Supporting academy and school providers
We draw upon our 25 years in the commercial outsourcing sector alongside our education and governance expertise to provide education providers, Diocese and local authorities with:
Facilitating academy trust growth strategies and mergers
Free School and New School Provision bid proposal support
Academy and Trust capacity grant bid support
Strategic re-organisation - partnerships and collaboration
Business & market development
Shaping market solutions
Client relationship management and stakeholder engagement
Support in developing shared business support service services models
See client examples and testimonials below and our partnership work here.
Attenborough Learning Trust
TCaF grant income win – Lock House Consulting provided trust capacity grant bid advice and support to The Attenborough Learning Trust leadership team to enable them to secure TCaF grant income to support trust growth and development.
Read testimonials about our work here:
“Hi Shelley. This was a nice surprise for a Friday (full bid grant award notification from DfE). We really didn’t think we would be successful. Thanks for all your help on this one!’ ”
Jane Ridgewell, CEO, Attenborough Learning Trust
The Levels School
A newly developing independent specialist school in Somerset sought the support of Lock House Consulting with the requirements of the independent school standards and their Ofsted pre-registration inspection readiness. Working to tight deadlines and wholly remotely due to covid-19, Shelley, with the support of her colleague Victoria FitzGerald of Briarsmead, advised and guided the school leaders on the development and requirements of the school’s raft of policies – reviewing drafts and advising on the improvements and creating a policy review model; and designed and guided the school’s leaders on the start-up of an appropriate governance model for the school. The school’s registration application was successfully approved in Nov 2020, following a highly successful Ofsted pre-registration inspection, and the school is now gearing up to open in Jan 2021, providing much needed places for children and young people across Somerset and neighbouring areas.
Read testimonials about our work here:
“Following the closure of a local independent special school a small team of dedicated professionals set about the task of planning and starting up a new independent school for children with dyslexia and co-occurring difficulties. This would have been an enormous task in a ‘normal’ year, but to deliver this during the covid pandemic brought a number of significant challenges. In our enthusiasm and passion to get the new school provision established for the children in need of a school place as soon as possible we applied for registration, but our application was unsuccessful. Following this set back we brought in Lock House Consulting to provide us with expert advice on the independent school standards and to support us through policy and governance development. Our passion to secure the new school was matched by Shelley and her colleague Victoria from Briarsmead. They quickly grasped the challenges we faced, worked professionally but also challenging us to establish the best governance and accountability structure for the new school. They supported us to create a thorough policy map and they reviewed and guided the improvements needed to develop a suite of strong school policies as evidenced in the resulting pre-registration ofsted. Shelley and Victoria’s knowledge, expertise and networks across the state and independent school sectors has been invaluable in enabling us to establish a strong model for our new school. They were pro-active in their handling of the requirements, working in a manner that pushed us and developed and strengthened our own skills, and they were hugely responsive to our needs. Their expertise and approach instilled confidence for the proprietors, the governing board and the school leaders. Our pre-registration Ofsted in November 2020 was a huge success. The work we had completed on policy and governance development was singled out for praise by the Ofsted inspector. We are eternally grateful to Shelley and Victoria for their advice, guidance and support. They have been brilliant. Their support has enabled a swift completion of the school’s development and a successful school registration enabling us to open our school for January 2021 – providing much needed places for children with special needs. We would have no hesitation in calling upon Shelley and Victoria for future support and recommend them to any independent school looking for support with governance, leadership and start-up development. ”
Proprietors/Founders - Gian Carlo Floris, Director and Bradley Middleton Director of Operations
The Athelstan Trust
TCaF grant income win - Provided trust capacity grant bid advice, writing and support to The Athelstan Trust leadership team to enable them to secure significant grant income to support trust development and improvement.
Read testimonials about our work here:
“We found Shelley to be very insightful, knowledgeable, professional and approachable. She instantly understood what we were trying to achieve. She was able to point out and advise on areas which lacked weight or needed expanding. Overall she gave our approach more structure and she rewrote the form in a much more concise manner. Ultimately she helped us succeed in securing the funding.”
Nicola Tilley, Chief Finance Officer, The Athelstan Trust
Magna Learning Partnership
TCaF grant income win - Provided trust capacity grant bid advice, writing and support to MLP to enable them to secure significant grant income to support trust development and school income.
Read testimonials about our work here:
“In the round of TCAF applications open over the summer of 2020, it seemed clear that the competition for funding was going to be stiff, with many Trusts applying. It was extremely important that we were successful in order to support our Trust development and one new school in need of investment. Knowing the importance of ensuring the bid was as robust as it could be, we were pleased to engage LockHouse Consulting to review our bid and to make recommendations to strengthen it. With significant experience in this field, Shelley was well placed to advise me. She took time to work through the bid in detail, to raise questions and suggest refinements. As a result of her input our TCAF bid was successful and we are now able to provide the leadership and infrastructure support that is necessary to help one of our schools on its rapid improvement journey. This is not the first time I have used LockHouse Consulting for equivalent support; I recommend Shelley very highly indeed to any organisation looking to assure success with competitive funding.”
Sarah Busby, CEO, Magna Learning Partnership
WELLSWAY Multi Academy Trust - now known as Futura Learning Partnership
Growing multi academy trust in Bath & NE Somerset. Free school bid advisor supporting the trust to develop their proposals for a new primary school in Keynsham and to win their first new free school opportunity. Bid wave 12 – free school bid won, development of the new school successful and opened September 2020.
Read testimonials about our work here:
“We have worked with Shelley on a number of projects and thoroughly recommend her. Shelley's advice on our recent primary free school bid was invaluable. She is extremely knowledgeable and provided excellent support at all stages of the process, from bid writing to interview preparation. Shelley is great to work with; she responds very quickly, always strikes the right balance between challenge and support and adds considerable value.”
Andrea Arlidge, CEO Wellsway Multi Academy Trust
DfE Academy Sponsor development
In her DfE role as a Sponsor Development Advisor Shelley has successfully supported a range of Academy sponsors through their trust start-up, first project and growth phases.
Read testimonials about our work here:
"Dear Shelley, I just wanted to write to say thank you for all the work that you've put in to this project so far. As I said today, we were very aware of the work we created for you and we have been very grateful for your wise counsel and guidance and I have valued working with you immensely. Shelley, it was June 2012 when we first met in Newton Abbot and I probably didn't communicate to you how much our meeting helped my own focus and gave momentum to the project. I remain excited about Plymouth CAST and the contribution it will make to the lives of so many children and families. Its success will in part be down to the work of very many people here and yourselves at the DFE included. God bless,"
John Mannix - Director of Schools - Catholic Diocese of Plymouth*
"Hi Shelley. I would like to personally thank you for your support and guidance in obtaining the sponsor capacity grant award as it was you who initially brought it to our attention. It will really help us and our sponsors in trying to support our schools in difficulty."
Colleen Collett, Director for Schools and Colleges, Clifton Diocese
Capita Children's Services
Education sector market and proposition analysis, and stakeholder engagement development Stakeholder and market engagement assignment to develop a series of new market relationships within the Building Schools for the Future/Academies market and generate a new business pipeline.
In just three months - provided detailed market sector and proposition analysis to drive invigorated business planning; developed a series of influential sector relationships for the client; and successfully generated an in-year pipeline of £2m, plus uncovered a further £30m of potential pipeline opportunities.
Read testimonials about our work here:
"Shelley has recently completed an assignment for us, exploring potential market opportunities for new and exciting propositions, and building a pipeline of initial opportunities. I would have no hesitation recommending Shelley for sales or business development assignments in the IT sector. Her approach was thorough and professional, she quickly understood the context of the assignment, was both proactive and creative in her execution, and delivered the results we were looking for. We'll definitely use Shelley again as and when the need arises." Top qualities: Expert , High Integrity , Creative.
Gary Hyman, Business Development Director, Capita Children's Services. Hired Shelley as a Consultant in 2009
Range of ICT and Process outsourcing market development client assignments
Led the Go-To-Market strategy of a medium sized joint venture company, leveraging the 'Local Strategic Partnership' agenda to shape services and solutions for public sector (Local Government, Education, Health) engagements.
Led the design, Target Operating Model development, business engagement and commercial planning of an innovative offshore business process outsource offering based on customer profiling techniques to improve revenues, which involved company acquisitions and service partnerships.
Client relationship assignment to strengthen and grow what was a failing account and relationship. Through a programme of intense relationship management across all levels of the client's organisation in parallel to the service provider's account and delivery teams, introducing new governance and communications and redesigning service delivery models, Shelley successfully rebuilt relationships between the client and service provider and achieved a significant turnaround in account performance and profitability.
Read testimonials about our work here:
"Shelley is a hard working, commercially astute individual who has exceptional business acumen. Shelley worked tirelessly to develop the BPO offerings at Fujitsu managing the most senior stakeholders in the business. I have no hesitation in recommending Shelley to any person or organisation looking for a conscientious and dedicated consultant with whom to develop their business."
Maureen Robson, Managing Consultant, Fujitsu Services. Worked directly with Shelley at Fujitsu Services
"Shelley was relentless in her pursuit of the best for her clients in terms of delivered results and new business propositions. She thinks broadly and deeply about their needs and how she can extract every ounce of value for them - and from them."
Matthew Lucas, General Manager, Xansa. Assignment Manager for Shelley at Xansa
"I recommend Shelley as a high energetic and astute business development consultant. At Xansa we worked together to win a ground-breaking outsourcing contract with a major utilities client. Shelley's ability to develop the requirement with the client, understand the client's needs and construct a winning proposition was key to our success."
David Gleadhill, Principal Consultant, Xansa. Worked directly with Shelley at Xansa