As a Chief Operating Officer I could have told you what the trust wanted for its children in one sentence. I could not have told you what that sentence asked of the buildings. The estate vision is the document that closes that gap, and this autumn the DfE's annual return asks every school Responsible Body (the trust, governing body, local authority, or proprietor accountable for the estate) whether it has one. This guide sets out what the document is, what belongs in it, who writes it and how it reaches the board.
What is an estate vision?
The department describes it as a high-level statement of the priorities for the estate and how current and future education needs will be met. Good estate management for schools, the department's guidance, gives it a horizon of five to ten years and one main purpose: to describe how the estate will support the educational vision and strategy of the organisation.
It is the first of three connected documents. The vision says where the estate needs to get to. The estate strategy says what will be done over the next three to five years to get there. The asset management plan sets out the work, with the data behind it, over the next year or two. Each depends on the one before it.
Where does it sit in the School Estate Management Standards?
The standards describe four levels. The estate strategy and the asset management plan sit at Level 1, the baseline every Responsible Body should hold. The estate vision sits at Level 2, alongside the climate action plan. That ordering sometimes surprises people, because the guidance describes the strategy as the means of delivering the vision.
In my experience organisations find it easier to write the vision first. It is short, it needs no survey data, and it gives the strategy something to aim at. An organisation that has a strategy and no vision usually has a list of works. An organisation that has both can explain why those works and not others.
What should it contain?
The guidance names three things to include:
- how the estate will provide the space and capacity needed for the educational vision
- how the estate will provide safe and fit-for-purpose accommodation
- how the estate will provide the specialist spaces and facilities the organisation needs
It also says what to leave out. The vision should not detail how it will be achieved, because that is the job of the strategy. There is no prescribed format, and the guidance is clear that the document does not need to be complex or lengthy.
A useful way to draft it is to take each commitment in the educational vision and ask what it needs from the buildings. A commitment to inclusion needs accessible routes, suitable spaces and the places to put specialist provision. A commitment to a broad curriculum needs the laboratories, workshops, studios and outdoor space to teach it. A commitment to the community needs spaces that can open beyond the school day. Falling or rising pupil numbers need an honest statement of what the space is for.
Who should write it?
The guidance says an executive leader responsible for the estate should produce the vision, working with relevant stakeholders. It is not a task for the estate leads alone, and it is not a task to hand wholly to an outside adviser. The people with a stake usually include the education leadership, the finance lead, the person who leads the estate day to day, the Responsible Body, and any landowning party such as a diocese, a foundation or a local authority. Where somebody else owns the land, their own plans for it belong in the conversation early.
How does it reach the board?
The guidance asks for the vision to be formally approved by the Responsible Body as part of business planning, and for it to be shared and agreed with the Responsible Body as a minimum. Approval is the point at which it becomes the organisation's position. After that it is reviewed alongside the estate strategy, which the guidance says should be checked against the educational vision once a year.
A board paper for a first vision can be short: the draft itself, a note of who was consulted, the educational commitments it responds to, and a proposed date for its first review.
What are the commonest mistakes?
Three come up repeatedly in my work with trusts and schools.
The first is the project list. A vision that names the new hall and the replacement roof has skipped to the strategy, and will be out of date as soon as the works are done.
The second is the slogan. A sentence about safe, inspiring environments for all is true of every organisation in the country and helps with no decision.
The third is the orphan. The document exists, was written by one person some years ago, has never been adopted, and is unknown to the people now making estate decisions.
A working test for any draft: when two projects compete for the same money, does the vision help you choose between them?
How does the annual return ask about it?
The return's first question asks whether the organisation has an estate vision. The answers offered are yes, not yet but a first draft is under way, no, and not sure. The return is multiple choice, asks for no supporting documents, and the department has said it does not affect the funding an organisation receives. Its purpose is to help a Responsible Body understand which levels of the standards it is meeting and to tell the department what support is needed. An honest not yet is a sound answer, and a better basis for the year than a yes nobody could show.
Frequently asked questions
How long should an estate vision be? The guidance sets no length and says it need not be lengthy. One or two pages is common.
Does a single school need one? The standards apply to schools and their Responsible Bodies alike, and the return is completed by the Responsible Body. A single-academy trust or a maintained school's governing body benefits from the same one-page discipline as a large trust.
Is a vision the same as a strategy? No. The vision sets the direction over five to ten years. The strategy covers three to five years and sets out what will be done, with outcomes, timescales and projected funding.
How often should it be reviewed? The guidance asks for the strategy to be reviewed alongside the vision, and for the strategy to be checked against the educational vision once a year.
Who signs it off? The Responsible Body, as part of business planning.