Level 4 School Business Professional Apprenticeship

Level 4 School Business Professional Apprenticeship

New school business manager apprenticeships being developed by employer/school-led trailblazer groups will be available in 2018. These will be funded from the apprenticeship accounts that levy-paying schools are contributing to.

Level 4 School Business Professional Apprenticeship – final approval now confirmed 

The SBM Level 4 Trailblazers group, which includes the SBM Partnership (Serco, Adfecto and ISBL), has developed a Level 4 School Business Professional apprenticeship which has recently (February) received final approval as an apprenticeship standard.

It will offer a school-based higher apprenticeship for school business professionals and others in school support roles, e.g. senior administrators, school office managers, finance officers, bursars, etc.

The application window is now open – see below for details.

School Business Professional (SBP) Apprenticeship – overview

• Regional face-to-face workshops together with online learning
• 18 months duration + attendance at end-point assessment
• National cohort starts September 2018 – apply now
• 1:1 support from a coach who will visit your workplace
• Periodic reviews to include your coach and line manager
• Development of a work-based portfolio to evidence learning
• End-point assessment (EPA) process, i.e. as well as on-programme assessment you will need to attend an end-of-programme assessment day
• Mapped to the latest ISBL Professional Standards
• In order to complete the apprenticeship you will need English & maths at Level 2 (equivalent to GCSE grade A* to C) , but if you don’t have these qualifications don’t let this stop you from undertaking the apprenticeship as we can help you gain the Level 2 requirement during your studies.

If you are interested in the Level 4 School Business Professional apprenticeship you must read the supporting documents located under Key Documents (right), and can then start the two-stage application process.

How do I pay for the apprenticeship?

The Level 4 School Business Apprenticeship costs £5250. See Key Documents (above right) for further details.  Providing you are from a levy-paying school, then, as a general guide, 80% of the apprenticeship cost is split into monthly payments to the provider, with the remaining 20% payable on completion (this is a simplified example of the process). You must also ensure that your funding manager can confirm that there are sufficient funds available in the school/ trust/ local authority’s levy fund account.

Alternative payment options are available for non-levy paying employers – please contact us for more details.

Application process

You will need to gather specific information required for your online application form, and confirm with your funding manager that apprenticeship levy funds are available for you. You must read the supporting documents found in the Key Documents area on the right of this page:

• SBP Terms & Conditions
• Overview for Participants
• Line Manager Guidance document
• Personal Statement & Line Manager Support document

We also recommend that you view a copy of the application form to preview (also available in the Key Documents area). Once you have printed off or downloaded the above documents and discussed the apprenticeship with your line manager (who must support your application) you can then start the two-part application process.

Please note that the Lead Partner, Serco, is on the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP).

Start dates 2018/2019

Main programme – Various regional locations

• Start date: 24th September 2018
• Application deadline: 22nd June 2018
• Further intakes to follow in 2019

Ready to apply? The application form is located on our sister website and can be accessed here.

Further general information on apprenticeships is available here or visit the gov.uk site apprenticeship area

Related programmes

We have also recently launched new ILM Level 4 and Level 5 Diploma programmes that you may be interested in as an alterntive. The ILM programmes are separate programmes from the apprenticeships and are funded directly by your school (or the participant) and are not covered by apprenticeship funding.

A Level 6 CMDA for School Professionals degree apprenticeship (3 years) is also in the pipeline for later on in 2018/early 2019.

Why choose the SBM Partnership?
Serco has been delivering apprenticeship programmes to a wide audience for many years, and, as part of the SBM Partnership (Serco, Adfecto and ISBL/NASBM) are the country’s leading exponents of school business manager programmes and have successfully delivered to many thousands of SBMs since 2003.

For further information on our other SBM programmes click on the navigation links on the right.

Page last updated 04/5/18