Northamptonshire Demonstration Site

In June 2003, Northamptonshire County Council and Duston Upper School asked School Works to involve pupils, parents and the local community in the design process for the new £22 - £25 million Duston School in Northampton. The participatory process was completed in July and the outcomes report was submitted to the Council in early August.

This 1500 capacity school will commence construction in 2004 and is scheduled for completion in 2006. We worked with the following schools that will form the community for the new Duston School:

• Duston Upper School
• Ryelands Middle School
• Millway Middle School

Inspirational Tour of Birmingham

The 50 participants on the tour represented pupils, staff, school governors, local community groups and council officers. Locations visited included the Bullring Development, the International Convention Centre, Selfridges, Brindley Place, The Birmingham Library and Victoria Square

Inspiring spaces

Lunch at Brindley place

Victoria Square

 

School Design Festival Workshops

Over the course of two days, 40 design workshops were held at Duston Upper School. Workshops were kept small and involved inter-school groups of pupils from years 7-12. This worked well because pupils of different ages and from different schools came together to exchange ideas and perspectives and had time to explore the issues in detail.

School designers

Teacher as facilitator

 

Other representatives included the PFI bidders, schools facilities management, LEA advisors, local Council representatives, school and Council community liaison representatives, and school governors.

What did we learn?

Some of the key priorities for the new school included:

Flexibility

Designs should consider flexible learning facilities with scope for amending sizes of teaching spaces through use of partitions, and adaptable spaces which can be used for a range of activities. Also important were flexible social areas, toilets available throughout the school, and covered outside areas to provide shelter.

Security

Designs should focus on providing a secure campus, possibly situating classrooms around the buildings perimeter to ensure good visibility of entrances and exits. Separate pedestrian and road access (staff and visitor) and restricted times for service vehicles. Schools should foster a sense of personal safety without “dead spots” or hiding places.

Creative ideas

Creative ideas

Creative ideas

Fit For Purpose

The new school should have as much natural light as possible. Participants wanted resilient and robust building materials to be used throughout, and wide corridors and good circulation. There is a need for designated provision for Special Needs and Open Learning.

There also needs to be an integrated infrastructure and hardware for learning and management.

Community

Community facilities should be integrated, but able to be separated for evening and weekend use.

Transition Period

The construction process and location of buildings would need to have a minimum impact on current provision.