Five years into the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, it is undoubtedly the new school buildings that have grabbed the limelight, with their bold, modern structures, bright and light learning spaces and gleaming facilities. But as the programme advances, remodelling — not rebuilding — will be the name of the game for increasing numbers of schools.
All secondary schools in the country will benefit to some degree from BSF, and the vast majority will stay on the same site, requiring a mixture of new and replacement buildings, adaptations and refurbishment.
"A good remodelling provides advantages for the whole school," says Ty Goddard, director of the British Council for School Environments, a charity/lobby group which aims to ensure that school building investment gives value for money. "But it's a big challenge because remodelling can be seen by schools as second-class investment."
Peter Maxwell, head of enabling at the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (Cabe) agrees that remodelling feels psychologically different from a new build, but believes remodelled schools have some important advantages. One of these is space: "A Victorian building or even a 1950s building can be a lot more spacious than current regulations allow, so remodelled schools can have much better space than would be possible in a new build," he says.
Another advantage is that a remodelled school retains its sense of identity, rather than having to create a new one. This is particularly valuable if the building is a former grammar school (see panel) or voluntary aided school, with some history attached and an element of "gravitas", says Beech Williamson, design manager at Partnerships for Schools. The school's historical identity is often important to the local community, and the remodelling programme may be a way of school and community working together on local regeneration.
Building work on the school site offers plentiful curriculum opportunities and
ways of involving students in the process, provided the school and contractors maintain good relations. Remodelling a school also has considerable advantages in terms of sustainability, since some materials will be reused and less energy will be expended in manufacture and transport.
Physical improvements
Pam Woolner, research associate at Newcastle University's Research Centre for Learning and Teaching, took part in a 2005 study, The Impact of School Learning Environments, which found that, in many cases, small and relatively cheap alterations — such as repainting classrooms or replacing furniture — could bring about improvements in learning.
The impact of physical change in a school is hard to quantify, however, because "it depends very much on what you started from," she says. Physical improvements to a run-down school are likely to have more impact than, for instance, a new coat of paint in a well-maintained school.
The main challenge of remodelling, says Woolner, is "looking at what you've already got in a school, working out what is good — for instance, pleasant dining room facilities, or two departments working particularly well together — and hanging onto it, though not necessarily in the same physical form."
Physical changes alone are not enough and the key to successful remodelling, the study found, is the way in which the process is managed. This means involving all users of the school building in consultation — and Woolner feels strongly that nonteaching staff should be included in this, as well as teachers and students. "Nonteaching staff are the un-mined resource, particularly in secondary schools; they often live locally, have children at the school and have been connected with the school for a long time."
Contemporary vision
Adapting spaces in an old school to a 21stcentury educational vision — where the teacher is no longer always at the front of the class and students work more independently in different-sized groups — can present another significant challenge. Williamson says that flexibility is key.
"We recommend that schools organise several suites of six rooms of different sizes including one outdoor space, which are owned by a team of teachers who give them an identity and use them according to the groups they are working with," he says. In some cases a wall might be knocked down to create one larger space within a suite. Doors might be taken out of some classrooms in an enclosed suite, or windows added to internal walls to create links with study spaces outside the classroom.
New furniture, says Maxwell at Cabe, "becomes much more important for a remodelled or refurbished school, and helps to promote the personalised learning agenda".
Hannah Jones, director of special projects at the National College for School Leadership, agrees that furniture should be more of a priority. "We recommend that spending on furniture and equipment should be 10% of the budget, but current spending is only 3%. Heads should be putting more money where it's going to have most impact on learning."
Another advantage for schools undergoing remodelling is that many already have well-developed grounds. Catherine Andrews, chief executive of Learning Through Landscapes, the school grounds charity, says: "Instead of just thinking about the outside of the building from the inside, schools need to consider how the outside can influence the inside."
This might mean, for instance, moving your science faculty close to your woodland area, or your food technology classroom next to the garden where students are growing food. If new buildings are added, or old ones knocked down, schools should consider how buildings link with each other to avoid creating "dead spots" or hidden corners — prime sites for bullying. Students should take every opportunity to reuse materials on the site, for instance making raised beds from old bricks or flooring, or creating temporary gardens during the building process.
Weblinks
British Council for School Environments: www.bcse.uk.net
Cabe: cabe.org.uk
Design Council: designcouncil.org.uk
Learning through Landscapes: ltl.org.uk
Transforming Schools, a guide toremodelling secondary schools:
partnershipsforschools.org.uk/library/DCSF_publications.jsp#transforming
