Education Business

As I write this, just a few weeks before school is out for another year, teachers and students across the country will no doubt be looking forward to a well-deserved break. The summer holidays offer a time – though with sons of my own I realise not too much – for some reflection on the previous year’s achievements and to think ahead to what lies in store in September and the start of the year.
    
For Partnerships for Schools (PfS) and Building Schools for the Future (BSF), summer 2008 offers us little in the way of R&R as we fast-track eight more local authorities into this once-in-a-lifetime programme to transform education in secondary schools the length and breadth of England.

Quick starters
In June, ministers announced that Enfield, Hounslow, North Tyneside, Rotherham, Southampton, Staffordshire, Walsall and Worcestershire had the go-ahead to join BSF ahead of the original timeline for entry, sharing around £625 million of investment. It means that these local authorities can now start developing projects to rebuild and refurbish the secondary schools in their areas most in need of investment – with the remaining local secondaries being rebuilt or renewed later in the programme.
    
The eight local authorities were originally part of the next tranche of 33 local authorities, who were all invited to demonstrate they were ready to start projects from this summer. Each of them demonstrated to us that they had already been thinking carefully about BSF in their area, as well as their ability to manage large-scale investment programmes and to maximise educational transformation opportunities. They have shown that they are ready to hit the ground running in a few months time, which is good news for the momentum of the BSF programme as a whole, and even better news for the students, teachers and local communities in these eight areas.
    
This fast-tracked cluster now join the 72 local authorities already engaged revolutionising the quality of schools in their area with cutting-edge design and energy efficient buildings. They will be safe, welcoming and inspiring environments that are used not only by students and teachers, but by local residents throughout the year, placing schools back at the centre of their communities – and as momentum builds in this programme, we are beginning to see this vision become a reality.
    
By the end of June a total of 20 BSF projects had signed deals with their private sector partners, worth in the region of £3.5 billion; and 12 Local Education Partnerships had been created with the capacity to not only deliver renewed secondary school facilities within their area, but primary schools, healthcare, housing and leisure facilities. There are now 13 BSF schools - a mixture of new build and refurbishment projects - open across England, and we expect around 20 to open ready to welcome students at the start of the new term.

Building success
One BSF school which has now been open for a year is the Bristol Brunel Academy, the first school to be delivered by a LEP. The academy has been helping us to quantify the difference that new and revitalised schools are starting to make. Once upon a time, the predecessor school was a school of last resort for many parents, there was little sense of pride amongst students, their parents and the local community.
    
Investment in this wonderful new building - recently named as a 2008 RIBA Award winner - has, however, sent out the message loud and clear that we are investing in the future of these young people, that we are investing in the careers of these teachers, and we are investing in the community for all local residents. And so today, Bristol Brunel Academy comes top of the class as the school of choice for hundreds of Bristol students and parents. So much so, in fact, that next year’s intake for Year 7 is massively oversubscribed.
    
We have just published the results of a ‘before’ and ‘after’ survey of Bristol students, carried out by NFER, which I encourage you to take a look at on our website www.p4s.org.uk. Students say they feel safer and more inspired in the new school, the numbers who say they intend to stay on in education after 16 has risen from 64 per cent to 77 per cent, and vandalism, bullying, graffiti and littering are all thought by the students to be much less of a problem.
    
While we’re still some way off being able to claim a direct link between new school surroundings and increased attainment, reports such as this are welcome step in the right direction. It’s easy to see why this building, coupled with strong leadership and energetic teaching, is already making a difference to the life chances of these young people who told us they find their new surroundings: ‘inspirational’, ‘colourful’, ‘motivational’, ‘stimulating’ and ‘comfortable’.

Under scrutiny
So with this growing body of evidence, and with around 35 more BSF schools opening in this current financial year, the BSF programme is gathering pace. We have just announced the third in a suite of reviews to maximise efficiencies in the BSF process. Having reviewed both the pre-procurement and procurement phases of BSF, which together will shave up to eight months off the delivery timetable and give project savings of around £250 million, we have turned our attention to the operational phase itself with a focus on how Local Education Partnerships are working.
    
12 of them are currently up and running, with a further nine anticipated within the financial year, and so it is the right time to take close look at the DNA of these partnerships and to identify best practice, which can be shared with new projects coming on stream.

Review of efficiency
The Operational LEPs Review will consider the effectiveness of these partnerships in operation, focusing on the extent to which they offer a fully integrated solution - how they add value over the longer term and deliver continuous improvement. It will also identify any learning points that need to be shared with the wider BSF community.
    
In addition to this Review, the DCSF is also currently consulting on the criteria that will determine the order in which those local authorities not yet in the programme join BSF. Included in the consultation is the suggestion of moving away from the ‘wave’ based approach to BSF and instead allowing local authorities to join the programme when they can demonstrate they are ready to do so.
    
We know there is no one-size-fits-all solution for BSF, it is a national programme, committed to the ECM agenda, personalised learning and sustainability, but which responds to local needs and aspirations and takes on board on local views through consultation and engagement. And we want to make it easier for local authorities to access the right support and advice at the right time, which is why I am pleased that there is now a single gateway for BSF with PfS managing the contracts on behalf of the DCSF for 4ps and CABE, and working more closely than ever before with NCSL to ensure that lessons learned and best practice are shared and listened to.
    
At the end of the day it is educational transformation that runs through the BSF programme, like Blackpool through a stick of rock. And that is why I do not want our legacy - or the success of the BSF programme - to be measured in bricks and mortar. It should be measured by our success in providing inspiring learning environments for citizens of the 21st century; by our success in raising aspirations and improving the life chances of young people and communities across the country; and by giving young people the chance to learn and broaden their horizons through access to the best teaching, technology and resources we have at our disposal.

For more information
More information about BSF can be found on the enhanced PfS website: www.partnershipsforschools.org.uk . The site includes ‘BSF Voices’ – a selection of video clips with students, parents and staff from BSF schools across the country talking about the impact of new teaching and learning environments.