Designing for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
Associate Director, Craig Mewse offers his thoughts on the importance of good design in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) educational facilities.
Before I worked on an SEN school project, I was unaware that almost a fifth of the children in Britain are identified as having some form of SEND. This can affect a child’s ability to learn because of their behaviour, ability to make friends, reading and writing (for example – dyslexia), ability to understand things, concentrate (for example – ADHD) and physical ability.
The Department for Education’s vision for children with special educational needs and disabilities is the same as for all children and young people – that they achieve well in their early years, at school, in college and lead happy fulfilled lives.
Between 2015 – 2018 there has been a 33% increase in the number of children with special needs care plans, however, government funding has only risen by 6%. This lack of funding makes it difficult for education providers to provide suitable learning facilities for children with SEND.
It’s essential that when the opportunity does arise to invest in new facilities, they are designed to provide the best environment to benefit learning and wellbeing.
Key SEND Design Issues
Working with multiple education providers over the years, I have come to understand the complex nature of designing SEND facilities through engagement with teaching staff, management, governors, care providers and the children themselves. The following five main issues are essential when thinking about designing any SEND facility:
- Welcoming Entrance
All children should feel safe in their surroundings. A welcoming entrance with good sight lines will enable maximum supervision and the location of staff accommodation should offer views over the arrival point. The entrance should be attractive and inviting with a large covered drop off point.
I designed a child-focused arrival point at the new Sandside Lodge SEN school in Ulverston providing a double-height space with generous and a secure lobby that is highly visible from the main access point into the school car park. The car park itself includes a one-way loop circuit to avoid congestion with the area directly in front of the school dedicated to mini-bus drop off points. Staff offices are at the front of the school on the ground floor to provide maximum supervision over the arrival point.
- Additional Support Spaces
Compared with mainstream schools, SEND pupils often need specialist support spaces. These can include sensory teaching rooms, life skills, medical treatment rooms, hygienic assisted changing rooms, calming rooms, soft play rooms and therapy rooms. Therapy rooms to support healthcare and children’s access to education play an important part in SEND schools with a range of spaces that can include physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, hydrotherapy and rebound therapy.
We are currently assisting Brooklands Community Special School in Skipton to provide new rebound therapy facilities within their existing school. The new rebound room will enable pupils to benefit from a new sunken trampoline to enhance their movement patterns, develop motor skills, body awareness, balance, coordination and communication.
- Signage and Wayfinding
Children with SEN and disability needs often suffer from impairments with their sensory, speech and communications. Signage and wayfinding are therefore essential.
As designers, we must consider sensory receptors other than just sight when considering legibility of wayfinding such as texture, sounds and smells. Additionally, visual triggers can assist in creating memorable places with landmark features used to identify key spaces. Colour also plays a vital part in SEND facilities in terms of visibility, maintenance and psychological effect. Colours should not be too stark or contain busy patterns that can confuse and overstimulate. Instead, they should be subdued pastel colours, which can be used on architectural features to identify different spaces.
Through consultation with the teaching staff and children at Sandside Lodge School, I designed their new facilities with a colour scheme to assist with wayfinding. Decoration of ground floor circulation space is defined in pastel green, as the pupils relate the colour green with grass, which is found at ground level. At first floor, spaces are decorated in blue, which the children relate to the colour of the sky.
- Materials and finishes
The correct specification of materials and finishes is crucial to ensure the longevity of any project but especially for SEND facilities. There’s a high likelihood that children at SEN schools will suffer from social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. Materials and finishes should be selected with a robust specification to take account of deliberate and accidental damage. Surfaces need hygienic finishes that are easy to clean with services concealed where possible.
An important requirement in our new teaching block at The Chiltern School in Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire was to prevent student access to the ceiling void, whilst still allowing access for routine servicing. We carried out extensive research with ceiling manufacturers to determine the specification of a suspended ceiling tile with a strengthening bar across the back of the panel, an impact resistant hard coating finish and a clip-in fixing system, so they could not be easily removed.
- Movement and accessibility
All schools need a simple, clear and legible circulation system that is easily understood by all pupils and visitors. Circulation spaces and door openings should be wide enough to cater for pupils with mobility issues and provide enough storage for their equipment. Means of escape need to be designed to consider disabled pupils. This is particularly important in SEND schools; however, it doesn’t mean that they should be restricted to single storey buildings.
This was a specific request of the headteacher at Sandside Lodge School. They wanted a true to life experience for the pupils to ensure they would be prepared for life after education. The two-storey building provides teaching accommodation at both levels with stairs and lifts designed to accommodate pupils with mobility impairments. The lift is designed to be HTM compliant and is therefore sized for students restricted to Acheeva beds and is integral to the buildings fire escape strategy. Stairs are oversized with handles at two different heights to cater for younger children.
Conclusion
Access to learning for all children regardless of their ability, background or impairment is fundamental to our education system. The design of any school building needs to be child-centred and none more so than a SEND facility, which present specific challenges to create learning environments that support the children’s additional needs. Consultation with the building users, carers and healthcare professionals is the only way to deliver the best spaces to help all children thrive.
Additional Notes:
There are different types of facilities available for children diagnosed with some form of special need designed to be more suitable for their learning process.
These range from specialist units within a mainstream school, Pupil Referral Units for those who have been taken out of mainstream schools due to Illness or exclusion, SEMH schools for children with Social, Emotional and Mental Health difficulties, SEN schools that cover a range of special needs, ASD schools specifically designed for pupils with Autism, and PMLD schools to cover those with Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties.