We continue to work with Sandwell schools to build and support their music offer. It is our goal to encourage every school in Sandwell to work with us, so that there is an equity of opportunity for children to learn a musical instrument during their time at school.
SIPS Schools Finance Service is our newest offering for members and provides tailored professional financial support to schools’ Senior Leadership Teams and Governing Bodies to help with budgeting and monitoring.
The team has gone from strength to strength since its inception in 2018, gaining new customers and advocates in each of the past 4 years. This coming financial year is promising to be really exciting and we’ve grown from scratch to supporting 34 schools for Access Finance, and a further 35 schools for Budget Officer services in just 5 years,
To facilitate this growth we are also increasing our workforce. A team that started with one, currently comprising three, will soon become five colleagues from April 2023 – combining over 40 years experience of working in Education Finance. All members of the service are fully, or part AAT qualified and we continue to invest in our people for continuous improvement.
We also offer training and support across multiple finance platforms. We were the first accredited support unit in the UK for Access Education Budgeting and Finance Software which is something we’re extremely proud of and we continue to work with The Access Group to this day. We’ve been an accredited partner for ESS SIMS FMS for over 10 years and we’re not stopping there…..We’ll soon to be officially licensed to support members using Bromcom.
The team work hard to find the finance solution that best fits our members’ requirements. Having so many systems options has proven to be a real hit and we aspire to be the go to provider for all things Schools Finance across the Black Country and West Midlands.
If you would like more information, then please contact us on 0121 296 3000 or email schoolsfinance@sips.co.uk
Meet the Team:
Marc Wilson – Schools Finance Team Leader
Marc Wilson – Finance Team Leader, with SIPS since 2013.
Caitlin O’Brien – School Budget Officer, with SIPS since May 2022. Jack Stevens – Apprentice Accounts Officer, with SIPS since August 2021.
Mandy Gough – School Budget Officer. Joining SIPS on 20/02/2023. TBC – School Budget Officer. Joining SIPS on 01/04/2023.
We were delighted to welcome Gurinder Josan CBE MP to Shireland Hall Primary School recently, where he joined pupils and staff for a school lunch and spent time learning more about the vital role school meals play in supporting children every day. The visit offered an excellent opportunity to showcase the quality, care and nutritional value that SIPS school catering delivers across our schools.
As your local schools’ owned education co-op, we have terrific bulk buying power and have negotiated some incredible technical equipment and software license discounts to share. From servers and laptops to AV and display equipment, and Microsoft Licenses we’ve got a money saving deal for you!