My colleague Hannah and I were treated to a fascinating excursion during the Labour Party Conference in Brighton. At the invitation of the British Council for School Environments (BCSE), we took a trip along to coast and were lucky enough to visit Portslade Community College to witness the school’s ‘makeover’.

Portslade and four other schools across the country (Percy Main Junior School

In North Tyneside, the Grove Primary in Cambridge, Plymouth Grove Primary School in Manchester and Bridgerule Primary in Devon), are taking part in the Big School Makeover, a national education programme. Teachers, parents and pupils are being encouraged to be involved in the refurbishment of a classroom, dining room or an outdoor space at their school.

A rather mundane school hall was in the process of being transformed, albeit on a pretty modest budget, into a contemporary dining area, complete with bright, bottle green radiators, a huge multi-coloured vinyl mural and coloured walls adorned with terrific artwork produced by the children under the guidance of the Art Department – all of it worthy of a contemporary art gallery or exhibition in London or New York. Actually, I toyed with the idea of offering to buy some of it for my front room; stopped only by the fact my wife hates modern art! A once bare and deep stage area became a computer bar with several laptops for the pupils to use on the front of the stage, complete with modern, swish, black and springy high stools! The use of a simple partition created stage space to the rear of the stage. Large soundproofing sculptures hung from the ceiling suspended at a jaunty angle to resemble floating clouds. The whole space was brought to life and exploded with colour through the use of thoughtful but simple designs. More impressive still were the looks of sheer delight, excitement and amazement at what had been achieved on the faces of all the pupils who streamed in and out to see what all the fuss was about. Many of them chatted with us and question the workmen, rushing off to fetch their mates to marvel at what their fellow students in combination with the teachers, decorators and designers had produced. Teachers exchanged banter with pupils, and apart from the occasional statement of derision about the choice of lighting from a couple of teenagers who seemed to have stepped off the set of ‘Hollyoaks’, it was clear that the whole school community’s relations to the space had been transformed. A sense of ownership and belonging had emerged, as we marvelled at what could be achieved in three days through a cooperative and collaborative approach.

In 2007, Teacher Support Network and BCSE conducted a joint survey of 530 teachers on school buildings. Just 12 per cent said that their building provided an effective learning environment. A resounding 87 per cent believed that school environments influence pupil behaviour, while 60 per cent said that their school didn’t have an adjustable environment to support curriculum delivery.

The survey clearly demonstrated that poor facilities can have a damaging impact on the performance and wellbeing of pupils and school staff, for example, poor acoustics can hamper communication and affect teachers’ confidence, whilst poor temperature control can affect concentration; damaging teaching and learning alike.

As a result of our findings, our report last year – ‘Just another brick in the wall? How schools could benefit from better building investment’, which was written jointly with BCSE, suggested far greater interaction between architects and teachers throughout the process of school building, particularly during the Building Schools for the Future programme. We have subsequently been engaged with decision makers at a national and local level to try and ensure that the entire school community is involved in decisions effecting their environments.

For me, the makeover at Portslade is a perfect example of how things can work. By making changes to the environment, the school has noticeably improved the wellbeing of teachers and pupils, helping to create a renewed sense of self-respect amongst the entire school community. The pupils and teachers had ensured some fantastic outcomes with the sheer energy with which they had applied themselves.

It was a fascinating and useful afternoon – and great fun! I left inspired about schools generally – and our own work to help improve such environments. However my first task on returning to the office was ordering two extra large Teacher Support Network name badges for future school visits. Upon our arrival, several pupils asked if we were from Ofsted!