Summer Site Improvements
Dean Brittle, Trust 
Estates and Health and Safety Lead, explains how Stour Vale schools and settings have further improved their sites this summer.
… and that was the Summer of 2026. The site teams, cleaners, Business Managers and contractors have worked incredibly hard at all of our sites to ensure that they are ready for the September return.
In March 2026 the DfE launched the ‘Education Estates Strategy: a decade of national renewal’. Through the Strategy the DfE places greater emphasis on our school estates being ‘Safe, Suitable, Sustainable and Sufficiently Sized’. With this in mind, our site teams and contractors have worked to ensure that our sites are now safer than they were before the holiday, more suitable for learner needs, more sustainable for future plans and more sufficiently sized to accommodate our staff and students. Across the 14 sites of Stour Vale Academy Trust we have seen a truly amazing amount of work and investment into prepping our school estate. From fencing replacements to fire alarm upgrades, from toilet refurbishment to tree removal, from canopy installation to CCTV replacement and from resurfacing to routine inspections, the list is endless.
Our sites have benefitted from the SCA (School Condition Allocation) investment from the DfE; a pot of money allocated to academy trusts to improve their estates. You can really notice the difference when you walk around our sites and see the improvements made.
Our school corridors went from being filled with students wearing their PE kits in the heatwave of July, to lots and lots of hi-vis-wearing contractors. As we approach the start of the academic year, it is good to discuss with the students what changes have been made, how this will improve their experiences in school and how they can play their part in making sure our sites remain suitable for all.
A big thank-you to all members of staff who worked over the summer period to ensure our sites are ready for the September return.