We must adopt a can-do attitude I Chris Dearden, managing director, Medem UK Web: www.medem.co.uk Twitter: @medemukltd t is now five years since the Building Schools for the Future programme was abruptly cancelled. Many have argued that it was a very expensive way to rebuild every high school in the UK. In essence, PFI was off-balance sheet accounting and was certainly not good for the taxpayer long term, but at least the programme offered ideal learning facilities and conditions. Today, we have the Priority School Building Programme (PSBP). Its aim is to rebuild or refurbish at least one block for each selected school. PSBP1 had 261 schools, of which 14 new builds are now completed. PSBP2 was announced in February this year with 277 schools on the list. When recently polled, 35% of 1,000 head teachers felt that their schools were unfit for purpose. Examples given were: teaching areas with no electricity because of water ingress; concrete falling from crumbling walls; and classrooms unusable because of the presence of asbestos. Let us hope that whatever government we have by the end of May focuses on education in terms of investment to raise standards, as opposed to the current slow pace under the PSBP scheme that only focuses on cost. Our young people need positive surroundings to encourage learning, so the physical environment they are in makes a statement of commitment to them and to the future of our country.