Sarah Nicholls

I hold the DSBM and CSBM qualifications and am also a graduate of the ACCA which I studied on a part time basis.

I have had wide experience in education, public and charitable sectors over my career. These have been predominantly finance based. In my recent roles as Business Manager, I am part of the Senior Leadership Team, having active involvement in the decision making process and strategic overview of the school.

I have wide experience of preparing and submitting financial and statutory returns. I prepare all documents for submission to the LA, DfE and other regulatory bodies, such as monitoring reports, year-end documentation and budgets. I have worked in European Funding which involves the preparation and submission of complex returns in order to access funding. 

Having experience in different sectors, I am adaptable and open to learning new ways of working, whilst being aware of the importance of accuracy and working to deadlines.

I work closely with the Head teacher in preparing and submitting the school budget in a timely and accurate manner, using forecasting techniques in order to achieve as accurate a projection as possible. Monthly monitoring is carried out to ensure that income and expenditure is in line with projections, investigating any areas for concern and then reporting on these for transparency.

My roles in finance have involved presenting financial information to relevant stakeholders, at various levels, interpreting data so it is shown in the required format. 

I have strong skills in all Microsoft office products, especially excel and word. Manipulating data for presentation is important in finance and I feel I do this well. I have worked with SIMs, FMS, HCSS and Sage. I integrated a new MIS system into my previous school (Arbor) which replaced SIMs. Although this presented challenges at times, I feel it went well and is up and running successfully. 

From my experience of working in finance, I know that I have strong analytical and organisational skills. I work well under pressure and am happy working on my own using my initiative, but equally so as part of a team. Setting objectives and working towards these is a strength I have, being able to adapt to change and come up with solutions when required. 

Acting as the school’s leading support staff professional and work as part of the senior leadership team to assist the head teacher in her duty to ensure the school meets its educational aims.

I am responsible for providing professional leadership and management of school support staff in partnership with teaching staff, to increase their effectiveness in order to achieve improved standards of learning and achievement in the school, with responsibility for:

•             Financial Resources

•             Administration Management

•             Management Information and ICT

•             Human Resource Management

•             Facility and Property Management

•             Health and Safety Management of the school.