How does your secondary school plan
to meet local demand?
The BBC has reported that councils will have to generate a predicted 80,000 additional secondary school places in order to accommodate the increase in the number of pupils who will be graduating from primary schools over the next four years.
It has been decided that rather than building new secondary schools, some 17 existing secondary schools will be expanded and transformed into what will be known as “super-sized” secondary schools – which should be a more financially viable option for councils.
Naturally, there are some concerns about whether the same standards of behaviour and academic attainment can be maintained following the expansion.
However, School Minister Nick Gibb doesn’t believe this to be a cause for concern and is quoted in TES as saying, “If you look at Shanghai, their schools are very large and they produce some very high standards of education.” Shanghai High has more than 3000 students and is considered as one of Shanghai’s top state schools.
Regarding the benefits of super-sized schools, Head teacher Tony Alexander said: “We are able to provide a broad curriculum that other schools could not afford. And we have a wide range of children with different qualities and attributes, which can only be good.”
Whether your school has plans to be super-sized or not, it is likely that some expansion will be necessary in order to meet local demand. This can bring the added benefit of being able to choose the design of your new classroom so that it represents your school’s values.
For example, if being eco-friendly and providing pupils with plenty of learning outside the classroom opportunities is valued by your school, you may want to have a classroom built which represents these values, such as those from The Learning Escape.
The Learning Escape’s classrooms are bathed in natural sunlight, warm in the winter, cool in the summer and are able to withstand whatever extremes of weather climate change throws at them.
They are designed to be eco-friendly, not least with the option to have sun pipes, living sedum roofs, solar water systems and solar power systems installed.
To see the Learning Escape classrooms that schools have designed and that we have built recently, just click here.
Or to discuss any aspect of your project or to book a free survey, just call us on 0800 917 7726. You can find more information on our website.
What’s more, there are leasing options available to your school and you can find more information about financing here.
Link to the BBC’s article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-34486006