Case Studies
Connell Sixth Form College, Manchester
This new 600 place college opened in September 2013. The College’s parent trust, Bright Futures Educational Trust, required expert advice to help tender its cleaning and catering contracts. Schools’ Buying Club was able to provide both specification recommendations and help navigate the College through to successful and compliant contract awards.
Birchwood School, Hertfordshire
This secondary school saved £66,000 over the three-year life of its new cleaning contract. Thirty- seven suppliers expressed an interest in providing services to the school. Schools’ Buying Club whittled this down to seven, with price and quality being the two key criteria in choosing the successful supplier – a great result, which the school is delighted with.
Marner Primary School, East London
This school was unhappy with its cleaning contractor. Schools’ Buying Club helped them exit the contract and then facilitated the new tender. It’s early days but indications of the new service look to be in a different league. The school is delighted – and very clean!
Haringey Local Authority
Local authority procurement support
Schools’ Buying Club is now the preferred education procurement partner for Haringey Local Authority. Through SBC, Haringey are now able to offer their schools specialist advice and support across a range of categories, including cleaning, catering and staff absence insurance. This is an exciting partnership, built on the shared values of wanting schools to have access to professionals who can help drive efficiencies, and put in place bespoke contracts that benefit the individual schools.
Aquila Trust, Canterbury
Procurement of a trust-wide catering contract
Schools’ Buying Club worked with the Aquila Trust (10 primary schools) to source a professional outsourced catering provider. The goal was to provide a range of good quality, nutritious meals for pupils and staff, that comply with the government’s minimum nutritional and food-based standards for the educational sector. The trust asked that meals should reflect the growth in healthy eating trends, promote uptake, and comply with the new Ofsted guidance for catering.
Relishing the challenge of working with the Trust and its ten schools, Schools’ Buying Club were successful in attracting 13 suppliers to the tender. Schools’ Buying Club undertook a quality and viability assessment and fully compliant evaluation process, which resulted in The Diocese appointing Nourish Contract Catering Ltd as their catering supplier – giving them a guaranteed return of over £25K over the lifetime of the contract.
Swalecliffe, Hoath & Chislet Primary Schools
Procurement of a new catering contract
The three primary schools, belonging to Kent Local Authority, came together to procure their catering service. The schools were looking for a range of good quality, nutritious, attractively presented meals for pupils and staff that complied with the government’s minimum nutritional and food based standards for the educational sector – complying with the new Ofsted guidance for catering.
Schools’ Buying Club were able to attract nine suppliers to the request for tender and after a rigorous and thorough evaluation process, we assisted Swalecliffe, Hoath and Chilset Primary schools in appointing Chartwells as their supplier. Schools’ Buying Club were able to secure a guaranteed income of £68K over the three year contract to the schools.