BSF

Building Schools for the Future

We are delighted that Dunraven School, together with The Norwood School, is next on the list for the regeneration of schools in Lambeth as part of the government’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. If you have lived in the area for a while, you will remember that our buildings were not designed for secondary school use, but were used to re-house the increasingly popular Dunraven School when the former occupants, a teacher training college and adult education centre, moved out of the area.

Staff, students and governors are looking forward to the opportunity to redesign some of the more problematical areas, such as the prefab classrooms on the Lower School site, the single storey teaching block and the old Gym in Upper School.

But there are many aspects of our school that we have come to love: the trees; the campus-like feel of the School; the stunning staircase in Library Block, so our plan is to retain and refurbish those areas which are of architectural and educational merit and re-build those which are not.One priority is to minimise the number of students who have to cross busy Leigham Court Road for their lessons, by re-organising the layout of the school. 

Another priority, especially for our students, is to make the school as environmentally friendly as possible, with a low carbon footprint and lower energy consumption than our current buildings allow. 

A third is to improve the quality of the outdoor spaces for learning and recreation by creating quiet spaces for children to study and relax as well as upgrading the games areas.

The current Upper School will benefit from a stylish frontage, designed in neutral colours, to draw together the current mix of architectural styles. New trees will be planted to complement the existing magnificent trees which make Dunraven so distinctive.

Site security will be further improved to ensure that our young people can feel safe at all times. An added benefit of this is our hope to open up more of our facilities to the local community than we are currently able to. In addition to the Sports Facilities we already provide, we hope to make our refurbished school buildings available for other events, both educational and social, not only for our own students but also for local residents.

This is a wonderful opportunity for Dunraven and we are very much looking forward to sharing with you the positive changes the BSF project will bring. Once planning permission has been requested, we will be inviting all our friends and families to a presentation on the proposals, and we look forward to seeing you then.