rce north east project

Building Schools for the Future – a Meeting of Minds

Autumn 2010

One day conference to bring together stakeholders in Building Schools for the Future (BSF):

Government, Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and Partnerships for Schools
Local education authorities,
Heads, teachers, children
Design team members, architects, engineers , constructors
Capital providers – banks and lawyers

The intention is to provide a forum for participants in the BSF programme to take stock of their experience, exchange good practice in the design and procurement of facilities and make recommendations to enhance the BSF scheme going forward.

The Conference will provide a number of expert speakers to evaluate case studies of completed and ongoing projects. Issues to be explored will include

The impact of good design on learning
Sustainability and the opportunity to use school buildings as an educational tool
Buildings and ICT to take account of ‘personalised learning’
Refurbishment - adapting the best of the old to address new challenges
‘Top tips’ from children learning in a new BSF school

In addition to the main lectures there will be breakout sessions at which themed seminars will allow participants to participate in a constructive dialogue to improve practice. There will also be the opportunity to visit schools in Tyneside which will act as exemplars of the issues discussed.

The outputs from the conference will take the form of coverage from professional journals and broadsheet press. The proceedings of the conference will be written up as a Special Edition of the Built and Virtual Environment Working Papers series published by the School of the Built Environment, Northumbria University. Finally a report of the conference will be produced for consideration by Partnerships for Schools as part of their stakeholder dialogue.

Building Schools for the Future

Building Schools for the Future (BSF) is a UK government programme that will see every state secondary school in England rebuilt or remodelled. Launched by the Department for Education and Skills in February 2004, it is the largest and most ambitious scheme of its kind anywhere in the world. It aims to transform education for over three million students between the ages of 11 and 19. Click here for more information.

Useful links

School of the Built Environment, Northumbria University
Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF)
Partnerships for Schools
Partnerships for Schools case studies
Schools North East