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Building Schools for the Future

Building Schools for the Future

Announcement of Selected Bidder - August 2010 New

Hertfordshire County Council Announces Selected Bidder for Stevenage school building projects.

Hertfordshire County Council would like to announce the appointment of Balfour Beatty Education as its Selected Bidder to deliver the rebuilding and remodelling of Marriotts, Lonsdale and Nobel schools in Stevenage. More details in the press release:

Press Release

• Adobe pdf, 15kb/1 page, 26/08/2010, final_selected_bidder_release_aug10.pdf

Update - July 2010

You will be aware of the recent government announcement on Building Schools for the Future. Hertfordshire has issued a press release which is copied below. The team will now need to rethink how we deliver the capacity for school places in Stevenage and will be considering options in consultation with stakeholders. The Compulsory Purchase Order enquiry for Great Ashby has been adjourned whilst this is carried out. The full announcement and more details on the review is available from;

• www.education.gov.uk/news/news/bsf-review

For further information please contact simon.newland@hertscc.gov.uk.

Press release

The Department for Education yesterday announced a major review of the schools capital investment programme.

In Hertfordshire, this substantially affects proposals for BSF-funded investment in secondary schools in Stevenage. Three school projects in Stevenage may still go ahead to the current timetable, but these are subject to the outcome of further discussions between Hertfordshire County Council and the Department for Education. These are Lonsdale School, Marriotts School, and the Nobel School.

However, as part of the review, the following school projects are described by DfE as having been stopped: Barnwell School, Greenside School, John Henry Newman RC School, Stevenage Education Support Centre, The Barclay School, The Thomas Alleyne School, and The Valley School.

The announcement mainly covers the BSF programme. Rebuilding and refurbishment projects in schools may still go ahead under other future capital investment programmes.

The county council will be considering further what options are available for dealing with the continuing need for new capital investment in Stevenage as and when DfE announces what new funding will be available from 2011/12 onwards.

Whilst many Academy projects are also subject to review nationally, the DfE statement confirms that proposals for new building projects for the Francis Coombe Academy and the Bushey Academy, both in Watford, will be unaffected.

Executive member for Education and Skills, Councillor Richard Thake said: "While it is disappointing that some of Hertfordshire's BSF plans will not be able to proceed at this time, I recognise that the country cannot borrow its way out of debt and that a period of retrenchment is essential in the national interest.
“The County Council will engage with partners to ensure that a full part is played in informing the coming review and we will highlight the immense pressures that the burgeoning growth in demand for school places is putting on Stevenage and the County as a whole”.

Introduction

Building Schools for the Future (BSF) is a Government investment in secondary school estates to transform the learning experience of children. 

Funding will be rolled out across Hertfordshire over the next 10 – 15 years starting in Stevenage, which has been allocated £130m.  This is exciting news for Hertfordshire!  BSF will be the first investment in schools on this scale for over 30 years, so Hertfordshire must grasp the opportunity to make all our secondary and special schools innovative and exciting learning environments.  Our top priority is teaching and learning, and BSF investment in buildings and ICT will create 21st-century facilities to support education.

BSF is a wonderful opportunity to make things better in a variety of ways for the young people in Hertfordshire. Having a clear educational vision will drive the changes we will see first in Stevenage.

In our vision for the future we can expect to see things like:

• New and innovative ways of changing what we learn at school and how we learn it.
• Light, attractive and flexible spaces in buildings fit for the future.

• Dedicated space across institutions for vocational learning.
• Designs that promote increased access for learning and leisure.
• Sports facilities that promote healthy lifestyles for the whole community.
• A range of public services built into and around schools and extended schools.
• The best use of latest ICT in our schools.

Hertfordshire's strategy for change based on a vision for education is contained in the document below:

Building Schools for the Future - Hertfordshire's Vision for Education

• Adobe pdf, 2MB/6 pages, 16/10/2009, hertfordshire_vision.pdf

Your Role

This is our chance to get things right for young people, and we all have a role to play in making it happen. Ultimately it is only our schools, parents and young people that can make the vision a reality.

• BSF will be another way of giving every child the best chance of achieving their potential. All young people should leave secondary school with functional skills in English and mathematics and understanding how to learn, think creatively, take risks and handle change – essential to survive and thrive in the future.
• Teachers will play their part by using their skills and knowledge to engage students as partners in learning and acting quickly to adjust teaching in response to need.
• Schools and parents will work even more closely, and parents will be shown how to support their child’s learning.
• Our county and country is full of committed, talented and skilled professionals who are working to improve the life chances of children in schools. However, there is a growing awareness that some of the practices and procedures we adopt in our education system are fast becoming outdated.
• BSF is being seen the catalyst for transformation of education in this country. BSF is not simply a buildings programme, and must not result in ‘old wine in new bottles’.

Guidance for Schools

You are about to become engaged in Hertfordshire’s building schools for the future programme and this guidance booklet, produced by a group of headteachers and officers, is designed to help you understand what is expected of schools and what support they can expect to receive.

Building Schools for the future is much more than a building programme and is about ensuring that our schools are able to meet the needs of young people and their communities through the 21st century. It is often referred to as an educational transformation programme and throughout this booklet we hope to help you understand what transformation might mean in this context. Building Schools for the Future (BSF) is the largest single schools investment programme for over 50 years. Initially we would ask you to imagine the world of 2025, which is the approximate time when children currently in the foundation stage of our primary schools will be finishing their university education. What will the world be like for them and what role will schools have assumed in that world. These are the schools that we are now preparing for and thinking about designing.

Guidance for Schools in Welwyn, Hatfield, Potters Bar and Borehamwood

• Adobe pdf, 438kb/40 pages, 26/05/2009, bsf_guidance_schools.pdf

Further Information

A series of visioning workshops was held for schools, partner organisations and other stakeholders. Each area established a set of educational principles and what that might mean for their schools. A selection of the outputs from the workshops are available below as PDF documents from the Hertsdirect BSF webpages:

• www.hertsdirect.org/scholearn/bsf/how/bsfworkshop/

Building Schools for the Future - LEP and FM Managed Services Workshop - January 2008

• Powerpoint 2003, 661kb/21 pages, 18/03/2008, lepfm_workshop_jan08.ppt

Facilities Management and BSF

• Powerpoint 2003, 316kb/9 pages, 18/03/2008, facilities_management.ppt

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