Understand the educational needs of the wider area and the development to come forward.
Provide the funding, land and delivery mechanisms to bring forward schools to meet that need.
Incorporate schools into design codes both in terms of the schools themselves and the spaces and uses around them and the routes to them.
Work with all stakeholders to design and deliver the schools on time and budget as well as negotiating community access to use facilities out of school hours.
Work with and support the academy trusts to become fully integrated into the surrounding community.
Provide schools with educational material which explains the landscape and heritage immediately around them.
Celebrate great schools, learn lessons, refine and repeat.
Schools are so much more than section 106 contributions to be discharged. Properly considered, they are the building blocks for a new community providing opportunities to make exceptional design statements, generate strong community ties, accelerate housing demand and establish sustainable travel patterns. Large scale Strategic Sites normally necessitate the delivery of a number of primary schools and at least one secondary school. Working with the county council as education authority, the local academy trusts, LocatED and the Department for Education, we seek to ensure that the schools are delivered on time, on budget and with the facilities needed for both the school and the local community.
Successful schools require everyone to play a part and the headteachers and principals of these schools are key players in their growing communities. Whilst Covid-19 has necessarily restricted integration and access, school buildings and spaces have regularly been in community use and sports halls have been designed with the wider community in mind. We are also exceptionally proud of the role our team has in supporting the schools by becoming governors and working with other stakeholders to generate support and allow pupils to play an important part in the life of the growing community.
