School designs discussed at crucial meeting

Education experts, architects and planners are meeting at the award-winning Cotswold Conference Centre this week to discuss the future design of UK schools.

More than a dozen leading members of the British Council for School Environments (BCSE) will come together on Thursday and Friday to examine the effect that surroundings have on learning and agree a way forward to improve school standards.

The BCSE aims to help schools make the right decisions about their design and their environment and this week’s meeting follows months of gathering evidence from schools, teachers and other educationalists across the UK.

Suzanne Kent, Team Coordinator for the BCSE, said: “As we support the creation of effective and efficient learning environments, we are keen to hold our events in spaces that match our values and high expectations.

“We want to inspire some big thinking from our attendees to help us find better solutions for schools and we are certain that Cotswold Conference Centre will give us the perfect setting to do so because of the excellent learning environment here.”

After the event, the BCSE will compile an advice and best practice toolkit for school design based on the research and last week’s meeting.

It is hoped that the BCSE guidelines will be tested in the autumn with a number of different schools including those in the Priority Schools Building Programme.

Richard Howdle, Operations Manager of Cotswold Conference Centre, said: “We take real pride in our unique meeting and training offer, so it will be great to welcome the BCSE, who themselves are experts in learning environments.

“I’m sure their experiences here will lead to some fascinating discussions and, hopefully, some really positive outcomes for the future design of schools too.”

Cotswold Conference Centre is a modern, award-winning venue based on the 320-acre Farncombe Estate, five minutes from the picturesque town of Broadway and just half-an-hour from Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon. 

For more information about Cotswold Conference Centre call 0845 230 8580 or visit www.cotswoldconferencecentre.com.