Building Schools for the Future - BSF

 The Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme aims to rebuild or renew all of England’s state secondary schools over a 15-year period. Stoke-on-Trent is a Wave 1 authority and is in the process of developing its secondary and special schools as part of this programme.

There are several reasons why we are making changes to our schools:

• A number of our schools have too few pupils in them to be viable and cost effective. Although many parents say they like small schools, small schools find it difficult to recruit and retain teachers (especially teachers in shortage subjects), offer a broad curriculum, or to have enough money to invest in new facilities and equipment.

• Some of our schools occupy sites that are too small. Our proposals will make sure that all schools have enough external play areas, sports facilities and outside teaching areas.

• Many of our school buildings have come to the end of their natural life and need replacing. Many were built in the 1930s and 1950s to cope with rapidly rising roles after the first and second world wars. These buildings need replacing or modernising in order for them to deliver the curriculum and technology our young people deserve.

• Some schools are in the wrong place. Over the years, populations shift as new housing areas are built. We are therefore planning not only to make sure that our new schools are near to local communities, but that we identify sites that we may need in future, if population trends change.

We recognise that closing or opening schools is not always popular. Understandably, people become attached to what they know. In some cases, generations of families have gone to the same school. However, while we appreciate the importance of the past, we also have to look to the future. Over the next few years the curriculum, particularly for young people aged 14-19, will change. Schools will be required to teach a broader range of subjects known as 'diplomas'. Few schools will be able to meet the needs of their students without planning and delivering in partnership with others - our aim, through this modernisation and reorganisation is to create strong viable schools that give every young person the very best possible start in life.

The video below describes the need for change and the vision of the BSF project in Stoke-on-Trent, if this video fails to display or displays the message "This Video is no longer available" once the play button is pressed, please refresh the page or press F5 on the keyboard. If for any reason you cannot watch or play the video you will find our key principles in our Vision Document.