About Us

The Consultancy for Schools programme is delivered for DCSF by a unique team of education and programme management experts:

  • Education consultants, who deliver the face-to-face support to schools
  • Avail Consulting, who manage the national programme
  • Tribal Children’s Services, who provide in depth education expertise to the design and delivery of the programme.

Our Consultants

We have over 80 education specialists located across England, offering a unique combination of skills and knowledge to schools.

  • Highly experienced school leaders
    • All our consultants have extensive experience in Education, spanning an average of 20 years. The majority are ex-headteachers and school leaders, and many have experience working with Local Authorities
    • This means that our consultants understand the challenges facing school leaders today; they will spend time getting to know the context of your school and tailoring their support to your needs
  • Local knowledge
    • Consultants are located across the whole country – so you will deal with a consultant who understands your local context
  • Consultancy expertise
    • In addition to a strong background in Education, our consultants have all worked with schools in an advisory capacity, providing advice, guidance and working collaboratively to achieve sustainable and meaningful change
  • Meet some of our Consultants THE IMAGE CONTENT

Clifford Blakemore has completed 40 VfM consultations for schools across the midlands. With over 40 years experience in the education sector, he is highly skilled at getting to the core of the issue.

"There are often recurring themes that pop-up with each consultation. Procuring resources, leadership and linking the school development plan to the budget are all important areas for schools to focus on. I’d encourage any school to take up this valuable free service."

VfM consultant Tina Cole has more than 30 years’ experience in education

Tina is a former headteacher and university tutor and also has extensive experience working on the Primary Strategy Leadership Programme.

"We’re not here to inspect or judge. We are here to talk through VfM issues and offer solutions. VfM consultants bring ideas and supporting resources to the schools we visit, covering areas including governance, collaboration, leadership and ICT."

Dee Wheatley specialises in Workforce and Strategic Management issues.

She has completed 16 VfM visits across the South-East using her education consulting experience in both the UK and USA to come up with fresh and innovative solutions.

Dee is working on a variety on national programmes helping to develop and accredit leaders, such as NCSL, TDA, Ofsted and others. She also works with on programmes about extended services, school improvement planning, performance management and others.

Jim Griffin uses his prior experience as a school inspector to hone in on the key issues a school is facing

"I have carried out over 250 inspections across both primary and secondary schools so am well aware of the recurring issues schools face. This helps me to quickly get to the few key things that make the greatest contribution to school improvement."

Jim has completed 45 VfM consultations across the North and receives highly positive feedback from schools.

Roger Hardaker regularly receives glowing feedback from his school visits:

"It was great to have a consultant with such a vast amount of relevant experience. He offered impartial advice and very practical suggestions. Well worth it!" Primary School, Warwickshire

Roger has been both deputy headteacher and headteacher of primary schools and he has held positions of senior management in higher education. He often provides lectures on educational management and has conducted extensive research into the area.

About Avail

Avail Consulting was established in February 2004 to provide specialist and independent support to the public sector. Since then, Avail has grown rapidly and now has 60 plus staff, supporting many public services, including education, health and policing.

Avail is committed to the practical application of leading edge thinking in supporting the modernisation of public services. It provides practical advice and tools to set strategic direction, improve performance and quality, save money and help its clients prepare for the future.

Avail is focused on four key areas of support:

  • Innovation, strategy and change
  • Performance improvement and cost reduction
  • Commissioning and procurement
  • Information and communications technology

Avail receives consistently high praise from its clients:

"Finally, the consultants I worked with were at all times professional, rigorous and analytical, while at the same time being friendly, honest and open. A pleasure to work with! This, along with the high quality of their work, means that I would certainly wish to make use of them again."

David Anderson, Office for Criminal Justice Reform

Avail is an operating company within the Tribal Group and works closely with colleagues across the company (such as Tribal Children’s Services) to support our clients. Avail has worked with clients from across the education sector – including schools, local authorities, local government purchasing consortia, the DCSF and its agencies. Avail was appointed to deliver the Value for Money Consultancy for Schools programme in February 2008. Since then, 1300 plus schools have registered for the programme.

www.tribalavail.co.uk

About Tribal Children’s Services

Tribal is a leading provider of consulting and professional support services to the public sector. Tribal works with over 2,500 clients, from central government departments to police forces, schools, local authorities, housing associations, the NHS, primary care trusts, health authorities and social care.

Tribal Children’s Services is one of the UK’s most experienced education and children’s services consultancies. It operates across all phases of education – from early years to community and higher education.

Tribal has an exceptional track record over 20 years in delivering projects that create meaningful change in education, enabling clients to ensure every child matters and that every learner can succeed.

The majority of Tribal staff have first-hand experience and knowledge of the education sector. As education specialists and former school leaders, Tribal consultants really understand the challenges the education sector faces.

Tribal works in the following areas:

  • School improvement and transformation – Tribal’s flagship work has been on the Greater Manchester Challenge, the largest National Challenge programme led by a private sector provider
  • Recruitment, TUPE, re organisations/restructure, other HR services
  • Building Schools for the Future (BSF) and academies programmes
  • Interim management (heads, deputies and senior children's services roles)
  • Management information (software) solutions for local authorities

Alongside Avail, Tribal has supported the Value for Money Consultancy for Schools Programme since February 2008.

www.tribalgroup.co.uk