvements – See SMS Tools
Schools Management Support recognises that good effective financial management can support the school in raising standards of achievement in a number of ways:
Providing the Head and Governing Body with accurate financial information enabling them to make informed decisions.
Ensuring schools to do not build up large balances or go into deficit by longer term planning.
Ensuring schools achieve value for money.
