Asset Management Planning – School Upgrades

2. School functionality

Introduction

The Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) is committed to supporting principals in their role as asset managers, whilst providing schools with flexibility to manage infrastructure need through tailored asset management plans (AMPs) as part of the capital works process.

Schools allocated capital works funding are required to complete a functionality assessment of their existing facilities as part of their AMP.

Victorian Functionality Matrix

Schools use the Victorian Functionality Matrix (VFM) to review and assess the functionality of facilities to determine whether they are fit for purpose in meeting the curriculum needs of the school community.

Functionality will feed into project prioritisation and targeting of funding towards projects consistent with the educational specification developed by the school.

Rationale

The VSBA works to ensure all Victorian government school students have access to functional and modern learning spaces.

Schools receiving capital works funding develop an AMP which links this funding to a school’s strategic planning and identifies a number of priority projects to be undertaken by a school over the duration of the AMP. The AMP process supports schools in delivering fit for purpose learning spaces, aligned to the school educational specification. For more information, refer to the Policy tab.

A functionality assessment – conducted through the VFM – helps schools to determine which projects to prioritise by:

• reviewing the functionality of their current learning spaces in meeting their curricula and pedagogical aims, and
• identifying improvement areas.

The VFM comprises 4 design principles, each with a number of sub-components which schools are to give a rating from 1 to 5. These design components are:

1. learners and learning at the centre
2. schools are community hubs
3. diversity is celebrated
4. a welcoming environment.

Underpinning these 4 design principles is the need to establish and enhance relationships, both within the school and the wider community. Well considered school design enables staff to work collaboratively towards providing every student with the individualised learning and wellbeing support they need to thrive. This approach works hand in hand with the VSBA’s policy of non-standardised design of Victorian government schools, which encourages innovation in school infrastructure to reflect the local context and each school’s educational rationale, community requirements and site-specific conditions.

In addition, the AMP process also serves to prioritise works to the areas of the school which are most in need. This ensures that capital works contribute to extending the life of school assets so that they will last for future generations of students. This prioritisation is an important part of the AMP process.

Additional information

For further information, contact:

AMP Coordinator, VSBA: amp.coordinator@education.vic.gov.au