Strategy

School Estate Strategy

In response to the 2008 Audit Scotland report 'Improving the school estate', the Scottish Government, jointly with COSLA, developed a new school estate strategy, which was published in 2009: Building Better Schools: Investing in Scotland's Future. This sets out the national and local governments shared vision, aspirations and principles for the efficient and effective management of the school estate.

The 2003 strategy can be viewed here: Building Our Future - Scotland's School Estate.

Suitability Core Fact

The Suitability Core Fact was published in October 2008. It seeks to improve the consistency and robustness of the reporting of the Suitability Core Fact and therefore increase confidence in the comparability of the ratings within and among local authorities across Scotland.

Further information about the new guidance document and the accompanying worksheets.

Guidance

Guidance documents which were issued as part of the existing strategy are listed below, with most recent publications first.

  Title Year

Description

Building Better Schools Publication Building Better Schools: Investing in Scotland's Future 2009 Building Better Schools: Investing in Scotland's Future, is the new school estate strategy which builds upon and supersedes the previous strategy published in 2003. The Strategy is relevant to all parts of the school learning environment - the building and spaces, the grounds, the fixtures and facilities, even the furniture - and to all schools, not just those being replaced or refurbished. It focuses firmly on those who benefit from improvements to the estate - the pupils, the staff, the parents and the wider community.
Suitability

Suitability Core Fact

2008 The Suitability Core Fact seeks to provide a measure of the extent to which a school building and its grounds are appropriate in providing an environment which supports quality learning and teaching and those other services provided to individual children and to the school community, in terms of practicality, accessibility and convenience. Schools are rated from A to D.

School Estate

Condition Core Fact

2007

Guidance for local authorities on the assessment of school condition. This guidance outlines some changes to the current system and provides a suggested assessment methodology, including a scoring and weighting system. Two case studies are included to illustrate the suggested methodology.

School Estate School Design: Optimising the internal environment 2007 Guidance for local authorities on internal environmental conditions in schools. This guidance covers internal air quality ( IAQ), heating, ventilation and acoustics in school buildings. The document suggests ways in which local authorities might consider improving internal environmental comfort to create better learning and teaching environments.
School Estate Post Occupancy Evaluation Workshop 2005 Developments and experiences of schools evaluation with local authorities.
School Estate Post Occupancy Evaluation - Braes High School, Falkirk 2005 The Scottish Executive commissioned Chris Watson to undertake a demonstration evaluation of Braes High School in Falkirk. The exercise involved interviews with groups of stakeholders (including staff, pupils, managers, council officials and community users) to seek their views about what was good, and what was not so good, about their school building.
School Estate Output Specification 2004 For local authorities preparing an output specification for PPP projects.
School Estate Option Appraisal 2004 Provides advice to local authorities on how to carry out an assessment of investment options.
School Estate Evaluation 2004 To help local authorities evaluate how well a completed school building project meets the needs of the school's community, including students, parents and staff.
School Estate Managing Schools During Construction Projects 2004 Aimed principally at Head Teachers and school management teams to assist in planning and managing the tasks they may face during a major construction project.
School Estate Sustainability 2004 Outlines the principles to consider and the process to follow, in order to achieve a sustainable school.
School Estate Fire Safety in Schools 2003

Aimed at local authorities and other stakeholders with an interest in establishing and maintaining a safe school environment free from fire and its effects.

Following the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, this guidance has been superseded by the new Fire Safety Guide publication: EDUCATIONAL AND DAY CARE FOR CHILDREN PREMISES, which is available on the Fire Law website

The Fire Safety in Schools document when read in conjunction with the new Fire Safety Guide will still be a useful source of general information and guidance for local authority officers.

School Estate Case Studies 2003 An illustrated collection of case studies that show how Scottish authorities are implementing the school estate strategy.
School Estate School Design 2003 Why design is important, key questions and ten points to consider to ensure good design, including through the procurement process, and some recent examples of good practice across Europe.
School Estate School Estate Management Plans 2003 Provides further advice on school estate management plans and is intended to help local authorities in developing their own plans.
School Estate Core Facts 2003

Guidance to local authorities, with the purpose of establishing a baseline picture of the current school estate and to provide a way to measure the benefits of long term investment (only in PDF).

School Estate The 21st Century School 2003 Provides details on a range of policies that impact on the delivery of better public services through the school estate.
School Estate Building Our Future - Scotland's School Estate 2003

The key strategy publication, sets out the vision for well designed, well built and well managed schools.

Hard copies of these publications can be requested by emailing schoolestate@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

 

Page updated: Wednesday, August 15, 2012