Funding the Future: Legacy Planning and Beyond

Continuing to offer the networks, projects and interventions that have become part of the Norwich Opportunity Area will soon be the responsibility of schools and their partners, and can be secured by seeking and gaining additional funds in a variety of ways.

Norwich Opportunity Area warmly invite you to attend our free conference on all things funding to ensure the legacy of your work now, and into the future.

Simple, hands on sessions walk you through the ways and means to successfully gain funding and make it part of the way your school does business. Find out how to raise revenue for your school by the experts in three easily accessible workshops.

Open to Heads, Finance Managers, SENCOs, Governors, PTFA members, Inclusion and Communication managers, Trust Finance managers, Trust SEOS, and anyone who needs to raise money for their school or students.

Keynote Speaker : Justin Smith Managing Director, Chameleon Training and Consultancy with Matthew Smith, Sheringham Woodfields School.

Justin will outline the importance of schools finding additional funding.

Justin will be joined by Matthew Smith the School Business Manager of Sheringham Woodfields School, where as part of the Senior Leadership Team, Matthew will explain how securing excess of £2.5million for the school in the last 10 years has been fundamental in allowing the school to grow.

About the speakers:

Justin Smith: Following a career spent in private sector business development and marketing, Justin moved into the education sector over 18 years ago and has worked in 3 large secondary schools in Suffolk and Norfolk.

The most recent of which was Wymondham College, the largest state boarding school in the country, as Director of Marketing, with responsibility for international and domestic marketing strategies, developing fundraising opportunities and introducing commercial sponsorships with business. Justin was awarded the Guardian/ISBL Marketing Award in 2015 and became a ISBL Fellow in 2017.

Matthew Smith has been SLT at Sheringham Woodfields School for over ten years. He is chair of the Association of Business Managers in Norfolk Schools (ABMNS) and the Norfolk Association of Special School Administrators (NASSA). In 2019, Matthew was awarded an MBE in the Queens Birthday Honours List.

Workshop 1 : Successful bid writing with Justin Smith

Blue Room

Gain tips and insights into how to write that successful bid with a practical hands on session.

Run by Justin Smith, our keynote speaker, his own business, Chameleon Training and Consultancy, provides specialist marketing, income generation and bid writing services to the education sector.

Justin is a vastly experienced bid writer with a strong track record in raising funds for schools via conventional trust funds, grants and sponsorships. To date Justin has secured over £6 million in additional income for schools and is a member of the Institute of Fundraising.

Length: 30mins approx.

Workshop 2: Assessing and Mapping Funding Need: Graham Phillips

External Funding Team, Growth and Development, Norfolk County Council

Orange Room

What do you REALLY need that money for? How can you best understand your funding requirements against the aims and objectives of your school plan? How can you use collaboration to guage your need?

This targeted workshop will look at defining need and demand within an application for funding. We will explore how to define and evidence need, and show how your solution will address this.

Graham Phillips works within the Norfolk County Council ( NCC) External Funding Team. He supports the strategic applications for funding across the whole council, runs the NCC bid writing workshops at both foundation and advanced level and supports many NCC delivery partners in developing their bid writing skills.

Length: 30mins approx.

Workshop 3: Matthew Smith Green Room

So you have your funding, what's next?

Expectations from funder

Reality in school

Bridging the gap: sticking to requirements and reporting back

Matthew Smith has been SLT at Sheringham Woodfields School for over ten years. He is chair of the Association of Business Managers in Norfolk Schools (ABMNS) and the Norfolk Association of Special School Administrators (NASSA). In 2019, Matthew was awarded an MBE in the Queens Birthday Honours List.

Approx Length: 30 minutes

Funding providers and signposting:

Blue Room

Feel inspired? Why wait- meet and discuss your funding requirements with some of the local and regional funding providers for schools available in the breaks.