School building scheme to be accelerated

The Department for Children, Schools and Families has proposed that the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programmes should be accelerated.

Schools minister Jim Knight plans to offer every local authority the chance to join BSF in an effort to speed up the programme, adding to the 72 local authorities already undertaking building work.

Among the proposals are plans to allow schools to join BSF as soon as they qualify, rather than waiting for a set year-on-year enrolments, and a wider range of criteria in deciding which projects to prioritise.

Explaining the impact on teaching, the minister said: "[BSF …] aims to transform the shape of education for future generations.

"We now want to target children and schools with the greatest needs, wherever they live, to benefit as soon as possible."

Building work is underway in over 1,000 projects in the BSF programme, which aims to give pupils access to "world-class teaching and learning facilities".

The programme was launch by ex-prime minister Tony Blair, who described it as the "greatest school renewal programme in British history".