BUILDING SCHOOLS FOR THE FUTURE: AN OVERVIEW

Building Schools for the Future is the biggest single government investment in improving school buildings in over 50 years. A total of £45bn has been allocated to renew or rebuild all of England’s 3,500 secondary schools over the next 15 years. An additional £10bn will be spent on the renewal and transformation of primary schools. The programme brings together major investment in buildings and ICT as well as wider public-sector provision such as children’s and health services

BSF was launched by the Department of Education and Skills (DfES) in February 2003. At the launch of the programme, David Miliband, Schools Minister at the time, said that “School buildings should inspire learning. They should nurture every pupil and member of staff. They should be a source of pride and a practical resource for the community.”

A new, strategic approach to capital investment in school buildings, the Building Schools for the Future programme will create the environment for educational transformation — both secondary and primary.

Funding

Funding will be made available in 15 waves, subject to future public-spending decisions. By 2011 every local authority in England will have received funding to renew schools in greatest need. And by 2016 every local authority will have at least three major rebuilding projects underway.

BSF investment also supports other initiatives such as academies, new options at 14–19 and extended schools. The government expects that innovation in design and delivery of learning will deliver greater value for money, allowing schools to focus on improving their core offering.

New secondary schools built under the BSF programme will provide a major resource for local communities, their new and refurbished facilities delivered being designed for shared community use wherever appropriate. In line with the Every Child Matters Agenda, every BSF school will be an extended school, offering additional or dual-use facilities, such as sport halls, libraries, nurseries and ICT resources. BSF offers an opportunity to integrate schools into wider regeneration projects, repositioning schools at the heart of communities.

Partnerships for Schools (PfS) is the government agency tasked with delivering the Building Schools for the Future programme.

BSF is delivered at a local level through a Local Education Partnership (LEP). This is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) between the local authority and private-sector partners including private finance, project management and construction companies. The key role of PfS is to ensure that secondary schools are well designed, are built on time at a reasonable cost to the taxpayer and are properly maintained over their lives. PfS will help build strong Public Private Partnerships, enabling the public sector to benefit from the best skills and expertise available in the private sector and reaping greater efficiencies and economies of scale.

Building Schools for the Future is still in its early stages. An initial three-year contract to evaluate the impact on educational achievement of this leading strategic programme has been placed with PricewaterhouseCoopers, following an Official Journal of the European Union procurement. The government aims to learn early lessons from the programme to inform its development.

Near-term and long-term visions need to be in place, supported by frameworks and processes that ensure successful delivery.

Teacher, staff and pupil readiness to operate effectively in the 21st century learning environment implies significant co-ordination and budgeting that must be planned for by the school, the local authority and the local education partnership (LEP).

The role of the LEP

LEPs will support a local authority and its schools with education visioning, stakeholder consultation and the preparation of an architect's design brief. In this way, the key stakeholders will be better equipped to deal with the changing environment as the education transformation proceeds.

Key ingredients of successful schools strategy

• An absolute focus on education transformation through capital investment in school infrastructure, helping local authorities deliver a world-class standard of education and enabling today's students to achieve their potential in tomorrow's world
• Ensuring new environments inspire and support both teachers and pupils, deploying innovative thinking and delivering personalised learning
• Providing solutions that reflect the aspirations and needs of not just the whole school estate but all stakeholders — meeting the needs of local people, the wider community, employers and community groups
• Working with LAs to facilitate collaboration amongst schools; enabling primary schools to make use of facilities in secondary schools; working with ICT partners to ensure technology is integral to teaching and learning and not treated just as an ‘add-on'
• First-class working environments should be created for pupils and staff
• Facilitating community and out-of-hours teaching and learning, enabling it to play a far more important role in school life
• Supporting design solutions that will cater for the full range of 14–19 curriculum opportunities, with their increasingly personalised solutions.

USEFUL WEBSITES

Building Schools for the Future

www.bsf.gov.uk

Partnerships for Schools

www.partnershipsforschools.org.uk

Specialist Schools and Academies Trust

www.specialistschools.org.uk

SSAT Schools Network site

www.schoolsnetwork.org.uk

Every Child Matters

www.everychildmatters.gov.uk

Teacher Net

www.teachernet.gov.uk