Better secondary school buildings to support educational reform

The Department for Children’s, Schools and families (DCSF) wants BSF to deliver much more than new buildings.

Building Schools for the Future (BSF) represents a new approach to capital investment. It is bringing together significant investment in buildings and in ICT (Information and Communications Technology) over the coming years to support the Government’s educational reform agenda.

The Government is committed to devolve significant funds — about £3 billion in 2005-06 — to local authorities (LAs) and schools to spend on maintaining and improving their school buildings. But it also wants to promote a step-change in the quality of provision. That is the focus of Building Schools for the Future.

BSF — worth £2.2 billion in its first year (2005-6) — aims to ensure that secondary pupils learn in 21st-century facilities.

Investment will be rolled out to every part of England over 15 waves, subject to future public spending decisions.

By 2011, every LA in England will have received funding to renew at least the school in greatest need — many will have major rebuilding and remodelling projects (at least three schools) underway through BSF and the remainder will have received resources through the Academies programme or Targeted Capital Fund.

By 2016, major rebuilding and remodelling projects (at least three schools) will have started in every LA.

Through this investment, BSF aims to drive reform — such as Academies, new options at 14-19, provision for special needs and extended schools. Innovation in delivery, through the creation of a national delivery partner for schools and LAs, Partnerships for Schools will bring greater value for money, as well as effective implementation.

This is an exciting and inspirational programme. It is based on strategic partnership between all sections of the educational community. DCSF and PfS look forward to working on it with you.

Building Schools for the Future will transform the way in which education is delivered by providing 21st century teaching and learning facilities in schools across England. The programme uses a new procurement approach, benefits from standard project documentation, and is based on best practice throughout.

At the heart of BSF is the need for local authorities to develop a vision for education in their area that offers real innovation and enables teaching and learning to be transformed. It is the first principle of a successful BSF strategy.

In creating their education vision or, from wave 4 onwards, their Strategy for Change (SfC), LAs should consult with their schools and all other relevant stakeholders to assess their education needs — now and in the future. This can cover a range of issues and is expected to be ambitious and farsighted.

The education vision or SfC is the starting point for proper consultation with stakeholders and for defining the scope of a BSF project. Partnerships for Schools will challenge LAs to ensure their education vision or SfC is appropriately robust and meets the expectations of DCSF.

Given the scale of BSF, it is vital that effective working relationships are established at every level to achieve the best possible facilities for schools and communities. Local authorities, national programme partners and specialist private sector companies are all involved, bringing education and project delivery experience together.

Throughout BSF, all partners will work closely together, with certain partnerships coming to the fore at different stages of the project. The procurement model through which services will be bought and delivered in BSF is the Local Education Partnership (LEP). The LEP will deliver the entire programme of work in an area through partnership working between local authorities, the private sector and Partnerships for Schools— all of whom will own a stake in the LEP.

BSF is a complex programme, so the roles and responsibilities of all partners must be clearly communicated and understood by those involved. The role of the LEP is to ensure that BSF money is used efficiently and effectively to improve local authorities’ secondary school estates.

An LEP is a public private partnership between a local authority, PfS and a private sector partner selected in open competition under European Union procurement rules. It will be a joint venture company focused on delivering BSF investment and charged with making every aspect of the planned school improvements a reality.

High quality school design is vital to Building BSF. A number of initiatives from the DCSF and PfS support the drive to ensure that BSF investment results in welldesigned schools which will benefit school staff and pupils and the wider community.