Jul 15, 2026 · 17 min · 8 segments
Join Ian Rockey and Andrew Tidswell with special guest Matt Stringer (CEO of the Education Showroom) and as they explore the human stories behind school leaders' search for the right tools, resources…
Matt StringerGuest
Andrew TidswellHost
Ian RockeyHost
and i see that as a massive part of answering your question is the school of maths evolving to challenge what they are doing how they're doing it how much time is involved in doing it how much cost of that person's time internally is is taking and costing is that person the right skilled person with the right experiences to get the outcomes that they want now beginning to challenge that concept and saying hang on a minute what about an external organization or person that can help us I find that inspiring that we are now seeing that on a daily daily basis and that touches on your financing and budget and how they're going about it but getting a better outcome at the end another angle Andrew to answer your question is a real common question that to me personally from multi-academy trust leaders is matt can you help us identify what grants are available and what organizational partners you work with that can help us unlock and access those grants so hopefully that answers parts of your question about finances um another layer to your answer after your question rather is you know school and multi-academy trusts looking at a vast array of products and or services that they have and asking themselves the question do we really need two three or four of pretty much everything that we've got do we need two three or four literacy solutions when perhaps one or two we'll do a lot more or everything and by having one or two that will do a lot more everything means that we could actually save money which can then be recycled and spent elsewhere and they are you know at this time of year analyzing what they've got challenging themselves internally do we need um this is the lots of overlap If four are required, that's totally fine, of course, because as I mentioned earlier, pockets of learners may require something different by design to accommodate their learning needs.
But challenging efficiency, do we really need four when one or two may do? What else could we do with those savings? How could that be recycled? I'm also seeing and learning and hearing on a daily, weekly basis, the period of time strategically, I'm talking multi-academy trust here in particular, is the period of time to implement an alternative product or service is on the increase in most cases, not all cases of course, but in most cases.
So school and multi-academy trust leaders really like And if I would I would say at an early stage to explore what improvement in that particular area looks like being ahead of the game, having a look in six months time, we've got a strategy that may look like this.
means strategically we can join the dots how something would work how something would complement and something else what the costs would be putting those into your into the budget question as you said andrew so being ahead of the game absolutely but my point is the actual purchase decision may be six months down the line nine months down the line 12 months down the line 14 months down the line but it's great that they strategically will say right We want to have a look now because at multi-academy trust level, it does take a serious amount of time to have the strategy, have the strategy signed off, get buy-in from all the stakeholders at school and mat level.
And going back to your question of finances, it then means that finances can be planned very well in advance.
So I think there's a lot more, how do we ring fence the money? The money can be ring fenced in six months' time, nine months' time, 12 months' time, but let's go and have a look at the market now.
Let's have a look at the solutions now, knowing that the monies will be available in your six, your nines, your 12s, your 14s, your 16 months' time.
So I see that being a, you know, let's call it a behavior, a trend at multi-academy trust level.
and i see that as a massive part of answering your question is the school of maths evolving to challenge what they are doing how they're doing it how much time is involved in doing it how much cost of that person's time internally is is taking and costing is that person the right skilled person with the right experiences to get the outcomes that they want now beginning to challenge that concept and saying hang on a minute what about an external organization or person that can help us I find that inspiring that we are now seeing that on a daily daily basis and that touches on your financing and budget and how they're going about it but getting a better outcome at the end another angle Andrew to answer your question is a real common question that to me personally from multi-academy trust leaders is matt can you help us identify what grants are available and what organizational partners you work with that can help us unlock and access those grants so hopefully that answers parts of your question about finances um another layer to your answer after your question rather is you know school and multi-academy trusts looking at a vast array of products and or services that they have and asking themselves the question do we really need two three or four of pretty much everything that we've got do we need two three or four literacy solutions when perhaps one or two we'll do a lot more or everything and by having one or two that will do a lot more everything means that we could actually save money which can then be recycled and spent elsewhere and they are you know at this time of year analyzing what they've got challenging themselves internally do we need um this is the lots of overlap If four are required, that's totally fine, of course, because as I mentioned earlier, pockets of learners may require something different by design to accommodate their learning needs.
But challenging efficiency, do we really need four when one or two may do? What else could we do with those savings? How could that be recycled? I'm also seeing and learning and hearing on a daily, weekly basis, the period of time strategically, I'm talking multi-academy trust here in particular, is the period of time to implement an alternative product or service is on the increase in most cases, not all cases of course, but in most cases.
So school and multi-academy trust leaders really like And if I would I would say at an early stage to explore what improvement in that particular area looks like being ahead of the game, having a look in six months time, we've got a strategy that may look like this.
means strategically we can join the dots how something would work how something would complement and something else what the costs would be putting those into your into the budget question as you said andrew so being ahead of the game absolutely but my point is the actual purchase decision may be six months down the line nine months down the line 12 months down the line 14 months down the line but it's great that they strategically will say right We want to have a look now because at multi-academy trust level, it does take a serious amount of time to have the strategy, have the strategy signed off, get buy-in from all the stakeholders at school and mat level.
And going back to your question of finances, it then means that finances can be planned very well in advance.
So I think there's a lot more, how do we ring fence the money? The money can be ring fenced in six months' time, nine months' time, 12 months' time, but let's go and have a look at the market now.
Let's have a look at the solutions now, knowing that the monies will be available in your six, your nines, your 12s, your 14s, your 16 months' time.
So I see that being a, you know, let's call it a behavior, a trend at multi-academy trust level.
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