Involving the community in BSF schools runs from the mundane to the far-reaching. While the senior team at the recently opened Bristol metropolitan college "welcomes students and parents every day" according to headteacher Theresa Thorne, the governors at Allerton High in Leeds, on the other hand, have designed and help to run a new multi-faith centre.
For schools like Southfields community college, south London, involving stakeholder groups in the design process has thrown up a plethora of ideas, from the admin staff's input on how doors should open to governors sketching people-flow in the dining hall. It is also, says headteacher Jackie Valin, "a lot more fun".
Reaching out to parents turns the previously disengaged into "our best advocates", according to Pat Dubas, headteacher at Samworth enterprise academy, Leicester. The 40-odd parents drinking coffee in Samworth's atrium restaurant on any morning would agree.
She says that the school's restaurant, "which arose out of parent consultation, is a wonderful space for community and school to meet."
Samworth used a BSF exemplar design to create its extended school for children aged 3-11 years, which also hosts local agencies, parent and community groups, and adult learning and training opportunities. "It's breaking down huge barriers," says Dubas.
First impressions of a school are crucial in determining how far parents and the community may be prepared to get involved, says Peter Maxwell, interim director of enabling at the Commission for Architecture and Built Design. "The entrance is very important for school and community. A less traditional entrance, housing a coffee shop for example, is less forbidding and will help draw in adults." Pupils should also be involved in the consultation process. "Educational transformation needs pupil input," says Maxwell.
Design Quality Indicators (DQI) for schools are the government's preferred tool for community engagement. DQI, launched in 2005, quizzes all stakeholder groups at all stages: briefing, mid-design, pre-occupancy and first-use. Take-up is "patchy" at the moment, says Maxwell, but from this summer, designers and builders must take account of DQI.
Weblinks
DQI for schools: dqi.org.uk/schools
Teachernet exemplar designs: tinyurl.com/6jehhq
