Feature Story

Sandwell – top of the class for education

Cabinet Member for Children and Young People Councillor Ian Jones and BSF Programme Manager Jane Dixon explain how Sandwell Council and its partners are driving forward a huge and complex scheme.

A £370m scheme to rebuild or revamp every secondary school in a deprived Black Country borough in the West Midlands has been hailed as ‘exemplary' by 4ps (Public Private Partnerships Programme). Sandwell's award-winning Building Schools for the Future scheme achieved overall financial close in the summer 2009 – despite a harsh economic climate.

There's a real sense of achievement now work is under way on two brand new schools in the first phase of Building Schools for the Future. Smethwick and Rowley Regis learning campuses will transform educational and leisure opportunities for pupils and their local communities when they open in early 2011.

Preparatory work has also begun on the rest of the schools in Wave 3 and submissions are now awaited on Stage 1. We've worked closely with Sandwell Futures, the Local Education Partnership (LEP), over the last few months to ensure these submissions will meet our requirements and let us move quickly to Stage 2 and financial close.

We have another wave in the pipeline and there will be ups and downs along the way, as there always are with such big projects, but we are very proud we are on budget – despite the credit crunch and recession. Also, all the original benefits in the draft scheme are still in place with no omissions from the Outline Business Case.

We have moved ahead by fully embracing partnership working and bidders have felt throughout they were viewed as valued contributors to solutions rather than merely working in isolation. This meant we developed an excellent working relationship with the consortium which eventually won the Sandwell BSF contract, Environments for Learning (E4L), led by Interserve, and could hit the ground running.
But speed is not the only achievement – efficient management of the process has led to a much lower project development cost than typically seen with other local authorities. Progress has been achieved by strong political will, a robust governance procedure and a client team based on the officers originally involved in the BSF programme, who have built up an invaluable store of skills and knowledge.

The project so far has achieved its aims by being firmly based in Sandwell's education vision, and by a comprehensive programme of engagement at every stage of the process, put simply, asking people what they want from their local schools.

The vision is for every one of Sandwell's children and young people, from diverse backgrounds and with differing needs, to meet their potential, achieve their highest levels of education success, live healthy and safe lives, and have the opportunity for a fulfilling life in a caring environment.

It identifies the following as essential requirements:
• Encouraging children and young people to attend and enjoy school;
• Achievement stretching national educational standards;
• Ensuring parents, carers and families are able to support learning;
• Ensuring children and young people are able to engage in further education, employment or training on leaving school;
• Ensuring children and young people are ready for employment.

The Sandwell BSF Programme plays a crucial role in helping to deliver these priorities. BSF is a vast and complex undertaking, affecting a huge range of stakeholders in and outside the borough and effective, open and honest consultation lies at the heart of our project.

The project management team engages regularly with key project stakeholders' and service user groups, from young people and parents to council cabinet and other members, unions, governors, teachers and heads.

This means we can draw up objectives appropriate to individual schools and have the backing of local communities in achieving them. Mindful that we need to continue to meet Sandwell's education vision and ensure value for money, we have also developed an approvals strategy that can be used for all new projects.

We continue to explore opportunities for the LEP, within OJEU constraints, which has developed an excellent partnership relationship within the team of directors. We are proud the LEP is set up to provide training opportunities for young people and ensure the maximum benefit from BSF flows to local businesses.

Together we look forward to seeing a dramatic transformation in Sandwell schools over the coming years.