South End Junior School

This development for South End Primary School involved a re-configuration of the classrooms in one area of the school to improve the pupil learning experience.

The school’s year groups are arranged in a cluster of three classrooms which ideally are interlinked to allow the year groups to come together seamlessly for joint activities, with a convenient break out space where 1:1 or small number teaching can take place with teaching support assistants. 

This arrangement works well across the school but in this part of the school the existing 30-year-old design precluded this style of teaching.  Another challenge that this year group faced was a lack of space for 1:1 and small group teaching. This mode of learning is important  to maintain inclusivity for children within our mainstream schools.  It allows learning support assistants the space in which to deliver the additional support that the children need.

To overcome this obstacle MWK Architects undertook a feasibility study to see how the buildings could be reconfigured to achieve this objective. Part of the school’s brief was to release one of the designated year group classrooms for a stand-alone Design & Technology classroom. The school has previously excelled at creating inspiring subject specific areas. These have been used to good effect in subject areas such as creative writing where the school have created a specific classroom called the ‘Old Curiosity Shop’. This classroom is brimming with interesting objects which the children use to spark their imagination and write stories around, which results in experiential learning. 

Working with truly inspirational clients, MWK Architects completely reconfigured the area by partly demolishing a classroom, designing two new classrooms, and interconnecting a third classroom in a bold move to create a new cluster group thereby fulfilling the client brief.  Externally the classrooms were finished in boldly coloured renders which marked them out as new additions to the school.