Description

The school site is wedge shaped and bounded on the north and east by a busy main road and a railway line. Tall, mature trees grow along most of the site boundary, making this an attractive site. Pedestrian access is from the main road to the north west of the site and vehicle access is from a small estate road in the south west corner. Although the site has a lot of character and creates a superb setting for the building, the amount of developable land is quite limited. The building has therefore been placed on the lowest, central part of the site.

The building is single storey, and in the shape of a banana with one central corridor. The main entrance leads into the corridor at one end of the curve facing north and the seven classrooms and nursery are grouped in pairs along the south side of the corridor. All the other accommodation is arranged along the north side of the curve facing north. The cross section of the building is similar along the length of the building, although there is a small internal courtyard close to the entrance.

The hall and other non-classroom areas are housed in a tall block with a shallow curved roof, and the corridor and classrooms have a lean-to roof against this taller block. Clerestory lighting along the corridor provides generous daylighting.

The classrooms are arranged in pairs with a group room in between them. There is a flexible shared space adjacent to the classroom entrances. Toilets, cloakrooms, some storage and further meeting/ mentoring rooms are also located along this strip adjacent to the corridor.

The larger spaces are all grouped together so that they can be separated for use by the community outside school hours. There is a separate entrance into the building for this community use.