This is an exciting time for the school as we are now heavily involved in detailed preparations for the vision of a new school here at Cornelius! For those who have not heard of the BSF (Building Schools for the Future) programme and what is going on at the school, this page will outline the scheme and what is being done to ensure we make the most of this exciting opportunity!

What is BSF?

BSF is the largest single capital investment programme undertaken by the government in 50 years. Its purpose is to rebuild or renew virtually all of England’s 3500 secondary schools in order to transform education for pupils. BSF aims to provide 21st century learning environments for pupils and teachers and to increase opportunities for life-long learning for the wider community.

Virtually every family and community in England will be affected by BSF in some way. Creating educational and leisure facilities for the whole community, not just schoolchildren, is a fundamental part of BSF, so all members of the community will benefit directly from the improvements to local schools, for example, by being able to use them for sports or evening classes.

Changes under BSF are happening through the vision set out in the 'World Class Education on Canvey' document from Essex County Council. Throughout the process, Essex County Council are supporting the school with PLACE educational consultants and Partnerships for Schools (from the DCSF).

More information on BSF can be found from the links in the 'Additional Information' section at the bottom of this page.

The BSF Stakeholder Group

BSF will affect the whole community and so we have set up a BSF Stakeholder Group which meets at key points in the development process to discuss issues and work out ways forward. Members of the Stakeholder Group are listed in the table below.

In addition, a representative from Furtherwick Park School attends all meetings.

What has been achieved so far

Many aspects of the development of the vision for the new school have now been achieved:

• BSF Stakeholder Group Workshops have been held throughout 2007. Information on the second BSF Stakeholder Group workshop (held on the 9th July 2007) can be found in the 'Additional Information' section at the bottom of this page.

• pupils from the Stakeholder Group have written articles for the weekly school newsletter 'Cornelius Voice'. These can be read on the Parents' Centre pages.

• on 20 July 2007, the Headteacher submitted the school's Strategy for Change document, which sets out the vision for the new school, contains key performance indicators and the processes of change management that the school will undertake;

• in October and November 2007, the school submitted its Education Design Brief documentation. This sets out the a set of design challenges for the architects which will lead to the formation of outline plans for the new school;

• 9 November 2007 - a small group of pupils are now involved in work with the Sorrell Foundation and have started their work on designing a new school. Information on this aspect of the BSF planning process can be found below.

Sorrell Foundation - "Joined Up Design for Essex BSF"

Pupils at Somerset House as part of the Sorrell Foundation BSF planning process

On Friday 9th November, five pupils from years 7,8 and 9 visited Somerset House on the Embankment in London to begin work on the Design Challenge for BSF organised by the Sorrell Foundation. They have formed the Client Group who will be feeding information and views to the architects who will be designing the new school. They were accompanied by Mr Horn and Mrs Hibben.

The day was very useful. Pupils were asked to pick out features of the current school that worked well and features that did not. They then had to present these views in the Lecture Theatre to the other schools taking part. They also spent time looking at the exhibition in the foyer which included examples of school design that have won awards. In the afternoon the pupils were taken to visit the British Film Institute and the Royal Festival Hall to examine features of modern design. Finally, pupils from all schools were treated to a “flight” on the London Eye.

The pupils will be going back to Somerset House on the 27th November. They have to find out pupil views from a questionnaire and will be expected to make a contribution to the website and school newsletter before they return. They have also been given a camera to record aspects of the school that they like/dislike, and these will form part of a larger display.

The pupils were: Briony Waters 7C4, Scott Moore 7C2, Jack Slater 8B1, Brianie Stevens 8B6 and Daniel Griffiths 9A2.

A brief for the Sorrell Foundation work can be downloaded from the 'Additional Information' section below.

Photographs

Click on the thumbnail for a larger image.

BSF Timeline in Essex

South Essex is in Wave 4 of the BSF programme. This means that we need to meet the following deadlines:

• Up to 20 July 2007 - working with stakeholders to create a draft Strategy for Change document (part 1) which will feed into Essex's Strategy for Change document part 2;

• July to mid-September completion of visioning and strategy;

• September 2007 to January 2008 - the OBC (Outline Business Case) is put together by Essex County Council;

• From March 2008 – advert is placed in the OJEU (Official Journal of the European Union) which begins a 15 month procurement process. Through this process, a contractor will be selected to build and run services in our new school;

• January 2010 - building starts on site;

• From September 2011 - new school opens.

Additional Information

Further information is available on the links below:

• Stakeholder Workshop 2 Responses (Acrobat - 66Kb)

• Sorrell Foundation Brief (Acrobat - 83Kb)

• Report on work with the Sorrell Foundation (Acrobat - 15Kb)

• Building Schools for the Future website

• Teachernet Schools of the Future website

• PLACE Group website

• World Class Education On Canvey

• Partnerships for Schools