Here's something Nick found on the internet the other night. I don't know why he was doing this in his spare time, but it's an interesting find. Quite how they crammed that number of students on to the site I don't know, but I guess there were at least 30 in every class, where we now have lower numbers (20ish) in practical subjects.
Clissold Park School
Re-typing of a newspaper article, (date and provenance unknown) in the files of the Planning Dept. It is yellowed and incomplete. Probably about 1960
Full details of the new Clissold Park School, which is being built in Clissold Road, Stoke Newington, were released at a press conference held in the old school in Palatine Road last Friday. Boys and girls from the present upper and lower schools will move into the new building in September.
The £1 million pound school will accommodate 1723 pupils as opposed to the present 1000 crammed into the present buildings, where some classes have to be taken in a converted cloakroom. The sixth form will be expanded from 90 to about 225, and the range of facilities is exceptionally wide.
Alternatives
The new school will offer its senior pupils many alternatives to sports and games, and the emphasis is very much on the arts. To this end a large multi-purpose theatre with room for up to 200 is being built, as well as the games hall at the other end of the building which covers 6,500 square feet.
Clissold Park School will be one of the first schools to dispense with the traditional assembly hall. Instead, there are various smaller halls, and the sixth form will have two common rooms and a coffee bar. The central feature of the groups of three-storey buildings is an 18 foot wide concourse running right through where the old Church Walk used to be.
At last Friday's conference, the headmaster, Mr. T. C. Willcocks, spoke of the wide range of subjects available to his pupils, and he said that 61 % of them were immigrants – of 26 nationalities and speaking 21 languages. They were encouraged to take “A” levels in their own languages.
Improve
Mr. Willcocks felt that the school's curriculum would improve in its new premises, and he also expected that the present ”work preparation” scheme – whereby pupils on go to work at local firms for short periods in order to see how they are suited for the jobs they want – will be expanded. As far as social services are concerned, he said that an old people's home was just nearby, and there was room for further activity in that direction.
Mr. G. Stillman, of Stillman and Eastwick Field, the architects, said that the new school was “like a university college, with different forms of buildings all about three storeys high”.
Wednesday 15 October 2008
Wednesday 8 October 2008
A bit of a cheat
The push to get us to financial close continues to be a bit all consuming, but I'm determined to keep on bloggin'. One of the things I've been charged with doing is keeping staff abreast of developments. We have started a fortnightly BSF staff group, and the minutes of this are circulated, but on alternate weeks I've agreed to send out a building update. I thought I'd post this week's update to give you a small flavour of life on half a building site. I promise I won't make a habit of this.
"Firstly just to let you know that the builders will be using this Thursday pm and Friday to make a whole heap of noise, so please be aware and arrange to keep away from the site borders for interviews etc.
Over half term some major, major works will take place (e.g. staircase removal) which will literally make the whole building shake, the effects of which can be described by people who were around over the summer. Please do not arrange any activities in the school main building for that week. It should be OK to go in the temporary classrooms, but please notify Dionne or the Schoolkeepers if that is what you plan to do. There will be excavation around the L block, so this will be completely out of bounds. The sixth form loos will be inaccessible to students during lesson time from half-term onwards as the D stairs will be coming out.
The second generator will be arriving Thursday pm and installed on Friday & Saturday. There may be a need to take electricity down on Friday, but we really hope this won’t be necessary.
Electricity will need to come off in the main block this Friday from 4pm. This will mean that the network will also come down and not be available again until Saturday.
The frame for the new block will be delivered during w/c 20th October and will be installed over the following 2 weeks. The concrete will be poured for the ground floor slabs on Friday.
The area on the boundary of the building works has suffered particularly from noise, although there is an agreement that there should only be low-level noise during lesson time. One of the main causes is the need to punch through floors/ceilings to create spaces for the risers that will contain the new services. Apparently there is a large amount of structural intervention needed in this area.
Over the next few days there will be localised drilling around the 6th form study area, which is necessary in order to prepare for the new block being attached to it. This should be outside of lesson time only. The wooden partition will soon be replaced with a wall, which will considerably improve acoustic separation.
Further works to improve the whiteboard installation in the temporary classrooms will take place on Thursday & Friday.
I will be trying to get to see Heads of Department/Faculty about room layouts over the next few days. For phase 2 departments I need agreement about the teaching wall only. The rest of the room layout follows from that."
"Firstly just to let you know that the builders will be using this Thursday pm and Friday to make a whole heap of noise, so please be aware and arrange to keep away from the site borders for interviews etc.
Over half term some major, major works will take place (e.g. staircase removal) which will literally make the whole building shake, the effects of which can be described by people who were around over the summer. Please do not arrange any activities in the school main building for that week. It should be OK to go in the temporary classrooms, but please notify Dionne or the Schoolkeepers if that is what you plan to do. There will be excavation around the L block, so this will be completely out of bounds. The sixth form loos will be inaccessible to students during lesson time from half-term onwards as the D stairs will be coming out.
The second generator will be arriving Thursday pm and installed on Friday & Saturday. There may be a need to take electricity down on Friday, but we really hope this won’t be necessary.
Electricity will need to come off in the main block this Friday from 4pm. This will mean that the network will also come down and not be available again until Saturday.
The frame for the new block will be delivered during w/c 20th October and will be installed over the following 2 weeks. The concrete will be poured for the ground floor slabs on Friday.
The area on the boundary of the building works has suffered particularly from noise, although there is an agreement that there should only be low-level noise during lesson time. One of the main causes is the need to punch through floors/ceilings to create spaces for the risers that will contain the new services. Apparently there is a large amount of structural intervention needed in this area.
Over the next few days there will be localised drilling around the 6th form study area, which is necessary in order to prepare for the new block being attached to it. This should be outside of lesson time only. The wooden partition will soon be replaced with a wall, which will considerably improve acoustic separation.
Further works to improve the whiteboard installation in the temporary classrooms will take place on Thursday & Friday.
I will be trying to get to see Heads of Department/Faculty about room layouts over the next few days. For phase 2 departments I need agreement about the teaching wall only. The rest of the room layout follows from that."
Thursday 18 September 2008
Anything that can go wrong.
Well I hadn't realised how long it's been since I posted. Where did the summer go?
My excuse is that I waited for most of the holidays for something to happen, only to be assaulted by a flurry of activity of a fraught nature at the beginning of September. Anyone involved in school support services will know how awful the beginning of the academic year can be. You can plan for the predictable, but you're just waiting for the unpredictable to happen. If you put major building works into the mix, then you have a noxious cocktail of possibilities.
Before I begin the list I want to say the builders continue to be great and just swoop in and sort things as quickly as they can even if it's not really to do with them. They must dread my name coming up on their mobiles. Without them dealing with things so efficiently and with astonishingly good humour, the start of term would have been doubly as bad, which is a very scary thought. The builders have decided that the site is indeed cursed - a conclusion Nick the Network Manager came to a couple of summers back. And just to compound Nick's always being right-ness, they have also discovered that anything you touch on a Friday just breaks.
In the first two weeks we had:
My excuse is that I waited for most of the holidays for something to happen, only to be assaulted by a flurry of activity of a fraught nature at the beginning of September. Anyone involved in school support services will know how awful the beginning of the academic year can be. You can plan for the predictable, but you're just waiting for the unpredictable to happen. If you put major building works into the mix, then you have a noxious cocktail of possibilities.
Before I begin the list I want to say the builders continue to be great and just swoop in and sort things as quickly as they can even if it's not really to do with them. They must dread my name coming up on their mobiles. Without them dealing with things so efficiently and with astonishingly good humour, the start of term would have been doubly as bad, which is a very scary thought. The builders have decided that the site is indeed cursed - a conclusion Nick the Network Manager came to a couple of summers back. And just to compound Nick's always being right-ness, they have also discovered that anything you touch on a Friday just breaks.
In the first two weeks we had:
- Electricity & network service missing in certain sections of the "old building".
- Generator failure for unrelated reasons on three occasions, each of which left us without power or networks in the new block for around three hours. (including last Friday) You don't realise how much modern teaching relies on electricity until this happens. The teachers were having to be very creative. I suggested to the Economics teacher he should do the Winter of Discontent.
- Problems with water supply resulting in no toilet facilities or drinking water for exactly the staff team you wouldn't want without drinking water or toilet facilities. (last Friday)
- Major demolition on the site boundaries causing noise so loud the teachers couldn't be heard.
- Problems in the temporary reprographics room because of the arrival of Autumn and the moisture that brings to a room full of paper with no electricity out of hours.
- Ongoing issues with room allocations as a result of the decant. We've had to give up on a few solutions and take some drastic measures.
- Very unpleasant difficulties with the drainage to the sixth form toilets. (last Friday)
- Complete network failure totally unrelated to BSF and resulting in no network for a day and a half. Unfortunately this was at a completely separate time to the generator failure. At one stage it looked as if we'd have to have it repaired on a Friday afternoon, except the replacement switch got trapped in Amsterdam due to the fire in the Channel Tunnel.
Anyway, the good news is that things are far more settled now and no-one's shouted at me in the car park for a good few days. Always a good thing. As I've said before the staff are generally a laid back and cheerful bunch, so it just shows how tough a start of term it has been. Things are beginning to bite as we now have a full school and the onset of winter and moving into the new building still feels far away. It's a tribute to all concerned that the student guides at the Open Evening seemed completely relaxed about the whole thing, and prospective parents seemed far from put off by the building works.
Oh, and we still haven't reached financial close....
Anyway, I promise I will resume frequent and more positive posting activities now things are more settled. Sorry.
Thursday 31 July 2008
Summertime (and more pictures)
We've finally reached the summer holidays. Unfortunately we haven't reached Financial Close, but I'm sure you're as bored of reading that sentence as I am of writing it.
The run up to the summer break is notoriously fraught as tempers get frayed due to rising temperatures and exhaustion. Post-decant living has added to the stress levels. I must be the only person in the UK who was relieved that we had a rotten summer, as that held complaints about the temporary accommodation overheating at bay.
In some ways it's an enormous relief when term ends and most of the regular school inhabitants troop off for the best part of six week, and you know they'll come back relaxed and more prepared for the slings & arrows of BSF, but anyone who thinks we sit around drinking tea throughout the summer obviously has no idea what schools are like at this time of year. Everything really swings into action in preparation for the new school year. Walls are painted, rooms are deep cleaned, stock is delivered and cupboards are cleared. Of course the pressure's off a bit particularly (ahem) if the server is off for the best part of a week leaving us 'phone and e-mail-less.
The builders are working full throttle to make the most of a student-free school to do drainage, piling and electrical works. They are pretty pleased to be doing "real building", so here are some freshly snapped pictures to show you what real building looks like. Apologies if I mis-identify anything.
The run up to the summer break is notoriously fraught as tempers get frayed due to rising temperatures and exhaustion. Post-decant living has added to the stress levels. I must be the only person in the UK who was relieved that we had a rotten summer, as that held complaints about the temporary accommodation overheating at bay.
In some ways it's an enormous relief when term ends and most of the regular school inhabitants troop off for the best part of six week, and you know they'll come back relaxed and more prepared for the slings & arrows of BSF, but anyone who thinks we sit around drinking tea throughout the summer obviously has no idea what schools are like at this time of year. Everything really swings into action in preparation for the new school year. Walls are painted, rooms are deep cleaned, stock is delivered and cupboards are cleared. Of course the pressure's off a bit particularly (ahem) if the server is off for the best part of a week leaving us 'phone and e-mail-less.
The builders are working full throttle to make the most of a student-free school to do drainage, piling and electrical works. They are pretty pleased to be doing "real building", so here are some freshly snapped pictures to show you what real building looks like. Apologies if I mis-identify anything.
I'm pretty sure these are drain parts.
Soon this will be deep, drain-shaped excavation.
This is the courtyard right outside the dining halls. In September this will be full of new drains and re-surfaced ready for the students to return.
This is what the front of the school looks like. This is about piling as well as drains.
Some piling earlier.
Nick took the last three photos as he was all hatted up and ready to enter the old building. Hard hats and flourescent jackets look mighty unpleasant things to wear on a hot and humid day. The photo above used to be the reception area and meeting rooms. It's been completely gutted and I was shocked when I saw how different it looked.
I thought this was a picture of the old server room until I stared at it harder and realised it's actually my old office. Take this to mean that it's unrecognisable.
Again, C23 really didn't used to look like this.
Saturday 12 July 2008
The Home Strait? (and some pretty pictures)
The pressure's really on at the moment. MBE (formerly MPB and about to vanish and become the LEP aka "Hackney Schools for the Future") and the Hackney BSF Team have decided that Financial Close has to happen at the end of July/beginning of August, so we're working flat out. The committed reader of this blog will remember that Financial Close was originally scheduled for December 19th.
In order to get the school nearer to signing the Governing Body Agreement I have been taken off everything except for BSF, which is quite a commitment at this time of year. Documents and other paperwork are coming in thick and fast and e-mails are flying around at a rate of knots. With only four days to go until the Governing Body meeting there still seem to be a load of loose ends, so who knows what will happen.
Anyway, far more fascinating than contractual documentation are some pictures taken by the lovely (and much neglected by me) Sophie, including our temporary accommodation. I've also included a couple she took of the move, although that was a few weeks ago now. Note the vast improvement in my photo upload skills.
One of the temporary classrooms.
And the door beneath my office. Comical sign not written by me.
In order to get the school nearer to signing the Governing Body Agreement I have been taken off everything except for BSF, which is quite a commitment at this time of year. Documents and other paperwork are coming in thick and fast and e-mails are flying around at a rate of knots. With only four days to go until the Governing Body meeting there still seem to be a load of loose ends, so who knows what will happen.
Anyway, far more fascinating than contractual documentation are some pictures taken by the lovely (and much neglected by me) Sophie, including our temporary accommodation. I've also included a couple she took of the move, although that was a few weeks ago now. Note the vast improvement in my photo upload skills.
This wasn't even the end of the day. We completely ran out of skip space.
This actually looks pretty orderly. Amazingly almost everything got from a to b in one piece. As I said we had a great removal company, although I understand Clapton were very happy with theirs too.
This was the third delivery of crates. We needed a lot.
Arty view of the main admin block.
The lavvies.
The generators (and the Head).
One of the temporary classrooms.
And the door beneath my office. Comical sign not written by me.
Friday 27 June 2008
Something Interesting on Edugeek
At the risk of looking like I'm developing the habit of getting other people to write my posts for me, here's something I just spotted on Edugeek:
http://www.edugeek.net/forums/bsf/21419-school-set-refuse-14m-bsf-cash.html
I'll certainly be keeping an eye on progress here, as I'm sure will many others involved in BSF. If the school stands its ground and either pulls out or forces a change in ICT policy, there's a huge house of cards waiting to fall.
It's very hard to look the BSF Gift Horse in the mouth, but we have been close on a number of occasions. Handing our ICT over and losing our Network Manager (and eventually one other member of the ICT team) is the area that's always caused us the greatest concern. I think PfS know that many schools wouldn't do it willingly, which is why it is compulsory and would involve schools turning down millions of pounds of capital investment if they reject it. There have been times when we were really concerned that the proposed designs for the school didn't work and were poor value for money. We did some back of an envelope calculations and reckoned that over the 30 years of project life we would almost (but not quite) pay back all of the capital investment in additional ICT and FM costs.
Why didn't we pull out? The bottom line for us is that our roof hasn't been replaced in 40 years. Amazingly the week of the decant two ceilings finally gave up the ghost and bits of them caved in. Roof replacement alone was estimated at close to £1 million pounds. On top of that every winter when the heating gets turned on for the first time at least three of our very aged radiators leak. Half the radiators are stuck on or off so walking around the school is like wandering the many rooms of a spa treatment centre, but without the fluffy towels. Again, the heating system is as old as the school. I have no idea what replacement costs for the heating system would be, but it's going to be big money. Add to this the fact that some of the windows look as if they'd fall out if you sneeze in their direction (in fact on of the 6th form windows did fall in a while back) and the fact that anyone with a mobility problem can't make it past the reception and you can see the reason we're probably going to take the money. Despite all this I honestly think that, if the designs and other aspects of the project (including ICT proposals) hadn't improved, we would have pulled out and got the roof done by putting the school through a few years of financial hell.
Now for the rant, so feel free to skip a paragraph. If schools had proper capital investment over the past few decades, then we wouldn't be making this Faustian pact. A couple of times I've been told this is happening because schools don't direct their budgets properly. Unsurprisingly this makes me a little irate. Schools have only managed their own capital funding for around five years, which was never going to compensate for years of neglect. Just when we're sorting out our ICT networks, courtesy of specialist school ICT staff, and developing long-term capital plans, along comes BSF.
Now we still haven't signed up officially, despite half our school already been decanted/dug up/pulled to bits. There are still some pretty major concerns that need to be sorted out, and Governors won't sign the Governing Body Agreement until they are completely satisfied that they can live with what is being proposed. Hats off to the Head at Tollbar. It's a brave and bold move, but, if they hold firm, probably one someone needs to make. Presumably their school roof's not in imminent danger of caving in.
http://www.edugeek.net/forums/bsf/21419-school-set-refuse-14m-bsf-cash.html
I'll certainly be keeping an eye on progress here, as I'm sure will many others involved in BSF. If the school stands its ground and either pulls out or forces a change in ICT policy, there's a huge house of cards waiting to fall.
It's very hard to look the BSF Gift Horse in the mouth, but we have been close on a number of occasions. Handing our ICT over and losing our Network Manager (and eventually one other member of the ICT team) is the area that's always caused us the greatest concern. I think PfS know that many schools wouldn't do it willingly, which is why it is compulsory and would involve schools turning down millions of pounds of capital investment if they reject it. There have been times when we were really concerned that the proposed designs for the school didn't work and were poor value for money. We did some back of an envelope calculations and reckoned that over the 30 years of project life we would almost (but not quite) pay back all of the capital investment in additional ICT and FM costs.
Why didn't we pull out? The bottom line for us is that our roof hasn't been replaced in 40 years. Amazingly the week of the decant two ceilings finally gave up the ghost and bits of them caved in. Roof replacement alone was estimated at close to £1 million pounds. On top of that every winter when the heating gets turned on for the first time at least three of our very aged radiators leak. Half the radiators are stuck on or off so walking around the school is like wandering the many rooms of a spa treatment centre, but without the fluffy towels. Again, the heating system is as old as the school. I have no idea what replacement costs for the heating system would be, but it's going to be big money. Add to this the fact that some of the windows look as if they'd fall out if you sneeze in their direction (in fact on of the 6th form windows did fall in a while back) and the fact that anyone with a mobility problem can't make it past the reception and you can see the reason we're probably going to take the money. Despite all this I honestly think that, if the designs and other aspects of the project (including ICT proposals) hadn't improved, we would have pulled out and got the roof done by putting the school through a few years of financial hell.
Now for the rant, so feel free to skip a paragraph. If schools had proper capital investment over the past few decades, then we wouldn't be making this Faustian pact. A couple of times I've been told this is happening because schools don't direct their budgets properly. Unsurprisingly this makes me a little irate. Schools have only managed their own capital funding for around five years, which was never going to compensate for years of neglect. Just when we're sorting out our ICT networks, courtesy of specialist school ICT staff, and developing long-term capital plans, along comes BSF.
Now we still haven't signed up officially, despite half our school already been decanted/dug up/pulled to bits. There are still some pretty major concerns that need to be sorted out, and Governors won't sign the Governing Body Agreement until they are completely satisfied that they can live with what is being proposed. Hats off to the Head at Tollbar. It's a brave and bold move, but, if they hold firm, probably one someone needs to make. Presumably their school roof's not in imminent danger of caving in.
Thursday 19 June 2008
Management Speak
I'm too depressed to post in length about the decant at the moment, so here's something rather more upbeat and another opportunity to get someone to do my post for me.
Thanks to my Step-Dad for forwarding me this link from the BBC. He knows management speak gives me hours of pleasure.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7457287.stm
As you can imagine, we have come across many examples of this during two years of BSF. There are two of my particular pet hates listed here. During one Bidder Presentation I found myself idly tallying the number of times the phrase "going forward" was said, and reached double figures. The other example listed is "drilling down", unless we really are discussing drilling methodology, which occasionally could happen on this type of project and in which case it's an acceptable phrase. I daren't be too sneering, though, because I almost asked someone to send me something by "close of play Friday" only today, and I have written evidence that I've used the phrase in the past.
Other phrases I have come across during the project include "value engineering", i.e. cutting something out of the plans or making it out of something cheaper. We have lots of "solutions" e.g. a laptop trolley solution = a laptop trolley. I find the phrase "at this moment in time" odd. By the time the phrase has been said that particular moment in time has already passed.
There are occasionally rather fun phrases as well. One of the men from Wilmott Dixon refers to something that's not quite right with a building (e.g. bulges or hanging wires) as a "feature". When someone's going to be "open and honest" I know to brace myself for bad news. They are always open and honest, though!
My absolute favourite phrase, which I have already referred to in a previous post, remains the description of a mess of ICT cables as "a snakes wedding". I had to poke around in some pretty old meeting notes to find the best/worst example of management speak. It was the opening phrase in the first ever ICT meeting with one of the bidders, and we were told they wanted to work at a "high embryonic level". I suspect it's going to be difficult to top this one, but I'll keep my ears peeled just in case.
Thanks to my Step-Dad for forwarding me this link from the BBC. He knows management speak gives me hours of pleasure.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7457287.stm
As you can imagine, we have come across many examples of this during two years of BSF. There are two of my particular pet hates listed here. During one Bidder Presentation I found myself idly tallying the number of times the phrase "going forward" was said, and reached double figures. The other example listed is "drilling down", unless we really are discussing drilling methodology, which occasionally could happen on this type of project and in which case it's an acceptable phrase. I daren't be too sneering, though, because I almost asked someone to send me something by "close of play Friday" only today, and I have written evidence that I've used the phrase in the past.
Other phrases I have come across during the project include "value engineering", i.e. cutting something out of the plans or making it out of something cheaper. We have lots of "solutions" e.g. a laptop trolley solution = a laptop trolley. I find the phrase "at this moment in time" odd. By the time the phrase has been said that particular moment in time has already passed.
There are occasionally rather fun phrases as well. One of the men from Wilmott Dixon refers to something that's not quite right with a building (e.g. bulges or hanging wires) as a "feature". When someone's going to be "open and honest" I know to brace myself for bad news. They are always open and honest, though!
My absolute favourite phrase, which I have already referred to in a previous post, remains the description of a mess of ICT cables as "a snakes wedding". I had to poke around in some pretty old meeting notes to find the best/worst example of management speak. It was the opening phrase in the first ever ICT meeting with one of the bidders, and we were told they wanted to work at a "high embryonic level". I suspect it's going to be difficult to top this one, but I'll keep my ears peeled just in case.
Tuesday 10 June 2008
Lessons Learnt from the Big Move
Well we're all in, although things are far from settled. My e-mail in-box is heaving and there's a very well-trodden path to my (rather cramped) office. Here are some tips on decant, some of which I did and some of which I wish I'd done.
- "Like-for-like" is what schools should be offered for decant accommodation, but it's a rather woolly concept and you'll never really get exactly what you've left. As every penny spent on decant is a penny lost to the final building, you need to define exactly what like-for-like is and how flexible you're prepared to be.
- If you feel too much is being crammed into too short a space of time, you're probably right. Ideally the temporary accommodation should be completed, then in goes the ICT network, then in goes the furniture and finally in goes the ICT. We did everything at once. It was bordering on chaos at times.
- Be nice to each other, even when you're very near the end of your tether.
- Have an individual conversation with each Team Leader involved in the room setting out exactly what they will be getting in temporary accommodation and the process for the move.
- You really need to work through the plans of the building you're moving out of and check every single space to make sure someone "owns" it, and that it's got somewhere to go. We found departments who weren't really decanting had bits and pieces stored that needed moving/throwing away. Don't forget the cleaners cupboards. Oddly we didn't really have ownership of the staffroom, despite it belonging to everyone. This is now an area causing the most discontent amongst a usually very flexible staff and I have to confess I should have got the staff association on board earlier.
- Negotiate timely and appropriate support from the LEP and Local Authority.
- Ask for temporary accommodation with suited keys.
- Work out the revised cleaning plans well in advance.
- Get professionals to do room plans. I was very proud of my scale room plans, complete with cut-out scale desks, cupboards and filing cabinets. The professionals didn't look so impressed. Our Reprographics Technician, an ex-draughtswoman, did a tremendous job on her room plan and labelling and walked in to a room set out exactly as she had wanted it. Make staff do plans even if they don't think they want/need to.
- Pay lots of attention to fixed shelving, benching and location of ICT ports and electrical sockets. Make sure you give this information to builders in a timely fashion and in an accessible format. Keep a close eye as these things go in.
- No matter how hard you try, things will go wrong. Prepare staff for this and build in financial and time contingencies. You will probably need a few general grafters around for a good few days after the move.
- Buy in lots of fans, extension cables and tape measures. Very few people labelled their bins so we are short of those as well.
- Insist that staff label every single item to move, store or sling. Even if you tell them unlabelled things will be thrown away, you really need to make sure it's genuine rubbish rather than an oversight.
- Don't sling furniture until you're sure you don't need it.
- Don't store furniture that needs slinging.
- Book a 3-week holiday over the decant period (OK, maybe this one's in the category of things I wish I'd done).
In fact, looking at the above it all could have been far, far worse, but I will definitely do a few things differently next time around.
On a separate note I've written an article on BSF for "School Financial Management", which has just been published. My family all reckon it'll turn up as one of the obscure publications on "Have I got News for You", but what do they know - I'm really proud! Welcome to anyone who's visiting this site via that article. I'd love to get some sort of informal School Business Manager networking site going (not just BSF related), and one of our Governors who sets this sort of thing up for a living has offered support with this. Contact me if it's something you'd be interested in.
Sunday 1 June 2008
The Big Move - Number One
Well, we've kind of moved. The week before half term was spent packing, with the Friday being official packing day. Luckily a lot of the staff had started packing as soon as crates arrived the previous week, because by the morning of official packing day most of the crates had gone. The otherwise wonderful Harrow Green had seriously underestimated the amount of stuff that needed to be moved (I reckon some of the cupboards hadn't ever been cleared out), and an emergency delivery was made by lunchtime. In the interim the squirrel instincts of our Premises Manager also meant that we stumbled across a secret supply of spare crates that averted a disaster while we waited for delivery. The Year 7 students spent the day in a carnival workshop, which ended with them forming a procession outside the old block to say goodbye to it. They looked great in their recycled Loot newspaper costumes and it was a bit of welcome light relief from packing.
By 3.30pm on the Friday everyone who should have been packed was packed, and many of us were enjoying a "cold drink" supplied by the Head.
I managed to slip off on holiday for a few days at the beginning of the week and returned to find that everything had been hauled from one end of the school to the other, so I've spent the past few days fine tuning the furniture move. I'm knackered just from four days of running up and down stairs (with minimal lifting) so it's hats off to the removal folk. They just cracked on with everything, didn't once look huffy when I told them the filing cabinet in the far corner of a room behind 30 crates needed to be hoiked out and moved to another room, and even made me a cup of tea on Sunday. Many of them are based in Newcastle and apparently they come down to London as a team, work double shifts seven days a week for a fortnight and then go back home. Apparently this was a really tough job because of the number of staircases they have to navigate, so they're not too enchanted by the idea of doing the February move, but I'd be happy to have them back again.
Of course not everything's rosy in the garden....
To say the ICT is a bit of a nailbiter is an understatement. There are around five different sub-contractors involved in getting the ICT to work excuding RM and Wilmott Dixon. Some report to Wilmott Dixon and some to RM. The job of co-ordinating everything and trouble-shooting seems somehow to have fallen to our Network Manager who is not paid a daily rate for project management, and in fact works way over his hours and weekends unpaid on a regular basis. Part of the problem is that sorting out the ICT decant was fraught with problems and everything was left until the last minute. Contracts, contracts. Nick's been in all weekend, and at close of play today felt things were just about on track for providing an ICT service for students on Wednesday - but it's going to be a close run thing.
The admin offices are absolutely stuffed with crates. Some faces are going to drop tomorrow when they see what's been crammed into the new spaces. The new classrooms generally look fine, though, and the removal folk will be on hand for the next couple of days to sort out any problems.
We're having to run the new blocks from two generators, because our electricity usage was negotiated in 1969 and we're already over capacity. Painful negotiations are taking place to increase capapcity, but in the meantime it's generators and fuel deliveries. The generators are noisy. Following firm advice from ICT folk the ICT power was left running on Friday. On Saturday morning a local resident unsurprisingly and not unreasonably made a "strong point" to the builders, so the generators will have to go off every night. Getting them back up again and sequencing the ICT takes an hour every morning. We will need to find a workaround quickly because we need to be able to take phone calls from 7.30 onwards.
Tomorrow the staff return from half-term, so I'm bracing myself for an extremely busy couple of days, although I know we'll be supported by Nick, the builders and removal folk. We'll be having a post-mortem meeting next week and hopefully we can iron out a few of the glitches for the next big move (number two) in February.
By 3.30pm on the Friday everyone who should have been packed was packed, and many of us were enjoying a "cold drink" supplied by the Head.
I managed to slip off on holiday for a few days at the beginning of the week and returned to find that everything had been hauled from one end of the school to the other, so I've spent the past few days fine tuning the furniture move. I'm knackered just from four days of running up and down stairs (with minimal lifting) so it's hats off to the removal folk. They just cracked on with everything, didn't once look huffy when I told them the filing cabinet in the far corner of a room behind 30 crates needed to be hoiked out and moved to another room, and even made me a cup of tea on Sunday. Many of them are based in Newcastle and apparently they come down to London as a team, work double shifts seven days a week for a fortnight and then go back home. Apparently this was a really tough job because of the number of staircases they have to navigate, so they're not too enchanted by the idea of doing the February move, but I'd be happy to have them back again.
Of course not everything's rosy in the garden....
To say the ICT is a bit of a nailbiter is an understatement. There are around five different sub-contractors involved in getting the ICT to work excuding RM and Wilmott Dixon. Some report to Wilmott Dixon and some to RM. The job of co-ordinating everything and trouble-shooting seems somehow to have fallen to our Network Manager who is not paid a daily rate for project management, and in fact works way over his hours and weekends unpaid on a regular basis. Part of the problem is that sorting out the ICT decant was fraught with problems and everything was left until the last minute. Contracts, contracts. Nick's been in all weekend, and at close of play today felt things were just about on track for providing an ICT service for students on Wednesday - but it's going to be a close run thing.
The admin offices are absolutely stuffed with crates. Some faces are going to drop tomorrow when they see what's been crammed into the new spaces. The new classrooms generally look fine, though, and the removal folk will be on hand for the next couple of days to sort out any problems.
We're having to run the new blocks from two generators, because our electricity usage was negotiated in 1969 and we're already over capacity. Painful negotiations are taking place to increase capapcity, but in the meantime it's generators and fuel deliveries. The generators are noisy. Following firm advice from ICT folk the ICT power was left running on Friday. On Saturday morning a local resident unsurprisingly and not unreasonably made a "strong point" to the builders, so the generators will have to go off every night. Getting them back up again and sequencing the ICT takes an hour every morning. We will need to find a workaround quickly because we need to be able to take phone calls from 7.30 onwards.
Tomorrow the staff return from half-term, so I'm bracing myself for an extremely busy couple of days, although I know we'll be supported by Nick, the builders and removal folk. We'll be having a post-mortem meeting next week and hopefully we can iron out a few of the glitches for the next big move (number two) in February.
Sunday 11 May 2008
Two Links
A nice easy post for me. Here are two links.
The first links to the SNS website and a piece on brutalist architecture, which our school is a fine example of. The piece was written by a work experience placement student who was with us a few weeks ago.
http://www.sns.hackney.sch.uk/ourschool/architecture.htm
The second was forwarded to me by Nick, the Network Manager. It strikes a bit of a chord as we hurtle towards the ICT decant.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/09/bofh_2008_episode_17/
It's well worth poking around the website if you're a Teccy type and haven't come across it before.
Thanks to Calvin, Nick and The Register for writing my post for me this week. Far easier than trying to arrange photos.
The first links to the SNS website and a piece on brutalist architecture, which our school is a fine example of. The piece was written by a work experience placement student who was with us a few weeks ago.
http://www.sns.hackney.sch.uk/ourschool/architecture.htm
The second was forwarded to me by Nick, the Network Manager. It strikes a bit of a chord as we hurtle towards the ICT decant.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/09/bofh_2008_episode_17/
It's well worth poking around the website if you're a Teccy type and haven't come across it before.
Thanks to Calvin, Nick and The Register for writing my post for me this week. Far easier than trying to arrange photos.
Wednesday 30 April 2008
In Goes our Temporary Accommodation
As promised, here are some pictures of the temporary accommodation going in. Watching this sort of thing in action is amazing. It's the most efficient operation - a bit like giant lego. A lorry rolls in, a bit of classroom is craned off and slotted in, the lorry rumbles away and the next lorry rolls in.
Recently I was given my official hard-hard hat and flourescent vest and got to see inside the classrooms. I think the teachers will be very pleased. Here are the picures of the early part of the installation. Apologies for the layout. It's my first attempt at uploading photos onto the blog.
This was pretty early on during digging the foundations. Progress seemed pretty slow at first.
We're not sure what was happening here. We were hoping for bungee action, but were sadly disappointed.
This was progress at around midday. By the end of the day the whole classroom block was in place.
And this is one of Sophie's arty shots.
The blocks have now been handed over to the builders for final fitting. Staff get to visit them tomorrow.
The admin and toilet blocks are due in the next couple of days, so it seems everything's on target for the big move over half term. I see or speak with the builders most days. They seem to be dealing with problem after problem (insufficient electrical supplies, no potable water, problems with access that were unforseen etc. etc.) that would have me tearing my hair out, but they assure me all big projects are like this, and they still seem amazingly cheery.
Recently I was given my official hard-hard hat and flourescent vest and got to see inside the classrooms. I think the teachers will be very pleased. Here are the picures of the early part of the installation. Apologies for the layout. It's my first attempt at uploading photos onto the blog.
This was pretty early on during digging the foundations. Progress seemed pretty slow at first.
Just before the Spring Break the area looked like this.
The rest of the pictures were all taken in one day so you can see how quickly everything sprung up.
This was taken at about 9am.
And this is how it's done....
....in comes a piece of classroom.
Left a bit, right a bit.....
...down a bit, and that's that. They all fitted the foundations absolutely perfectly. Each classroom is made up of 3 or 4 of these units.
We're not sure what was happening here. We were hoping for bungee action, but were sadly disappointed.
This was progress at around midday. By the end of the day the whole classroom block was in place.
And this is one of Sophie's arty shots.
The blocks have now been handed over to the builders for final fitting. Staff get to visit them tomorrow.
The admin and toilet blocks are due in the next couple of days, so it seems everything's on target for the big move over half term. I see or speak with the builders most days. They seem to be dealing with problem after problem (insufficient electrical supplies, no potable water, problems with access that were unforseen etc. etc.) that would have me tearing my hair out, but they assure me all big projects are like this, and they still seem amazingly cheery.
Sunday 27 April 2008
It's All Systems Go
Hopefully I'm now going to be able to start posting about what's happening on site, rather than griping about slow progress.
We're in a very strange situation at the moment. Our Governing Body still haven't agreed to enter BSF and financial close isn't likely until late May/early June, and yet, as anyone who's been past the school lately will have spotted, there's rapid development of the site.
Portable classrooms literally sprung up overnight. Before the Spring holidays we were extremely anxious that not much was happening. After the Spring holidays we have a classroom village on our playground. Wilmott Dixon, our builders, are well and truly on site. I'm feeling very reassured about how that's going to work. We have two really good Project Managers assigned to our school. They do what they say they're going to do, make sensible decisions and it's all starting to feel like a proper partnership.
We're now facing "the big move" full on. Over the Whitsun half-term about 50% of the school will be moving into temporary accommodation and we're having to plan it like a military operation. The next four weeks are going to be extremely busy and there are a number of loose ends not as yet tied up. We need to sort out any furniture we need early plus our ICT decant requirements. A lot of the delay is due to the odd situation we're in, whereby there's still no commitment from the school and yet we will need some furniture and ICT kit from the BSF budget that we can't theoretically touch yet. How this is going to be managed is still being picked through, but I really hope there's a sense of urgency. Of course, there's also always the chance that Governors won't agree and we all have to move back into our original spaces and the builders pick up their temporary classrooms and take them home again.
From my point of view most of the really contentious issues are now dealt with, although we are still waiting for revised legal agreements and I'm just about to start going through the proposed final plans in great detail, so there's still plenty of potential for problems. On Friday I met with one of our Design Advisers who explained what the process would be for dealing with queries, and that there's a grading in place for matters that can be resolved after financial close, and matters that have to be resolved urgently.
We've been taking pictures of the portable buildings going on to site, so the next post will actually be visual rather than the usual reams of text. We're planning to put a lot more pictures on the blog from now on, so that you can really see the progress.
Meeting Count 2/11/07 - 25/4/08 Eighty
We're in a very strange situation at the moment. Our Governing Body still haven't agreed to enter BSF and financial close isn't likely until late May/early June, and yet, as anyone who's been past the school lately will have spotted, there's rapid development of the site.
Portable classrooms literally sprung up overnight. Before the Spring holidays we were extremely anxious that not much was happening. After the Spring holidays we have a classroom village on our playground. Wilmott Dixon, our builders, are well and truly on site. I'm feeling very reassured about how that's going to work. We have two really good Project Managers assigned to our school. They do what they say they're going to do, make sensible decisions and it's all starting to feel like a proper partnership.
We're now facing "the big move" full on. Over the Whitsun half-term about 50% of the school will be moving into temporary accommodation and we're having to plan it like a military operation. The next four weeks are going to be extremely busy and there are a number of loose ends not as yet tied up. We need to sort out any furniture we need early plus our ICT decant requirements. A lot of the delay is due to the odd situation we're in, whereby there's still no commitment from the school and yet we will need some furniture and ICT kit from the BSF budget that we can't theoretically touch yet. How this is going to be managed is still being picked through, but I really hope there's a sense of urgency. Of course, there's also always the chance that Governors won't agree and we all have to move back into our original spaces and the builders pick up their temporary classrooms and take them home again.
From my point of view most of the really contentious issues are now dealt with, although we are still waiting for revised legal agreements and I'm just about to start going through the proposed final plans in great detail, so there's still plenty of potential for problems. On Friday I met with one of our Design Advisers who explained what the process would be for dealing with queries, and that there's a grading in place for matters that can be resolved after financial close, and matters that have to be resolved urgently.
We've been taking pictures of the portable buildings going on to site, so the next post will actually be visual rather than the usual reams of text. We're planning to put a lot more pictures on the blog from now on, so that you can really see the progress.
Meeting Count 2/11/07 - 25/4/08 Eighty
Wednesday 19 March 2008
0-60 in the blink of an eye
Well my prediction that last week would be busy was correct. Last Friday at the D&B meeting someone as an aside asked whether we were ready for work to start on site this week. Mistaking this for a slightly sarcastic comment on the lack of progress I giggled weakly. Later on in the meeting I realised it was no joke. The builders really did want to start on site this week.
As it happens Wilmott Dixon's JCB's all appear to be tied up on a project down the road this week, but next Tuesday it seems there will finally be some action. This was completely unexpected because the Governing Body still haven't agreed to enter the programme. There has been some sort of agreement on who will underwrite the costs of ground works should the project not go ahead, and I know it won't be the school, so it's all systems go at our end. Basically if work doesn't start next week it puts the whole programme in jeopardy, which would cost rather more than digging and then filling back in a few trenches in the playground, and cancelling a substantial order with Portakabin.
Of course, this means it all feels very real now. This evening I went over the decant proposals with the Leadership Team. Everyone knew it was going to be tough but there were a few shocked faces. It looks as if everything works, though. The curriculum is pretty much protected, but I think it's fair to say that the non-teaching spaces will be very cosy. I'm going to e-mail the plans around to the middle management team tomorrow, and then hide under my desk for a while. I've also got the thorny issue of how to deal with reductions in staff parking to deal with. We're really fortunate in that currently anyone who wants to drive to school can park on site. This will soon end, and there are a lot of staff with a lot of compelling reasons why they should be allocated a parking spot. I am going to be so unpopular!
Meeting Count 2/11/07 - 19/03/08 Sixty-five
As it happens Wilmott Dixon's JCB's all appear to be tied up on a project down the road this week, but next Tuesday it seems there will finally be some action. This was completely unexpected because the Governing Body still haven't agreed to enter the programme. There has been some sort of agreement on who will underwrite the costs of ground works should the project not go ahead, and I know it won't be the school, so it's all systems go at our end. Basically if work doesn't start next week it puts the whole programme in jeopardy, which would cost rather more than digging and then filling back in a few trenches in the playground, and cancelling a substantial order with Portakabin.
Of course, this means it all feels very real now. This evening I went over the decant proposals with the Leadership Team. Everyone knew it was going to be tough but there were a few shocked faces. It looks as if everything works, though. The curriculum is pretty much protected, but I think it's fair to say that the non-teaching spaces will be very cosy. I'm going to e-mail the plans around to the middle management team tomorrow, and then hide under my desk for a while. I've also got the thorny issue of how to deal with reductions in staff parking to deal with. We're really fortunate in that currently anyone who wants to drive to school can park on site. This will soon end, and there are a lot of staff with a lot of compelling reasons why they should be allocated a parking spot. I am going to be so unpopular!
Meeting Count 2/11/07 - 19/03/08 Sixty-five
Sunday 9 March 2008
Tense Times.
I think we really are heading towards the beginning of the end. Financial close, which was originally supposed to be December 19th, now appears to be mid-April (which is actually after the temporary accommodation is due to rumble on site). I can't see that it can drift past that time without causing major problems. At our end the pace is suddenly really picking up, and we've had a very odd couple of weeks indeed due to desperation on everyone's part to get things resolved.
If you've been following this blog you'll know there are a few major issues where we have not yet had agreement. This week the Governing Body was called to a meeting with the Chief Executive, the Councillor leading on BSF and the Head of Children's Services in order to try and tie up a few loose ends with our school. The meeting had a very reasonable tone, but I'm not sure how much further forward we were at the end of it, as a couple of issues were raised that we hadn't realised involved the school. We're meeting again next week, and we'll see where that takes us.
We also had a session with the architects where we were presented with a list of items that were contributing to the "affordabilility gap" and were asked whether we could do without them. Lingo Bingo fans will want to know that this is known as "value engineering". We didn't agree to all the proposals, but I would imagine that we engineered a lot of value.
Earlier on the same day we had a rare event - a meeting that was originally scheduled for 4 hours, got reduced to 2 and ended up only taking an hour-and-a-half (half an hour of which spent chatting while a group went and stared at the server room). This was an ICT meeting about the decant. Reasonable proposals were put on the table, we all agreed to them and that was pretty much that.
The major concern for me at the moment is that we're supposed to be approaching agreement on everything by Friday. As things stand that seems like a tall order, although far less impossible than some of the other deadlines we've had in the past. I think it's going to be a really busy week though.
Meeting Count 2/11/07 - 7/03/08 Sixty.
If you've been following this blog you'll know there are a few major issues where we have not yet had agreement. This week the Governing Body was called to a meeting with the Chief Executive, the Councillor leading on BSF and the Head of Children's Services in order to try and tie up a few loose ends with our school. The meeting had a very reasonable tone, but I'm not sure how much further forward we were at the end of it, as a couple of issues were raised that we hadn't realised involved the school. We're meeting again next week, and we'll see where that takes us.
We also had a session with the architects where we were presented with a list of items that were contributing to the "affordabilility gap" and were asked whether we could do without them. Lingo Bingo fans will want to know that this is known as "value engineering". We didn't agree to all the proposals, but I would imagine that we engineered a lot of value.
Earlier on the same day we had a rare event - a meeting that was originally scheduled for 4 hours, got reduced to 2 and ended up only taking an hour-and-a-half (half an hour of which spent chatting while a group went and stared at the server room). This was an ICT meeting about the decant. Reasonable proposals were put on the table, we all agreed to them and that was pretty much that.
The major concern for me at the moment is that we're supposed to be approaching agreement on everything by Friday. As things stand that seems like a tall order, although far less impossible than some of the other deadlines we've had in the past. I think it's going to be a really busy week though.
Meeting Count 2/11/07 - 7/03/08 Sixty.
Saturday 1 March 2008
Consultation, consultation, consultation...
In my last post about things I had learnt I didn't mention consultation. I thought this probably warranted a post on it's own.
If I look back on the consultation we have undertaken, I would mark us as "could do better - but quite good under the circumstances".
The Initial Phases
This started almost three years ago before I joined the school. Staff, Governors and students were all involved in creating and commenting on the vision document. This is really important but I found the whole "Vision" phase (which I also undertook in my previous school) a bit woolly. It includes sweeping statements, such as "We want an ICT rich school" or "We want an inclusive school", rather than "We want an additional 2 classrooms to accommodate the diploma" or "We want to have disabled access to every classroom in the school". In our case this woolliness is returning to haunt us as heated debates on the meaning of inclusion rage around us.
We then had items in the school newsletter, held a special parents meeting, had all KS3 students indertake a BSF project, presented regularly to staff and kept BSF on Governing Body, Middle Management and Leadership Team agendas. A refererence scheme, which demonstrated that our requirements could be met given site and budget constraints was drawn up ... and then we hit the competition phase.
The Competition Phase
This is where it all goes quiet on the consultation front. Anyone involved with or informed about the project has to sign a confidentiality agreement, which completely limits the number of people you can involve. To me, this is one of the major flaws of the BSF process, because this phase is crucial in deciding what will eventually happen within the school, but you can't involve many people in case they accidentally let information slip to a rival bidder. Believe me, this is easy. Even now I still occasionally think our final bidders offered something that was actually offered by the other bidders. The problem is, when you then move into the final bid phase, there are quite a lot of major areas that have already been fixed. Luckily we haven't had too much trouble with larger elements of the proposals, but there is certainly potential for this to happen.
The Final Bid Phase
This is where the proposals are launched to the wider community. We've been very busy during this phase.
Governors: The Governing Body have been informed fully at every stage of the programme, in fat it's engulfed many a meeting over the past few months. The Chair and the Chair of Finance have been in constant touch with the project, but have become more deeply involved at this stage. Governors drew up a list of requirements that had to be met before they agree finally to enter BSF (which they still haven't yet).
Parents & The Community: We had an initial parental/community consultation, and a follow-up meeting where changes made as a result of the first consultation were demonstrated. We also had a smaller, more in-depth, meeting with those parents who had expressed concerns. There is an item on the school website, and this blog was launched as a means of communicating progress to parents and the wider community. We have a regular update in the school newsletter. You have to bear in mind that parents are, quite rightly, mainly concerned with the effect the project will have on their child. This means that those whose children will have left before building works are over may be unhappy.
Staff: The plans went on display in the school reception area. We have had initial 1:1 consultation meetings with each department and should be having our second meeting soon. This is one of the areas I have found the trickiest as you are having to deal with the fact that staff may have wanted more from the project. You are also walking a bit of a tightrope in terms of balancing the needs & desires of different curriculum areas against each other and the project constraints. We discuss the project regularly as a leadership and middle management team.
Students: This is the area I enjoy the most. The Guardian had a BSF supplement this week, and there was an item on student consultation and the work of the Sorrell Foundation. We managed to wangle a session with the Sorrell Foundation. They're really busy and they're mainly concentrating on schools in the later BSF waves, but I think it was good to come in later. Why? Because the BSF process is so slow. As a result of starting in July we have a student design group that will probably see us through to construction and beyond. If we'd started the group over two years ago, many of them would have left and we certainly would have lost momentum. It's a shame they couldn't be more involved in the actual designs (I wonder whether the Guardian examples were working on PFI where there was maybe just one bidder), but they've been very involved in the landscaping proposals, and we're about to start work on the recycling strategy and the dining spaces. They also communicate to the wider student body about the work they do.
So, in summary, consultation is a good thing, but you need to manage expectations, balance agendas and be very aware that there are important phases where it just can't happen properly, and stakeholders will feel out of the loop. I'd love to know whether this problem has now been ironed out for schools in later waves.
Meeting Count 2/11/07 - 29/02/08 Fifty-Six - it's still really slow.
If I look back on the consultation we have undertaken, I would mark us as "could do better - but quite good under the circumstances".
The Initial Phases
This started almost three years ago before I joined the school. Staff, Governors and students were all involved in creating and commenting on the vision document. This is really important but I found the whole "Vision" phase (which I also undertook in my previous school) a bit woolly. It includes sweeping statements, such as "We want an ICT rich school" or "We want an inclusive school", rather than "We want an additional 2 classrooms to accommodate the diploma" or "We want to have disabled access to every classroom in the school". In our case this woolliness is returning to haunt us as heated debates on the meaning of inclusion rage around us.
We then had items in the school newsletter, held a special parents meeting, had all KS3 students indertake a BSF project, presented regularly to staff and kept BSF on Governing Body, Middle Management and Leadership Team agendas. A refererence scheme, which demonstrated that our requirements could be met given site and budget constraints was drawn up ... and then we hit the competition phase.
The Competition Phase
This is where it all goes quiet on the consultation front. Anyone involved with or informed about the project has to sign a confidentiality agreement, which completely limits the number of people you can involve. To me, this is one of the major flaws of the BSF process, because this phase is crucial in deciding what will eventually happen within the school, but you can't involve many people in case they accidentally let information slip to a rival bidder. Believe me, this is easy. Even now I still occasionally think our final bidders offered something that was actually offered by the other bidders. The problem is, when you then move into the final bid phase, there are quite a lot of major areas that have already been fixed. Luckily we haven't had too much trouble with larger elements of the proposals, but there is certainly potential for this to happen.
The Final Bid Phase
This is where the proposals are launched to the wider community. We've been very busy during this phase.
Governors: The Governing Body have been informed fully at every stage of the programme, in fat it's engulfed many a meeting over the past few months. The Chair and the Chair of Finance have been in constant touch with the project, but have become more deeply involved at this stage. Governors drew up a list of requirements that had to be met before they agree finally to enter BSF (which they still haven't yet).
Parents & The Community: We had an initial parental/community consultation, and a follow-up meeting where changes made as a result of the first consultation were demonstrated. We also had a smaller, more in-depth, meeting with those parents who had expressed concerns. There is an item on the school website, and this blog was launched as a means of communicating progress to parents and the wider community. We have a regular update in the school newsletter. You have to bear in mind that parents are, quite rightly, mainly concerned with the effect the project will have on their child. This means that those whose children will have left before building works are over may be unhappy.
Staff: The plans went on display in the school reception area. We have had initial 1:1 consultation meetings with each department and should be having our second meeting soon. This is one of the areas I have found the trickiest as you are having to deal with the fact that staff may have wanted more from the project. You are also walking a bit of a tightrope in terms of balancing the needs & desires of different curriculum areas against each other and the project constraints. We discuss the project regularly as a leadership and middle management team.
Students: This is the area I enjoy the most. The Guardian had a BSF supplement this week, and there was an item on student consultation and the work of the Sorrell Foundation. We managed to wangle a session with the Sorrell Foundation. They're really busy and they're mainly concentrating on schools in the later BSF waves, but I think it was good to come in later. Why? Because the BSF process is so slow. As a result of starting in July we have a student design group that will probably see us through to construction and beyond. If we'd started the group over two years ago, many of them would have left and we certainly would have lost momentum. It's a shame they couldn't be more involved in the actual designs (I wonder whether the Guardian examples were working on PFI where there was maybe just one bidder), but they've been very involved in the landscaping proposals, and we're about to start work on the recycling strategy and the dining spaces. They also communicate to the wider student body about the work they do.
So, in summary, consultation is a good thing, but you need to manage expectations, balance agendas and be very aware that there are important phases where it just can't happen properly, and stakeholders will feel out of the loop. I'd love to know whether this problem has now been ironed out for schools in later waves.
Meeting Count 2/11/07 - 29/02/08 Fifty-Six - it's still really slow.
Thursday 14 February 2008
BSF - Things I have learnt
Yesterday was a bad BSF day. I'll resist the temptation to post about it until I know I can avoid e-hissy-fitting. The highlight was one of the team-members delightfully describing a particularly messy cabling job as a "snakes wedding". So, instead of entertaining readers with the details of yesterdays meetings, I thought I'd pull together a list of tips for the BSF uninitiated. I began pulling it together during one of the meetings yesterday. Some of the suggestions are things that may have prevented us being where we are now. See if you can spot which.
Be clear what you want: From the outset. It sounds obvious, but you really need to be clear. What do you consider good disabled access, for example. I don't think "Visions" are terribly helpful here. They're too woolly.
Manage Expectations: The problem with "Visions" is that stakeholders will come up with brilliant ideas that they won't get and they will then be disappointed. We never really expected a school farm (yes, a member of staff asked for that), but teachers had hoped for a classroom each.
Pay Attention to the Outline Business Case: If it's not in there you'll have a fight on your hands. Don't just assume that it will be in there because you've asked for it to go in. You will constantly be referred to the OBC, in particular it's reference scheme, the area schedule and room data sheets. If I was a bidder, that's exactly what I'd do too. We all need fixed goalposts.
In fact, just pay attention!: It's easy to drift off and miss something important (maybe while writing a list of tips, for example).
Expect the Unexpected: Even with the best of preparation stuff will appear. Examples for us include £1.5m of sprinklers due to a change in law (I think we won't have to do that), planning insisting on doubling the number of bike spaces to 249, and some wretched problems with levels.
Push for the Room Data Sheets & Legal Agreements at an Early Stage: They form the basis of the contract. If you get things that may be tricky too late in the day there are likely to be problems with timing.
Get Independent Legal Advice Early.
Be Clear What's Agreed: We have had a few instances where we have all thought we've agreed, but on different things. Things will be tricky enough without this.
Try & Make Sure there's one Person who Attends all Meetings: At SNS that person is me. I know it means I was bad in a previous life, but I really think it's invaluable.
Trips aren't that Enlightening: But you can get good lunches.
Choose Your Battles.
You will need more D&B Meetings than you think and fewer of all the other types: At least that's my experience. It would be interesting to hear if people involved in other projects think that too. I suspect the balance will shift radically once services start.
Keep in Touch with other Schools in your Phase: Occasional joint meetings are really helpful.
Be Clear About Who's Doing What with Decant: For example, if your ICT decant is dependent on you buying interim services, what happens if you don't?
Everyone has a Different Agenda: School interests are not the same as anyone elses who's involved in the project.
Everyone Wants the Same Thing: This doesn't really contradict the above. Ultimately everyone really wants the project to work and to happen on time. It should be in everyone's interests.
Maintain Good Relations: I genuinely like most of the people involved in BSF in Hackney. Occasionally we have to have a bit of a skirmish, but it's important to stay professional, keep communication channels open and re-build bridges. There's a lot of pressure on all of us.
Sorry if a lot of that is obvious, but if I'd known then what I know now...
Be clear what you want: From the outset. It sounds obvious, but you really need to be clear. What do you consider good disabled access, for example. I don't think "Visions" are terribly helpful here. They're too woolly.
Manage Expectations: The problem with "Visions" is that stakeholders will come up with brilliant ideas that they won't get and they will then be disappointed. We never really expected a school farm (yes, a member of staff asked for that), but teachers had hoped for a classroom each.
Pay Attention to the Outline Business Case: If it's not in there you'll have a fight on your hands. Don't just assume that it will be in there because you've asked for it to go in. You will constantly be referred to the OBC, in particular it's reference scheme, the area schedule and room data sheets. If I was a bidder, that's exactly what I'd do too. We all need fixed goalposts.
In fact, just pay attention!: It's easy to drift off and miss something important (maybe while writing a list of tips, for example).
Expect the Unexpected: Even with the best of preparation stuff will appear. Examples for us include £1.5m of sprinklers due to a change in law (I think we won't have to do that), planning insisting on doubling the number of bike spaces to 249, and some wretched problems with levels.
Push for the Room Data Sheets & Legal Agreements at an Early Stage: They form the basis of the contract. If you get things that may be tricky too late in the day there are likely to be problems with timing.
Get Independent Legal Advice Early.
Be Clear What's Agreed: We have had a few instances where we have all thought we've agreed, but on different things. Things will be tricky enough without this.
Try & Make Sure there's one Person who Attends all Meetings: At SNS that person is me. I know it means I was bad in a previous life, but I really think it's invaluable.
Trips aren't that Enlightening: But you can get good lunches.
Choose Your Battles.
You will need more D&B Meetings than you think and fewer of all the other types: At least that's my experience. It would be interesting to hear if people involved in other projects think that too. I suspect the balance will shift radically once services start.
Keep in Touch with other Schools in your Phase: Occasional joint meetings are really helpful.
Be Clear About Who's Doing What with Decant: For example, if your ICT decant is dependent on you buying interim services, what happens if you don't?
Everyone has a Different Agenda: School interests are not the same as anyone elses who's involved in the project.
Everyone Wants the Same Thing: This doesn't really contradict the above. Ultimately everyone really wants the project to work and to happen on time. It should be in everyone's interests.
Maintain Good Relations: I genuinely like most of the people involved in BSF in Hackney. Occasionally we have to have a bit of a skirmish, but it's important to stay professional, keep communication channels open and re-build bridges. There's a lot of pressure on all of us.
Sorry if a lot of that is obvious, but if I'd known then what I know now...
Monday 4 February 2008
Greetings Edugeek!
Well I wondered why I'd had a few comments from visitors who were obviously concerned about the ICT side of BSF, and now I know. Welcome to anyone popping by who's followed the link from Edugeek.
I've been an occasional Edugeek lurker for a couple of years now. Our Network Manager and I met Tony (Grumbledook) at BETT 2006, having spent the day complaining bitterly about the ICT aspect of BSF to anyone who'd listen. At the time it was clear many people didn't know what on earth we were talking about. If they'd heard of BSF they didn't know what it meant for ICT. What a difference two years makes. Anyway, since then I've been checking the Edugeek BSF forums pretty frequently. It was partly because I realised how valuable it was to be able to communicate with others involved in various stages of the same process, even if you don't agree with them, that I started this blog. As you can probably tell, I'm working on all aspects of BSF at our school, but I've never managed to find any kind of "BSF Champion" (for that is indeed what they call me) community. A few months on, and I still haven't. If anyone knows where I can find one, please let me know.
With regard to the ICT aspect of BSF, a trawl through this blog will probably give you an overview of my feelings. To summarise, it's been the most painful aspect of the whole process for us as a school. We're pretty proud of our ICT provision, and the prospect of having our Network Manager (and potentially other team members) surgically removed is one of the worst aspects of a pretty awful process. For us in Hackney, and I believe this to be the case in all other BSF areas, the ICT is a non-negotiable part of BSF. The big question has therefore always been "Is the pain worth the gain?" We're getting £18m of sorely needed capital investment, but sometimes we've been very close to pulling out, and we still haven't made any final commitment. That said, working with RM has been far more positive than I had expected it to be, and we now know pretty much where we are with the ICT offer, even if we would have preferred not to be there.
Anyway, thanks for dropping in. Hope you'll come again soon. I'm more than happy to answer any questions if anyone's interested in getting a "BSF Champion" perspective on things.
I've been an occasional Edugeek lurker for a couple of years now. Our Network Manager and I met Tony (Grumbledook) at BETT 2006, having spent the day complaining bitterly about the ICT aspect of BSF to anyone who'd listen. At the time it was clear many people didn't know what on earth we were talking about. If they'd heard of BSF they didn't know what it meant for ICT. What a difference two years makes. Anyway, since then I've been checking the Edugeek BSF forums pretty frequently. It was partly because I realised how valuable it was to be able to communicate with others involved in various stages of the same process, even if you don't agree with them, that I started this blog. As you can probably tell, I'm working on all aspects of BSF at our school, but I've never managed to find any kind of "BSF Champion" (for that is indeed what they call me) community. A few months on, and I still haven't. If anyone knows where I can find one, please let me know.
With regard to the ICT aspect of BSF, a trawl through this blog will probably give you an overview of my feelings. To summarise, it's been the most painful aspect of the whole process for us as a school. We're pretty proud of our ICT provision, and the prospect of having our Network Manager (and potentially other team members) surgically removed is one of the worst aspects of a pretty awful process. For us in Hackney, and I believe this to be the case in all other BSF areas, the ICT is a non-negotiable part of BSF. The big question has therefore always been "Is the pain worth the gain?" We're getting £18m of sorely needed capital investment, but sometimes we've been very close to pulling out, and we still haven't made any final commitment. That said, working with RM has been far more positive than I had expected it to be, and we now know pretty much where we are with the ICT offer, even if we would have preferred not to be there.
Anyway, thanks for dropping in. Hope you'll come again soon. I'm more than happy to answer any questions if anyone's interested in getting a "BSF Champion" perspective on things.
Thursday 31 January 2008
Feeling Guilty
I'm feeling guilty because I haven't posted for almost two weeks, and I had aimed to post at least once a week. In the early blog honeymoon period I was posting at least twice a week. I'm keen not to let this drift too far, because I know that there are regular readers who use the blog to keep up to date with how things are at Stoke Newington. Oddly (or maybe not) I'm also pretty sure that the blog is not particularly read by parents of students at the school. The blog was originally established as a means of communicating developments frequently with parents, and it was well publicised. Even a recent reminder in Spotlight (our school newsletter) hasn't increased traffic to the blog in any significant way. I'm not sure I'd regularly read a school blog about BSF, though.
Anyway, one of the other reasons I haven't blogged for a while is that we seem to have hit a slow patch. When I look at my post from early January, nothing much has changed. The outstanding issues remain outstanding, although I'd like to think there is all sorts of furious work going on in the background. On top of that we are trying to unravel the fact that it seems the school will be responsible for moving ICT into the temporary accommodation, which is far more expensive, time consuming and complicated than it sounds. There is also an ongoing issue of market-testing for best value.
I think everyone's getting pretty fed up now, and it's fair to say we had a pretty grumpy D&B meeting last week. We had thought that Governors would meet mid-February to take a final decision, but that's almost certainly going to slip. Until Governors make that final decision there's a lot of uncertainty, particularly for staff who may transfer to the LEP. We had hoped that we would move to BSF services from April, which fits neatly around the financial year, but I can't see any way of that happening now. This makes budget planning for next year difficult, and there are lots of other things, such as the move, that we can't put in motion until we know we're joining the programme. My particular dread is that the construction programme will slip. We really have to make the move into temporary accommodation over the Whitsun break, or something already complicated and difficult will become a logistical nightmare.
On the positive side, I have managed to do a fair amount of non-BSF work for a few days. Go on, ask me anything about HR policies!
Meeting Count 2/11/07 - 31/01/08 Forty-four - it's all slowed down a bit recently
Anyway, one of the other reasons I haven't blogged for a while is that we seem to have hit a slow patch. When I look at my post from early January, nothing much has changed. The outstanding issues remain outstanding, although I'd like to think there is all sorts of furious work going on in the background. On top of that we are trying to unravel the fact that it seems the school will be responsible for moving ICT into the temporary accommodation, which is far more expensive, time consuming and complicated than it sounds. There is also an ongoing issue of market-testing for best value.
I think everyone's getting pretty fed up now, and it's fair to say we had a pretty grumpy D&B meeting last week. We had thought that Governors would meet mid-February to take a final decision, but that's almost certainly going to slip. Until Governors make that final decision there's a lot of uncertainty, particularly for staff who may transfer to the LEP. We had hoped that we would move to BSF services from April, which fits neatly around the financial year, but I can't see any way of that happening now. This makes budget planning for next year difficult, and there are lots of other things, such as the move, that we can't put in motion until we know we're joining the programme. My particular dread is that the construction programme will slip. We really have to make the move into temporary accommodation over the Whitsun break, or something already complicated and difficult will become a logistical nightmare.
On the positive side, I have managed to do a fair amount of non-BSF work for a few days. Go on, ask me anything about HR policies!
Meeting Count 2/11/07 - 31/01/08 Forty-four - it's all slowed down a bit recently
Monday 14 January 2008
Fun at BETT
Last week I went to the BETT exhibition for a day, accompanied by Nick, our Network Manager. Between us we spent a fair amount of time being excited by things, a bit of time sneering and a bit of time grumbling at someone from PfS who wasn't hugely receptive (all we want is for it to be less painful for other schools).
You've probably realised through my posts that BSF has caused me innumerable mood swings that aren't attributable in any way to my time of life. I veer from excitement to despair to blind panic to boredom, passing most moods in between. BETT mostly made me feel pretty excited again. Our idea is that during the decant phase we put something new and a bit experimental into each temporary room, the idea being that:
a) It's something to sweeten the pill of moving.
b) We won't put stuff that doesn't work/people don't like into the finished classrooms.
We found a good few exciting bits and bobs, some of which are even RM products. We found:
You've probably realised through my posts that BSF has caused me innumerable mood swings that aren't attributable in any way to my time of life. I veer from excitement to despair to blind panic to boredom, passing most moods in between. BETT mostly made me feel pretty excited again. Our idea is that during the decant phase we put something new and a bit experimental into each temporary room, the idea being that:
a) It's something to sweeten the pill of moving.
b) We won't put stuff that doesn't work/people don't like into the finished classrooms.
We found a good few exciting bits and bobs, some of which are even RM products. We found:
- £200 very basic teeny-weeny laptops that are just the job.
- An overhead projector that interactively projects onto a table, which would have been ideal for viewing and scribbling on plans of the building.
- Visualisers.
- Some very cool furniture.
- Some very cool wall tracking stuff.
- And some bouncy ergonomic chairs.
We also got oranges with the BBC logo branded onto them, but I don't expect we'll get them under BSF. Anyway, as you can probably tell it all made me feel that there might be some fun to be had. I think we've got enough bits and pieces in mind now to put something new into most rooms. Let's hope MPB and RM are up for it, and we've got freedom to drop in a few bits and pieces of our choice without being contractually constrained.
As an aside Nick saw something that actually made him grin very broadly and literally jump for joy. I'm not a teccy, but basically it was like a giant i-phone whiteboard but PC based. He says no-one can have one in the school until the existing whiteboards collapse with exhaustion, though, and that's probably going to be quite some time yet, but it's something to look forward to.
Meeting Count 2/11/07 - 17/01/08 Forty-one - they've started back in earnest
Tuesday 8 January 2008
Normal Service Resumes
Well it's a new year, we're all back at work and it's time to return from the blog-break.
We're now about to freeze the designs so they can be fully costed and presented to Governors for sign-off. First thing this morning I therefore removed the display panels in the foyer showing the BSF proposals and it struck me how much has been amended during the consultation process. A few weeks ago the architects happened to mention there had been 87 alterations to the plans since the final bid submission. We must now be over the 100 mark. Some of these changes are minor (e.g. removing a small partition), some are quite major (e.g. the ever changing superloos). The vast majority are due to consultation at various levels. The landscaping and elevations have also changed considerably, and thank goodness for that!
Not everyone had a break over christmas. The BSF project director was apparently e-mailing on Christmas Day. We received an e-mail from him on the 28th telling us that additional funding has been found to allow us the proposed core-ten elevations, which was really good news. You've probably gathered that things have really moved on, and I think we're reaching a point where we could recommend acceptance of proposals to the Governing Body. There are a few fairly major outstanding issues, though:
And as for my break... I carried loads of BSF work home to do over the break, and carried it all back again completely untouched! I did, however, read the "Honeywood File" as recommended via a comment on this blog. It's a fictional account of a building project reported through the letters filed by the architect. It's about 80 years old, but could have been written today. Some parts are laugh out loud funny. It's out of print and was a bit tricky to get hold of, but my copy's about to go out on lending rotation, so if anyone wants to borrow it let me know.
Meeting Count 2/11/07 - 21/12/07 Thirty-four (there was only one in the last week of term). First BSF meeting of 2008 is due to be held tomorrow.
We're now about to freeze the designs so they can be fully costed and presented to Governors for sign-off. First thing this morning I therefore removed the display panels in the foyer showing the BSF proposals and it struck me how much has been amended during the consultation process. A few weeks ago the architects happened to mention there had been 87 alterations to the plans since the final bid submission. We must now be over the 100 mark. Some of these changes are minor (e.g. removing a small partition), some are quite major (e.g. the ever changing superloos). The vast majority are due to consultation at various levels. The landscaping and elevations have also changed considerably, and thank goodness for that!
Not everyone had a break over christmas. The BSF project director was apparently e-mailing on Christmas Day. We received an e-mail from him on the 28th telling us that additional funding has been found to allow us the proposed core-ten elevations, which was really good news. You've probably gathered that things have really moved on, and I think we're reaching a point where we could recommend acceptance of proposals to the Governing Body. There are a few fairly major outstanding issues, though:
- Room Data Sheets: We've been strongly advised by a number of people who know about such things that we should not agree final sign-up until we have been through every single room in detail to establish that we're getting what we need and resolve any difficulties. We currently have a bit of an issue about availability of staff drink making facilities, and I'm sure this won't be the only matter that needs to be thrashed out a bit. I must admit the idea of going through each room in this level of data fills me (and presumably anyone else involved, some of whom may have to sit through the process with 3 schools) with dread, but I can absolutely see it's something that has to be done.
- Legal Agreement: There was a lot of work outstanding here, but I gather there has again been a lot of progress over the past 2/3 weeks. Basically the Governing Body Agreement refers to lots of other legal documents that weren't finalised. We have been advised not to sign until we have a full understanding of the contents of these documents which are, of course, enormous and a bit impenetrable. Luckily the Learning Trust has funded some extremely helpful solicitors to do most of the reading and interpretation for us.
- Accessibility: Disabled Access was highlighted as a major priority at an early stage. It's the stated aim of the Governing Body never to have to turn a child away from the school again. We are waiting to meet with an independent consultant who we would like to look at the plans and make recommendations if necessary. Of course, if they make lots of recommendations this could delay design freeze. The architects are pretty confident about the proposals which are certainly an enormous improvement on the current situation, but we would feel more comfortable hearing what a specialist has to say.
- Decant and Phasing: There remains a fair bit of work to do here.
And as for my break... I carried loads of BSF work home to do over the break, and carried it all back again completely untouched! I did, however, read the "Honeywood File" as recommended via a comment on this blog. It's a fictional account of a building project reported through the letters filed by the architect. It's about 80 years old, but could have been written today. Some parts are laugh out loud funny. It's out of print and was a bit tricky to get hold of, but my copy's about to go out on lending rotation, so if anyone wants to borrow it let me know.
Meeting Count 2/11/07 - 21/12/07 Thirty-four (there was only one in the last week of term). First BSF meeting of 2008 is due to be held tomorrow.
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