This is a swirling and confusing time for those involved in schools and education. As a new landscape is taking shape there are a few things to note and a some to be wary of. It’s a heady mix for teachers and those at the sharp end as we wait for the headline spending figures [...]
Posts under ‘Sustainability’
What you may have missed in June?
It’s been a busy month in the world of school design. Amid the financial uncertainty, a number of key annual industry events took place during the month, including the BCSE Industry Awards – a great evening with a range of inspirational speakers. You can see a full list of the winners here and we’ll be [...]
Tech in practice
For the BCSE 2009 Industry Awards, we had a look around different schools’ approach to technology. Our winner that year – Forest Hill School- had a bespoke cutting edge ICT solution that enables a transformation in their learning and teaching and was provided by VT Education & Skills.
Sustainability in action
Bowbridge Primary in Notts was the winner of BCSE’s ‘Greening the School’ industry award in 2009. As the ‘Zero Carbon Task Force’ seems a distant memory, it is worth remembering what Bowbridge stood out for. The school’s staff and community were involved right from the start of this project so that the new extension could [...]
Creating autism friendly environments
Following our call for ideas on designing special schools, I was invited to visit the Treehouse School – which is part of the Pears National Centre for Autism Education and the Treehouse charity. Not only is it a truly inspirational building but also a beacon of good practice in designing autism friendly environments. Given the [...]
Wales 21st Century Schools programme
I was invited to be part of a panel discussion at yesterday’s launch of the Welsh Assembly’s school capital programme. The 21st Century schools programme is a major collaboration between government, the WLGA and local authorities and although the budget has not been set it could be as much as £2bn. The introduction to the [...]
Zero carbon taskforce – did it meet our 4 tests?
The Zero Carbon Task Force report made some significant and important recommendations within their report that offer a major opportunity to reduce carbon demands. In terms of the 4 tests that we outlined – how well have they done and did they go far enough? (it’s a long post but we felt it important to [...]
Zero-carbon schools – early thoughts
I’ve been looking through the Zero Carbon Taskforce’s final report that was published earlier today. My first reaction is the say that they’ve done a difficult job marrying up government rhetoric with the realities of the front line – and Robin and his team really deserve some credit for that. They also appear to have [...]
4 tests for the zero carbon taskforce
The Zero Carbon taskforce for schools is due to report its findings tomorrow. We know that the recommendations from March 2009′s interim report will be broadly accepted but surely there’s no room for ‘greenwash’ or unfunded recommendations. In the context of the Copenhagen Summit which profoundly missed its opportunity to make a difference – we [...]
