Islington's ambitious Building Schools for the Future programme took a step closer to becoming a reality this month (June).
The council announced the long-list of consortia (made up of architects, designers, and construction experts) who are competing to work to design and build and/or refurbish and maintain the borough's secondary schools to offer the best quality education to Islington students of the future.
The council and its education partner CEA, in conjunction with schools have this month, been evaluating initial responses completed by those bidding to work on this multi-million pound programme of investment, which will see £130million of improvements over the next 5 years (2007-12).
Seven consortia have been chosen to go through to the next stage, and work is now underway to select a shortlist of three.
Building Schools for the Future will not only see substantial rebuilding and refurbishment of the school buildings, but a change in the way education is delivered. Technology will be at the heart of how the students learn, and proposals include that each student will have an individual learning account to develop and assist them to reach their full potential in whichever field they choose.
The improvements to secondary schools is part of a wider Islington Schools for the Future programme - which proposes £170m investment to modernise both primary and secondary schools - meaning that schoolchildren will benefit from excellent educational facilities and opportunities from infancy through to adulthood.
This latest phase of the exciting project, follows confirmation from the Treasury and the DfES that Islington's Building Schools for the Future proposal had been examined and formally approved. A strong interest for the work has been expressed by a number of bidders following the Europe-wide advertisement placed in the OJEU (Official Journal of the European Union).
The programme will be delivered in phases, and work on the first-phase schools is due to start as soon as next autumn.
Highbury Grove, Holloway and St Aloysius R.C. schools have been identified as the first three schools to benefit from the multi-million-pound boost.
The procurement process is being carried out according to rigourous regulations laid down by the European Union. Schools will have the chance to talk with the shortlisted bidders (once selected) as part of this process, and this is a real opportunity for them to input into to how their school of the future will look. The procurement process leading to the selection of one consortium as "preferred partner" should be finished by March 2007.
Cllr Ursula Woolley, executive member for Children's Services said: "I am really excited that we have reached this milestone in the process of making our vision a reality. We have worked with pupils, school staff, parents and residents to make sure that the Islington Schools for the future really are the schools that everyone wants to see. This massive amount of financial investment, is underpinned by an enormous amount of emotional investment too. We are determined to give Islington schoolchildren the best chance of succeeding in life that we possible can, and that means investing in their education and aspirations for the future."
Page Last Updated: 29 July 2008