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Friday, 12 December 2008

School Environments - light, colour and space I had the privilege of visiting The Avenue School in Reading today, a special school for 2 - 19 year students with autism and those with very complex special needs.
The whole of this brand new building is just fabulous, being spacious, light and airy, from the welcoming reception through to the classrooms. Just one of the many great features is a three storey soft play area. Whilst that is truly amazing, even the other side of the wall has been made a real feature with windows, coloured panels, plants and soft furnishings.

This school has a really great environment and enormous attention has been paid to the detail that makes it so appropriate for these students with a wide range of needs. I will post some more photos later.

As always I suspect that some of this has been due to the total dedication, enthusiasm and energy of the Headteacher and her team who have been involved with every stage of the design process.

There are, of course, a few lessons to learn - there always are with any new school, but there are many lessons that those designing new special schools should take from this just fab school. The outside wall of the three storey soft play area and some of the school environment
Posted by Gareth Long at 14:35 Labels: 21st century learning environments, Avenue School, colours, complex needs, light, Reading, special schools



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