BSF and Academies to work together
In response to a report by Price WaterhouseCoopers (PWC), Schools Minister Jacqui Smith has announced that investment in Academy schools will link with the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. It was also announced that the BSF body, Partnerships for Schools will take over responsibility for the Academy Schools building programme.
This move is seen not just as a response to the PWC report, but also to a push by Specialist Schools and Academies Trust boss Sir Cyril Taylor (see following article) for more standardised designs for Academy schools. Unfortunately, it seems that our prediction last year that BSF was becoming driven by the needs of the procurement process, rather than by innovative ideas and educational transformation, have come true.