School Business Managers - advice needed

[isitspringyet23]

Wondering if there are any on here?
I am currently in a finance/admin role with full AAT qualification (roughly 15years experience). I want to think about doing the diploma in school business management as I feel I have a lot of transferable skills, but I would need a link school to help me with work experience to do the course. Do you know if link schools are popular? Is this even possible or do you already need a job in a school and am I waisting my time until I have a job in a school?
Also wondering In theory if I approached schools, would your school consider this type of process , working with a diploma student so that they could get their qualification? (I think this is what I'm likely to do to see if i get any response)
Just thinking ahead really , my current work place is ok, but covid has me thinking about my future/benefits/pension a lot and wanting a more "secure" position outside of industry. Willing to pay for the course myself, so don't want any financial support from the school, just experience to complete the course.
Any advise , thanks in advance

You dont need an SBM qualification if you have AAT, it is an inferior qualification. Academies would much rather have AAT that SBM. Maybe think about how you could get some HR knowledge.

SBM role varies wildly in role and pay

Look at your local academy trusts and see what kind of roles they have, that will give an indication of qualifications. .

I agree with @Dogsarehairy
The last few SBMs we have recruited have not even had any schools experience but good admin, H&S, office management and finance skills. If you are serious about it, possibly try and get an admin role in a big school and then try and apply for a SBM role. I will also say that SBMs are becoming less common as Academy trusts centralise more and more roles. Would you consider a finance only role?

Thank you so much for your replies!!

It helps to know that I wouldn't necessarily need the SBM qualification ! Having looked at a few vacancies online it seemed like this was needed.
Yes would definitely also consider a finance role in a bigger academy, definitely something to look into as well.
Initially I liked the idea of the SBM as it seems like more of a varied role, I think it's a good idea to maybe look into more HR experience , I do work quite closely with HR in my current job so have some experience but no formal qualifications, maybe I can research this area a little bit too.