Beginners Guide to ACMF Funding

Another round of ACMF bid applications is looming large in the next term. Academies across the UK should be looking to their estates, development plans and condition surveys now in order to prepare. Des Shillingford; Business Manager of the Stanford and Corringham School’s Trust is fast becoming a seasoned professional; successfully securing funding for three significant schemes at his first attempt working alongside Munday + Cramer in round 1 earlier in the year.

Stanford and Corringham School’s Trust

Mr Shillingford is coming to the education sector from a wider commercial background. ACMF funding is a new, yet critical part of his role for the Trust; whose schools include the Gable Hall School and Sixth Form Centre and Corringham Primary School. The most recent round of funding included condition-related bids. Not only this but kitchen extension works as part of the Free School Meals initiative. With fresh experience of the ACMF funding process, Mr Shillingford is hoping to share his new-found understanding. He wants to aid other Academies in giving themselves the best chance of success.

Coming to education from a range of private-sector commercial roles; Mr Shillingford’s eyes were quickly opened to the nuances of public sector funding and the application process for such schemes. His initial thoughts were that “this was another onerous Government bidding process, with high levels of input pitted against low chances of success.”

Mr Shillingford joined the Trust during the bid applications phase. He notes the importance of leaning on the experience of consultants. The Trust was investigating the submission of expansion bids that may not have offered the best particular chance of success. With firm support from Munday + Cramer, “it became evident that not all of our potential bids were as strong as others.” Despite initial bid/no-bid reviews the Trust changed tack midway through the bid process to focus on [ultimately more successful] condition-related bids across the board.

Always Fighting Time

On that basis, Mr Shillingford acknowledges the importance of forward-planning such activities throughout the school year. “Time is always the greatest challenge. Everyone is busy all year round and just as you are focusing on completing one task, another important deadline is looming elsewhere“. To combat this, the Trust are aiming to “develop a wish list of projects that dovetails with the School Improvement Plan well in advance of any bidding activity“. He notes that the School Business Manager can and will consider these issues throughout the year and marshal the thoughts of the SMT to enact an efficient bid process. In doing so, Mr Shillingford believes that this will enable the Trust to engage with their consultants far earlier. This will in turn ensure that the viability of the projects is assessed well in advance; that the technical phase is initiated far earlier.

Bid Applications

In terms of working collaboratively, bids are developed using a team approach throughout the process. Most schemes feature a high degree of technical input, and Mr Shillingford acknowledges that “whilst the online process itself is simple and brief, the technical content that backs up a submission is a significant element, which is where Munday + Cramer excel“. The importance of that technical support is a key component to any bid’s success. “In bidding there appear to be many wrong ways to do it and only a few right ways. Munday + Cramer have established the right ways and recognise what is likely to be successful even before pen is put to paper. Without the specialist support provided we wouldn’t have been able to recognise the technical issues that led to our bidding success. Not only that, but we wouldn’t have been able to explain and document them properly” says Mr Shillingford.

In saying that however, the importance of an Academy’s involvement must not be understated; no-one understands the school, operations and indeed aspirations as well as the Senior Management Team. Mr Shillingford states; “With any bid applications, despite the importance of technical input, teaching input and senior management vision is critical to rounding off the data provided“.

With that in mind, Mr Shillingford is now working towards his second round of bidding in the new term…

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