One size doesn't fit all
Collaboration and early engagement sit at the heart of successful delivery. Decades working alongside our project partners on large-scale design and build projects has shown us the value of frank and honest conversations at the very earliest point of a project.
SEND schools are no different and creating open and collaborative dialogue that provides the opportunity to share insights and learning, puts the project on the right trajectory from the get go.
This approach was backed up universally by the stakeholders - during our research, respondents came back to the importance of collaboration and engagement to a great SEND build again and again.
However, while important, some agreed that this can skew the final design to end users’ desires rather than what is best for the long term. By engaging all parties at an early stage and ensuring that adequate time was allocated to the design stage, many potential issues can be negated and this enables a fertile ground for innovative solutions to be worked into the planning and design process when issues do crop up.
Allowing for more time to be allocated to the start of the process and enabling a collaborative approach during the planning and design phase, creates additional cost and timing benefits which are then often felt throughout the project lifecycle.
Having a deep understanding of the cohort is essential for the overarching success of the project; this applies to those commissioning and the entire delivery team.
The people we spoke to agreed that this included the need to understand the demographic universe of SEND needs in specific areas and take the time to develop an appreciation of the bespoke nature of the specific challenges that each area might face.
It’s essential that both current and future need is clearly and carefully assessed and that a long-term view takes into account potential future shifts in care requirements and the changing needs of the cohort.
With multiple additional factors at play, including a population that is living for much longer with highly complex needs, provision needs to be future-proofed in order to ensure that strategy is robust and flexible enough to cater to future generations in an SEND landscape that may be significantly altered to the one we face today.
Contractors and architects should also take every possible step to develop a deep understanding of the emotional and functional needs of the children they are designing and building for.
This would provide the contractors and designers with a greater awareness and sensibility of the facilities, spaces, and amenities required and enable a more productive, collaborative process between end users and the project team.
One identified step which could be taken to address this challenge, was for architects and contractors to revisit schools that they had delivered – taking a visit back every five or so years to assess how the cohort had changed and explore how the school building was responding to and meeting children’s needs.
"If businesses want to specialise in this work, they should spend time in the school with young people. They would understand why and wouldn’t forget it.” Judith Salter CBE, Retired Headteacher, Glenwood School
One criticism of current SEND school build and design processes is that often not enough time is provided up-front at the design stage.
This results in undue pressure being placed on architects, teachers and other parties to make key design decisions.
One outcome of this lack of focus on the importance of conversations between project stakeholders at the initial design and planning stage meant that headteachers often felt isolated and removed from the initial planning and design decisions.
Respondents mentioned that headteachers often weren’t involved in the planning process early enough, even though they often had opinions and insights which needed to be factored into the design process.
One key learning from the research conducted was that headteachers must be invited to comment on school design early on in the process in order to shape the resulting outcome.
Our participants felt overwhelmingly that early engagement with headteachers was essential to the success of any build – their views are vital in terms of designing a school that meets the needs of the children.
Conversely, if headteachers were not involved in the early stages of planning, this can cause significant disruption at a later date, and require designs to be reworked – with associated cost implications – or result in a school design which isn’t optimised to fully meet requirements.
The value of bringing all school users along on the journey cannot be overstated. While relevant in mainstream schools, this is particularly true for SEND projects – where change can be harmful to children and young people if not introduced carefully.
Involving young people in the design and planning process of new schools and enabling them to share their thoughts can be an incredibly powerful way of helping them to feel more comfortable with the transition to a new building or space and enabling them to deal with the change positively.
However, while end users are key, costs and programme will still need to be managed.
Early engagement on all fronts helps to make the design and construction process a positive one for all stakeholders. We have seen this to great effect on a number of the SEND schools we have delivered, and believe it is essential to creating positive, collaborative working relationships.
From the end user perspective, it provides head teachers, parents, young people and the local community with the opportunity to shape the scheme and bring their insights and experience to the process.
Commissioning and delivery colleagues should be working to create an environment where open innovation, and collaborative knowledge sharing is encouraged and delivered – driving forward best practice by ensuring that past learnings and insights are brought to bear on future schemes.
“I have definitely noticed that we have less issues when there is engagement and communication between the school and the contractor, and it is important for both to have a realistic idea about how long the process will take.” - Isabel Horner, procurement
Creating great learning spaces for those with special educational needs and disabilities requires creativity and imagination.
Effective building and classroom design is a crucial element in learning and schools need to consider a wide range of issues when it comes to creating any SEND classroom.
Children with cognitive and learning difficulties require, for example, sensory and physical stimulation.
Those with behavioural and emotional issues will need more space than perhaps you find in a traditional classroom while those with sensory impairment may require specialist equipment and teaching aids.
A common thread that ran throughout our conversations was the importance of flexibility and a bespoke offer that provided children with buildings which would meet their needs and enable them to fulfil their potential.
However, within this, there need to be standard elements so that the cost is achievable. While standardisation works for mainstream primary and secondary schools, this approach was largely seen as inappropriate for SEND buildings which need to be flexible and meet the needs of specific cohorts which may have vastly differing and complex needs.
In addition, SEND schools may require even more flexibility because the cohort may change over time, meaning buildings may need to be adapted to reflect this. Stakeholders highlighted that this flexibility needed to take a long-term view and reflect potential changes that might impact the cohort’s makeup and needs over the longer term.
“There is not one school fits all, I think that a lot of these schools need to be designed with as much information as possible on the end user, but equally they still have to be flexible spaces as the cohort may change.” Darren Fellowes, architect
