Operations
We need the school we run to match the school we say we are.
Are we running the school we say we are?
We start by working out exactly what your school is trying to achieve, then make sure the offering aligns to it: the subjects, the facilities, and the extra-curricular. This is where strategy and delivery most often drift apart. A school positioning itself on broad senior pathways while running twelve electives below eight students is spending $150 to 200k on a promise the timetable cannot keep. Cost efficiency follows from getting the alignment right; it is the outcome, not the headline. Surplus asks whether the money is working; this need asks whether the school runs the way it says it does. This service covers the offer, its structure, and how it is staffed, not curriculum content, pedagogy, or teaching quality.
The cost base is the lever that moves this need. Org design and revenues shape what the offering costs and what it returns. The Review benchmarks all three.
The framework
What we examine
The offer
| Subdriver | What we look at | What excellence looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Subject and program offering | Breadth and depth of the offer, and the viability of small classes and electives against demand and strategy. | Offer mapped to demand and strategy; viability thresholds set for electives; low-enrolment subjects reviewed deliberately; distinctive where it matters, lean where it does not. |
| Facilities and their use | Whether facilities support what the school is trying to achieve, and how well they are used. | Facilities aligned to the strategic offering and the families you serve; utilisation understood; investment and use decisions tied to what the school is trying to achieve rather than inherited by habit. |
| Co-curricular and specialist provision | How specialist and co-curricular programs are provided and resourced. | Provision model deliberate; cost weighed against strategic value rather than inherited by habit; shared or external provision used where sensible. |
Subject and program offering
- What we look at
- Breadth and depth of the offer, and the viability of small classes and electives against demand and strategy.
- What excellence looks like
- Offer mapped to demand and strategy; viability thresholds set for electives; low-enrolment subjects reviewed deliberately; distinctive where it matters, lean where it does not.
Facilities and their use
- What we look at
- Whether facilities support what the school is trying to achieve, and how well they are used.
- What excellence looks like
- Facilities aligned to the strategic offering and the families you serve; utilisation understood; investment and use decisions tied to what the school is trying to achieve rather than inherited by habit.
Co-curricular and specialist provision
- What we look at
- How specialist and co-curricular programs are provided and resourced.
- What excellence looks like
- Provision model deliberate; cost weighed against strategic value rather than inherited by habit; shared or external provision used where sensible.
The structure of delivery
| Subdriver | What we look at | What excellence looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Class structures and sizes | Class-opening thresholds, composite classes, and fill rates. | Documented class-opening thresholds (e.g. 22 to 25); fill rates at or above benchmark; composite classes used by design for small cohorts, not by accident. |
| Timetable design and efficiency | How effectively the timetable minimises the classes and teachers required, while protecting priorities. | Annual efficiency audit; singleton and low-fill classes contained; structure protects strategic priorities while removing avoidable cost. |
| Teacher deployment and utilisation | How core and specialist teachers are deployed, their contact loads, and out-of-field teaching. | Specialists deployed to highest value; out-of-field teaching minimised; contact loads benchmarked and equitable; deployment reviewed at census. |
Class structures and sizes
- What we look at
- Class-opening thresholds, composite classes, and fill rates.
- What excellence looks like
- Documented class-opening thresholds (e.g. 22 to 25); fill rates at or above benchmark; composite classes used by design for small cohorts, not by accident.
Timetable design and efficiency
- What we look at
- How effectively the timetable minimises the classes and teachers required, while protecting priorities.
- What excellence looks like
- Annual efficiency audit; singleton and low-fill classes contained; structure protects strategic priorities while removing avoidable cost.
Teacher deployment and utilisation
- What we look at
- How core and specialist teachers are deployed, their contact loads, and out-of-field teaching.
- What excellence looks like
- Specialists deployed to highest value; out-of-field teaching minimised; contact loads benchmarked and equitable; deployment reviewed at census.
Offering-to-strategy fit
| Subdriver | What we look at | What excellence looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Offering-to-strategy fit | Whether the offering the school actually runs reflects what it says it is and wants to achieve. | An explicit line of sight from strategy to offering decisions to resourcing; the offering reviewed whenever strategy shifts; the brand promise matched by the subjects, facilities, and extra-curricular on offer and the staffing behind them. |
Offering-to-strategy fit
- What we look at
- Whether the offering the school actually runs reflects what it says it is and wants to achieve.
- What excellence looks like
- An explicit line of sight from strategy to offering decisions to resourcing; the offering reviewed whenever strategy shifts; the brand promise matched by the subjects, facilities, and extra-curricular on offer and the staffing behind them.
Data used
ACARA school profile and My School data give student-to-teacher ratios and teaching versus non-teaching staff splits across schools matched on enrolment, ICSEA, location, level and sector. Class structures, timetable and deployment data come from the school, benchmarked against what comparable schools actually run.
Illustrative opportunities
What this looks like in practice
Twelve electives running below eight students, adding $190k of cost to a school promising broad senior pathways.
An offer matched to actual demand, with shared or virtual delivery preserving the subjects that matter strategically.
Fourteen singleton classes and teacher contact 18% below benchmark.
A timetable and deployment redesign.
A "personalised learning" positioning with an average class size of 28.
An offering realigned to the brand promise.
How we help
The Review surfaces and sizes the findings on this need. Where one is worth acting on, the work is a realigned offering across subjects, facilities, extra-curricular, class structures, timetable, and teacher deployment, with a phased transition plan to avoid disruption and implementation support.
What we stay out of
The offer, its structure, and how it is staffed. Not curriculum content, pedagogy, teaching quality, or professional development.