Academies of the future

ACADEMIES OF
THE FUTURE

Why this can't be just 'another good conversation'

A round table workshop to discuss the challenges that academies face and what the future looks like for success now and in the future...Contents

Thank you for reading Academies of the future

The case for acting now

There was a moment in the room when the debate stopped being theoretical.

Not because the challenges surprised anyone - funding gaps, ageing estates, rising SEND needs, staff recruitment, the sheer complexity of keeping schools safe and functioning - these are daily realities across the sector.

The shift came when someone put a deadline on complacency: if we’re still having the same conversation in 5–10 years’ time, we’ve failed.

That line became the quiet drumbeat of Morgan Sindall Construction’s Academies of the Future roundtable: a mixed table of trust leaders, school leaders, local authority voices, designers, cost and project professionals, and government representation. Not to “share best practice” in the abstract, but to leave with clearer intent.

Because academies aren’t just places where pupils pass through. In many areas, especially those carrying the heaviest social and economic pressures, they are an island of safety, a route to belonging, a launchpad for aspiration, and (when designed and operated with intent) the heartbeat of a community.

Click to watch

Round table attendees

A room that kept coming back to one truth: it’s about the children

The day began with the blunt arithmetic of the system: academisation at scale, extensive structural risk across estates, widespread deficits, and growing unmet need.

But the most revealing insight didn’t come from the numbers, it came from the lived experience behind them.

One school leader described the pressure points with disarming clarity: finance first, then resourcing, then the difficulty of retaining and recruiting teachers in a profession that has become more intense, more scrutinised, and less supported.

“It’s not attractive,” they said. Not because the work isn’t meaningful, but because the strain has become relentless.

And then there was the human point that cut through everything else: the conversation can drift toward technical constraints, frameworks, compliance, and the mechanics of delivery, until someone pulls it back.

“We wandered off into our daily jobs… and then someone brought us back to the fact it’s about the children.”

That recalibration mattered. Because it repositioned the academy not as an asset, but as a lived environment. One that shapes behaviour, confidence, identity, and life chances.

The academy as a community anchor, not a building that ‘shuts at 4pm’

One theme returned again and again: schools shouldn’t be dormant assets.

In too many places, the gates close at the end of the school day and an entire public investment goes quiet, even as communities around it struggle for space, services, and connection.

Participants explored what happens when the school becomes outward-facing, not just “community use” as in a sports pitch booked by someone driving across town, but meaningful integration: food banks, training and employability support, English language courses, community celebrations, and spaces that welcome families rather than keep them outside the fence.

What stood out wasn’t the “nice-to-have” sentiment. It was the practical effect:

community engagement can improve trust in the school
trust can improve relationships with parents
and relationships can influence behaviour, belonging, and ultimately outcomes

The roundtable didn’t pretend this is easy. Safeguarding is real. Security is non-negotiable. But there was a shared conviction that integration isn’t solely a design challenge, it’s a leadership and operating model challenge too.

Nature-first, not ‘Tesco car park’: the design debate that landed hardest

If one “design” conversation dominated the morning, it was this: external environment is not an afterthought.

Too often, the landscape package is the first to be value-engineered. It’s what gets “attacked quickest” when budgets tighten. Yet time and again, the group returned to how outdoor space - greenery, shade, playable landscape, the journey from gate to door - can transform a pupil’s state of mind before a lesson even starts.

A story surfaced about arriving at a school in a dense urban environment: the stress of the road, the compressed entrance, and then, suddenly, a calming, inspiring reveal of trees, space, and light.

“From the edge of the road to the start of the school… that can reduce anxiety about the school day.”

The point wasn’t aesthetic. It was behavioural. Psychological. If extremes of weather increasingly keep children indoors, then shade, shelter, and usable outdoor learning become part of educational resilience, not a “nice-to-have.”

“Don’t build schools like Tesco car parks.” And that’s not to malign the supermarket model, pure tarmac is very functional in that context. But they are not a copy and paste for the school playground, that’s for sure.

And crucially: the group spoke about inside and outside needing to work in harmony so that wellbeing isn’t bolted on, but embedded in how the whole place feels and functions.

Technology & AI: useful tool, but never the point

AI surfaced, as it always does now, but the conversation resisted the hype.

The clearest consensus was that technology should support education, not replace it.

There was a strong steer that face-to-face learning still matters: not just for teaching, but for the relationships, social interactions, and informal moments that shape a young person’s experience of school. Corridors, canteens, toilets, social spaces - the “in-between” matters as much as the classroom.

“The school is more than just the classroom.”

At the same time, there was realism: AI is here, and if used responsibly it can reduce admin friction and support better decisions. But it shouldn’t become a justification for stripping away the human core of education.

Procurement & funding: the frustration beneath

If the roundtable had an undercurrent, it was frustration. Not with ambition, but with constraint.

Budget pressure forces compromise. Compromise can frustrate end users. And too often, the compromises fall hardest on the things that most affect day-to-day lived experience: maintenance, external environment, and the “extras” that make a school feel dignified rather than simply functional.

Several participants pointed to a practical lever: earlier involvement. Bringing all stakeholders to the table sooner can reduce late-stage trade-offs and help ensure money is spent in the right places, not just the easiest places.

“If we could get involved a lot earlier, the compromises
would be minimised.”

And then there was the bigger question: how do we unlock investment in a system where taxpayer funding is under sustained pressure? The group didn’t solve this in a morning, but it did agree that without long-term estate strategy and a clearer model of financing, even the best design intent will hit the same wall.

Homework: the line that turned a roundtable into a challenge

The most energising moments weren’t the easiest ones, they were
the ones that demanded momentum.

A call emerged for roundtables like this to be more regular, more candid, and deliberately action-oriented.

Not just coffee and conversation, but clear follow-ups; “homework” as one guest put it, and accountability.

And hanging over it all was the simplest, sharpest motivation:

“If we’re still talking about this in 5–10 years’ time… we’ve failed.”

Not as doom. As fuel.

Five key takeaways

(what the room kept returning to)

Put pupils
back at the centre, every time

When the discussion drifted into process and constraints, it was repeatedly pulled back to purpose: academies exist for children, and decisions should be tested against their lived experience.

Treat the
academy as civic infrastructure, not a closed asset

Schools can be a community heartbeat: services, belonging, support, opportunity. Designing and operating for community benefit can strengthen trust and improve outcomes.

Design wellbeing
in, starting with landscape

External space is not decoration. Nature, shade, playable landscapes, and calmer arrival journeys can materially influence behaviour and readiness to learn and they shouldn’t be the first budget casualty.

Use
technology to enable people, not replace them

AI and digital tools have a role, but the “human work” of school happens in relationships and social spaces as much as in lessons. Future-ready design must reflect that.

Earlier collaboration reduces compromise and speeds progress

Better outcomes are more likely when all stakeholders (including delivery partners) shape decisions sooner, with clearer priorities about where money genuinely matters most.

If schiools are to be the heartbeat of their communities, they can’t be designed as closed boxes or delivered as compromises.

They need to be inclusive, nature-led, future-ready places where children feel safe, seen, and set up to thrive.

And the real test is this: the conversation only counts if it turns into action.

Click on the final ‘live illustration’ image that Jack drew as the conversation evolved so you can zoom in to read his fascinating capture