We are delighted to be the main supporting organisation for the upcoming Wellington College run Academies Conference that takes place on Friday 13 May 2011. The Secretary of State, the Rt. Hon Michael Gove MP, will give the keynote speech and will be joined by other leading figures, including Lord Andrew Adonis, Elizabeth Sidwell (the [...]
Posts under ‘Free Schools’
The James Review – digested
Well – its been a busy final day before the Easter holidays. Nothing like a 105 page government report to test your stamina!. We were asked this afternoon to comment on a BBC report that headlines the ‘failure of the school building system’ but as I said: there is much to be welcomed in the [...]
James Review is (finally) here
After a long wait, we finally have the Independent Review of Education Capital – the James Review – which sets out the 16 recommendations for the reform of the way schools are procured, designed and built.
Still waiting for Sebastian James…
The long heralded James Review on the future of schools capital seems to have had more pencilled-in launch dates than a NASA Shuttle. But we are pretty confident it will be launched shortly… For an industry that thrives on certainty, local authorities that need to plan and schools that need investment, this delay has implications. [...]
Free Schools debate – video finally live
The best things come to those who wait!! After a long while pulling the videos together, here is our fantastic free schools debate that took place at our BCSE Annual Conference last November. The views of this wonderfully diverse panel are a fascinating insight into the hot issues at the centre of the free schools [...]
Times Plus / Michael Gove education debate…
“EVIDENCE IS NOT THE PLURAL OF ANECDOTE…..” Give me the decayed glamour of a music hall in the East End; a panel discussion on education and I’m a happy man. This week I was a guest of Teach First at a Times Plus Newspaper debate:- ‘ Are our Schools Fit for purpose? ’ at Wilton’s [...]
Free schools – opening up the debate
We are just doing some final edits of video material from Gleeds TV from last year’s British Council for School Environments Annual conference and in particular the debate about Free Schools – with Fiona Millar, Indy Johar, Jon de Maria, Sobia Bashir, Dale Bassett and Pascale Scheurer – is one of the best and most [...]
New Year: time for fresh thinking on school capital
It’s been a long break from Centre for School Design activity – but with a lot of British Council for School Environments work in December including a study tour to New York and New Jersey, a new board of trustees and chairperson (Rachel Jones), a new office move to Islington, a second screening of the [...]
Waiting for Superman: Free Schools vs Local Schools – the debate starts here
On Monday 22 November, we are lucky enough to be hosting the first UK screening of the Oscar shortlisted film ‘Waiting for Superman‘ that has rocked the US education system and is set to send the debate about Free Schools in the UK into orbit. We know that the film will generate a huge amount [...]
Lord Knight: the future of school design
The BCSE Building Better Schools conference was in full swing one week ago. We are still getting some great feedback from participants and speakers alike – including this comment from leading journalist Fiona Millar:
