OpEx Reflections
Reflections from Brighter Futures Learning Partnership Trust
Organisation snapshot
Organisation: Brighter Futures Learning Partnership Trust
Pupils: 3,323
Staff: c400
Schools: 7
Annual budget: £24.2 million
Region: South Yorkshire
Trust type: Primary, Secondary and UTC
Trust lead: Garath Rawson, CEO
OpEx Lead: Tarina Chow, Director of Operations and Compliance
Review: CEOE OpEx Review, 2026
Why BFLPT commissioned an OpEx review
BFLPT commissioned an OpEx review at a time of change. Garath Rawson had just become CEO; the Trust was preparing to welcome additional schools and leaders wanted to look again at the effectiveness of central services.
The leadership team already knew where some of the pinch points were. What they needed was the time and independent perspective to understand their impact, decide what mattered most and establish a clear starting point before further growth.
As Garath explains: “I think it’s healthy from an organisation’s perspective to review what you have regardless of growth. Obviously growth was a major factor, but it’s around looking at our own pinch points, looking at what works and what doesn’t work.”
The review experience
The review heard from people across BFLPT, including central teams, school leaders and frontline colleagues.
For the executive team, hearing how systems and services were experienced in schools added context to issues they were already considering. The process also gave leaders time away from day-to-day pressures to discuss the Trust’s future and test some of their own assumptions.
What BFLPT discovered
Some of the most useful findings were not new problems, but a clearer picture of what existing issues meant for staff and the organisation.
As Gareth puts it: “90% of the issues we weren’t unaware of. It made us aware of the impact.”
The review identified opportunities to simplify processes in areas including finance, HR and procurement, where repetition and complex workflows were taking up capacity. It also prompted BFLPT to think about how its systems and services would need to work as more schools join the Trust.
What that has enabled and why it matters
The review has given BFLPT a baseline for future improvement and is already influencing how change is planned.
Leaders have reconsidered the timing, implementation and communication of major initiatives. Elements of the Professional Growth Strategy, for example, have been phased to give schools more time and support to prepare.
BFLPT is also looking at how existing expertise can be developed through OpEx champions and leadership development, so that teams can continue to simplify processes and improve how the Trust works as it grows.
Reflections for other leaders
For BFLPT, the value was not simply being told what could improve. It was having an outside perspective on issues leaders already knew about and understanding how those issues affected people across the trust.
As Garath reflects: “It’s not about what you believe your own capacity or what your own quality of evaluation is. It’s about the additionality that the review brings to your thinking.”
Why CEOE?
BFLPT wanted external capacity as well as an independent perspective.
CEOE brought Operational Excellence expertise alongside an understanding of the education sector, allowing the team to look at individual processes while also considering the wider direction of the Trust.
As Garath says: “CEOE coming in as an external organisation provided that nuance and that different angle, that different reflection point.”
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