Photo credit: Hunters architects
Following our call for ideas – I am posting up some great case studies and discussions we had about designing special schools. As a major issue for the new government, special schools are very much here to stay – but their design and work is not always given the same profile and visibility way as their mainstream equivalents. Yet with an increasing number of children within state schools requiring extra support or an inclusive environment, it is vital that this bridge is crossed and learning crosses over between the sectors. When you see the great ideas you will see why.
So first up – I’ve started to create a gallery of images of some of the best and most inspiring special schools that we have found through our awards, our trawls and your suggestions. This is work in progress so check in early next week when lots more images will be there!
I was sent a great couple of examples from Pascale Scheurer from Surface to Air architects – who designed the award winning Rotunda Pupil Referral Unit in Slough which is part of the Haybrook College’s innovative provision for Inclusion and Behaviour Management. Also photos and a short case study of Gibbs Green Primary school in Hammersmith which brings an SEBD (Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties) primary school onto the site of an existing mainstream primary school and is due for completion as we speak. This year’s award shortlist for inspiring design in a special school also includes 2 fantastic special schools – Forest Way School in Leicester and the Pears National Centre for Autism Education in London – which we posted about a few weeks ago.
There is a useful discussion just starting that was stimulated from our call for ideas – which can be found by joining the Centre for School Design linkedin group. On a more pragmatic note, we know that the Building Bulletin 102 is a pretty useful primer for people coming to this agenda for the first time. And if that’s not enough – we did a fantastic conference a year or so back where we raised the issue of designing special schools for the first time on a major national stage. All of the presentations from leading architects, schools local authorities plus the inspiring work of Toby Hewson are available here.
If you do have any further examples yourself or wish to showcase your school just let us know and we’ll add them to our gallery and future posts. (And for those with an eye on the title of this blog post – it comes from a report I wrote a few years ago, which pushes for fresh thinking on special schools and the importance of them being ‘centres for excellence’ in training other schools in suppporting young people’s needs – if you have 5 minutes to read it through!)
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