If you have a suspicion that your current leases are costing rather more than they might, have them checked out for free.

Experience shows that a substantial number of leases for photocopies, ICT equipment and the like, are not operated by the leasing company as they should be.

Not because anyone in the school has done anything wrong, but rather because very small “mistakes” in calculations can slip into leases over time. Each error might be tiny, but over a short while the value of the errors can become quite large.

What makes this particularly problematic is that the way payments on leases work can be very complex. Indeed some of them seem to involve a form of maths that only exists inside the world of equipment leasing!

However there is a way to resolve this issue – and it doesn’t cost the school a penny.

We can consider any lease that your school operates, and ensure that it is being run by the leasing company in a way that it was set up to be run.

This is done completely without any charge, and we’ll make our report back to you personally, in confidence, in writing.

If then we do find that your lease is not being implemented as it should be, and you want to get the overcharged money back, we’ll do this for you – again without cost. We will simply agree with you a percentage of your refund that we will take, as our fee for our work.

So to be completely clear, if we don’t think there is a case to take on, or if we do take on a case and no refund it achieved, nothing is paid to us. If a refund is achieved, we will then receive a commission from you, as agreed at the start.

As a final point I’d also like to make it clear that we are not talking about any mistake being made by yourself or one of your colleagues at school – we are talking about the fact that some leases are not implemented by the leasing companies as per the agreement.

To request an audit simply email me at Stephen@schools.co.uk and attach to the email a copy of your scanned-in leasing agreement/s and we will let you know if you may be entitled to a refund.

You will have no obligation to proceed – and if you do as noted above you will not be required to pay anything. Instead you will be told what percentage reimbursement the company will require in the event of their making a successful claim on your behalf.

Stephen Mister

What is the best way of ensuring that every teacher is fully effective in every lesson, every day?

Everyone has good days and bad days.

Of course, as professionals we all aim to perform well in the classroom no matter how we feel, but even so there can come a time where the sheer level of work required can make one operate at a slightly lower level than at other times.

So can anything be done? Can we do anything to reduce stress, feelings of tiredness, or any other ailment that can affect most of us at some time or another.

Fortunately the answer is, yes, as many schools have found out. For they have used a process that controls the amount of work teachers have to do in four key areas of teaching facts, revising facts, setting tests, and marking tests.

Of course, these four areas don’t make up the sum of education. But there is no doubt that if one reduces part of the workload in these four areas, then yes, when a teacher feels overloaded, the pressure is reduced so classroom teaching is not affected.

Now this raises two important questions. Supposing we could do this, the argument goes, it would be good for teachers. But would it not affect the quality of education? And wouldn’t it be costly?

In fact, the approach I have in mind has been used in over half of all schools undertaking GCSEs during the last 12 years.

And far from reducing the quality of education, it is proven through rigorous research to raise grades at GCSE significantly.

Of course there is a cost – but it works out at less than £4 per student per year. It is an extra cost, but given that it reduces workload and as a result can reduce absences caused by stress, while at the same time raising grades, most schools that take it on feel that the cost is worthwhile.

The approach is known as SAM Learning. Students work on-line either at home or at school, studying the subjects they choose. Just ten hours on the system during the two years of GCSE study raises the average student two grades.

This interactive system not only teaches all the most popular GCSE subjects and organises revision around points that the student has not fully grasped, but it can also be used to set questions and mark them – with, of course, all the marks available for the teacher to use in the setting of further work either on-line or in the classroom.

As you might imagine, SAM Learning is not alone in this field of on-line learning – but it is the only system of its type which has been rigorously and independently tested – in our case by FFT who tracked the progress of over a quarter of a million students who have used SAM Learning.

If you would like to know more please call us on 0845 130 4160.

Alternatively if you would like to read more about SAM Learning and how it works please do visit our website.

Do you want this job or would you sooner check your text messages?

People who find themselves undertaking interviews of students who are seeking a job or who are looking for a place on a course love to share horror stories.

They talk of the young women who don’t turn their mobile off or, worse, actually check their phone while in the interview.

They share stories about school leavers who write outrageous comments on social media about their school, college or current employer, and then can’t believe that their potential employer or course organiser has actually looked them up.

Such tales of course tell us what we already know: that many young people are very naïve when it comes to applications and interviews.

Which is why we produced “101 Ways to be Successful at Job and College Interviews.”

Like all good manuals this one starts with a premise, and here the premise is that an interview is a two way process, allowing the candidate to get an idea of what the company or college is like as well as being a chance to impress potential employers and lecturers.

Thus we ask the most obvious question: “Why do you want this job/course?” and moves onto the variations, such as thinking about “Why do you want to work for this company”, “Why do you want to study here?” and so on.

Each of the 101 Ways is an exercise or an activity as well as providing information on what to do in different situations. Thus 101 Ways will enable your students to prepare thoroughly for first job or college interviews and help them to manage any nerves.

Students can dip into chapters that will help them brush up on specific bits of preparation or use it as a workbook from start to finish as a complete guide to being successful at interviews.

This book has been written by an experienced recruiter who both trains recruiters and helps inexperienced interviewees of all ages. Each chapter covers a different aspect of the interview process with 101 practical and thought provoking tips that have been proven to work.

Teachers may also use this book as a class resource in Careers, English, Drama, PSHE, Citizenship or other lessons to prepare pupils for interview practices or the real thing. Each chapter is followed by a series of suggested exercises, mostly working in pairs or small groups, which develop the key themes of that chapter.

You can see some sample pages at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/careers/T1633.pdf

Publisher’s reference: T1633EMN ISBN: 978 1 86083 683 1

Prices

• Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £9.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £9.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Ring Binder and the CD £16.94 plus £3.95 delivery

Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the report… please quote the order ref: T1633EMN

• By post to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct, Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
• By fax to 01536 399 012
• On line with a credit card at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=47&products_id=461