What is the SFVS?
The Schools Financial Value Standard (SFVS) is a mandatory self-assessment framework designed by the Department for Education (DfE). It assists local authority-maintained schools in secure financial management. The standard ensures that public money is spent wisely, properly, and directly optimised to provide high-quality teaching and learning.

How We Use It
Each year, our School Business Manager, Headteacher, and Governing Body work collaboratively to review our financial practices against the DfE checklist. The assessment covers six key areas of resource management:

• Governance: Evaluating the financial skills and oversight of our governing board.
• School Strategy: Reviewing our multi-year financial planning and sustainability.
• Setting the Annual Budget: Aligning our spending choices with curriculum needs.
• Value for Money: Benchmarking our costs against similar schools to maximize our resources.
• Staffing: Ensuring efficient staffing structures and fair, independent pay review processes.
• Value for Money & Financial Integrity: Guarding against fraud, auditing voluntary funds, and maintaining precise accounting controls.

Our Compliance Status
Our Governing Board formally discusses and approves the self-assessment annually. For the current financial year, our SFVS submission was successfully agreed upon by the Full Governing Body, signed by the Chair of Governors, and submitted to the Local Authority.

We use the outcomes of this process to continually improve our resource allocation and safeguard our school’s financial health.