There are lessons we can learn from other schools.
This page includes reports form parent and governor visits to other newly built schools.
Visit to Sedgehill School on 21st March
A group of Deptford Green parents and governors visited Sedgehill school on 21st March 2009.
We were shown round by David Atherton, who is co-ordinating the BSF programme for LB Lewisham, and Chris, a facilities manager at the school.
The school has been in use for 8 weeks and there’s still quite a lot of building work going on, e.g. there is as yet no gym or playing fields.
It’s a three story building built in a number of blocks circling around an open space. The central open area works well and gives an inclusive village atmosphere and disguises the large number of students (1500 + 250 in the 6th form).
The walls are nearly all painted exposed blockwork, i.e. no plaster on the walls.
The ceilings are generally suspended, finished with ceiling tiles.
The classrooms used for food technology are well designed; they have moveable work benches that we were told work very well and are to be adopted for all new Lewisham schools.
There seemed to be some problems with the building in practice:
Standard size classrooms and computers
With computers around the edge of the rooms they felt cramped and this was without any students present. The school had been designed on the basis that all computers would be mobile, i.e. laptops, but in practice PCs in fixed positions are being used. It’s important that Deptford Green fully understands and debates the implications of mobile versus fixed computers.
Sustainability issues
- The school has been built with a thin insulated external skin with little thermal mass; this means the building reacts quickly to changes in external temperature and needs quite sophisticated equipment to keep the building warm or cool enough. We met a teacher at the school who thought that some of the rooms were very stuffy, making people sleepy, too warm and not adequately ventilated.
- The school is fitted with biomass boilers; although this is a sustainable source of energy we understand that there are issues about the supply of fuel and maintenance costs.
Putting work up on the walls
None of the walls had been provided with panels for fixing examples of work, photos etc to. Because all the schools are funded through PFI (private finance initiative) this meant the school had to apply to a committee to have display panels fixed to the walls and it had to pay for the privilege! If they want an extra panel they have to go back to the committee and pay again.
Problems in students using the building
- No lockers had been provided for students.
- The loos to all upper floors are permanently locked and only the ground floor loos are being used; this is the school’s response to vandalism and constant flooding in them.
- Water fountains have been provided for students throughout the school but have all been boxed in because of worries about vandalism.
Generally, the building has an industrial feel and does not seem at ease with itself.
For a more positive experience see our report on our visit to Forest Hill School (coming soon).
