Black Architecture have been commissioned to design two new SEND satellite schools, retrofitting existing primary school buildings in areas with declining mainstream pupil numbers.
The new schools in Potters Bar and South Oxhey will provide places for up to 80 children with severe learning difficulties, converting existing spaces into specialist rooms for groups of 8 pupils. The new classrooms will be supported with sensory spaces, life skills rooms and an array of adapted toilets and hygiene rooms. Externally new soft and hard play spaces will offer opportunity for dysregulated children to expend energy, and for gardens to encourage links to nature.
Consultation with the head teachers has enabled the team at Black to propose design solutions that fully reflect the needs of the schools, rather than adopting the generic area-based standards of the DfE Building Bulletins.
