School Business Management graduates were honoured at the IAM ceremony at the National College in Nottingham on the 22nd October.
Over one hundred and fifty graduates from across the country joined the IAM and the National College for School Leadership across three ceremonies at the Learning and Conference Centre.
Graduates in CSBM, DSBM or ADSBM qualifications were formally recognised by IAM and National College dignitaries and fittingly celebrated with a canapé reception.
For some, studying the qualifications was a first. It was a time in their lives to renew their skills and inspire them in their career.
Caroline Thomas, a fifty-one-year-old school business manager, completed her CSBM which was her first experience of studying since leaving school at sixteen.
“I found it quite hard. I had to be very self-disciplined,” she said. “I’m proud of myself for achieving this and it has inspired me to go on.”
The Graduation sealed a time that brought families together. Not only as they proudly watched their loved ones receive their scrolls but while studying the qualification itself.
“It’s quite emotional putting the gown on today. My daughter graduated two weeks ago and I was blubbing then! I got a message from her, telling me how proud she was of me,” she added.
IAM Fellow Anthony Leggett, member with the IAM since 1987, was a wing commander the RAF before embarking on a career as a Bursar at Collingwood College in Camberley.
He was called first to graduate with an ADSBM at the 1:30pm ceremony.
He said: “It was a means of translating my previous skills into the new language or working in a school. It was a way of reading something so different from what I’d done in the past.”
He has since begun the School Business Director Course. “The course is opening up the chance for me to take responsibilities in schools other than my own,” he added.
The future is bright. The school where Anthony is solely responsible as a business company secretary became an academy on 1st July.
“It’s the way that skills are changing”, he added. “So I’m moving with the times.”
Graduate Nicky Clowdensaid that she was over the moon on her graduation day. She said: “It’s a big achievement. But I’m nervous, any attention when you get to my age, I’m 43, is a big deal.”
Nicky juggled the perils of working life and running a cake business alongside her studies, never forgetting her supportive family in the process.
She said: “My husband would take my daughter on Saturday and Sunday and I would take myself off to Costa Coffee and Starbucks. I’m so grateful – but now I’m a caffeine freak!”
Nicky had nice words for her supportive network of friends she made in Cohort fifteen.
“The support of my group got me through. The girls were really great. We have a really strong relationship.”
Further graduation ceremonies will take place in 2012 for students studying an IAM qualification. If you would like more information on this topic or would like to be added onto the graduation waiting list please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
