Network optimisation and planning
How does a multi-campus system get more from operating as a network than as separate schools?
A diocese or school group running twenty schools as twenty separate operations typically carries duplicated back-office functions, specialist staff deployed below scale, and capital spread by history rather than demand. The opportunity is not to cut costs across the board. It is to identify where network-level decisions create more value than school-level ones, and to plan accordingly. This service is for dioceses, school groups, and multi-campus operators. It is where our deepest sector relationships and our system-level benchmarking data do the most work.
The framework
What we examine
Network strategy and portfolio
| Subdriver | What we look at | What excellence looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Portfolio shape | Which schools, where, at what size and type, planned against demographic demand across the network. | Portfolio planned against demographic forecasts; consolidation, expansion, and new-site decisions evidence-based; capacity matched to where demand is heading. |
| Role of each school | How schools in the network relate, complementing rather than competing for the same families. | Each school's role and positioning defined so the network serves distinct needs; cannibalisation between network schools avoided by design. |
Portfolio shape
- What we look at
- Which schools, where, at what size and type, planned against demographic demand across the network.
- What excellence looks like
- Portfolio planned against demographic forecasts; consolidation, expansion, and new-site decisions evidence-based; capacity matched to where demand is heading.
Role of each school
- What we look at
- How schools in the network relate, complementing rather than competing for the same families.
- What excellence looks like
- Each school's role and positioning defined so the network serves distinct needs; cannibalisation between network schools avoided by design.
Resource optimisation
| Subdriver | What we look at | What excellence looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Shared services | Back-office, procurement, and marketing functions, consolidated where it pays. | Non-differentiating functions consolidated with service levels held; procurement leverage used across the network; duplication removed without hollowing out individual schools. |
| Specialist and staff sharing | Specialist roles shared across schools where individual cohorts are too small to justify a dedicated hire. | Specialist provision shared, clustered, or delivered virtually where cohorts are small; collaboration agreements in place; quality of the offer improved, not just cost reduced. |
| Cross-network allocation | How resources and surplus are allocated across schools. | Allocation transparent, needs-based, and strategic; cross-subsidy explicit and deliberate (directly relevant to systemic redistribution under s78(5)). |
Shared services
- What we look at
- Back-office, procurement, and marketing functions, consolidated where it pays.
- What excellence looks like
- Non-differentiating functions consolidated with service levels held; procurement leverage used across the network; duplication removed without hollowing out individual schools.
Specialist and staff sharing
- What we look at
- Specialist roles shared across schools where individual cohorts are too small to justify a dedicated hire.
- What excellence looks like
- Specialist provision shared, clustered, or delivered virtually where cohorts are small; collaboration agreements in place; quality of the offer improved, not just cost reduced.
Cross-network allocation
- What we look at
- How resources and surplus are allocated across schools.
- What excellence looks like
- Allocation transparent, needs-based, and strategic; cross-subsidy explicit and deliberate (directly relevant to systemic redistribution under s78(5)).
Planning and governance
| Subdriver | What we look at | What excellence looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Capital and campus planning | Where to invest, build, or consolidate across the network. | A network capital plan tied to demand forecasts; capacity built where demand is, not spread evenly by default. |
| Network benchmarking | A system-wide view of which schools are performing and which need support. | System-wide benchmarking of enrolment, finance, and sustainability; under- and over-performers identified early; best practice spread deliberately. |
| Operating model and governance | The balance of central support and school autonomy, and where decisions sit. | Clear central-versus-school decision rights; the support model fits the system's strategy; governance enables rather than duplicates school-level work. |
Capital and campus planning
- What we look at
- Where to invest, build, or consolidate across the network.
- What excellence looks like
- A network capital plan tied to demand forecasts; capacity built where demand is, not spread evenly by default.
Network benchmarking
- What we look at
- A system-wide view of which schools are performing and which need support.
- What excellence looks like
- System-wide benchmarking of enrolment, finance, and sustainability; under- and over-performers identified early; best practice spread deliberately.
Operating model and governance
- What we look at
- The balance of central support and school autonomy, and where decisions sit.
- What excellence looks like
- Clear central-versus-school decision rights; the support model fits the system's strategy; governance enables rather than duplicates school-level work.
Data used
Our model covering 2,675 non-government schools benchmarks every school in a system against national comparators matched on enrolment, ICSEA, location, level, and sector. It gives a system-level view of sustainability that is hard to assemble any other way.
Illustrative opportunities
What this looks like in practice
Two network schools fifteen minutes apart, one full and one declining.
Portfolio re-balancing and a catchment and positioning strategy.
Twenty schools each running a separate back office.
A shared-services model that protects service levels and releases funds to classrooms.
No system-level view of which schools are sustainable.
Network sustainability benchmarking across all schools in the portfolio.
How we help
A network diagnostic across portfolio, resource use, capital, and performance. Then a network strategy and optimisation plan, a phased and change-managed roadmap, and ongoing system advisory.
What we stay out of
We optimise the network's strategy, resources, and planning. We do not run the schools or replace system leadership.