In Practice
By Julie Lawson and Mel Stokes | Lead partner and governance lead, The Estates Strategy Partnership.
Governance
Operating Model
+1
Estate governance fails at the joins between the site team, the estates lead, the headteacher, the committee and the board. This article sets out one map with two ends: what each level of the organisation should be asking about the estate, and what each level should be doing, so that the board's questions become the tests the operating model has to pass.
In Practice
By Richard Bunting | Compliance infrastructure, The Estates Strategy Partnership. Founder, Compliance Pod and EstatesBase.
Estate Strategy
Compliance
+1
The pushback from the people who run estates is not that the Education Estates Strategy is wrong; it is that they cannot afford it. This article reads Level 1 and Level 2 of the School Estate Management Standards against a capital budget, counts what actually needs one, and sets out what an organisation can do this term with the money and people it already has.
In Practice
By Mel Stokes | Governance lead, The Estates Strategy Partnership. Founder, Legacy Governance Solutions.
Governance
Accessibility and Inclusion
+1
Every mainstream school receiving the inclusive mainstream fund must publish an inclusion strategy by 31 December 2026. This guide sets out what the strategy is, what the DfE's guidance says about the estate's part in it, and the questions a board should be able to answer before it approves one.
In Practice
By Mel Stokes | Governance lead, The Estates Strategy Partnership. Founder, Legacy Governance Solutions.
Governance
People and Capability
The School Estate Management Standards ask every organisation for a named individual responsible for estate management. This article sets out what the role means, who holds the legal duty, and the six things that protect the individual and the organisation alike.
In Practice
By Julie Lawson | Lead partner, The Estates Strategy Partnership. Chartered Manager.
Estate Strategy
Governance
This autumn the DfE's annual return asks every school Responsible Body whether it has an estate vision. This guide sets out what the document is, what belongs in it, who writes it and how it reaches the board.
Insight
By Richard Bunting | Founder, Compliance Pod. Compliance infrastructure, The Estates Strategy Partnership.
Estate Strategy
Operating Model
The DfE Education Estates Strategy shifts accountability for estate management from an operational question to a leadership governance question that most responsible bodies have not yet answered.