Building Schools for the Future

Barking and Dagenham

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Building Schools for the Future is the Government's £45 billion programme to rebuild or renew every secondary school in England. Barking and Dagenham is in stage ('Wave') 4 of the programme.

We have a strong record of working successfully in partnership over 2 decades to improve educational standards and the life chances of children and young people. The Building Schools for the Future investment programme offers a timely opportunity to inject new pace and energy to ensure a step change to a higher level of sustained attainment.

In line with the Governments 'Every Child Matters' agenda, every Building Schools for the Future school will be an extended school, offering additional or dual use facilities, such as sport halls, libraries, nurseries and ICT resources. Building Schools for the Future offers a great opportunity to integrate schools into wider regeneration projects, repositioning schools at the heart of communities.

The 5 outcomes from the 'Every Child Matters' agenda are for every child, whatever their background or their circumstances, to have the support they need to:

Be healthy
Stay safe
Enjoy and achieve
Make a positive contribution
Achieve economic wellbeing

Aspirations in the borough are high and rising. We are committed to raising educational standards across the borough. We view the Building Schools for the Future programme as the key driver in increasing the prosperity, strength and cohesion of the whole community. We aim to deliver a step change in attainment levels by increasing school diversity.

All Borough Secondary Schools and Trinity Special School are involved in the Building Schools for the Future programme. Building Schools for the Future will enable us to dramatically enhance the educational outcomes for students. It will enable us to refresh and renew our vision for education.

The Building Schools for the Future programme will greatly enhance the current initiatives towards dialogic teaching and learning. Equally, Building Schools for the Future investment will strengthen the provision for vocational, technical and practical courses to reduce the numbers not in education, employment or training.

Current weaknesses in provision for those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are also addressed in the Building Schools for the Future proposals.

Building Schools for the Future investment will be used to implement national policy whilst ensuring particular local challenges are identified and addressed. By doing this, local children and young people will progress at the rate of their peers nationally and in many areas, at a faster rate. They will no longer be left behind.

The key guiding principles and priorities for Building Schools for the Future are to:

1. Extend choice, diversity and fair access by:

Expanding successful schools
Increasing faith school options
Transforming vocational, technical and practical opportunities in every school
Developing all-through coordinated campus provision on at least 3 sites

2. Personalise learning and teaching

Building to enable structured and responsive approaches to each young person's learning, enabling all to reach their full potential academically and in their adult and working life, and to develop their personal and particular interests, gifts and talents

3. Harness technology to:

Improve attainment and build on the evidence of the impact of the borough's central involvement in the recent ICT Test Bed improvement programme
Support personalisation of learning
Combine contributions of parents and the voluntary and community sector to learning

4. Promote excellent social interaction for learning and personal development by designing for:

High quality speaking, listening, discussion debate and dialogue in paired, small-group, seminar and whole-class situations
Productive environments for personal, social and health guidance, mentoring and support
Ensuring that children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, for example those on the autistic spectrum, have supportive, non-threatening spaces in which to thrive
Enabling children and young people to develop the whole range of 'soft skills'

5. Strengthen the support to families in favour of the welfare, well-being and upbringing of all children and young people

6. Maximise the contribution of Building Schools for the Future investment to the social economic and cultural development of the whole community

7. Promote and enable new ways of working, for example:

Pedagogical transformation across the whole range of learning opportunities, with ICT at the heart
Developing shared social pedagogical principles across all practitioners working in and from the new and refurbished schools

Timeline

June 2007 - Strategy for Change part 1 approved by ministers
September 2007 - Consultation with all school governing bodies
September 2007 - Strategy for Change part 2 submitted to Partnerships for Schools
February 2008 - Outline Business Case to be completed
2010 - Contract signed with private sector partner
2011-2012 - First buildings completed

Parents|

Information on how the borough's schools have improved with mini case studies where relevant - i.e. Eastbury, Castle Green, ICT Test Bed initiative.

Teachers|

Information on how to become a teacher within the borough.

Briefing for Governors - September 2007 PDF 182K