The biggest school project ever undertaken

Building Schools for the Future (BSF) is the biggest ever school infrastructure investment programme.

Launched in 2004, and worth £45bn, it aims to transform education for 3.3 million 11-19-year-olds, rebuilding or renewing all English secondary schools in the next 15 years, providing premises designed to maximise effective use of IT.

Capital funding for IT is equivalent to £1,675 per pupil place under BSF, with a total IT budget of about £4.5bn.

In collaboration with stakeholders such as schools, local authorities submit an area-wide vision for secondary school education to Partnership for Schools (PfS) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).

“BSF is a fantastic opportunity to innovate in IT, but we need a route that ensures innovation is nurtured, encouraged and managed,” said Ty Goddard, director of the British Council for School Environments.

“Tested innovation is key, rather than bells and whistles for the sake of it. There must be a focus on the needs of the stakeholders, and that includes talking to teachers and children.”

Local authorities form local education partnerships with PfS and private sector firms to deliver the projects and act as the single point of procurement.

So far 12 BSF schools have been completed and 17 projects have reached financial close.

DCSF expects 35 more schools to open in 2008-09.

“Building Schools for the Future is already beginning to transform the face of education for thousands of young people, their teachers and the communities they live in,” said PfS chief executive Tim Byles.

“At its heart, BSF is about improving the life chances of all young people, no matter what their background or their abilities.

“BSF places transformation at the heart of the process, linking in IT in a way that no other national scheme has so far been able to do.”