Delivery model
Does the way we structure and staff our educational offer match our strategy and our budget?
How a school structures and staffs its offer is the single biggest operational lever on cost per student. It is also where strategy and delivery drift apart most often. 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. This service realigns the structure of delivery to your strategy and your budget. It covers structure, configuration, and deployment, not curriculum content, pedagogy, or teaching quality.
The framework
What we examine
The offer
| Subdriver | What we look at | What excellence looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Subject and programme 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. |
| Co-curricular and specialist provision | How specialist and co-curricular programmes 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 programme 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.
Co-curricular and specialist provision
- What we look at
- How specialist and co-curricular programmes 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.
Strategy alignment
| Subdriver | What we look at | What excellence looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery-to-strategy fit | Whether how the school actually runs reflects what it says it is and wants to achieve. | An explicit line of sight from strategy to delivery decisions to resourcing; delivery reviewed whenever strategy shifts; the brand promise matched by the delivery model and the staffing behind it. |
Delivery-to-strategy fit
- What we look at
- Whether how 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 delivery decisions to resourcing; delivery reviewed whenever strategy shifts; the brand promise matched by the delivery model and the staffing behind it.
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.
A delivery model realigned to the brand promise.
How we help
A delivery diagnostic across the offer, class structures, timetable, and teacher deployment, benchmarked against comparable schools and tested against your strategy. Then a redesigned delivery model, a phased transition plan to avoid disruption, and implementation support.
What we stay out of
Structure, configuration, and deployment. Not curriculum content, pedagogy, teaching quality, or professional development.