Lorna Weaver

Funding Agency for Schools

I graduated in 1994 with a mathematics degree from Salford University, and then spent six months in the O.R. Division of the Department for Education and Employment. I have just completed the first year of Sheffield Business School's MSc in Operational Research, which I am doing part-time. It is sometimes hard to study after a full day at work. However, I have gained a lot from the course; it does show how O.R. can be applied in the workplace.

The most enjoyable aspect about working in O.R. is the wide variety of projects. Since joining the Funding Agency for Schools in 1995, I have built spreadsheet models to calculate school grants and have examined the accuracy of formulae to estimate pupil attendance in future years. I was promoted in 1996 and seconded to another Agency team. I spent eighteen months with this team where I modelled and analysed the effects of the proposed National Funding Formula for schools.