Athersley North Primary School, Barnsley

Athersley North Primary School, Barnsley

The brief from the Client was to remodel the existing school and provide a new build ‘Foundation Unit’ that would create a sense of continuity with the existing school and new well defined teaching and user spaces.

The task also provided a challenge to reconfigure the existing areas to allow for community use after school hours. This issue was a key focus for the design as it was recognised that local participation would build support and would give the community a sense of ownership in the process and the school itself.

“Our new Foundation Stage build has an inspirational design and is built to meet the needs of our learners and families, which shows the children and families served by the school how much they are valued. It is a building which supports explorative play and learning so that children can use all their senses to know and understand the world and begin to build a vocabulary to explain their thinking and further develop their ideas and skills. It is a building which supports children as they start their journey as lifelong learners.”

Margaret Newcombe the Head Teacher at Athersley North Primary School