Schools that don’t have a reliable and trusted HR Service are often trying to piece things together themselves. Policies from one place. Advice from another. Hope for the best. A rumbling sense of uncertainty about whether they are doing the right thing. As Alison Duke, Head of Schools HR Services, put it, schools without a trusted HR service often end up “cobbling things together” rather than having a clear, confident route through staffing and employment issues.
One example Alison shared was deceptively simple and arose from a headteacher at a school that did not use Wandsworth Schools HR Service at the time making an enquiry. The headteacher was trying to source a standard safeguarding-related employment document. Instead of getting an answer, they were bounced between various sources – from their external HR provider, to another agency, and back again – a long email chain and frustrated calls but no clear answer.
“It wasn’t complicated,” Alison explained, “but they were stuck in a loop, trying to navigate who to ask and whether what they were being told was actually compliant.” That kind of hassle costs time, confidence and headspace. Alison explained how this small example scales up to the most time consuming and complex staffing issues and processes, and how having a trusted HR provider with the right connections is essential.
Wandsworth Schools HR Services stops that spiral of second guessing and piecing together information from various sources. Not by removing responsibility from schools, but by giving them a single, credible place to turn. Talking positively about schools who buy into their service, “They know where to go, they know and trust our team and our resources” Alison said. “They know they’re getting something that’s right, from a team who genuinely care about getting it right and supporting School Leaders with difficult staffing challenges and decisions.” That alone lifts a huge cognitive load from already stretched leaders
From searching for answers to planning with confidence
Alison described how HR issues rarely arrive neatly packaged. Staffing problems escalate. Situations become personal. Leaders can find themselves firefighting while trying to keep the school running. “You can’t remove unpredictability entirely,” she said. “But what we do is bring predictability and structure around it.”
A key part of that is scenario planning. Rather than reacting at the point of crisis, the team works through options early on. “We talk through different routes, discuss the risks and benefits, and what each decision might mean,” Alison explained. “Then it’s over to the Head to decide – but they’re deciding with clarity, not guesswork. We aim to enable and empower Headteachers to make an informed decision”.
What makes this support particularly powerful is how joined-up it is. Alison described a range of scenarios and cases where HR concerns triggered wider conversations across finance, governance and school improvement. “If something is making a school vulnerable, we don’t sit with it in isolation,” she said. “We talk to colleagues, share insight, and bring the right support around the school.” That collaboration and partnership across services protects leadership capacity, not just compliance. At its heart, the service is deeply human.
“Sometimes headteachers ring and just crumble, and that’s ok,” Alison reflected. “We listen. We help them think. We help them feel less alone.” In a role often associated with process and policy, that may be the biggest capacity creator of all.
It wasn’t complicated, but they were stuck in a loop, trying to navigate who to ask and whether what they were being told was actually compliant.
Alison Duke, Head of Schools HR Services