Kingsmead School: designing a combined pupil referral unit and special school

Case study

The building development project at Kingsmead allowed the school to install rooms, fixtures and furnishings catered to the special needs of their students. Despite the challanges of the project, the school has seen a much-needed boost in staff morale and improved student behaviour as a result of the new buildings.

Key facts

Type of school: special and pupil referral unit (PRU)
Number on roll: 45 in special school, 250 in PRU over several sites
Age range: 11-16
Cost of development: £3.4 million
Date completed: September 2007

Background

Kingsmead is really two schools in one. It was originally designed as a replacement for an inadequate secondary PRU, but during the design process a special school for Key Stages 3 and 4 was added to the brief. Kingsmead forms the hub of city-wide specialist provision, providing a base for a team of multi-agency workers and is also at the heart of eight other specialist sites providing a wide range of services. It was funded from the council’s own property resources.

Vision

The young people attending this school have a wide range of abilities, from those whose progress is measured using P-scales to students capable of achieving five or more GCSEs at grades A*-C. This range of needs requires a concentration on maximising opportunity for each individual, with learning outcomes at the heart of the vision. The school sees itself as a key resource for other schools, the authority and for the young people and their families with whom the school works.

Stakeholders

Staff and the students, together with the governing body, are the chief stakeholders, although clearly there needs to be an open and honest relationship with other secondary schools across the city as well as the local authority. The head seeks to improve the relationship with the surrounding community – although none of the students at the school lives close to the school – as she sees them as important partners for the school.

Consultation

Staff were consulted extensively, but in hindsight, not enough time was given to raising awareness of what was possible. Very few examples of new PRUs were available to visit. It was felt that the architects and project management arrangements rather sidelined the school’s view. The head acknowledges that in an ideal world, the students themselves would have been consulted about the design of the school and the curriculum offer, but this presented problems especially for the PRU where students spend only a short time before returning to a mainstream school. The later addition of the special school at Kingsmead, with which students have a long-term relationship, will allow a greater pupil voice in future building plans.

Transformational change

The greatest change for all the staff and students was the purpose-built spaces. After being in an adapted secondary school, the light and airy corridors and specialist rooms of the new building have been a great morale booster for everyone. The range of rooms, from small break-out rooms to purpose-built learning spaces, allows a themed curriculum to be put in place and a timetable that is responsive to the most demanding young people. It was agreed at an early stage that dining facilities needed to be carefully designed as the midday meal is an important part of the day here.

Lessons learned

The flexibility of space should have been given a higher priority, and a greater emphasis on the therapeutic aspects of the school’s work would have been welcomed. The balance between smaller rooms and specialist areas has given rise to some difficult timetabling, and in future there will be less emphasis on purpose-built rooms. The maintenance of decent behaviour is an essential element in making the school successful, and the design of the school and the furniture is an important element of that. Furniture and fittings must be particularly robust in special schools, as the students present some extremely challenging behaviour, and it is important that the school environment stays attractive. The current and the previous headteacher, both interviewed in the video, said how important it is to have an open relationship between the architect and the school leadership team.

Impact

The new school has allowed a much greater degree of curriculum innovation to take place and the behaviour of students has improved significantly as a result. Staff morale has improved as this is a pleasant environment in which to work. Because the school is now seen as very successful, there is greater demand for places, which has brought its own challenges.

Next steps

Design and construct three more PRUs for Key Stages 3 and 4 across the city.
Develop an improved outdoor learning space, and an indoor performance space.
Create more therapeutic space, probably at the expense of specialist facilities.
Make further improvements to relationships with neighbours.