Case Studies

Torfield & Saxon Mount Academy Trust
Procurement of a new cleaning service

Torfield and Saxon Mount Academy Trust sought the help of Schools’ Buying Club with their cleaning tender. Their previous service was very understaffed with long term absence across the sites. Under the new contract, the cleaning hours have increased as well as the number of staff members on site, spreading the hours more equally between staff and improving the quality of the service.

“Schools’ Buying Club removed much of the stress from what is a prolonged and bureaucratic process and provided a fantastic and friendly service in making introductions, arranging site visits and keeping all parties on track and to the timeline. When making a decision, it was also really reassuring for us to know that we were in agreement with someone who had far more experience in this field than we did. We also get a monitoring service moving forwards, which again is a further reassurance for our schools. Thank you very much Schools Buying Club.” Director of Finance, Resources and Operational Strategy

Court Farm Primary School
Procurement of a new catering service

Schools’ Buying Club managed the tender process for the catering service at Court Farm Primary School.  The school wanted a better value solution, without compromising on quality. The new contract has been able to deliver a saving of  £37k over the 3-year contract.

“School’s Buying Club has helped us greatly with tendering for our catering provision.  They took all the hassle out of the process and managed it well.  Governors were pleased and we established our objectives.” Rebekah Button, School Business Manager

The Grange Primary School
Procurement of a new catering and cleaning service

The Grange Primary School wanted a refresh of their catering service, with better food quality and presentation, more options and bigger portion sizes. Schools’ Buying Club helped them to retender, running a thorough compliant process and awarding the contract to a new supplier who ensures a high-quality service.

They were also looking to improve their cleaning function and sought the help of Schools’ Buying Club to retender. SBC managed the entire process compliantly, as well as organising site visits and bidders day presentations. We helped the school achieve 3k savings across the life of the contract as well as an improved service.

“Schools’ Buying Club ran the tender process efficiently from start to finish and kept us fully informed at every stage. We are very satisfied with our new catering and cleaning services, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend SBC to anyone in a similar position.” Fran John-Lewis, School Business Manager.

Meadowfield School
Procurement of a new cleaning service

Schools’ Buying Club has extensive experience in helping special schools procure outsourced service contracts to meet their individual needs. We assisted Meadowfield in retendering its cleaning service, running a compliant process from start to finish, gaining best value from the market and awarding the contract. SBC will continue to support the school throughout the life of the contract, assisting should any issues arise, as well as arranging annual KPI service reviews.

“SBC was extremely diligent throughout the tender process and has continued to support us even after the contract was awarded.” Nicola Jones, School Business Manager

Chiltern Learning Trust
Procurement of a new catering and ICT service

Schools’ Buying Club managed the tender process for catering services on behalf of the Chiltern Learning Trust for 10 of its schools.  The schools had a range of catering providers and they were looking to create efficiencies by bringing everything under one contract.   The new contract has been able to deliver a more consistent standard across the Trust and the school group will now receive a guaranteed revenue of £255k over the 3-year contract as well as receiving an investment of £245k to help improve the facilities and overall quality of the catering provision.

SBC also worked with Chiltern Learning Trust to procure a new ICT managed service. We created efficiencies by bringing everything under one easy to manage contract and ensuring a consistent standard of service across all schools in the Trust. Additionally, we helped to redefine their ICT strategy by appointing a new Director of ICT across the Trust which aligned with the start of the new contract.

“The support given by Schools’ Buying Club felt like having an extended procurement team within the Trust, the officers were excellent, communicative, always available to provide advice and guidance, informed and understanding of our context and needs. Schools’ Buying Club has now supported us with Cleaning, Catering and ICT managed service tenders and I would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending them to other Trusts, a truly excellent service.” Rob Parsons, COO

Kent Catholic Schools’ Partnership
A regular client of Schools' Buying Club - this time, needing support to procure their cleaning, audit, and statutory testing services

Schools’ Buying Club holds a successful relationship with the Trust having previously procured their catering service, which delivered a guaranteed return of £200k over the 3-year contract for its primary schools and £180k over the 3-year contract for its secondary schools. Most recently we helped to procure their cleaning, audit and statutory testing services.

The academies previously had a range of cleaning providers and in-house teams; the new single supplier contract has been able to deliver a more consistent standard across the Trust which can be managed more efficiently at Trust level. It also gave the Trust the opportunity to introduce the Living Wage Foundation’s ‘Real Living Wage’ across all the academies.

The audit tender process unearthed massive efficiencies for the Trust thanks to its mature status and already embedded financial measures. This led to a vast saving of around £75,000 across 3-years. We initially received six interested suppliers in the statutory testing tender with the successful bidder achieving the Trust a saving of around £400,000 whilst also improving the service delivery through combining testing functions.

“When the Kent Catholic Schools’ Partnership faced the daunting task of re-tendering operations across its academies, it could have found no better partner than the Schools’ Buying Club. Steering us through a complex tendering process and helping us to deliver substantial financial savings and an improved service for our Children and Young People. To anyone in a similar position, I would highly recommend the Schools’ Buying Club.”  Mark Harris, Finance Director