School Budget and Finance Management

This budget planning checklist and calendar set is designed to help you with staying on top of managing your budget across the school year. The editable budget planning checklist has suggested tasks to attend to when planning your next budget, including for school improvement planning, curriculum budgeting and expenditure, staffing and payroll, pupil premium and SEND. There are also suggestions for when to follow up and monitor each element across the school year. The accompanying calendar provides a month-by-month overview, giving you a quick and easy breakdown of what to explore each month when it comes to monitoring your budget - you could print it out and pin it to your noticeboard as a handy reminder (plus there's a print-friendly version included too). And best of all? This pack is free!

👉Looking for more budget support? This template is also available in the full School Budget Management Pack, which can also help you to upskill yourself on financial management, identify where cost savings can be made and work with your finance governors. This pack offers you best value for money if you want to get a better grip on your budget, but each strand is also available as a separate purchase should you need to explore a single area of budget management: School Budget Planning and Cost Saving Toolkit, School Budget Management Skills Bundle and Budget Planning Questions for Governors.

Taking on a new school business manager role or school finance position brings exciting opportunities alongside plenty of questions about where to begin. Whether you're stepping into your first SBM position, finance officer role, or any school finance responsibility, this new school business manager checklist supports your successful start.

What you'll get in this free resource:

• First 100 days school business manager task lists covering before you start through your first full term
• School finance priorities to help establish credibility and build relationships
• Essential SBM processes and compliance areas to master early on
• Fully editable document so you can tailor tasks to your specific school setting
• Peace of mind covering the fundamentals every new school finance manager needs

Perfect for new SBMs, school finance officers, finance leads, school administrators, bursars, finance assistants, or anyone starting school finance jobs for the first time.

Let us take some of the pressure off by supporting your thinking as you navigate this important transition into school finance leadership.

This handy 18-page editable document is designed to help school finance governors to support and challenge their setting's headteacher, principal or academy head when planning and setting the school budget. It contains reflective questions to be used in a constructive dialogue in the following areas:

• Budget planning
• Budget risk factors, contingency and compliance
• Income
• School improvement
• Contracts and benchmarking
• Staffing
• Pupil numbers and class sizes
• Pupil premium and SEND
• Deficit and recovery planning (use if applicable to your setting)
• Budget variation

For each question, there's space to note any discussion outcomes as well as the evidence you've gathered to support budget planning decisions. It can be used by both maintained schools and academies where governors or local board members support the academy's headteacher to plan the budget.

Whether you're a finance link governor, the chair of a governor finance committee or a school leader looking to support your governors, this checklist allows you to work collaboratively and ensure that governors are fulfilling one of the governing body's core functions of ensuring the sound, proper and effective use of the school’s financial resources.

👉 Looking for more budget support? This template is also available in the full School Budget Management Pack, which can also help you to plan your budget, upskill yourself on financial management and identify where cost savings can be made.

👉 For broader support for finance link governors that covers a fuller picture of the school's finances and governor skill development over time, our Finance Link Governor Support Pack may also be of interest.

This full school budget management pack is perfect for any school leader who holds responsibility for the management of school finances, such as the headteacher, principal, academy head, school business manager (SBM) or another person in a similar role. The pack contains three distinct strands to support you:

• Cost saving toolkits to help you solve common problems when balancing your budget, including how to minimise expenditure and maximise income in different areas
• Financial management skills-based support to help you understand key terminology and concepts linked to budget management and identify where you may need further skill development
• Budget planning support, including ideas for finance governors when it comes to their role in budget planning and a handy budget planning checklist and calendar to help you stay on track throughout the year

This pack is ideal for those who are new to finances and budget management in schools but it can equally be used by experienced school leaders who are seeking further support.

This pack offers you best value for money if you want to get a better grip on your budget, but each strand is also available as a separate purchase should you need to explore a single area of budget management. 👉 School Budget Planning and Cost Saving Toolkit, School Budget Management Skills Bundle, Budget Planning Questions for Governors and Budget Planning Checklist and Calendar.

Rising costs and reduced funding are huge challenges that schools face when managing their budgets. This supportive bundle, designed for headteachers, principals and school business managers, gives you four cost saving toolkits that you can utilise to explore how to maximise income coming into your school as well as reduce unnecessary costs. Each toolkit covers a key pain point in school budget management: low pupils numbers, high staffing costs, managing SEND and linked budgetary costs, and planning an effective and efficient school budget. These provide ideas and reflective questions to work through in order to identify cost-saving measures, supporting your thought process when managing and balancing your entire school budget.

For greatest effect, purchase the full pack which contains all four toolkits but each toolkit is available individually too. 👇

👉 Looking for more budget support? These templates are also available in the full School Budget Management Pack, which can also help you to plan your budget and evaluate your financial management understanding in order to develop your skills and knowledge.

🔄 Updated for 2026

Supporting your finance link governor effectively takes structure, clarity and the right tools. This pack gives you all three – with three fully editable resources designed to strengthen finance governance in your school, whether your link governor is new to role or needs more support to be highly effective.

You'll get:

• ☑️ Finance Questions for Governors and Trustees – 12 pages of structured questions to support meaningful collaboration between the finance link governor and key school staff such as the SBM, headteacher or administrators with responsibility for the school budget, plus a triangulating evidence section and an action plan template to document next steps
• ☑️ Finance Report to Governors Template – a clear, structured template covering finance data and commentary, giving the full governing board the insight they need
• ☑️ Finance Link Governor Roles and Responsibilities – an editable outline of the finance governor's key responsibilities, ideal for onboarding a new governor or bringing clarity to an existing role

All resources are fully editable so you can adapt them to reflect your school's context and needs.

🔒 Fully aligned to the 2026 Ofsted School Inspection Toolkit

Ofsted inspection can feel daunting when you're a school business manager, especially if you're new to the role or haven't experienced an inspection under the current framework.

Designed specifically for school business managers, this focused preparation pack translates the 2026 School Inspection Toolkit into practical guidance about your role during inspection. You'll understand when and how you'll engage with inspectors, what questions they're likely to explore and how to demonstrate the excellent operational work you're already doing to ensure resources support the school's priorities, statutory compliance is maintained and operational systems enable the school to function effectively.

You'll get:

☑️ School Business Manager Inspection Role Guidance – clear explanation of when you'll be involved during inspection, what happens during focused leadership meetings and document reviews (particularly the single central record if this is your responsibility), and what inspectors want to understand from you

☑️ Example Ofsted School Business Manager Questions – realistic questions you might be asked during inspection conversations, helping you practise articulating your approach and identify any areas to strengthen

☑️ Further supporting documents – including a leader action checklist to build your inspection knowledge, an inspection readiness tool to evaluate your current practice against toolkit statements, and editable grade descriptor grids highlighting leadership and governance (and where resource management and compliance connect) across the framework

This Ofsted school business manager resources pack helps to build your confidence to articulate your work clearly and supports you to prepare effectively without creating unnecessary workload. All templates are fully editable so you can adapt them for your school's specific context.

👉 Looking for further support on preparing for inspection? These resources are also available as part of the full Ofsted Inspection Preparation Pack too.