Plenty of schools and trusts are making hard decisions right now.  The difference is whether those decisions build confidence or fuel distrust.  Lorna shares a practical approach to financial viability that works across a primary trust and translates well to maintained schools too.  The principles are the same: clear priorities, honest trade-offs, and decisions that stand up over time.

You will look at how to use radical transparency without creating politics, how to apply a five-year affordability lens so short-term fixes do not become long-term traps, and how to communicate “not this year” decisions so staff, heads, governors and boards stay aligned.  This is not theory.  It is the operational detail of how you protect outcomes by protecting the model that funds them.