We took the team to see a few other primary schools that have been recently built. It was an exhausting day, but really good fun and really informative. We saw things we liked and things we didn't - both important to know!
A few issues came out of the day - the big thing was sustainability. St Lukes opened in April 2009 and was the first primary school to achieve 'BREEAM Excellent' - this is an independent assessment tool to establish how 'sustainable' your building is. It is REALLY really hard work to get 'Excellent', but we are all keen to try and meet this target and hopefully beat their score!!
The other interesting element was the project spaces - this is basically open-plan space adjacent to the classrooms where a number of small groups can work as well as a larger group. This kind of space gives the teachers the flexibility to teach in a wide variety of ways that suit the kind of learners in their class. The key, I think, is to have a good range of teaching / learning spaces - yes, you have the classroom, but then you also have open plan spaces where the small groups can work, closed group rooms for more focused work and then the larger groupings as well.
The three schools we saw were:
- Water Hall Primary School, Milton Keynes
- Samworth Enterprise Academy, Leicester
- St Lukes Primary School, Wolverhampton
Nicola
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