Education Business

The government has set its new agency, Partnership for Schools (PfS), an ambitious challenge – Building Schools for the Future (BSF). And PfS has been given the money to make it happen. Part of that challenge is delivery of the government’s Learning Outside the Classroom manifesto, which has put new emphasis on how first-hand experiences of outside learning will help make subjects more vivid and interesting, and enhance pupils’ understanding. It explains how intelligently designed outdoor spaces in schools can also contribute significantly to pupils’ personal, social and emotional development.
    
PfS has retained the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) as its adviser on the procurement and design assessment processes and all BSF projects will now go through CABE’s schools design review. The latest 10-point Schools Design Panel Guidelines from CABE take an initiative on behalf of the schools by recommending that designers ‘make assets of the outdoor spaces’ and ‘achieve a high-quality play space for every childrens’ facility’. Sun shading and weather protection feature prominently in the criteria which call for a host of considerations (see box panel). It’s important, agrees Ofsted, to integrate learning inside and outside the classroom by ensuring free movement between the indoor and outdoor environments. We all know that in actuality, that’s rare. But it’s becoming a real possibility that public authorities will be made liable for the provision of shade structures, and it is readily apparent that a huge knowledge gap exists for many of this sector’s stakeholders.
    
Every child matters
Ofsted expressed concern that some schools had outdoor areas that, too often, lacked suitable canopies which unnecessarily limited the use of these areas. Taking up this theme, the ‘Every Child Matters’ Report joins with Cancer Research’s ‘SunSmart’ campaign which insists that any outdoor construction takes into account the 86,400 cases of skin cancer (source: Cancer Research UK) diagnosed annually in the UK. Skin cancer is very rarely diagnosed in children, and that leads to dangerous complacency, says Cancer Research UK. Many skin cancers take years to develop. Damage to the DNA of young people’s skin cells may develop into skin cancer several decades later. And the most serious type of skin cancer – melanoma – is the most common cancer in 15-to-34 year olds. Local authorities are quite clear that when adhering to the Early Years and Foundation Stage National Curriculum, outdoor learning and play between 11am - 3pm from May-September should only be conducted in the shade – yet we all know that is something completely lacking in most school playgrounds at the moment. Education sector designers are increasingly specifying weatherproof shade sails and waterproof tension structures to provide the twin requirements of outdoor UV protection and covered space that allow young people to have a safe environment in which to learn and play.
    
Practical outdoor solutions
And it’s worth remembering that as designers work with suppliers and head teachers to provide a practical outdoor environment, the investment also offers many opportunities to engage with young people in the mutually reinforcing nature of the provision process, from design through to maintenance, giving students the opportunity to input into shapes and colours that can include overlapping hyperbolic squares, conics, triangles and more.

Top 10 design tips
Top Ten Design Tips:
1. Make best use of your outdoor designs to enhance the character of the site
2. Provide shelter from the prevailing wind, rain and sun
3. When making provision for outdoor learning ensure the new space supports the school’s learning structure
4. Designs should make clear links between the indoor and outdoor learning environments
5. Structures need to be robust, flexible and able to cope with our famously ever-changing weather
6. Capitalise on the visual potential of free-standing structures to brighten up essential areas such as sand pits, seating areas, swimming pools and playgrounds.
7. Ensure your structure is not only fully compliant with  CABE criteria but also add a visual statement to the school grounds and facilities
8. Take a Whole Life Approach with materials capable of offering an expected life of 20-30 years
9. Structures should be easy to clean, resistant to rot, mildew, fading, fraying and tearing
10. Ensure they are able to filter out at least 90 percent of UV radiation while allowing light and air to pass through – check that it can reduce the temperature in the shaded area by around one third.

Tony Woodfield is managing director of www.keepitkool.co.uk.

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