News - Insights

Last month, more than 1,000 schools across the UK were forced to close fully or partially as record-breaking temperatures pushed classrooms beyond safe operating conditions.

What this did was expose a much bigger issue. It wasn't simply an unfortunate consequence of an extreme weather event. What became evident is something that those working across the education estate have understood for quite some time, and that is that many of our school buildings were never designed for the climate we're now experiencing.

As the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) programme enters its final years, education leaders across the country are preparing applications for what is widely believed to be the penultimate bidding round. Yet a closer examination of the funding landscape suggests that many cash constrained schools may be underselling their capital needs and, as a result, missing out on the level of investment they genuinely require.

The rapid rise in demand for special educational needs and disabilities provision is often described as a capacity crisis. But at AEC, we say that framing it this way misses a more fundamental problem.