Building Schools for the Future (BSF) offers the chance for every local authority in England not only to renovate its secondary schools, but to transform education in a way that best serves the local community for generations to come.

Local authorities have the lead responsibility to engage and consult with all interested parties in their local communities. They are responsible for ensuring that the collective vision of what their schools should provide is actually delivered through BSF. This means thinking in depth about what our schools should look like, where they should be and how learning should take place.

Partnerships for Schools (PfS) support and advise local authorities through the process, from planning their Strategy for Change, through bid evaluation, procurement and on into operational schools. Once a local authority has selected its private sector partner, together with BSFI (a sister company to Partnerships for Schools) they form a local education partnership (LEP). The LEP marks an evolution in public private partnerships and has been designed specifically for BSF with a view to aligning public and private sector interests in way that has not been possible before. This model delivers real efficiencies to the local authority in procurement terms whilst at the same time increasing the likelihood that our new schools will deliver educational transformation.

The DfE and PfS are also committed to help you to find ways of joining up funding with health, leisure and social services wherever possible, to encourage the creation of facilities for the whole community This work is also highlighted as a priority for the Government in the Children's Plan.

Best practice and learning from experience

There is much you can do to prepare before you join the programme. It is important to start planning and consulting early to get strong commitment from within the organisation and from local schools and other stakeholders. You should not underestimate the resources involved in delivering BSF successfully - it may sound obvious, but you will need the right people in key roles. Lessons learned from pathfinder and early wave local authorities can be found on this website.

It is worth talking to local authorities that are further ahead in the programme to hear their views and experiences. PfS hosts events and an annual conference where this networking would be possible. You might also find it useful to refer to some of the other lessons learned which have been collated by 4ps from their Gateway Reviews of local authorities in the early waves.