The 50th school to benefit from the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) program, Sedgehill School in Lewisham, southeast London, moved in to its new buildings earlier this month. The buildings were designed to meet the school’s specific needs, and were influenced by input from teachers, parents and pupils.
The BSF program is a government promise to replace, rebuild or renovate every secondary school in England over the next 15-20 years. Funding is based on a variety of factors including levels of educational attainment, child poverty and deprivation, and ability to deliver a strategic program.
Head Teacher of Sedgehill School, Karen Bastick-Styles, said: “The opportunity to design and build a new school for the students and staff at Sedgehill has been an incredibly exciting experience. It’s allowed us as a community to think creatively and innovatively about the type of teaching and learning we want to develop at Sedgehill to inspire our students, to help us achieve our vision and to continue our improvements in all aspects of our attainment.
“The building really is quite beautiful. The colours, the bright light spaces and the campus design with our Centre Circle as a focus point, combine to make Sedgehill feel like a really special place ready for our students and staff to learn and achieve great success.”
According to information provided by Lewisham Council, the new school’s carbon footprint is 55% less than the previous building, despite having rich ICT facilities.
The Independent reports that the BSF initiative is yielding positive results. It claims that last summer’s GCSE results in the four BSF schools where they could be counted were up 10% against a national average of 2%. And staying-on rates are going up in new schools, while exclusions, vandalism and bullying are all in decline.
