Summary of SSE Business Plan

Summary of SSE Business Plan

This document contains extracts from the full SSE Business Plan.

Contents / Page no.
Section 4 / Staffing Summary / 3
Section 8 / SWOT Analysis / 7
Section 9 / Market Analysis / 9
Section 10 / Competitor Analysis / 12
Section 11 / Marketing Plan / 16
Section 13 / SSE route Map to 2020 / 20

Staffing Summary

Enrichment and Entitlements
Resources for Learning / Education Welfare Service / Admissions and Entitlements / Somerset Music / SORLS / Marketing and growth / Commercial Development Team / Total
Grade / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte) / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte) / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte) / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte) / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte) / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte) / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte) / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte)
Apprentices / 1 / 1.00 / 1 / 1.00 / 1 / 1.00 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1.00 / 4 / 4.00 / 9 / 9.00
17/16 / 14 / 8.6 / 2 / 2.00 / 16 / 10.60
15 / 2 / 1.59 / 1 / 1.00 / 5 / 4.38 / 9 / 6.66 / 24 / 20.10 / 41 / 33.73
14 / 2 / 1.00 / 2 / 1.60 / 1 / 1 / 6 / 5.81 / 9 / 8.80 / 20 / 18.21
13 / 1 / 1.00 / 1 / 1.00 / 3 / 2.19 / 2 / 1.80 / 4 / 3.81 / 2 / 1.50 / 6 / 5.30 / 19 / 16.60
12 / 6 / 5.35 / 3 / 3 / 4 / 4.00 / 13 / 12.35
11 / 2 / 1.00 / 13 / 11.30 / 1 / 0.9 / 1 / 0.60 / 4 / 3.60 / 21 / 17.40
10 / 2 / 2 / 2 / 2 / 1 / 1.00 / 5 / 5.00
9 (or equivalent) / 1 / 1.00 / 4 / 4.00 / 11 / 11.00 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1.00 / 18 / 18.00
8+ / 2 / 2.00 / 1 / 1 / 3 / 3.00 / 1 / 0.4 / 1 / 1.00 / 8 / 7.40
Total / 9 / 6.59 / 24 / 21.90 / 19 / 16.82 / 17 / 16.80 / 41 / 32.28 / 6 / 5.10 / 54 / 48.80 / 170 / 148.29
School & EY Improvement / Governor Support / Total
Grade / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte) / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte) / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte)
Apprentices
17/16
15
14 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1
13
12
11 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1
10 / 2 / 1.6 / 2 / 1.6
9 (or equivalent) / 1 / 0.8 / 1 / 0.8
8+ / 7 / 7 / 7 / 7
Total / 10 / 9.4 / 2 / 2 / 12 / 11.4
SEN Support Services
Ed Psychology Service (inc time together & portage) / EYs SEN Support / LSPM / Autism Advisors / EMA/TES / Total
Grade / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte) / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte) / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte) / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte) / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte) / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte)
Apprentices
17/16
15
14 / 21 / 10 / 1 / 0.54 / 22 / 10.54
13 / 8 / 5.11 / 29 / 26.85 / 4 / 3.5 / 37 / 31.96
12 / 7 / 5.7 / 7 / 5.9 / 8 / 6.4 / 5 / 3.8 / 22 / 18
11
10
9 (or equivalent) / 13 / 10.31 / 2 / 1.7 / 15 / 12.01
8+ / 30 / 25.5 / 8 / 6.7 / 36 / 26.19 / 1 / 1 / 5 / 3.3 / 80 / 62.69
Total / 58 / 41.2 / 8 / 6.7 / 51 / 37.2 / 52 / 45.1 / 16 / 5 / 176 / 135.2
Business Services
eLIM / HR / H&S / Finance / Contract Support / SCIL / Total
Grade / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte) / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte) / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte) / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte) / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte) / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte) / Number of staff / Number of staff (fte)
Apprentices / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1
17/16 / 2 / 2 / 2 / 2
15 / 2 / 2 / 1 / 0.8 / 3 / 2.8
14 / 4 / 3.44 / 4 / 3.44
13 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 3 / 2.34 / 5 / 4.34
12 / 1 / 1 / 2 / 2 / 3 / 3
11 / 4 / 3.95 / 13 / 11.22 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 19 / 13.22
10 / 2 / 1.6 / 4 / 2.97 / 3 / 3 / 3 / 2.43 / 2 / 2 / 14 / 12
9 (or equivalent) / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 0.86 / 4 / 3.86
8+ / 5 / 5 / 1 / 1 / 6 / 6
Total / 14 / 13.55 / 5 / 3.97 / 6 / 6 / 18 / 15.51 / 2 / 2 / 17 / 15.71 / 61 / 51.66

Section 8SWOT analysis

Strengths

Highly qualified staff working across all service areas
Services are consistently meeting statutory timescales and SCC policy requirements
Flexible, reliable and able to respond to change quickly
Provide consistent and helpful advice
Good reputation amongst schools and early years providers Generally good relationships with customers and partners
Planning ahead and continual improvement including use of IT
Dedicated team to help with marketing and growth opportunities
SSE brand becoming clearer
Strong reputation
Value for money
Repeat customers/loyal client base
Quality of provision
Strong links with local community
New SSE website

/ Weaknesses

Notall services statutory and are therefore vulnerable to reduced buy back and low prioritisation
Stringent SCC protocol, policies and processes.
The closure and amalgamation of SCC schools and academies could also reduce take-up of services or loss of income
A few services fail to get regular feedback from stakeholders
Allocation of time not equitable between individual schools and early years providers (provision dependent on need)
Lack of social media presence
Ability to attract funding as not a separate legal entity
Evidencing Impact for some services
Limited promotional opportunities
Inconsistent customer service

Opportunities

There is an opportunity to target non-subscribing schools, academies and independent schools in Somerset and beyond
Sufficient stock levels to offer services beyond Somerset
Some neighboring authorities have much more limited resources and services to offer. This means that geographical growth is a realistic proposition.
Trading with independent sector
New head teachers and targeting buy back opportunities
Develop online services
SSE offer a one stop shop for services
Somerset Challenge
Hinkley Point
Community Learning Partnerships and Academy Links
Widening customer offer

/ Threats

Neighbouring services and private sector competitors.
Stretched school budgets resulting reduced buyback of services
Competitors – Private and independent, Local authority and traded units
Schools or school’s federation employing own staff
Reduction of Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) and Arts Council England funding
Government policy and/or legislative changes / new statutory guidance
DSG could be delegated to schools, unclear if schools would then buy back these services at current levels
Potential loss of Identity and impact of SSE
Academy conversions

What are our Unique Selling Points?

SSE is not for profit therefore any surplus is reinvested into services for children and young people
Experienced staff qualified teachers and staff.
There is no other School Library Service in Somerset, North Somerset, Bristol, Bath & North East Somerset (BANES) or South Gloucester.
Personalised and quality service
We know our schools and services
Our relationship with SCC is strong
Access to a recording system (Capita One)
A good understanding of children services and the needs of schools
Reliability, availability and swift response
Shared and broad knowledge amongst teams
One stop shop

Section 9Market analysis

This varies by service area. Please individual service plans for the detail by services.

Who are our customers? / Where are they? / What prompts them to buy from SSE? / Would they pay more for our services (you may need to complete section 7 to help you answer this)?
SCC
Compact/DSG
Schools (mainly primary but from all sectors)
Early years (although not significant numbers)
Teachers
SSE/SCC services (costs covered only)
Independent schools
The National Challenge contract
Parent/Carers / Somerset and across the country for SORLS / Already in house service
Already providing the service
Reputation and have used the service for a number of years
Book start corporately funded
Through CPD opportunities
Use delivery service
Cost effective way of providing reading, library and literacy consultancy
Just signed a three year contract
Already using the service / Unlikely as SCC is seeing budgets significantly reduced
Not possible to increase DSG
For admissions possibly but need to be careful as major competitor runs a small business and therefore low overhead costs.
Unable to charge more than direct costs
Unlikely due to school budgets reducing
Unable to charge more than direct costs
No, would make better use of volunteers
Possibly
Not possible
Unlikely in the current economic cliamate
Who are our potential customers and why? /

Somerset schools not currently buying into SSE services

Independent schools.

Delivery service for other SCC/SSE departments.

Surrounding counties – Bristol, BANES, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire are authorities

Other SCC (non SSE) services that need to trade.

Services coming back to SCC/SSE from SW One

Could we provide any of our services in a different way? /

Develop e-learning =

Develop on line support

Use of agency staff or use of existing SSE staff to cover temporary contracts in the summer holidays for RfL

Centralisation some administrative functions

Maximizing the use of technology

Reduce the number of bases in Taunton and across the county

The marketing and growth team could offer a traded package to non SSE services

Buy back report over the past 3 years broken down by customer type (Include all income streams not just SSTEP)

For this section please cross reference to the customer feedback section and any actions we need to take to improving customer performance.

What customers have stopped buying our services and why?
Although retention rates are high a few schools chose to stop buying into services and the reason given is financial. A few schools have looked to other providers but in the main have always come back to SSE.
What additional customers have we gained and why?
SORLS have secured a three year National Challenge contract worth just over £500k. Although SORLS have been working with the National Challenge for a number of year this is the first time they have agreed a three year contract.
A successful partnership review between SCIL and the University of Worcester has secured a partnership for another 6 years. This will secure at least 900k of funding for each year of the partnership. Following on from this National College of Teaching and Leadership carried out a quality and assurance audit, with a particular focus on finance and governance. We were highly commended on our systems and procedures and as an outcome have been recommended for a high level of assurance.

Section 10Competitor analysis

See individual business plans for details of all competitors

Competitors Name / What services do they offer? / What do they charge? / Strengths / Weaknesses
Babcock LDP / School Improvement
Governor services
Technology Services
School Library service
Musical instrument hire and tuition
Outdoor learning
Admissions services
Training for school based staff / Not available / Part of a large national organisation operating outside of a County Council / Disliked by Somerset Schools.
Unsure if offer is sustainable
For profit organisation
Wiltshire, Swindon and Dorset Learning Services / School Library Service / Not available / Offers artifacts and equipment in addition to book stock / Not aware of any employed professional library staff
Suspect not fully traded and therefore subject to loss of funding
Independent consultants/tutors / Tuition, support to schools with HR, Finance and training for school staff / Variable / No expensive overheads / Book loan not available
Bath and Wells Multi Academy Trust / Tuition, support to schools with HR, Finance and training for school staff / Variable / Insufficient in size to grow a number of services, such as HR
One Education / Various education support services / Based in Manchester and therefore lack of knowledge of Somerset schools
Go Admissions Consultancy / Admissions advice, ranking service, writing admission arrangements and appeal respondent. / Personal service / Lack of understanding how statutory processes fit together. Has a history of not meeting deadlines. Is slow to respond to schools.
SCOMIS / SIMS, central hosting, element of online safety and school improvement / Believe that it is slightly more than us but not like for like comparison. Slightly more for training. We are comparative to support providers in Bristol and Capita themselves. / Large Team
Budget for marketing, procurement business opportunities. Slick and aggressive marketing.
Can host SIMS instead of schools having own servers / Team doesn’t have educational expertise and has limited support outside of SIMS
Slick and aggressive marketing.
Expanding at a rapid rate.
No LA level advice.
Host SIMS for many schools but SIMS will be cloud based from next year anyway.
SWGfL / Online safety – although we are partners there are occasions when we find ourselves in competition with them.
IDN / Computing consultancy / Direct marketing by IDN / Limited scope, no national presence
Scholarpack and any other MIS company. / Alternative online Primary MIS and MIS software with support / Variable – software comparative with Capita over 3 year period. Support difficult to compare. / Online product
Responsive development / Doesn’t have secondary product
Doesn’t feed into SCC Capita One system. Software needs careful analysis – Scholar Pack have upgraded their software in only the last 6 mths to include essential features.
CAS Master teachers / Free – Government funded / Funding / Practicing teachers so sessions often twilight or weekends so not popular with teachers
St Paul’s Primary School / Offering Computing training (using our resources) / School to school support / Reliance on our and third party resources which they can’t have access to.
Other LA SIMS Support teams ie BAINES, Dorset, Gloucs, Bristol, Hants, Cornwall / SIMS support / Difficult to compare as offer variety of different packages including (or not) hosting, hardware support etc. Prices not accessible. / Work with their own local LA teams, are local to their schools. / LA cuts and threats from SCOMIS.
Capita / SIMS Support / Competitive. Indication from Somerset school is that they charge slightly less than us. Not a like for like support package though. / Direct Access to Academies.
Salesmen. / Salesmen.
Software support only. Schools not made aware of when statutory duties need performing.
Attention to detail.

Section 11Marketing plan

What are you going to do?

Who is going to it?

How are you going to do it and why have you chosen this marketing method?

When are you going to do this?

How much is it going to cost?

Ensure quality and consistency across all SSE publications

Publication Panel members and all members of staff

Weekly publications panel meetings, revised branding and publication guidance, marketing subgroup used to share the message, periodic reminders in service managers bulletin

Publication Panel is weekly, revised branding will be signed off by the end of April, subgroup meets half termly, reminder in service managers bulletin is termly.

No direct financial cost, only staff time.

Consistent branding across all SSE websites

James Britton with support from eLIM. Becci Riste.

James is systematically improving all SSE websites including those on SLP, externally hosted sites and pages within the SSE website. Becci Riste is consulting with services managers to improve the SSE pages on the SCC website.

The initial deadline for this was set as the end of March. Due to unforeseen delays, this has now been set to the end of April.

No direct financial cost, only staff time.

Employ a comprehensive customer feedback mechanism across SSE

The Growth and Marketing Team. Sue Wheatley and Shannon Stacey leading.

A termly customer survey will be completed centrally using the 6 questions agreed by LT. This will then be combined with the results of the existing more specific surveys that our services already complete. This will be reported to LT on a termly basis and client group on an annual basis. We will also use a central system for recording complaints and compliments.

The first termly customer feedback has already been completed and reported on. The additional changes discussed at LWG in March will be ready for the next report for term 2.

No direct financial cost, only staff time.

Ordering system

Overseen by Vicky Thomas with support from Becci Riste and Sue Wheatley

Considering SLA Online as new customer ordering system, communications system, training system and website platform.

Further demonstrations to be held in March and April. If we go ahead training to be used in Sep 2016

£15,000 per year plus up to £5000 set up options.

Facilitating services to cross sell and collaborate

Growth and Marketing team

Provide SSE literatures (leaflet and online brochure), opportunity for services to learn about other areas via the marketing subgroup.

Marketing subgroup is set up and actively promoted. SSE leaflets have been produced and need to be distributed to the services by the end of March. Online brochure will be produced by the end of April.

£300 for 6000 leaflets. Other costs are time only.

Increase awareness of SSE to new and existing customers. (Market development)

Growth and Marketing team and all staff

Direct marketing especially to new markets such as out of county and independent schools, attending events, cross selling, more frequent communication with customers, improvement of website, increased use of social media, applying for awards and accreditation

This work is ongoing, due to its nature it will never be completed.

Direct marketing costs will be extremely low as they will make use of existing materials, all other actions will cost staff time only.

Transition of services from SWOne to SCC

Sue Wheatley, Ian Rowswell and Vicky Thomas

Liaising with service managers in SWOne, communicating appropriately and regularly with customers.

The natural deadline for this is November

Significant time cost and large costs for any service which joins SSE.

Reduce reliance on DSG

All service managers

Applying for grants and bidding opportunities, increasing traded work and working towards full cost recovery.

This work is ongoing although individual services have their own targets for full cost recovery.

No cost.

Increase market intelligence

Growth and Marketing team

Producing reports and conducting surveys to improve managers understanding of our market and competitors

These reports are produced when the need arises. STC, eLIM, Dillington and SCIL have all had work completed by the G and M team. A report on SSE competitors has been produced for the end of March.

No cost.

Service development

All service managers and Growth and Marketing team.

Developing packages and creating new services to meet the needs of the customer

This is ongoing and includes EHE package deadline end of April, Business Services package which is in development and Education Welfare and Admissions audit.

Staff time.

Recruitment

Samantha Baker, Alice Cove, Iain Stevens

Improving the adverts, streamlining the process and deciding who we advertise with using data.

This is ongoing work which will always be improving. The adverts have improved substantially and we also have a list of advertising options, their cost and the previous success rates.

None.

Section 13 SSE route Map to 2020

Where do we want to be in 5 years’ time and how will we get there?

In five years’ time it is likely that print won’t be extinct but will be a less common way of delivering content. There is currently a focus on how to make schools ‘buy back’ rather than on rethinking provision in response to the rising challenge of raising academic levels.In an ideal worldthere will be a set of minimum standards for school services to ensure consistency of provision however with school having greater autonomy this is unlikely to ever emerge. All SSE services need to be seen as part of the school improvement agenda and accessed accordingly. Better advocacy would ensure that school leaders are aware of SSE services and how they can help a school achieve its targets.