Educational excellence and community focus

The new Balfron High School – developed by Jarvis in partnership with Stirling Council in Scotland – is located in the heart of a small village and serves a wide rural catchment area. The campus, next to Balfron Primary School, caters for all stages from creche education to further/adult education and has been operating successfully since September 2001.

Integrated with the landscape
Designed with curriculum and ecological principles in mind, the new High School rises to three storeys with teaching blocks radiating from a central, glazed atrium accommodating a wide range of activities including dining and assembly. The extensive glazing provides all round views to the spectacular Stirlingshire countryside.

Double volumes have been used throughout the school to give a spacious feeling and reduce the claustrophobic atmosphere associated with older school designs. The library is on two storeys and features a mezzanine floor with views into the central atrium. A separate assembly hall cum theatre next to the new drama department has been designed to enable the staging all kinds of performance.

Better environment for teachers and students
The need to provide comfortable working conditions for the teaching staff has also been built into the design. A spacious staff lounge opens onto a south-facing first-floor terrace. Each classroom block contains curriculum departments with each floor benefiting from a central multi-purpose teaching area.

Speaking at the official opening of the new school building, Head Girl Julie Campbell summed up the feelings of her fellow students: “My main worry about moving to such a large building was that we would get lost behind the materialistic things which make up our school and forget what has kept our school strong for so many years. Yet I was wrong. Since moving we have done nothing but thrive. Our new school has been the key to our rapid progress. It has provided a better learning environment and an improved school ethos.”

Sporting achievement
High-quality sports facilities on the campus include a swimming pool, games hall and fitness room, and floodlit outdoor pitches. The project provided Lottery funding body sportscotland with its first opportunity to work in partnership with the public and private sectors to deliver sports facilities via PFI. Alastair Dempster, Chairman of sportscotland, said: "This marks the fruition of a successful partnership between the public and private sectors.This type of school-community partnership will not only benefit the school sporting curriculum, but will widen opportunities for the local community to get more active, more often."

Central to the community
The school is also proving to be an important catalyst for social life in the village of Balfron and the wider rural community, with the flexible design providing accommodation for various groups, interests and activities.

From rural Scotland to Greater London
Balfron High School is just one example of how Jarvis delivers 21st century educational facilities across the UK. At the other end of the country, in the outer London suburb of Loughton, the Company was also responsible for delivering the Debden Park High School to Essex County Council. Currently catering for around 900 pupils, with the option to extend to accommodate up to 1,200, the school could hardly be more different than Balfron.

Here the main challenges were to overcome significant planning issues in a Green Belt area and provide an attractive, well-landscaped environment, as well as to provide new community facilities without extending the fixed PFI budget. Successfully in operation since Summer 2001, like Balfron, Debden Park has proved a valuable focus for the local population, as well as for the immediate school community.

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• To find out more about community activities linked to Balfron High School, visit the Corporate Responsibility section of this site.
  
  Factfile
  
• Balfron High School won the 2002 Scottish Deals PFI/PPP Project of the Year
• Capital development cost £16 million for Balfron High School
• Balfron High School serves a rural Scottish catchment area with places for some 920 pupils – double the number housed by the old school buildings
• Debden Park High School caters for 900 pupils (with scope to extend to accommodate up to 1,200), and includes a community centre and day nursery
• Jarvis is now providing a range of facilities management services to both schools over 25 years, including building maintenance, helpdesk, caretaking, cleaning, catering and security