The Use of School Sports and Cultural Facilities: A Review of the Impact of Policies and Management Regimes

Abstract

Introduction: Schools throughout Scotland provide a critically important resource to support local community cultural and sporting activities of every level and type. The strategic importance of school facilities has been fully recognised in the national strategy for sport Reaching Higher and by the Scottish Arts Council in their developing facilities strategy. With the current record levels of government and local authority investment in the school estate, it is all the more important to consider how best to optimise the opportunities presented by these developments and to ensure that all schools make the most effective contribution to cultural and sporting life throughout Scotland. In 1999 the Programme for Government committed to building or significantly renovating 100 schools by 2003. In 2002 a further commitment was made to complete an additional 200 new or substantially refurbished schools by 2006, and in 2003 this was extended to enable the renewal of 300 schools by 2009 (including the 200 schools identified in 2002). Audit Scotland considered that, depending on how 'significantly renovate' and 'substantially refurbished' are defined, the targets for 2003 and 2006 had been achieved and the 2009 target would be achieved. Local councils and the (then) Scottish Executive spent or committed some £3.9bn on capital improvements to school buildings during the seven years 2000/01-06/07, which was likely to reach more than £5.2bn by April 2008. Most of that additional investment was due to PFI contracts, estimated at £896m in 2007/08. This level of investment has been accompanied by increased emphasis on maximising the use of the school estate. For example, The 21st century school states that, in addition to meeting the needs of the individual child, a key objective of new investments and approaches was to put the school at the heart of the community and deliver better services. As part of the strategy for integrated community schools, there has been a requirement to engage with the communities that the schools serve, in part by offering services and access to services and facilities. The Scottish Executive partnership agreement stated that: - We will develop the largest ever school building programme in Scotland‘s history, renewing 200 more schools by 2006, rising to 300 by 2009. These schools should be available to the whole community and include high quality facilities for drama, music, sport, IT and, in secondary schools, science laboratories. - New schools should demonstrate commitment to the highest design and environmental standards. - We will make sure that by 2007 every school is an integrated community school. In 2006, the Scottish Executive stated that the Integrated Community School initiative had developed and been overtaken by the wider integration agenda: - It no longer makes sense to think of schools separately from other agencies. We would now say that: By 2007 every school in Scotland will participate in delivering 'Integrated Children‘s Services'.