Building Schools for the Future newsletter

News Bulletin No 2. September 2007

What has happened over summer?

Officers have been preparing a document called ‘Strategy for Change Part 2’. This policy document which has to be approved by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and Partnerships for Schools, outlines how we will meet our key challenges and objectives. It also addresses our key estate proposals. The submission also indicates initial options and costings to show that the plans are deliverable and affordable. These will be discussed further with Heads on 5 October. To date, Rochdale has made excellent progress on its BSF Programme. Of the local authorities included in our funding wave (wave 4) who are new to BSF, we are currently the furthest advanced.

School change plans

Schools have produced change plans over the summer term and PfS have been very positive about the progress made by schools on these plans in the last three months. These will need to be further developed over the autumn term together with accommodation schedules for the BSF schools.

Design development

This will be a major focus for September and October with further school workshops taking place this term. The reason for this is to ensure that by Christmas we can cost up the overall affordability of the BSF project. This will ensure there are sufficient resources available for the schools to be upgraded in phases 2 and 3 of Rochdale’s project.

Project affordability

We believe our BSF project is affordable given a BSF funding allocation of around £150 million. There are some uncertainties over the form of funding for ICT, which potentially could cause the authority some financial difficulties. These will be tackled over the coming months. Cabinet received a report on this on 17 September and copies have been sent to Head Teachers.

Public consultations

Consultations are planned in September/October on the size and location of Holy Family RC/CE College and plans for Falinge Park High School in relation to the restrictive covenant issue. Formal proposals will also be published on the closure of Heywood Community School, the relocation of the Hearing Impaired Unit to Mathew Moss and the replacement of Springhill and Balderstone with a new school on the Springhill site.

BSF – Who’s Who?

Claire Butler - Deputy BSF Project Director

Claire has worked for the authority for three years having previously been employed as a lawyer with Addleshaw Goddard advising on private finance contracts. This experience was very useful in negotiations on the Schools PFI contract and will again be very helpful as we engage in the procurement phase of the BSF project.

As her "extra-curricular" activities, Claire is a member of Saddleworth Ladies Hockey Club and plays saxophone and flute (not at the same time, obviously!) in a jazz-funk band based in Blackburn. She is also a staunch Port Vale supporter, and tries to get to as many home matches as she can.

BSF – Sport and PE

We have been asked as part of the BSF process to establish a School Sport Stakeholder Group. This is being co-ordinated through Peter Jackson from Link4Life. This group will be asked to develop change plans for the delivery of the PE curriculum and to deliver tangible improvements in public access to opportunities for lifelong participation in sport and physical activity. This needs to be achieved through developing community access and developing sports links and partnerships. We have been asked to do an urgent mapping exercise of the Borough’s existing sport, leisure and culture estate which will involve engagement with colleagues in each secondary school. This work is being carried out by Neil Allen Associates.

BSF Project Timeline

Date	Development
September/October 07	Design Development and Accommodation Schedules
December 07	Governing Bodies sign up to BSF plans, ICT and FM proposals
January 08	Submission of Outline Business Case to PfS and DCSF
Easter 08	Official Journal of European Union – notice to prospective bidders

Tell us what you think

We want to engage staff and pupils and the local community in our BSF plans. Please let us know how you think this can best be achieved. Suggestions to schoolsbsf@rochdale.gov.uk

New PFI Schools

The Sensory Room at Newlands School The Hydrotherapy Pool at Redwood Secondary School. The playground area for KS1 at Hollin Primary School

Springside/Hamer, Newlands/Hollin, Oulder Hill/Redwood - Opened September 2007

Well done!

Congratulations to all our schools and their staff and pupils in contributing to the best ever GCSE results for the authority. This is fantastic news, bearing in mind the quality or otherwise of some of our buildings, ongoing building work and time spent on BSF planning. This gives us a good base from which to move forward with the resources that BSF investment brings.

Modernisation and Development Programme

Partition walls to utilise the area for other uses. Alkrington Primary – the extension for 3 classrooms

Rochdale Schools Service has commissioned a £2.5million capital programme of investment in primary schools Lots of natural light in the new classrooms. this year and many of our projects were completed this summer. This included updating works, such as new boilers, heating systems and rewiring works across 14 of our Primary Schools. There are also some major building works happening across a handful of schools, one of which is Alkrington Primary, Middleton, which has had a new toilet block, 3 new classrooms and a further extension to be built during the autumn term to modernise the administration and school support staff facilities. All the building work will accommodate the new pupils coming from Alkrington Moss Primary, which closed last term, with most of the Alkrington Moss equipment coming over to make the new pupils feel welcome.

St Anne’s Academy, Middleton

This project remains on track, with design discussion focusing on the accommodation schedule. Further work on the ICT strategy has been carried out in preparation for the submission of the project’s Outline Business Case. Once the Outline Business Case is approved, then six preferred contractors will be invited to tender for the work.

Jargon buster

DCSF - Department for Children, Schools and Families - the new name for DfES.
FM Services - FM stands for Facilities Management Services and comprises; caretaking; cleaning; catering; security; and grounds maintenance services. In some instances e.g. PFI schools, it also includes the maintenance and repair of buildings. Governing bodies will need to understand and agree the proposed way forward on FM plans as part of BSF, before the end of the year.
Outline Business Case (OBC) - This sets out in detail the scope, costs, affordability, risks, procurement route and timetable of the BSF project, so that it can be approved by the government. The OBC is written using guidance, and standard documentation provided by PfS. It cannot be agreed with governing bodies until the authority have agreed the basis of the submission.

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