School-building programme gets thumbs up

21 January 2009

School heads are confident that their future new school buildings will transform standards. But they are also are concerned that their old facilities are deteriorating quickly or not maintained properly while they wait for their new building.

That’s one of the conclusions from consultancy PwC in their second annual report on the evaluation of Buliding Schools for the Future programme. Overall, BSF has “gathered momentum” in the past year and there has been “significant progress” to improve the efficiency.
 
The report, published in part on the website of the Department for Children, Schools and Families, comes as the 50th school built or refurbished under BSF was opened this week.

Sedgehill School, a newly built 1,750-pupil specialist performing arts college in Lewisham, London, was finished a year ahead of schedule, alongside seven other BSF schools opening this term in Bristol, Knowsley, Leicester, Manchester and three in Sheffield.

Heads overwhelmingly back BSF, the report says; 96 per cent in the first three BSF waves and 88 per cent in second three waves surveyed saying it will make schools better places for staff to work. Eight in ten overall say it will improve pupil attitudes, behaviour and attainment, improve teaching and provide vital services for local communities.

There has been positive feedback from pupils and teachers in four new BSF schools opened in the past year. Teachers said facilities more than met pupils’ needs and that they buildings had vastly improved ICT. Pupils feel prouder of new schools and say it has raised their aspirations.

Big improvements have been made in consultation with schools. Heads are more deeply engaged as projects progress.

But the report says schools need more resources from local authorities to free up staff to focus on BSF. There needs to be more sharing of lessons learnt from the early BSF projects to later ones, and senior staff need to involve other staff more often.