At the end of February 2025, I moved 1st Pillars webpage newsletter to LinkedIn and renamed it ‘Pillars of SBL Wisdom’ Please follow the link and subscribe, because that is where you’ll find all my SBL enthusiasm…
Until then…here is today’s post (1st April).
In my experience, School Business Leaders aren’t big fans of surprises. In fact, I’d go so far as to say we have a control-freakish aversion to them. Everything we do is about minimizing the risk of the unknown. That said, I think we can all agree, an unexpected bit of funding, a freed-up budget line, or a surprise donation? Always welcome.
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about surprises. Maybe it’s because it’s April Fool’s Day (a day I usually keep my head down, though I don’t consider myself particularly gullible). Or maybe it’s because, during my morning stroll in the garden, I came across a snake’s head fritillary in bloom – a delightful shock, considering my rather optimistic, yet often unsuccessful, approach to gardening. But most of all, I’ve been thinking about surprises because I’ve been deep in strategic planning lately, which, as we all know, is the absolute last place for them, especially when it comes to a school’s risk register.
The risk register in schools is evolving, but it still has a long way to go before it becomes a truly valuable tool. Too often, it means different things to different stakeholders, lacks clear ownership and monitoring, and, let’s be honest, is often far too long to be practical.
While risks generally fall into four key areas, Strategy, Education, Finance, and Operations, every school faces its own unique set of challenges. And, just like Thierry Henry in the ‘90s, risks can turn on a sixpence. That’s why a risk register should be more than a static document, it should be a living, breathing tool that supports and informs your school’s improvement work. In my ideal world, every action we take to improve or manage our schools would have its roots in the risk register.
When something piques my interest, whether it’s snake’s head fritillaries, Thierry Henry, or school risk registers, I tend to go all in. So, expect more insights on this topic in the near future. I genuinely believe this is an exciting time for the evolution of risk registers, and I’m looking forward to seeing how they continue to develop.
I’d love to hear about your experiences with risk registers. Are they working for you? Do they need improvement? Let’s talk.
OK, that last part wasn’t a surprise, was it?
Emma
