Following on with our renovation plan for Early Years, which started last year, our Year 1 students tried out their new classrooms this September. We are always trying to improve and promote our children´s learning environment. After the improvements last year, we have now also built on a second floor, with brighter classrooms and new open spaces.
Our objective, as part of an ambitious renovation and improvement plan for the Early Years building, is for our students to be able to enjoy more light filled classrooms and the best materials. The idea is to make our architecture favour our educational provision, so that our students come to class happy, everyday. Our renovation has given us open plan, see-through classrooms promoting light and maintaining a good flow with outside spaces.
That´s why we have increased the size of our Early Years building by 470 square metres, adding an extra floor with six new classrooms for Year 1. The new floor design means an increase of 40% more usable space in each classroom. We have also gained a common flexible space of 60 square metres and have renovated the Customer Service Area using some of the ideas and suggestions put forward in workshops with teachers and other School professionals.
The renovation also reflects our concern as a School, with environmental issues. That´s why we are now using renewable energy sources trying to change the energy profile of the whole building. This is an on-going, continuous improvement plan with projects already planned for the classrooms in Nursery and Reception as well as in other common areas.
The School believes that a good physical teaching environment is very important. According to a study by Salford University, physical classrooms and educational spaces can affect student performance by as much as 25%. Aspects such as classroom orientation, natural light, noise, colour and even air quality can be determining factors in the learning process.
