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Pre-Opening

Resource Project management in pre-opening March 2020

1

Introduction

When you are approved to open a school, you will need to ensure that your group is able to

effectively control the many different activities which will need to be undertaken before the school

is ready to open.

You should ensure that you have a clear plan for how you will project manage the opening of your

school, who will be responsible for delivery of the school, and how your group will ensure they are

properly accountable. The approach you take towards project management is important, and can

affect how quickly you progress through pre-opening, or indeed whether your school successfully

opens at all.

What does a project manager do?

A project manager is responsible for the successful delivery of your project: an open school, in a fit-

for-purpose site, with a full complement of staff, a full complement of pupils, a curriculum to teach

and the equipment and resources needed to teach it.

Your project manager will work to a project plan, be aware of the various actions and activities

which need to happen, be aware of who will undertake these actions, and by when. The project

manager will be responsible for co-ordinating activity, ensuring it happens, and ensuring that any

unforeseen events which affect your project plan are mitigated and worked around. The project

manager will also be responsible for monitoring the budget used during pre-opening, and ensuring

that this budget is kept to.

The project manager will also liaise with the various stakeholders your group will need to engage

with during pre-opening, including your DfE External Expert, your FSC contact, the local authority,

and any planning consultants, architects, building contractors, and others.

Your project manager will also have to keep your project steering group, and/or your trust board,

up to date about how the school is progressing through pre-opening, whether there are any risks to

the school opening successfully on schedule, and what they are doing to mitigate those risks.

2

Ways of structuring project management

There are various structures which are commonly used to oversee project management.

Some trusts or project steering groups will second an employee to act as an internal project

manager (such as the principal designate of the school, or a senior leader in another open school in

the trust who is seconded), whilst also employing an external project manager in a consultant

capacity.

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(PD or seconded SLT)

External PM

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Internal PM

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External PM

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As is demonstrated above, many groups nominate an internal person to take on some of the project

management. It is unlikely that this person will have expertise across all of the aspects of pre-

opening – for instance, if you are seconding a member of another school’s SLT, they may have

expertise in curriculum design, and in developing the first terms’ lesson plans, and schemes of work,

but may have less experience in dealing with architects and building contractors. Because (once

you’ve secured a site) you will have a project development grant of £220,000-£300,000 (depending

on the size and phase of the school), you will have some funds which can be spent on external

project management, and allow you to fill any gaps in capacity or expertise which you may have.

If your group is a new single academy trust opening its first school, you won’t have any existing

members of staff to second, and may not yet have recruited or identified your principal designate.

In this instance, you may decide that your project lead will act as the internal project manager

themselves. However, you should then identify a separate person to chair the project steering

group and hold them to account – for instance, your chair of governors-designate. If your project

lead is also likely to become the chair of governors, then you should identify someone else to act as

the internal project manager.

Pre-opening activities

The activities which your project manager will co-ordinate will generally fall into those relating to

the administration of staff, governor and pupil recruitment, marketing, community engagement,

site acquisition, site build/renovation, planning permission co-ordination and preparation,

curriculum design, pre-open budget management, procurement of services, and Ofsted

preparation. If you plan to have more than one person helping with project management tasks,

your project manager may also be responsible for line management.

Your project manager will also have to ensure that the flow of work over time is manageable, and

that there are not periods where there is a surfeit of activity with too little capacity, and periods

where there is little activity. This will require intelligent project management and an ability to

recognise how much time is realistically likely to be required for different tasks.

4

Example project plan (for illustration only)

There will also be regular scheduled meetings with various stakeholders in the DfE, the FSC, and

with the contractors chosen to manage the design and build of the school.

There are some activities which will have to take place before you recruit a project manager, and

you should decide who is best placed in your project steering group to take ownership of these, and

which of these will be passed on to the project manager once they have been recruited. These

include deciding on a budget for the project development grant (which will include spend on

external project management support), school policies (which may be requested by the DfE quite

early in pre-opening), developing a scheme of delegation between your project manager and the

project steering group (which may inform any tenders you draw up for external project

management services), and an initial project plan.

If this is the first free school your group has delivered, you may wish to commission external advice

to help you understand the costs involved in pre-opening. If your budget is unrealistic, you may find

that you’re unable to use your pre-opening grant as effectively as you’d like. Choosing a project

manager who understands the market rates for various services you’ll need to procure, and is able

to effectively manage a budget, will help.

5

Example PDG budget plan (for illustration only)

Choosing a project manager The choice of who you ask to project manage the opening of your school is an important one. Whilst

you will have designed a robust structure to ensure that your project steering team are able to hold

the project manager to account, and set them clear objectives, you will still have to delegate a

significant amount of responsibility to them, because it is impractical to project manage ‘by

committee’.

Because of the wide range of activities, the project manager will be co-ordinating, you will not

necessarily find an individual with deep expertise in all of them (a site and buildings specialist is

unlikely to have an education background, and vice versa). You should therefore aim for a project

manager who shares the central vision of your school and trust, and who is able to be organised and

self-motivated.

You will also need to consider the budget you have available for external project management, and

whether you would prefer to engage your project manager as a contractor, on a consultancy basis,

or as an employee. You should also consider how you find your project manager, and whether you

hold a recruitment process in the same way that you would for an employee, or whether you

publish a tender for project management and invite potential project managers to compete to

deliver the tender.

6

When you are approved to open a school, you will need to ensure that your group is able to

effectively control the many different activities which will need to be undertaken before the school

is ready to open.

You should ensure that you have a clear plan for how you will project manage the opening of your

school, who will be responsible for delivery of the school, and how your group will ensure they are

properly accountable. The approach you take towards project management is important, and can

affect how quickly you progress through pre-opening, or indeed whether your school successfully

opens at all.

NSN Project Management Partnership Service

Based on our vast experience, and developed with the DfE’s Pre-Opening Guidance in mind, the

NSN Project Management Partnership is for groups planning to outsource some or all of the project

management of their free school in pre-opening.

Split into two phases, the NSN Project Management Partnership takes into account the volume,

complexity and timing of tasks in different phases of pre-opening. With additional bolt-on services

available to buy, the NSN Project Management Partnership is the most bespoke service offered as

part of the NSN Delivery Programme.

NSN Project Managers and Associates have worked on over 500 free school projects – ranging from

supporting groups in the pre-opening phase to setting up and working in free schools.

Want to find out more about the NSN Delivery Programme? Contact the Delivery team at

open@newschoolsnetwork.org

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Support for schools in pre-opening NSN has supported free school groups in pre-opening since 2014. NSN’s unrivalled knowledge and

experience has been informed by our work with over 70% of open and approved free school groups

throughout the application and pre-opening phases. The NSN Delivery Programme has been meticulously designed to address the challenges of the

rigorous pre-opening process. Whilst proposer groups may have a wealth of skills and expertise, the

NSN Delivery Programme will fill gaps in capacity and/or capability, providing a range of support

options to prepare schools for a successful opening. Our exclusive packages of advice, support and project management have been developed to comply

with Department for Education (DfE), and Free Schools Capital (FSC) guidance and focuses on the

areas that our experience shows will provide free schools with the most value in pre-opening.

NSN Delivery Programme

Foundation Advisory Service All approved projects have access to our core advisory service, which is free of charge. This

foundational offer includes:

An invitation to our annual launch event, delivered in partnership with the DfE

A telephone and email service

Key pre-opening resources

Invitations to our Spotlight events at open free schools

An invitation to our events focusing on the final stages of pre-opening

Site Advisory Service

Relevant to both sequential and concurrent groups, the NSN Site Advisory Service helps groups to

navigate the complex process of securing a site and suitable free school building. Developed to

complement the support provided by LocatED and FSC, the service includes:

A named NSN Project Manager

Access to NSN Site Associates

Comprehensive and exclusive guidance resources about free school capital projects

In-depth support meetings with NSN Project Managers and Site Associates

Detailed feedback from support meetings

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Essentials Advisory Service

Developed to support the project management and delivery of the non-site related challenges you

will tackle in pre-opening, the NSN Essentials Advisory Service focuses on areas such as pupil

recruitment and admissions, the section 10 consultation, finance, governance, education planning

and staffing. The NSN Essentials Advisory Service provides:

A named NSN Project Manager

Access to a range of NSN Associates

Bespoke and exclusive networking opportunities with existing free schools

In-depth meetings with NSN Project Managers and Associates

Detailed feedback from support meetings

Comprehensive and exclusive suite of guidance resources about all aspects of pre-opening

Spokesperson training for principal designates

Project Management Partnership Service Based on our vast experience, and developed with the DfE’s Pre-Opening Guidance in mind, the

NSN Project Management Partnership is for groups planning to outsource some or all of the project

management of their free school in pre-opening.

Split into two phases, the NSN Project Management Partnership takes into account the volume,

complexity and timing of tasks in different phases of pre-opening. With additional bolt-on services

available to buy, the NSN Project Management Partnership is the most bespoke service offered as

part of the NSN Delivery Programme.

Find out more at preopen@newschoolsnetwork.org or visit our website.