dfee - eric · chief architect, jeremy wilson: executive editors: beech williamson and andy...

DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 431 296 EF 005 390

AUTHOR Williamson, Beech, Ed.; Thompson, Andy, Ed.; Bishop, Robin;Watson, Lucy; Brooke, John

TITLE Area Guidelines for Schools. Building Bulletin 82.INSTITUTION Department for Education and Employment, London (England).

Architects and Building Branch.ISBN ISBN-0-11-270921-4PUB DATE 1996-00-00NOTE 85p.; "With contributions from Andrew Benson-Wilson, Tom

Carden, Diane Holt, Johathan Ibikunle, Sandra Legg, HelenNichols and Alison Wadsworth."

AVAILABLE FROM HMSO Publications Centre, P.O. Box 276, London, SW8 5DTEngland; Tel: 0171-873-9090; Fax: 0171-873-8200 (17.95British pounds).

PUB TYPE Guides Non-Classroom (055)EDRS PRICE MF01/PC04 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS *Educational Facilities Design; *Educational Facilities

Planning; Elementary Secondary Education; Foreign Countries;*Guidelines; *Interior Design; *Space Utilization

IDENTIFIERS England

ABSTRACTThis bulletin provides non-statutory guidance on the

provision of teaching and non-teaching accommodation for nursery, primary,and secondary pupils, as well as school grounds. It is directed at the earlystages of school projects when strategic decisions must be made about thebuildings and site. It follows the steps that designers and school plannerscan take to identify the appropriate areas for all mainstream schools.Section 1 identifies the approximate overall areas for the school buildingswith the idea of helping to reduce the economic drain on school budgets.Section 2 helps to establish the number and types of teaching spaces neededto support particular curriculum or staffing models. Sections 3 and 4 providemore detailed information on the individual spaces required. Section 5 dealswith the site area and layout, and provides help in choosing a site, inlocating a new building or extension, and in planning a layout of the maineternal features. Appendices provide examples of schedules of accommodationfrom primary through secondary schools, together with a discussion of theoptions for each school; and a summary for the area formulae for variousty..s of schools. A glossary is included. (Contains 57 references.) (GR)

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EA G I ELINESSC OOLS

'46

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONOffice of Educational Research and Improvement

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER (ERIC)

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PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE ANDDISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS

BEEN GRANTED BY

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TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)

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BUILDING BULLETIN 82

AREA GUIDELINESFOR SCHOOLS

Architects & Building BranchCapital & Buildings Division

Schools DirectorateDfEE

London: HMSO

3

Acknowledgements

This publication has been prepared by the following team ofDfEE Architects and Building (A&B) professionals, under the

Chief Architect, Jeremy Wilson:

Executive editors: Beech Williamson and

Andy Thompson

Section specialists:

Section 2:Section 3:Section 4:

Section 5:

Beech Williamson

Robin Bishop

Lucy Watson

John Brooke

With contributions from Andrew Benson-Wilson, Tom Carden,

Diane Holt, Jonathan Ibikunle, Sandra Legg, Helen Nichols and

Alison Wadsworth.

The work was carried out in consultation with subject specialistsfrom the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED).

We are grateful to the many LEAs and individual schools who

contributed to the background research, and to LearningThrough Landscapes for their help with section 5.

© Crown copyright 1996Applications for reproduction should be made to HMSOFirst published 1996ISBN 0 11 270921 4

4

Introduction

Contents

1

Using This Document 2

Section 1: Gross Area of BuildingsGross Area Formulae

Gross Area per Pupil

3

3

6

Section 2: Deriving an Accommodation Schedule 7Curriculum Analysis 7

Creating a Schedule for the Whole School 9Other Types of School 12

Section 3: Primary Accommodation Guidelines 13

Teaching Area: Basic Teaching Area 13

Timetabled Supplementary Areas 16Other Supplementary Areas 20

Non-Teaching Areas 21

Nursery Provision 23

Section 4: Secondary Accommodation GuidelinesTimetabled Teaching Areas:

Non-timetabled Teaching Areas:

Non-Teaching Areas

General Teaching Areas

Practical Areas

Physical Education SpacesHalls

Resource Areas

Supplementary Teaching Areas

Social and Study Areas

Section 5: School GroundsTimetabled Areas

Non-Timetabled Areas

Other Areas

Layout of the Site

Extra-Curricular and Community Use

Site Area Formulae

Appendices1: A 5-11 Primary School Schedule

2: An 11-16 Secondary School Schedule3: An 11-18 Secondary School Schedule4: Summary of Area Formulae

Bibliography

Glossary

27

283037

383941

41

42

45

4548495052

52

55

55

606673

74

76

III

Preface

This building bulletin gives non-statutory guidance onthe provision of teaching and non-teaching accommo-dation for nursery, primary and secondary pupils. Italso covers school grounds. Area Guidelines forSchools is published against the background of theremoval of statutory teaching area and outdoorrecreation area requirements for schools.

It is aimed at the early stages of school projects,when strategic decisions must be made about thebuildings and site. Those responsible face a numberof important choices in the way school premises areto be provided within available resources. Thisdocument is intended to help inform the way thosechoices are made.

There is an important balance to be struck betweeneducational requirements, in terms of the curriculumand its delivery, the area of accommodation or landneeded to support those requirements, and both theinitial cost and running costs of that area. While thequality of school buildings and grounds and animaginative plan for their development are clearlyimportant to the school's function and its standing inthe community, excessive area is to be avoided; it willnot only cost more to provide but will represent anunnecessary drain on a school's budget year afteryear.

This building bulletin sets out a method fordetermining area needs and priorities whenformulating a brief for the design of a school. It alsoprovides the necessary points of reference for thosemost closely concerned with school building projects,whether new-build, extensions, adaptations orexternal works.

The advice given in this document is not prescriptive.Schools and local authorities need to formulate theirpolicies in the light of their statutory duties and theirown assessment of local resources.

6v

Introduction

This building bulletin provides guidance on areas forprimary and secondary school premises. It is aimed atanyone who is involved in the design of new schoolsor the remodelling of existing accommodation.

Notes1: The Education (SchoolPremises) Regulations 1996came into effect from 1September 1996. They arereferred to throughout thisdocument as the SchoolPremises Regulations.2: Recent A&B publications arelisted in the bibliography. Forguidance on special schools,reference should be made toBuilding Bulletin 77: Designingfor pupils with specialeducational needs: Specialschools, HMSO 1992.

This document is relevant to premises inmainstream schools to which the Educa-tion (School Premises) Regulations 1996apply'. It brings together area guidelinesand general design advice for most typesof school buildings and their grounds, andfor all types of spaces, particularly teachingareas. This allows the needs of individualspaces to be seen in the context of theconstraints of a reasonable gross area.Similarly, the overall building area can beseen in relation to the needs of the site,including the statutory requirements forplaying field area.

This publication does not cover specialschools, sixth form or tertiary colleges, orfurther education establishments. Adviceon special schools and pupils with specialeducational needs in ordinary schools canbe found in related building bulletins, aswell as more detailed guidance on nurseryprovision, school grounds, and theaccommodation needs of specific curricu-lurn areas in secondary schools2.

The design of any school building shouldalso take account of some key considera-tions which are not covered in this publi-cation, as they are dealt with elsewhere.These include:

access for the physically disabled;

environmental design;

fire safety;

constructional standards.

Primary and secondary area guidelineshave been combined in one document.This has the advantage of demonstratingthe common factors in the design processand also the common approaches to theuse of space. Middle schools are notcovered directly, but the relevant advicecan be derived by combining the guidancefor each age group involved.

It includes guidance on the areas of indi-vidual teaching spaces, the overall grossareas of buildings and site areas, generallyin the form of graphs showing ranges of

7

areas. These are based on simple formulaerelated to the age range and number ofpupils accommodated. For each type ofteaching space, an area is allowed for eachpupil in the teaching group (G), depend-ing on the activities and resources in-volved. This is added to a common areawhich is independent of the number ofpupils, for instance to allow for circula-tion near the entrance. The gross area ofbuildings for a range of types of school isderived from similar formulae, ming acommon area of teaching and non-teaching accommodation plus an area perpupil related to the number on roll (N).

The advice given here is drawn from manyyears of research by Architects and Build-ing (A&B) professionals and from theirexperience of designing and scrutinisingschool building projects.

This is an advisory document and theareas quoted and the methods used aredesigned to be flexible enough to covermost situations. The recommendationsare reasonable within the context of finitecapital resources. They are also intendedas a point of reference in consideringvalue for money in all school projects.

Local authorities and individual schoolswill, of course, establish their own build-ing priorities in the light of the funds theyhave available for capital work and anyconditions which may be attached tothese funds.

Relationship to Capacity Assessment

This publication takes account of therecognised methods of calculating thecapacity of either a primary or secondaryschool. Annexe D to Circular 6/91applies to primary and annexe A toCircular 11/88 applies to secondary.These are commonly known as the 'MOE(More Open Enrolment) formulae' forcalculating capacity from a schedule ofexisting or proposed accommodation.Both remain in force, so when devisingthe schedule of teaching accommodationfor a particular size of school from thisdocument, it is useful to check on thecapacity of such a schedule, calculatedusing the relevant MOE formula.

1

Using This Document

The guidance in this document follows the steps thatdesigners and school planners can take to identifythe appropriate areas for all mainstream schools.

Notes1: For nursery provision, theteaching area includesplayrooms.2: This section develops themethods first described inDesign Note 34, AreaGuidelines for SecondarySchools 1983.

2

Section 1 identifies the approximateoverall area for the school buildings.Because capital costs for school buildingsare directly related to area, and therecurrent costs for every square metre ofaccommodation remain a drain onschools' budgets, overall area must beconstrained.

Section 2 can be used to establish thenumber and type of teaching spacesneeded to support particular curriculumor staffing models.

Sections 3 and 4 provide more detailedinformation on the individual spacesrequired.

Section 5 deals with the site area andlayout. Reference to this section will beuseful at different stages in the designprocess. It should help in choosing a site,in locating a new building or extension,and in planning a layout of the mainexternal features.

Appendices 1 to 3 show worked examplesof schedules of accommodation for 5 -11primary, 11-16 and 11-18 secondaryschools, together with a discussion of theoptions for each school. Appendix 4summarises the area formulae for varioustypes of school.

Stage 1: Identifying the Boundaries ofwhat is Possible or Affordable

Section 1 gives advice on a range offigures for the total gross area of buildingsfor schools of different types and sizes.These figures have been derived fromobservation of good practice. This sectionalso gives advice on the proportions of theoverall area that should be given toteaching' and non-teaching accommodation.

The range of figures quoted provide fornew schools and, whilst allowing for localcircumstances and priorities, are likely torepresent value for money. The figures canalso be used as a reference for existingschools when remodelling or extension isbeing considered.

Stage 2: Establishing Priorities

Section 22 explains a method of calculat-ing the quantity and type of timetabledteaching accommodation requiredthrough an analysis of the existing orproposed curriculum and its delivery.Although this method was initially devel-oped for secondary schools, it can also beused for other types of schools, particu-larly the larger ones. Appendices 1 to 3give detailed examples for different typesof school.

The methods proposed require a closecollaboration between client and designerin identifying user needs, assessing theirimplications and determining priorities.

The essential elements are to establish thedistribution of pupils' and teachers' timeand then to calculate the numbers of eachtype of space required, recognising theneed for some flexibility in the use ofspace.

Stage 3: Deciding on Space Sizes

Sections 3 and 4 give detailed informationfor the next part of the process; calculat-ing the sizes of individual spaces. A rangeof areas of teaching space are illustratedfor different group sizes and activities. Thecharacteristics of spaces at the top andbottom of the ranges are discussed.

Stage 4: Working within Constraints

The process of working through thesesteps, from broad constraints to detaileddesign considerations, provides a frame-work for the designer. However, it is veryunlikely that there will be a perfect fitbetween the overall area, the demands ofthe timetable and the areas required fordifferent subjects. It may be that afteridentifying spaces from an analysis of thecurriculum in section 2, combined withdesirable results from sections 3 or 4, theconstraints of section 1 are breached.Compromises will then have to be madeby identifying priorities for the individualschool.

Section 1: Gross Area of Buildings

This section outlines a range of values for the totalgross area of buildings which constitute value formoney in new schools. These area guidelines arefollowed throughout this document.

Notes1: The gross area, defined inthe glossary, is the total floorarea of all the school'sbuildings, measured to theinside face of the externalwalls, but including the area ofinternal walls.2: Relevant health and safetypublications are listed in thebibliography.

1.1 The total gross area' of the buildings ofa school is a significant figure. Capital costsare directly related to the provision of floorarea in that it costs more to build a largerbuilding. For every square metre of area inexcess of real need there will be the capitalcost of providing it. Added to this will be arecurrent figure, equivalent to between 4%and 6% of the capital cost, to be paid everyyear for cleaning, maintenance, heating,lighting, insurance and rates.

1.2 Generally the gross area per pupil willbe higher for a small school than for alarge one, because of economies of scale(primary schools may need a hall, head'sroom, medical room, regardless of thenumber of pupils). The area per pupil ofsecondary schools will be higher thanprimary schools due to their more com-plex organisational structure and theirneed for a wide range of specialist spacesto support the delivery of the curriculumat that level. Post-16 pupils may requiremore area for similar reasons.

1.3 The ranges of figures given in thissection for total gross area represent arealistic balance between what is desirableand what is likely to be possible withinavailable resources. Whilst they areintended to apply to new schools, theycan also serve as useful yardsticks forexisting schools. When extension oradaptation projects are considered, it isimportant that the overall area of theschool does not increase above what isnecessary. The closeness of the 'fit' thatcan be expected depends on both thesuitability of the existing accommodationand the extent of the adaptation workproposed.

1.4 A gross area target can be determinedfrom the range by assessing the:

current and projected numbers on roll;

type of school;

existing site and accommodation;

resources available.

a

1.5 The next step is to target the propor-tion to be assigned to teaching area (this isa significant factor affecting decisionsoutlined in section 2). It is important thatteaching area forms as large a proportionof the total area as possible, whilst at thesame time allowing enough space for non-teaching accommodation, in particular thatrequired by the School Premises Regula-tions and health and safety legislation2. Asa general rule, schools should be aimingroughly at a 60:40 split between teachingand non-teaching area. In nursery schoolsthis is likely to be nearer a 50:50 split.

Gross Area Formulae

1.6 The following guidance for total grossareas has been derived from observation ofprimary and secondary schools which aredelivering a full curriculum within appro-priate accommodation. The areas for arange of common school sizes are withindefined formulae. The gross areas ofprimary and 11-16 secondary schools areillustrated graphically.

1.7 It is worth noting that the circum-stances of each school are different andthere will be some cases where the area willbe outside the range outlined here, par-ticularly if there is significant provision forspecial educational needs. The positionselected within the graphs depends onavailable capital resources and local cir-cumstances such as curriculum prioritiesand staffing limits. However, the wholerange is considered to represent reasonablevalue for money.

Nursery Provision

1.8 Nursery pupils may be in nurseryclasses or units attached to primaryschools, or in separate nursery schools.Nursery classes and units may use some ofthe non-teaching facilities of the mainschool. The accommodation needs ofnursery pupils, which are different fromthose of primary pupils, are summarised inparagraphs 3.57 to 3.76, although at thetime of writing research into nurseryaccommodation is continuing.

3


2500

2000

1500

1000

500

.0...

.00

..0I........

....

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I.0

....I

I '00I.... I

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I I I I I I I I 1

90 150 210 270 330 390 450

Primary School Size: Number on Roll (N)

200 + 3.8N

gross area

170 + 3.4N

teaching area

510 570

Figure 1.1: primaryschools: graph showing grossarea guidelines representativeof value for money in new 5-11primary schools. The brokenlines indicate a range of likelyteaching area.

4

1.9 Because of the small scale of nurseryprovision and the possible variation in itsrelationship, if any, with an associatedprimary school, it is not appropriate togive ranges of areas for general use.However, a reasonable gross area targetto accommodate a 26 place nurseryattached to a primary school would bearound 100m2(100 square metres).

Primary Schools

1.10 Recent observation has shown thatthere is a case for using the same areastandards for infant and junior pupils'.For the purpose of this document thegross area standards are the same for allprimary age groups (referred to as Recep-tion, Key Stage 1 (KS1) and Key Stage 2(1(52) in the National Curriculum).

1.11 Figure 1.1 shows a range of totalgross arcas for any type of primary school

of 90 to 570 pupils as defined by theformulae attached (where N is the totalnumber on roll).

1.12 For schools with more than 570pupils some continuing economies of scalemight be expected, but there is insufficientevidence to support a precise area recom-mendation. With schools for fewer than90 pupils, area standards will depend verymuch on individual decisions concerningthe provision of a hall and other sharedaccommodation. Once again it is notpossible to make general recommenda-tions of area in these circumstances.

1.13 The 60:40 rule of thumb for theproportions of teaching and non-teachingarea has been tested against new primaryschools built in recent years and throughstudies of area schedules for existingschools. The results show that primaryschools with 240 or more pupils canachieve a teaching area of at least 60% of

L 1 0


14000

12000

10000

8000

6000

4000

2000

/O.

Oe

./1/. .o

a/. a.*

..

_

600 750 900 1050 1200 1350 1500 1650

Secondary School Size: Number on Roll (N)

1300 + 6Ngross area

1200 + 5.5N

teaching area

1800

gross. The broken lines in figure 1.1indicate a range of teaching areas basedon this approach. A significantly higherfigure is possible for much larger primaryschools. In the smaller schools thispercentage can fall to around 57% (oreven less in very small schools). However,it is generally only by achieving over 60% ofihe gross that it becomes possible to securesignificant improvements to teaching area.

Secondary Schools

1.14 The range of total gross areas for11-16 schools above 600 pupils is shownin figure 1.2, together with the determin-ing formulae (where N is the totalnumber on roll). Individual judgementsmust be made about any diseconomies ofscale in schools for less than 600 pupils.

1.15 As in primary schools, the percent-age of gross area that should be targetedfor teaching area is affected by the school lower line

size. For schools with 1350 pupils thetarget should be 60% or more, whilst forschools with 750 pupils 58% to 59% wouldbe nearer the mark. The broken lines infigure 1.2 indicate a range of teachingareas based on this approach.

Sixth Forms

1.16 Sixth form pupils require a largerarea, so the following formulae can beadded to the formulae in figure 1.2, wheren is the total number of pupils in the sixthform and N is the total number on roll,including the sixth form:

upper line

lower line

3n

2.5n

1.17 The formulae for the total gross areafor an 11-18 school, applied to all pupils,therefore become:

upper line 1300 + 6N + 3n

1200 + 5.5N + 2.5n

Figure 1.2: secondaryschools: graph showing grossarea guidelines for 11-16schools representative of valuefor money in new schools. Thebroken lines indicate a rangeof likely teaching areas.

Note1: Although younger, smallerchildren might be expected totake up less space than olderones, they may need as muchdue to more extensiveactivities and largerequipment. For example,younger children engaged inpractical activities tend tooccupy more area, in part dueto a less developed ability towork in restricted areas. Also,the amount of movement ofyoung children is the same orhigher than that of their elders.Resources also take up muchthe same space. The juniorsmay have more specialisedresources and be physicallylarger, but the infants tend touse larger scale equipment.

5


1.18 This area is based on smaller teach-ing spaces being provided for small sixthform groups when the frequency of usejustifies exclusive use.

Other Types of School

1.19 In the secondary sector, differentarea standards are needed for the differentkey stages (KS3 and KS4), which are inturn higher than the area demands of theprimary sector (Reception, KS1 andKS2). Increasing differentiation of thecurriculum usually means that teachinggroups are smaller for older pupils. Thus,KS3 pupils use the same teaching spacemore economically and require a lowergross area than the older pupils. This isreflected in pupil:teacher ratios com-monly varying between the key stagegroups, with a reduction at KS4. Simi-larly, post-16 pupils require more areathan KS4 pupils.

1.20 Although middle schools may be'deemed primary' or 'deemed secondary',both have pupils of primary and second-ary age and need to accommodate workat both KS2 and KS3. In gross area termsthe overall constraints are determined bya proportion that reflects the allowancefor the number of pupils in each keystage.

1.21 A range of possible gross areas ofmiddle schools, 13-18 secondary schoolsand schools covering other age ranges canbe estimated by using the followingformulae for each KS in proportion to thenumber of pupils in each sector in theschool. The additional formulae for sixthform (paragraph 1.16) can be added ifthe school has a sixth form.

KS1 and KS2 total gross area (m2)

upper line 200 + 3.8N

lower line 170 + 3.4N

KS3 total gross area (m2)



KS4 total gross area (m2)

upper line

lower line

6

2200 + 6.45N

2100 + 5.95N

1.22 In all cases, N is the total numberon roll, including all reception pupils,KS1 through to KS4 classes and any sixthform. The formulae do not apply tonursery schools, sixth form colleges orspecial schools.

Gross Area per Pupil1.23 The range of gross area per pupilpossible for a school can be derived bydividing the total gross area by the totalnumber on roll (N). In practice this canbe expressed with formulae as simple asthose above. For instance, the lower limitof the gross area per pupil for an 11-16school is:

(1200 + 5.5N)

1200 + 5.5

Gross area per pupil formulae can be usedfor other age ranges in the same way.

1.24 Appendix 4 shows formulae for totalgross area ranges and for the gross areaper pupil for a variety of types of school,based on this system.

L 12

Section 2: Deriving an Accommodation Schedule

This section describes the method for deriving aschedule of accommodation. The section uses an11-16 secondary school as an example, explained inmore detail in appendix 2, but the same principles areused in the primary and 11-18 examples in appendices1 and 3. The overall schedule comprises threetypes of space; timetabled teaching area, non-timetabled teaching area and non-teaching area.The number of timetabled spaces can be derivedusing a curriculum analysis, to calculate thedemand for spaces based on the school's curriculum.

2.1 The simple calculations describedunder 'Curriculum Analysis' can be usedto identify the spaces needed for separatesubjects. More usefully, the overall analy-sis summarised in 'Creating a Schedule forthe Whole School can be used to showthe future demand for spaces based on thelikely future curriculum model andnumber on roll.

2.2 The working method and arithmeticinvolved are straightforward and can beused to demonstrate the effects of curricu-lum balance, level of staffing, teachinggroup size and the nature of the subjectscovered on the number of spaces required.For primary schools, it may be useful touse a curriculum analysis to consider thosespaces that are to be shared by all classes,such as the hall, and therefore need to betimetabled. In secondary schools theorganisation is usually more complex andmost spaces are timetabled.

2.3 The majority of teaching spaces insecondary schools are timetabled. Thissection deals firstly with the principles ofcurriculum analysis, which can be used toidentify the number of timetabled spacesrequired. The other areas in the schoolcan then be added, resulting in the overallschedule of accommodation.

Curriculum Analysis2.4 Curriculum analysis is particularlyuseful in secondary schools, but it can alsobe applied to middle and primary schools(see paragraphs 2.42 and 2.44). Themethod is flexible enough to create an

1 j

area schedule for new school buildings,and also to assess the need for spaces asthe curriculum or numbers on roll change.In an existing school it can highlight theareas where refurbishment or a change ofuse will improve the delivery of thecurriculum.

General Principles

2.5 At the simplest level, the number ofteaching spaces required in any school willrelate to the number of teachers and theproportion of their time that they spendteaching.

2.6 The amount of time that teachersspend in face to face teaching will be aproportion of their working time atschool, identified as the contact ratio. Thatis the average proportion of a full timeta-ble week that teachers spend teaching atimetabled group. For example 0.78.

2.7 The calculation of the number ofteaching spaces required must thereforeinclude the contact ratio to identify thetime when teaching is actually takingplace. For example, in the 900 place 11-16 secondary school used here (and inappendix 2), the full-time equivalent(FTE) number of 47.6 teachers areemployed at an average contact ratio of0.78. The average number of teachersteaching at any one time would be:

47.6 x 0.78 = 37.13

2.8 If all timetabled teaching rooms wereused for 100% of the time, this numberwould be the number of rooms required.However, it would be organisationallyimpossible to use all spaces for all of thetime, so a reasonable frequency of useshould be identified. A more realistic totalcan be calculated if an average frequencyof use of about 85% is assumed:

37.13 ÷ 0.85 = 43 spaces approximately.

2.9 This allows for some general spaces tohave a higher frequency of use (around90%) and the use of specialist rooms to bemore variable (often around 75% to 85%of the time). It also assumes that some PEwill take place outdoors. This is a total oftimetabled spaces and does not includeancillary teaching spaces such as the library.

7


8

2.10 As this example illustrates, thenumber of timetabled spaces is usuallyfewer than the number of teachers, somost spaces will not be used solely by oneteacher.

2.11 Although the above example is auseful overall check, it is important toknow what types of space are needed andhow many there are of each.

Types of Timetabled Space

2.12 Timetabled teaching spaces in anyschool include a variety of types to suitdifferent activities. In secondary schoolsthe types of spaces needed usually relate tothe subjects taught. For instance, scienceis usually taught in a science laboratory.

2.13 Some subjects, such as design andtechnology, require a variety of specialistspaces to suit the different activities, suchas in food or multi-materials. Othersubjects require general teaching class-rooms which need not be subject specific.

Proportion of Time

2.14 If it is assumed that the differenttypes of space required relate directly tothe subjects taught, then the demand forspace can be identified by the time that asubject is taught. For instance, if allscience (and only science) is to be taughtin science laboratories, the number oflaboratories can be calculated by identify-ing the proportion of teacher time spentteaching science.

2.15 It is also useful to identify thedemand for rooms across subject bounda-ries, such as the need for an IT roomwhich may be timetabled for use by anumber of subjects. This is particularlyrelevant to sixth-form provision andprimary schools, and is covered in theexamples in appendices 1 and 3.

The Timetable

2.16 Sccondary school teaching is pre-dominantly organised in a timetable, inwhich a week or sometimes a fortnight isdivided into a number of periods. The

.14

week could be divided into any number ofperiods, but so long as the same unit isthen used in all calculations this will allowa convenient division of taught time.

Determining the Number andTypes of Rooms

2.17 An analysis of the timetable candetermine three key elements of informa-fion:

a breakdown of the total number ofteacher periods (i.e. one teacher teach-ing a lesson for one period);

the number of pupil periods spent ineach subject (i.e. one pupil beingtaught for one period);

the average group size of each subject(i.e. the average size of a class groupbeing taught at any one time).

Using Teacher Periods

2.18 As discussed above, the number ofspaces needed relates to the number ofteachers teaching at any one time. Thiscan be measured in the form of teacherperiods. The total number of teacherperiods in any subject divided by thenumber of periods available in the week(or fortnight) is the average number oflessons being taught in that subject at anytime, and therefore the number of spacesrequired if used 100% of the time.

2.19 For instance, if 233 teacher periodsare spent teaching science in a timetableof 40 periods per week, the calculatednumber of spaces for science would be:

no. of teacher periods + periods per week

= 233 40 = 5.83

This calculated number can then berounded up and the frequency of use canbe found by dividing the calculated figureby the rounded figure. Therefore 5.83could be rounded up to:

6 spaces at 97% (5.83 ÷ 6) frequency ofuse, or

7 spaces at 83% (5.83 7) frequency ofuse.

Using Pupil Periods and AverageGroup Sizes

2.20 The total amount of time that pupilsspend on any subject can be measuredusing pupil periods. The number ofteacher periods multiplied by the averagegroup size equals the number of pupilperiods.

teacher periods x jgoup size = pupil periods.

2.21 In this case the average group sizewould be estimated bearing in mind therange of group sizes that may be taught.The average group size may be difficult todetermine precisely, so it may need to bereconfigured in the final calculation. Themaximum group size can help to deter-mine the ideal size of the room (seeparagraph 2.35).

2.22 It is often useful to use pupil periodsto calculate space numbers, when only thepercentage of curriculum time to beaimed at and the approximate group sizesare known. The curriculum percentagesare a proportion of pupil time and not theproportion of teacher time unless thegroup size remains the same for allsubjects and age groups.

2.23 For example, if 7.5% of the totaltimetabled curriculum time is spent ondesign and technology, the number ofpupil periods spent will be 7.5% of thetotal (i.e: the number on roll x the periodsper week), or:

7.5% x (900 x 40) = 2700

This number of pupil periods can bedivided by an approximate average groupize, in this case 20, to give the teacher

periods. The result can be further dividedby the periods per week to calculate thenumber of spaces, as in paragraph 2.19.This would be:

7.5% x 900 x 40 = 3.3820 x 40

or 4 spaces at 84% frequency of use

or 5 spaces at 68% frequency of use.

A Short Cut

2.24 As the periods per week figureoccurs on the upper and lower lines of the


calculation, it can be cancelled out, leavinga simple formula for calculating thenumber of spaces required for any subjecton the basis of curriculum percentage:

curriculum percentage x N1= no. of spacesaverage group size

The same example would be:

7.5% x 900 = 3.3820

2.25 One advantage of using this methodis that the number of spaces can beestimated using the minimum of informa-tion. Also, the demand for an increasingnumber on roll, with a similar averagegroup size and the same percentage ofcurriculum taught, can easily be deter-mined by using the same calculation witha revised number on roll. So if the roll ofthe previous example was to increase to1200, the number of spaces demandedwould be:

7.5% x 1200 = 4.520

or 5 spaces at 90% frequency of use

or 9 spaces at 75% frequency of use2.

2.26 If this method is used for a wholeschool (as in the primary example inappendix 1) it should be checked that thetotal calculated number of spaces is notless than the number of teachers multi-plied by the contact ratio, to ensure thatthere are sufficient teachers to teach in thegroup sizes chosen.

Creating a Schedule forthe Whole School2.27 If the calculations above are done ina spread-sheet format for the wholetimetable, the total number of the differ-ent types of spaces required can be calcu-lated. It is usually important to be awareof the whole picture as changing one areaof the school will often have implicationselsewhere. For example, if the percentageof design and technology is increased andthe number on roll and total teaching timeremain the same, then other subjects mustbe reduced as a proportion of the curricu-lum. It is important to identify this space

15

Notes1: N = number on roll.2: In practice, this may be anestimated figure, as the actualaverage group size may varyas the year group sizeincreases (eg 180/9 = 20 but190/10 = 19). However, bothwould be rounded up to thesame number of rooms.

9


Figure 2.1: example of aschedule of accommodationfor a 900 place 11-16 school,including a summary ofcurriculum analysis (steps 1 to4), non-timetabled and non-teaching area (step 5). This isan alternative solution to thecurriculum analysis detailed inappendix 2.

a = periods per week 40b = total number on roll (NOR) 900c = FTE number of teachers 47.6d = contact ratio 0.78e = total pupil periods (a x b) 36000f = total teacher periods (a x c x d) 1485

= total v= total w

lower line of gross area = 6150m2upper line of gross area = 6700m2

subject

method

explanation

percentageof

curriculum

u

v as

percentage

of total

STEP 1

total totalpupil teaching

periods periodsv w

from from

curriculum curriculum

breakdown breakdown

averagegroupsize

x

v / w

English 12.5% 4500 185 24.3mathematics 12.5% 4500 185 24.3modern foreign language 11.5% 4140 169 24.5humanities 10.0% 3600 148 24.3religious education 5.0% 1800 74 24.3PSE 1.5% 540 21 25.7general studies 2.0% 720 32 22.5

TOTAL GENERAL 55.0% 19800 814

standard @ 77.5% 15345 631 24.3large @ 22.5% 4455 183 24.3

IT/business studies 2.5% 900 45 20.0science 15.5% 5580 233 23.9

design and technology 7.5% 2700 135 -food @ 21.5% 581 29 20.0rn-rn/graphics @ 35.5% 959 48 20.0PECT @ 21.5% 581 29 20.0textiles @ 21.5% 581 29 20.0

art 4.0% 1440 52 -2D art @ 60.0% 720 26 27.73D art/textiles I@ 40.0% 720 26 27.7

music 4.0% 1440 52 27.7drama 2.5% 900 34 26.5

PE (indoor) 4.5% 1620 60 27.0games (outdoor) 4.5% 1620 60 27.0

TOTAL 100% 36000 1485

STEP 2

number ofspaces

calculatedy

w / a

4.634.634.233.701.850.530.80

20.35

15.774.58

1.135.83

3.380.731.200.730.73

1.300.780.52

1.300.85

1.501.50

37.13

STEP 3

number of frequencyspaces of useadjusted

based on

reasonable

freq. of use

y as

prcentage

of z

18 ) 88.5%5 )

2 56.3%

7 83.2%

1 72.6%

2 59.9%1 72.6%1 72.6%

1 78.0%

1 52.0%

1.5 86.7%0.5 90.0%

2 75.0%

(external space)

43

NON-TIMETABLED SPACES

TOTAL TEACHING AREA

NON-TEACHING AREA

STEP 5

special educational needslibrary resource centrelocalAT resource areascareers areaFLA/seminar spacemusic group roomsdarkroom

heat treatment baykiln

assembly hall (used for drama)

staff accommodationpupils storage/washroomsteaching storagecatering facilitiesancillary/circulation/partitions

@ 5.5% of gross@ 5.0% of gross@ 5.0% of gross@ 4.5% of gross

@ 20.0% of gross

1

1

2

1

1

5

1

1

1

1 40.0%

STEP 4

maximum average totalgroup area per teachingsize space area

m2 m2

based on

curriculum

breakdown

from

section 4

guidelines

zx

average

area

30 50 90030 62 310

25 72 14430 85 595

21

21

21

21

1031038884

1032068884

30 91 9130 109 109

30 70 10530 91 46

30 260 520

3301

21

14315 285 133 7

4 83 10

4 154

260

2114356137

401015

4260

3870

3383083082771230

TOTAL GROSS AREA

10 BEST COPY AVAILABLE ti L

6330

as it may be enough to allow the technol-ogy suite to be enlarged without requiringnew building.

2.28 The curriculum analysis of the wholeschool can be added to the untimetabledteaching area and non-teaching area togive a schedule of accommodation for theschool. In an existing school, this can becompared to the actual number, size andtype of spaces to point to the areas thatmay require alterations to suit a changingcurriculum or number on roll.

A Schedule Example

2.29 The three schedule examples in theappendices each follow five steps. The fivesteps are briefly outlined here, using thesimple 900 place, 11-16 example inappendix 2, summarised in figure 2.1, inwhich the total pupil periods and teacherperiods and the average group size foreach subject are known.

Step 1: Distribution of Time

2.30 The first step is to identify, for eachsubject, the total pupil time (in pupilperiods: column v), the number of timeseach group must meet (in teacher periods:column w) and the average group size(column x).

Pupil_periods = group sizeteacher periods

If two values are known, the third can becalculated (normally the group size).

2.31 The total pupil periods should equalthe periods per week (a) x the totalnumber on roll (b). Similarly, the totalteacher periods should equal the periodsper week (a) x the FTE number of teach-ers (c) x the contact ratio (d).

Step 2: Calculated Number of Spaces

2.32 Using the information in step 1 andthe formulae outlined earlier (seeparagraph 2.19) of

no. of teacher periods periods per week

the number of spaces demanded can becalculated (column y).


Step 3: Rounded Number of Spaces

2.33 At this point, the actual number andtype of spaces required can be decided,based on a reasonable frequency of use. Ifthis frequency is too little, a space mayneed to be used for more than one activ-ity; if too much, more spaces may berequired. The maximum and minimumfrequencies of use will depend on theschool's preferences within each subject.

2.34 In this example (figure 2.1), two ITspaces are required but the frequency ofuse is only 56%. The school has acceptedthis as these rooms will also be used asuntimetabled, bookable resource areas forwhole classes or smaller groups. The initialrounded number of total general teachingspaces was 21, with a high frequency ofuse of 97%, so a further two classroomswere added to allow an average usage of88.5%. PE demands two spaces at 75%use, so a sports hall is to be used. Musicrequires two rooms at 65% usage, but bysharing one as a drama studio and byusing the assembly hall for other dramaactivities for up to 40% of the time, onlytwo spaces are required for both musicand drama, used for 87% to 90% of thetime. Other options are available and arediscussed in appendix 2.

Step 4: Space Sizes

2.35 The area of each space must bedecided on the basis of the largest groupsize that will use it and the activities thatwill take place within it, using section 4.

Step 5: Additional Areas

2.36 Untimetabled teaching areas such asthe library may be partially timetabled butwill mainly provide an area that is availablefor pupils to `drop-in' and access sharedresources. Other untimetabled spaces arelisted in section 4. All such areas should beadded to the list of teaching spaces, togive a final total teaching area. A fullschedule of accommodation for a schoolwill also include non-teaching area, asillustrated in figure 2.1.

17 11

Section 2: Deriving an Accommodatton Schedule

Note1: If a common contact ratio isknown, a general check of thenumber of timetabled spacesto the number of teachers canbe useful.The final number of spacesthe FTE number of teachers xthe contact ratio 4- averagefrequency of use.So, for instance, if the contactratio is expected to be about0.78, the number of

,timetabled spaces should bebetween 87.5% and 92.5% ofthe FTE number of teachers(0.78 ÷ 89% and 0.78 84%).

12

Overall Adjustments

2.37 Once the initial list of spaces iscomplete, some quick checks can beapplied:

the total teaching area should be areasonable proportion of the gross area(around 60%) as outlined in section 1;

the average frequency of use of the finalnumber of timetabled teaching spacesshould be between 84% and 89%';

the calculated average group sizesshould fall comfortably within thechosen maximum group sizes forrooms;

the capacity of the final schedule,calculated from the 'MOE formula',should be the same as or a little morethan the planned number on roll, toallow for some flexibility in admissions;

there should be an adequate number ofspaces suitable for registration.

Other Types of School2.38 Primary and 11-18 school examplesare discussed in appendices 1 and 3. Theprinciples are the same, the notabledifference being that spaces are less likelyto be specific to one subject, but morerelated to a range of activities that may becarried out in a number of subjects.Similarly, any type of school serving anyage range can be analysed using curricu-lum analysis.

2.39 Many of the complications envisagedin such schools can be simplified bycalculating the number of spaces at step 2,using different methods if convenient, forparts of the school, then adding themtogether before step 3. For instance, inappendix 1 a primary school has an infantand junior department with differentlengths of school day. Appendix 3 detailsa secondary school with a sixth form witha complex curriculum breakdown. In bothcases, the calculated number of spaces(step 2) has been derived for the differentage groups and then added together.Other types of school with similar situa-tions, such as middle schools, can also usethis systcm effectively.

11-18 Schools

2.40 Many sixth form courses such asGNVQs (General National VocationalQualifications) demand a variety ofactivities. These may be best accommo-dated in existing specialist rooms, sharedwith other courses or 11-16 subjects. Thecurriculum breakdown in appendix 3totals the demand for each type of spacein all subjects or courses.

2.41 In sixth forms, group sizes will oftenbe smaller and the ability to identify smallspaces for solely sixth form use can beuseful.

Primary Schools

2.42 Teaching areas that are open andused by only a few classes may be sharedeffectively on an ad-hoc basis and can beincluded in the overall basic teaching area.Teaching spaces which are shared by anumber of classes, such as the hall, studio,small group/withdrawal spaces anddiscrete practical spaces (identified astimetabled supplementary spaces insection 3), may need to be timetabled orbooked. The curriculum analysis methodcan be used to quantify the demand forsuch spaces.

2.43 Small primary schools will usuallyhave a small and predictable number ofdmetabled spaces. Larger primary schoolsor, as in appendix 1, those increasing insize, will find a curriculum analysis moreuseful.

Middle Schools

2.44 The middle school is a hybridbetween the primary and secondarycurriculum analysis. As discussed inparagraph 2.39, a primary and secondaryanalysis can be done separately up tostep 2 of the process and then broughttogether.

Section 3: Primary Accommodation Guidelines

This section provides guidance on teaching and non-teaching areas in primary schools and on nurseryaccommodation. For primary schools, the teachingaccommodation can be considered under threecategories. The basic teaching area includesindividual class bases and any shared teaching areas,for instance for practical activities. Timetabledsupplementary areas include the hall and, ifprovided, discrete specialist practical areas, grouprooms and studios. Other supplementary teachingareas include the library and resource areas. Non-teaching areas and nursery provision are coveredat the end of this section.

Note1: The video and leaflet'Making IT Fit (DfEE 1995)provide guidance onaccommodating computers inschools.

3.1 In practice, there may be someoverlap of the categories above, especiallyin smaller primary schools. Features of anywell designed primary teaching area willinclude:

good circulation (bearing in mind theactive nature of many primary tasks,and the presence of non-teachingassistants or other adults);

a configuration of furniture that assistssupervision;

good sightlines (especially betweenteacher, pupils and board);

flexible furniture arrangements, withmobile items where possible;

display surfaces (horizontal and vertical)for pupils' work, natural objects andboth small and large artefacts;

lighting, heating, water and powerpoints positioned for convenience andsafety;

resources displayed for ease of pupilaccess.

3.2 Most resources stored in teachingareas are for the pupils to select and useand should therefore be at low level. Onlyvaluable or hazardous items need be keptin locked cupboards or at high level. Fullheight storage, whether in the form offurniture units or walk-in stores, is classi-fied as teaching storage and counts as non-teaching area for the purpose of areacalculations.

19

Teaching Area

3.3 An area of 1.8m2 per pupil, notincluding the hall and library, can supporta range of teaching activities, but somecompromises may be necessary. Layoutsmay be crowded and any practical workwould need careful management. At2.1m2 per pupil, activities can be accom-modated more comfortably, with less timespent rearranging furniture or gettingwork out and putting it away. Examples ofspaces designed to these different levelsare discussed in paragraphs 3.12 to 3.16.

Basic Teaching Area

3.4 Basic teaching area includes classbases and any shared teaching areas,other than supplementary teachingareas.

Class Bases

3.5 A base is required for every class orgroup of children within the school.Whether in the form of an enclosedclassroom, or as part of a more open planarea, it should be large enough to gatherat least 30 pupils together for registration,listening, discussion and for whole classteaching. An area of at least 35m2 is likelyto be needed for:

adequate table space for every pupil,whether arranged in groups or rows;

the teacher's workstation (not necessar-ily a desk).

3.6 Other basic ingredients for classteaching include:

free floor space, for gathering pupilstogether and for space-consuming workon the floor;

a book corner with room to browse;

one computer workstation for KeyStage 1 (KS1) classes, and two for K52(suitably sized and sited)';

facilities for practical work (see para-graph 3.9).

These activities need not be accommo-dated in the class base itself.

13


14

Shared Teaching Area

3.7 Many teaching activities can also becarried out in shared areas. If designedcarefully, these areas can accommodatedifferent approaches to teaching and fostercollaboration. There is less duplication ofresources and a more efficient use of spacemay be possible.

3.8 The configuration and environmentalconditions are critical for shared areas. Ifbadly designed, they can be noisy anddistracting. A shared area should not betreated simply as a generous circulationroute, but should offer opportunities for areasonable variety of activities and bewithin sight and reach of the class teacher.

Practical Activity

3.9 Some subjects contain a practicalelement, such as maths, science,technology and art. These activities maytake place in the basic teaching area or in aspecialist area. In addition to theingredients listed above, the followingmay be required:

an area for wet or messy activities, witha deep sink and suitable floor finish;

a dry practical area for work such asmaking and testing;

sufficient power points;

appropriate furniture, such as fixedwork tops, workbenches and water orsand trays.

Access to a range of practical resources isalso essential.

3.10 The extent of the area for practicalactivity depends upon a number of factors,including the level of adult supervisionand the size of the group doing practicalactivity. These apply whether the practicalareas are provided in enclosed classrooms,areas shared by two or more class bases, ora specialist practical area shared by allclasses in a key stage or the whole school(as described in paragraph 3.18). Theseorganisational considerations have to beweighed against the physical and grossarea constraints. The chief advantage ofpractical activity in the basic teaching area

is that space is available for other activitiesat other times.

3.11 Figure 3.4 illustrates a range ofrecommended areas for practical activity,whether in the basic teaching area or in aspecialist practical area.

Ways of Organising BasicTeaching Area

3.12 The design of basic teaching accom-modation can vary from a collection ofentirely self-contained classrooms to amore open plan system with a highproportion of shared areas and smallclass bases. Each approach can workwell as long as they meet the school'scurrent needs and are flexible enoughto allow for changes in the future.

Enclosed Room

3.13 Self-contained classrooms for 30pupils offering a reasonable range ofteaching activity would be in the range of54m2to 63m2. Examples of these areillustrated in figure 3.1. An enclosedroom allows the teacher to monitor pupilsmore closely and provides moreautonomy and privacy (with advantagesfor music or noisy activities). However,there is less opportunity for co-operationand shared supervision.

Open Plan

3.14 At the opposite extreme, an openplan base will rely on screens and furnitureto create any form of enclosure for eachclass. This is perhaps the most difficultorganisation of space to design andmanage effectively. The benefits offlexibility through co-operation andshared supervision tend to be offset bynoise and visual disturbance.

Semi-open Class Bases

3.15 Bases that open onto a shared areacan support a variety of teaching methods,though it should be possible for teachersto screen class bases off when moreprivacy is required. Such arrangementscan also give easier access to shared

Enclosed Classroom Examples (figure 3.1):Two sizes of enclosed classroom are illustratedbelow. The smaller room is 54m2(1.8m2 perpupil) and can support a range of activitiesalthough some compromises have been made.For instance, there is only one computerworkstation. However, this may be compensatedfor by shared basic teaching area or


supplementary spaces elsewhere in the school. Inthe larger room of 63m2(2.1m2 per pupil)activities can be accommodated morecomfortably and there is also room for a bookcorner. However, providing such an area for allclasses would-limit the area available forsupplementary spaces, so the classroom wouldneed to accommodate most practical activities.

D

CID

On

Ill

a

/rirs\

Cip

111

[NJ

no M

on

DO

fin

.1rWEI, MEI

Figura 3.1: basic teachingarea in the form of enclosedclassrooms of two sizes: at1.8m2 (top) and 2.1m2perpupil (bottom).

15


resources and facilities. However, if the'ownership' of the shared area is unclear,each class territory can be perceived asbeing smaller (even if that is not physicallythe case). This may result in a greaterdemand for timetabled supplementaryareas such as a studio or a small grouproom. An example of a pair of semi-openbases is illustrated in figure 3.2.

3.16 The type and character of spacesmay vary across the age range. Recep-tion pupils may benefit from a moresecure and supportive environment,with space for role play and construc-tion. More independent learning isexpected of older pupils, who may usefacilities beyond their class base.

Figure 3.2: basic teachingarea in the form of semi-openclass bases with sharedteaching area.

TimetabledSupplementary Areas

3.17 It is often advantageous to accom-modate specialised facilities in supplemen-tary areas, such as practical areas, studios

Semi-open Base Example (figure 3.2):The two class bases illustrated are 35 to 40m2,each with space for 30 pupils and their teacher inwhole class work. They open onto a sharedteaching area which accommodates sinks andother resources including computers. Individualpupils or small groups can carry out activitieshere which would be inappropriate in their classbases. The two teachers can assist in thesupervision of each other's classes and haveopportunities for joint working.

16

g2

or small group rooms. These are discretespaces or bays used and supervised inde-pendently of the class areas (otherwisethey count as basic teaching area). As theywill be shared by a number of classes, theywill need to be booked or timetabled, likethe hall. In larger primary schools andwhere the number of such timetabledspaces is more critical, the schedulingdescribed in section 2 can ensure maxi-mum efficiency in their provision and use.

Specialist Practical Areas

3.18 Specialist practical areas provideopportunities for sustained and oftenlarge-scale work in a safe environment,usually for groups of six to eight pupils.They can be very useful, especially foryears 5 and 6, whether in the form ofopen bays or enclosed rooms.

3.19 Specialist practical areas can beequipped for different activities, fromscientific experiment and control technol-ogy to cookery and ceramics. They arelikely to have a higher level of servicing,special tools and equipment, and morerobust furniture and finishes than basicteaching areas. They may also need specialstorage facilities. Health and safety consid-erations should be paramount and closesupervision is normally required. Figure3.3 illustrates two types of specialistpractical area.

3.20 Figure 3.4 shows a range of areas forpractical activities. A specialist practicalarea can be used for groups of varioussizes and occasionally for whole-classactivities. The availability of staff or adulthelpers is likely to be a major determinantin the provision of specialist practicalareas.

3.21 A separate enclosed room hasadvantages for subjects like food orceramics. However, these rooms may beunder-used and are often too specialisedto be used for other activities, so it isuseful to determine the likely frequency ofuse and group size (see appendix 1).

BEST COPY AVAILABLE


Specialist Practical Area Example (figure 3.3):Two types of mixed use practical area areillustrated above. The smaller is a 20m2 bay, withfacilities for up to eight pupils to do a reasonablerange of practical activities including:

wet modelling or painting;dry construction on tables, a worktop,workbench or the floor;simple experiments;control technology.

Provided that the bay is overlooked by an adjacentclass base, it can be supervised by a class teacherwho need not stay in this area for the wholesession.The larger is an enclosed room of 36m2 withsufficient resources for up to half a class to do anextended range of practical work. In addition tothose activities possible in the smaller bay, thisroom can accommodate:o water experiments in a sink or trough;

more ambitious construction;2D and 3D art or graphics.

An adult helper or teacher would need to remain inthis room to supervise activities.

23

Figure 3.3: two examples ofspecialist practical areas, asdescribed in paragraph 3.18.

17


45

40

35

30

a.25

20

15

10

5

5 10

Group Size: Number of Pupils (G)

10+2.1G

6+1.7G

15

Figure 3.4: graph showingareas for practical areas.

Figure 3.5: graph showingareas for small group roomsand studios.

10 15 20 25

Group Size: Number of Pupils (G)

18

Food

3.22 Ideally, a specialised food prepara-tion and cookery space should be fittedout with kitchen furniture of an appropri-ate height for the age range. Groups arenormally limited to eight pupils for ease ofsupervision. It is advisable that the foodarea should be kept separate from otheractivities, at least in a bay, for hygiene andsafety.

Ceramics

3.23 Wherever possible the furniture andequipment in the ceramics area should beof an appropriate size for the age range.Groups usually consist of between six toeight pupils. The ceramics area should beplaced in a self-contained bay or separateroom to prevent clay, dust and anyhazardous substances contaminating otherteaching areas.

Small Group Room

3.24 A small group room can be used forwithdrawing individual pupils or smallgroups from a class for remedial or enrich-ment work. The room can be used forquiet or noisy work, independent study,music composition, drama or for specialneeds. Figure 3.5 shows the recom-mended range of areas for different sizedgroups.

Studio

3.25 Music, drama, movement and dancebenefit from a specialised environmentwith acoustic isolation, 'dim-out andsome stage blocks. Pupils should also haveeasy access to audio-visual and musicresources which can be on trolleys or outon permanent display.

3.26 In smaller primary schools, a hallmay meet these conditions as long as thereis suitable storage space. In larger schoolsa studio can be an effective supplement tothe hall.

3.27 Figure 3.5 shows the recommendedrange of areas. Although some activitiescan be done in smaller groups, a studio

24

may be useful for activities involving thewhole class (a group size of 30 in thegraph), especially if class bases are unsuit-able for music or drama.

Hall

3.28 Most primary schools have a hall forlarge group activities such as assembly andPE, some drama, music, and often fordining as well. Ideally, the hall shouldhave a piano or keyboard and a full rangeof PE apparatus, both fixed and loose.There should also be space for looseapparatus to be left out during the dayand separate but adjoining stores for loosePE equipment, and for tables and chairs ifthe hall is used for dining.


3.29 The needs of a class of 30 all doingPE suggests a minimum area of 120m2 forinfants and 140m2 for juniors, excludingstorage. If the hall is used for dance andmovement without using apparatus, 80m'is acceptable. In some smaller schoolsthese areas may not be available. In suchcases, some compromises can be madethrough careful management of groupsizes and activities.

Assembly

3.30 To accommodate assemblies of morethan about 400 pupils, the hall has to belarger than the minimum sizes suggestedfor infants PE. Although the legal require-ment for regular collective acts of worshipdoes not require the whole school to

250

200

150

1C0

50

junior

*W.

PE

_infant PE

- movement

90 150 210 270 330 390 450 510 570

Number on Roll (N)

60+0.25N

44+0.2N

630

41.'5

Figure 3.6: graph showingareas for a hall, including PEand assembly.

19


Figure 3.7: graph showingareas for libraries.

assemble together, these are occasions thatmany schools value and this must beevaluated against other priorities. Figure3.6 illustrates the area for halls whichallow the whole school to meet together.

Larger Schools

3.31 In larger schools a single hall maynot be sufficient to meet the demands ofthe curriculum. The exact accommodationrequirements depend on factors such asthe length of the school day, diningarrangements, timetabling of teachingsessions, and whether music and perform-ance can be accommodated elsewhere.Section 2 and appendix 1 show how toanalyse the relevant factors to determinethe best distribution of accommodation. Asecond large space such as a studio may berequired and, in exceptional cases, a thirdspace might be needed, large enough fordance and movement (but not for gym-nastics with apparatus). The area of asecond or third large space must comewithin the allowance for teaching area andgross area described in section 1.

70

60

50

cococi. 40

a)

30

20

10

6+0.09N

5+0.05N

90 150 210 270 330 390 450 510 570 630

Number on Roll (N)

20

Other Supplementary Areas

3.32 In most primary schools there is arange of spaces that, by their nature as aresource for the whole school, are notnormally timetabled. These include areasfor resources and special educationalneeds, withdrawal spaces and the library.Nevertheless the spaces are counted in thetotal teaching area for the school and theyshould be planned for maximum use.

Library

3.33 In some primary schools, librarystock is dispersed into book corners inclass bases. However, there are manybenefits in having a whole school library.It is accessible to all age groups and cancontain a much broader spectrum ofmaterials including reference and otherbooks, audio materials, CD-ROM andadditional information technology (IT)equipment. The library should also havespace for display and tables and chairs forreading, listening and quiet work. Figure3.7 illustrates the range of areas recom-mended for different sized schools.

3.34 The location of the library is impor-tant. Ideally it should be positionedcentrally within the site, easily accessibleto the whole school. An attractive andinviting design will stimulate pupils to useit for study and pleasure, and informal usecan be encouraged if it is not fully en-closed. Supervision and security are easierto manage if the library is overlooked byteaching or administration spaces.

Resource Areas

3.35 Subjects such as science, technology,art and music require a wide variety ofequipment, tools and materials. Adesignated resource bay or room is often apractical design solution. It is much morethan just a storage zone, offering a stimu-lating display of resources available forpupils' use. Resource areas are bestsituated adjacent to general teaching orpractical areas.

SEN Support Base'

3.36 Although pupils with special educa-tional needs (SEN) are usually taught inordinary classes, with help from specialsupport teachers or assistants, schoolsproviding for a number of pupils withSEN may have a support base for smallgroup or individual teaching. It caninclude special resources, for use in thebase and throughout the school, andspace for records and staff preparation. Itshould be located near other teachingareas, readily accessible to all pupils. Itmay also function as a small group room.

Non-Teaching Areas

3.37 Provision of the total non-teachingarea is determined by the size of schooland the number of staff. The paragraphsbelow describe the range of non-teachingaccommodation that may be needed(except where noted otherwise). They aredescribed by function rather than roomtype as some rooms may be used forseveral purposes. Different arrangementsand combinations are possible.

3.38 Minimum areas are not specifiedbut a typical proportion of non-teachingarea that these functions might occupy islisted in figure 3.8. The table relates to anaverage sized school2 and the elements ofnon-teaching area are shown as a percent-age of the overall non-teaching area andalso as a percentage of the gross area ofthe school. Additional provision may beneeded for pupils with special needs. Clients..:nd designers will be in the best positionto assess their own priorities, and to strikea balance within the available gross area.

Staff and AdministrationAccommodation

3.39 The range of accommodation mightbe expected to occupy approximately 10%to 12% of the total non-teaching area andincludes:

headteacher's office;

senior staff office;

BEST COPY AV ILA LE


reception;

school administration office(s);

staff social space;

staff work space;

office resources such as reprographicfacilities;

staff lavatories, showers and changingfacilities.

3.40 In a school with more than 120pupils, the headteacher must have anoffice, for meetings and interviews whichmay be confidential. Only larger schoolsjustify a deputy head's or senior staffroom and then this room might doubleup for other uses such as medical inspec-tion. Sometimes these offices are used forthe storage of records, valuables and cashin which case some form of additionalsecurity may be necessary.

3.41 School administration areas are oftenlinked with the reception. If this is thecase, the space should be accessible tostaff, pupils and visitors whilst at the sametime providing a secure area for the schoolrecords.

3.42 Staff social spaces should ideallyprovide an area for refreshment andrelaxation and also some group work.There should also be an area within theroom or elsewhere in the school that isdesignated a staff work space. This isneeded for preparation, assessment andrecording work. Except for larger schools,these functions will normally be combinedin one space.

3.43 The reprographic facilities may beplaced in the school administration area.However, this can be noisy and disruptiveand it may be preferable to use a separatesmall room or store area for reprographics.In larger schools it may be necessary tohave separate office resource areas forschool administration and teachingpreparation.

3.44 Staff lavatories and washbasinsshould be separate from those providedfor the pupils3. A lavatory for the disabledcan be unisex and may be used by adultsand pupils (if it is in a self-contained roomoff a circulation space).

2 7

Notes1: See building bulletin 61:Designing for children withspecial educational needs:ordinary schools, HMSO 1984,now out of print but availablefrom HMSO Books(Photocopies Section).2: An average sized primaryschool of seven classes andabout 210 pupils.3: Workplace Health, Safetyand Welfare Regulations(1992) Approved Code ofPractice gives guidance on theminimum provision of sanitaryconveniences for employees.

21


type of space

staff and admin. accommodation

pupils storage/washrooms

teaching storage

catering facilities

ancillary spaces

circulation and partitions

total non-teaching area

proportion of total

non-teaching area

proportion of

gross area

10% - 12% 4.0% 5.2%

17% 19% 6.8% - 8.2%

12% - 13% 4.8% 5.6%

7% 10% 2.8% - 4.3%

9% - 10% 3.6% 4.3%

39% - 42% 15.6% - 18.1%

40% - 43%

Figure 3.8: proportionalbreakdown of non-teachingareas.

22

Pupils' Storage/Washrooms

3.45 These could take up approximately17% to 19% of the non-teaching area andinclude:

pupils' lavatories;

pupils' coat store(s);

lunch box storage;

pupils' changing room(s);

3.46 The School Premises Regulationscontain specific requirements for pupils'sanitary facilities. For all except nurserypupils, one sanitary fitting must beprovided for every twenty pupils. Unisexlavatories are generally regarded asacceptable for infant or nursery pupilsonly. Pupils aged eight and older musthave access to separate male and femalewashrooms. The number of wash-handbasins should equal the number of sanitaryfittings in each washroom.

3.47 Pupils' coat store(s) need to beprovided for the storage and drying ofoutdoor clothing and bags'. Their position,heating and ventilation need carefulintegration within the school environment.If the coat stores are dispersed to class basesthe space required should not be taken outof the teaching area. If pupils are bringinglunch boxes to school they may need to be

stored in a controlled area (at the correcttemperature and away from potentialcontamination).

3.48 Pupils' changing rooms are not astatutory requirement but it may beconsidered useful to have at least onewhich is large enough for half a class.

Teaching Storage

3.49 The total teaching storage might beexpected to occupy approximately 12% to13% of the non-teaching area. It includes:

class storage;

secure stores;

PE storage.

3.50 The class storage is for teachingmaterials and equipment, and for items ofstock that need to be stored in a class baseor shared area for ease of access by pupils(see paragraph 3.2). The secure storesmight be used for stock, bulk or valuableitems which are only needed occasionally.The PE storage is necessary for equipmentand apparatus for indoor and outdoor use.

Catering Facilities

3.51 The scale of catering operations, thenumber of staff employed and the arearequired can vary enormously. Thepercentages in figure 3.8 do not allow fora full production kitchen. If the school isproviding cooked meals, heated andserved on the premises, the cateringfacilities may occupy approximately 9% ofnon-teaching area and might include:

a servery or scullery for serving meals,whether delivered or cooked on thepremises, and washing-up afterwards;

a chair and table store, possiblycombined with the servery;

catering staff facilities, such as alavatory, office and rest room.

3.52 The majority of primary schoolsno longer operate full size productionkitchens and the gross area guidelinesassume an area of about 35m2for asophisticated servery only.

- L 28 .eP

Ancillary spaces

3.53 The number and range of ancillaryspaces can vary according to how theschool is organised and managed. Thesespaces can occupy between 9% and 10%of non-teaching area and include:

a medical room;

a caretaker's office, for administrationand maintenance (if required);

maintenance storage, cleaner's andcaretaker's stores (depending onarrangement);

plant and fuel store (if required).

3.54 All schools must have a medicalroom, used for medical and dentalinspection and for pupils and staff whofeel unwell. It must have a wash-handbasin and be located close to a suitablelavatory and should be easily supervised.It need not be used solely as a medicalroom, but should be readily availablefor use as such (as in paragraph 3.40).

Circulation and Partitions

3.55 The circulation routes need to bewide enough for fire safety and forpupils to move easily throughout theschool between sessions. The areadesignated for circulation cannotnormally be used for educationalactivities, although teaching space mayopen directly onto it (subject to fire andsafety precautions). But it does add tocapital and recurrent costs, so whereverpossible designers should try tominimise it.

3.56 Space for partitions comprises thefloor area occupied by partition walls butexcludes the area occupied by externalwalls. The proportion of non-teachingarea taken up by circulation routes andpartitions can be between 39% and 42%.


Nursery Provision

3.57 Nursery provision in schools takes avariety of forms. It can be in the form of:

self-contained schools with one or moreclasses;

a nursery class or classes within aprimary school;

a unit of one or more classes on aprimary school site but in physicallyseparate buildings.

Maintained nurseries are also sometimescombined with day care and other facilitiesin integrated nurseries or early yearscentres.

3.58 The main planning ingredients aredescribed below and illustrated by the planin figure 3.9. At the time of writing, moredetailed guidance is being prepared, butreference may be made to existing DfEEpublications2.

Teaching Area

3.59 The bulk of the teaching or play areafor nursery pupils is usually the playroom,including space for wet and messyactivities. The teaching area may alsoinclude a small group room.

Teaching/Playroom

3.60 Common to all forms of provision isa teaching/playroom. A well designed onewill include informally demarcated zonesfor the following activities:

table work by at least a third of thechildren at any one time;

role play;

musical activities;

wet and messy work;

quiet activity;

large-scale construction;

use of IT.

3.61 It is good practice to providesufficient unobstructed space for manyactivities to take place on the floor. Mobilefurniture and partitions, carpets and

29

Notes1: See A&B Paper number 15,Lockers and Secure Storage,DES 1990 and Building Bulletin58: Storage of Pupils' PersonalBelongings, HMSO 1980.2: Building Bulletin 56: NurseryEducation in converted space,HMSO 1976, now out of printbut available from HMSOBooks (Photocopies Section).Design Note 1: Building forNursery Education, DfEE1968. Broadsheet 1: Nurseryeducation: low cost adaptationof spare space in primaryschools, DES 1980.

23


24

waterproof floor finishes help to definethese zones. Within the space a range ofbooks, games, toys, equipment,instruments, materials and other resourceswould be on display and accessible to thechildren. If provided, mid-day meals willusually be eaten here too. The activitiesdescribed can be accommodated within anarea of 2.3m2 per pupil. A higher area perpupil may be preferable in somecircumstances, but this is subject toongoing research.

Wet and Messy Area

3.62 An important part of teaching/playactivity involves water, sand and othermessy work, preferably on a waterprooffloor finish. Ideally, hot and cold watershould be to hand. The most versatilewater source is a deep sink with a drainer,projecting to allow children to gatheraround. It can be useful for this space tolink directly to the outdoor play area.

Small Group Room

3.63 A separate, smaller room is usuallyan asset. This can be used for a number ofthe activities already described, includingquiet activities such as story-telling orwithdrawal of individual children, wheresome acoustic or visual separation is anadvantage. Characteristics of the spaceinclude soft finishes, bean-bags andcomfortable furniture. To gain the bestvalue from a separate room, it should beused as much as possible, which requireseither visual supervision from the mainspace or the availability of additionaladults.

3.64 A room of this kind counts as part ofthe total teaching area. If community orother uses are expected, other rooms maybe needed.

Outdoor Area

3.65 Access to adequate outdoor teachingand play areas is important, as manyactivities go on in the fresh air for a largepart of the year. A covered outdoor areaopening off the teaching/playroom allows

3 0

outdoor activities to continue even ininclement weather. Such an outdoor spaceshould be secure and within the areaguidance given in paragraph 5.33.

Non-Teaching Areas

3.66 A successful teaching/playroom willdepend on the careful planning of someessential support areas, including:

an entrance/coats area;

pupils' lavatories;

wash-down facilities;

storage.

3.67 Certain non-teaching accommoda-tion is required by the School PremisesRegulations, either in the nursery itselfor in the school to which it is attached.This includes:

the headteacher's room (in schoolswith more than 120 pupils);

staff accommodation;

staff washroom(s);

a food preparation area;

a medical room;

Other ancillary spaces may also berequired. An integrated nursery or earlyyears centre may also require accommo-dation for younger children, day careand other facilities.

Staff and AdministrationAccommodation

3.68 All nurseries should have a basewith space for administration, record-keeping and interviews. This will oftenbe the headteacher's room, but may becombined with a staff or other roomcloser to the nursery. If so, it is useful ifthe room overlooks the main entranceto the nursery.

3.69 A staff room and lavatories, forvisitors as well as staff, are required. Theymay be shared with the main school.


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Nursery Example (figure 3.9):

The example above is a 26 place nurseryattached to a primary school. The headteacher'sroom, adult lavatories, kitchen and medical roomare in the main building near by. Approximately60% of the gross area of the unit is teachingarea in this example.

The entrance to the nursery leads into a lobbywith room for coats and buggies, overlooked bya small staff room which is also used as anoffice. The pupils' lavatories are close by.The playroom is 51m2 and an adjacent quietroom is 9m2, amounting to a total teaching areaof 2.3m2per pupil. Furniture in the playroom is

informally laid out to allow table work, role play,music, wet and messy work, dry construction andwork with computers, with clear areas foractivities on the floor. The wet area has a worktopand sink at child height and a projecting sink forexperiments. Both wet and dry practical areasopen directly into a large covered area, beyondwhich is the outdoor play area.

Most of the furniture is mobile and a range ofbooks, toys and other resources is displayed foreasy access by pupils. Items which need to bestored securely can be locked in the store,accessible from both outside and inside. A smallkitchen provides facilities for snacks and awashing machine.

Figure 3.9: example of a 26place nursery unit.

25


26

Pupils' Storage/Washrooms

3.70 One sanitary fitting must beprovided for every tcn nursery pupils.Lavatories are usually grouped within easyreach of the teaching/play space and canbe unisex. The design of the partitionsshould allow some privacy for childrenand space for adults to give assistance, yetpermit adequate supervision.

Wash-down Facilities

3.71 A deep sink, bath or shower tray isrequired to clean accidentally soiledpupils or clothes (generally one for every40 nursery pupils). A laundry or utilityroom with a washing machine may alsobe useful for this and other purposes. Achanging table or height-adjustabletrolley should be considered for childrenwith special needs.

Entrance/Coats Area

3.72 The procedure of taking off andstoring outdoor garments, lunch boxesand personal belongings is a usefuldiscipline to learn. Space may be neededfor parents to assist, which often includesthe need to fold, unfold or store prams orbuggies without obstructing the fireescape route. A gate between theentrance door and the street will increasesafety.

Teaching Storage

3.73 Storage for toys, materials andequipment is needed. A store for appara-tus and wheeled items directly accessibleto the outside play space is also desirable.

Food Preparation

3.74 All nurseries need provision for thepreparation of snacks, and some will offermid-day meals. Facilities may range froma worktop with ring or power-point to afully equipped kitchen, which may beelsewhere in the main school. Safety forchildren is essential, and physical separa-tion, whether in another room or bymeans of low barriers, is always advisable.

32

Ancillary Spaces

3.75 These may include spaces for acleaner or caretaker, plant, circulation andother space as appropriate (as described inparagraphs 3.53 to 3.56).

3.76 Every nursery should have access toa medical room (see paragraph 3.54). Itmay be shared with the main school andneed not be close to the nursery, pro-vided it can be adequately supervised.However, if it is situated close to thenursery, it may have additional value as abase for visiting specialists in the assess-ment of special needs.

Section 4: Secondary Accommodation Guidelines

This section provides guidance on teaching and non-teaching spaces in secondary schools. Teachingaccommodation comprises three types of timetabledteaching area: general teaching, practical areas andphysical education (PE) spaces, plus non-timetabledteaching areas, including supplementary spaces.Non-teaching areas are covered at the end of thissection.

Figure 4.1: illustration ofpossible demand for roomsaccording to activity insecondary schools.

includes space requirementsfor both vocational and coreskills.

Timetabled Teaching Areas

4.1 The secondary school curriculum isnormally taught in distinct subjects, usinga variety of timetabled rooms. Theserooms or spaces tend to be used primarilyfor one subject. Hence the secondary areaguidelines are described under subjectheadings in the following text. However,it is important to note that some roomsmay be used by more than one subject, forexample an English room may be used forteaching history or a specialist space maybe used for music, drama and modernforeign languages. Figure 4.1 illustratesthe types of spaces commonly used fordifferent subjects. Almost half the subjectstaught in secondary schools are 'general

teaching' requiring standard classrooms.Other subjects need specialist practicalareas or sports facilities.

4.2 The following considerations areappropriate to all secondary teaching spaces.

Room Shape

4.3 A space which is too narrow mayrestrict the range of activities and thepossible furniture layouts. This is particu-larly true for practical spaces where theremay be large items of equipment. Mostsubjects at secondary level include someformal teaching. The proportions of aspace should give good sight lines to thewhiteboard. The most useful shape ofspace is normally a square or a rectangle ofa proportion of around 4:5.

Suites and Links

4.4 Most secondary schools are organisedinto departments or faculties. Arrangingrooms into departmental suites enablesresources, equipment, store rooms andsupplementary teaching spaces to be

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BEST COPY AVMLABLE 327


Figure 4.2: graph showingareas for standard and largegeneral teaching classrooms,zones A and B. In theformulae, G is the KS3 or KS4group size. The sixth formgroup size (g) is shown on thelower line of the horizontal axis(g = G + 1.5).

shared. Departments which may be linked,such as design and technology and art,should also be positioned close to eachother. Whole school resource areas likethe library resource centre should be easilyaccessible from all departments.

Servicing

4.5 All teaching spaces should ideally beserviced for the use of computers andaudio-visual teaching aids. Computernetworks may be provided as local areanetworks or whole school networks. Somepractical spaces, such as sciencelaboratories and multi-materialsworkshops, have greater servicingrequirements. The method of distributionof all services should allow the appropriaterange of activities to take placeconveniently and safely.

Room Sizes

4.6 Under each of the following subjectheadings, the likely required size of eachroom type is represented by a zone (A

70

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30

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15 20 2510 15

Group Size: Number of Pupils

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28 34

H) on a graph. These zones illustrate arange of areas for different group sizes'.The range reflects the variety of situationsthat can be found in schools.

4.7 The notes for each type of spacedescribe the effect that different activitiesmay have on area. General factors whichmay affect the size of space include:

the type of courses offered;

the extent of supplementary areas (aspace may be smaller if common activi-ties take place in a shared resource area);

any storage in the room.

4.8 Some local storage is allowed forwithin the spaces (for example below aperimeter worktop), but a nearby storeroom may also be required. Additionalstorage areas are given under each subject,along with any resource or supplementaryareas that may be needed.

4.9 Areas are given on the graphs for 11-16groups (G) and post-16 groups (g). Thearea for the 16-18 groups are a proportionof the 11-16 area (g = G 1.5) to ,give abroad estimate only. Ideally all spacesshould be big enough for the largest groupsize likely to use the space, to allow greaterflexibility in allocating groups to rooms.

General Teaching Areas

4.10 General teaching subjects include:

English;

mathematics;

modern foreign languages;

humanities (history and geography);

religious education;

personal and social education (PSE);

general studies.

Such subjects usually require ordinaryclassrooms, although some may occasion-ally need practical spaces. Conversely,some subjects which are usually taught inpractical or PE spaces can also be timeta-bled for certain lessons in general teachingrooms: for example, theory lessons in PE,science or elements of vocational courses.General teaching spaces are often used forclass registration or social activities.

Activities

4.11 The range of activities in generalteaching rooms includes: whole classteaching and small group discussion,reading, writing, role playing, and the useof computers and audio-visualequipment. There may also be a limitedamount of other activities such as modelmaking, for example in mathematics andgeography.

4.12 Although subjects such as geogra-phy and languages may require a degreeof specialisation, general teaching roomstend to be used for more than onesubject. For example, an English roommight be used to teach mathematics fortwo periods per week. This means thatgeneral teaching rooms can have anaverage frequency of use as high as 90%.

Types of Spaces

4.13 Most of the activities that take placewithin general teaching can be catered forby two sizes of space: standard and large.

Standard Classroom (Zone A)

4.14 Zone A in figure 4.2 shows a rangeof sizes of rooms for standard generalteaching spaces. The areas represented aresuitable for all general teaching subjects.The range depends on the level of furni-ture and equipment in the room. Forexample, if computer workstations arerequired, the higher end of the range maybe more appropriate. The lower groupsize figures from this graph can also beused for calculating areas of small roomsused by small groups.

Large Classroom (Zone B)

4.15 On occasions it may be necessary tohave a larger space, for example wheremathematics requires more computers, orgeography needs space for map work andmodel making. Activities such as role playin modern foreign languages sometimeswarrant a larger space. One such space forevery four to five standard spaces may bea good ratio. Zone B in figure 4.2 showsthe area that might be appropriate.


General Teaching Examples (figure 4.3):Two standard general teaching spaces for 30KS3 or 4 pupils are illustrated above, from theupper and lower ends of zone A. They both havespace for a coat and bag rack beside the doorand some teaching storage, but the largerclassroom of 54m2 has space for a computerworkstation and a more flexible furniture layout.The smaller classroom, at 48m2, has lessstorage and equipment It may support someactivities less easily and limit possible furniturearrangements.

35

Figure 4.3: examples of twosizes of standard generalteaching classroom.

Note1: The likely group size shouldbe determined from acurriculum analysis ordiscussion with the school.

29


Figure 4.4: graph showingareas for practical activities,zones B, C, D and E. In theformulae, G is the KS3 or KS4group size. The sixth formgroup size (g) is shown on thelower line of the horizontal axis(g = G + 1.5).

4.16 Untimetabled supplementaryteaching areas may be required in suites ofgeneral teaching accommodation, forinstance a room for use by a foreignlanguage assistant to work with smallgroups or for careers advice. Small clustersof computers may be in a shared arearather than in the class (paragraph 4.74).

4.17 Some storage in furniture within theroom is allowed for in zones A and B.Additional storage space may be necessaryeither within the classroom or in a sepa-rate walk-in store. A floor area of approxi-mately 0.08m2 to 0.09m2 per workplaceusually provides enough full heightstorage for general teaching.

Practical Areas4.18 Practical spaces house specialistactivities and equipment and tend to bespecific to a number of practically-basedsubjects, including science, design andtechnology, art, music and drama. Voca-tional courses such as GNVQs may

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involve units that are taught in a numberof different specialist areas, which maythen be shared with other subjects andage groups. This can be arranged withinthe timetable (as in appendix 3). Similarly,some National Curriculum subjects suchas design and technology will require anumber of types of specialist space.

4.19 The specialist nature of practicalspaces means that they are less inter-changeable than general teaching spaces.For example, the practical elements offood technology cannot be taught in amusic room. However, a frequency of useof between 75% and 85% of the timeta-bled week can normally be achieved. Toensure this efficiency of use and to offer awide range of spaces, two subjects oractivities may well be carried out atdifferent times in one practical space, forexample textiles and graphics. This has tobe planned in advance so that the roomcan be properly equipped. Section 2 andappendix 2 give examples of how this canbe carried out.

Activities

4.20 In addition to the particular special-isms, all practical spaces need to cater foractivities such as whole class briefing andevaluation, small group discussion andusing computers.

Types of Spaces

4.21 As practical spaces are often pre-dominantly used by one subject, the typeslisted below have been grouped undertheir likely subjects. The area needed forparticular group sizes varies according tothe scale of specialist activity and size ofthe furniture and equipment. The zones(C H) in figures 4.4, 4.7 and 4.8 reflectthese differences. The most typical arearange for each type of space is given inbrackets after its sub-heading. The zoneabove and below that 'standard' will covera broader range of areas which might beapplicable in some situations. For exam-ple, a room in the zone below may beappropriate if it is one space amongst agroup of larger spaces. The zone above

may be referred to where a number ofdifferent activities take place in the samearea. A space used by sixth form pupilsalongside younger pupils will tend tocome from the upper part of the rangesor the zone above.

4.22 There are additional untimetabledteaching spaces and teaching storage areasassociated with these practical subjects.These are mentioned under each subjectheading and are summarised at the end ofthis section. Area ranges for storagerequirements are given for most subjects.As with general teaching, these figures arein addition to any local storage includedin the teaching spaces. Since a basic levelof storage is always required, the upperend of the range may be more suitable ina small department. The lower figure maybe appropriate where storage and/orpreparation is concentrated into onespace.

Business Studies andVocational Courses

4.23 Business courses involve a variety ofactivities including group discussions,presentations and using IT. Some of theseactivities can be carried out in a largegeneral teaching room (zone B), but anIT room or business studies room withspecialist facilities may be more suitablefor the majority of the time.

4.24 Pupils studying vocational subjectsneed frequent access to computers, bothin timetabled work and in their own studytime. These may be available in easilyaccessed resource areas, or in classroomsused for 'core skills' such as numeracy,but will often be provided in a 'baseroom', similar to or the same as that usedby business studies. GNVQ courses suchas health and social care or business willrequire this type of room for most of thecurriculum. Courses such as manufactur-ing will need it for less time, as mostteaching will take place in more specialistpractical spaces such as a workshop. Anexample of an 11-18 school teaching anumber of vocational courses is shown inappendix 3.


GNVQ/Business Room (zone C)

4.25 A practical space with an area inzone C allows for a range of activities,including using computers, related toGNVQ and business courses. Certainactivities such as simulating working in anoffice may require an area in zone D-E.

4.26 GNVQ and business courses may useuntimetabled spaces such as IT resourceareas and seminar rooms. The additionalteaching storage requirements may varybetween 0.3m2 and 0.4m' per workplace.

Information Technology'

4.27 Whilst information technology (IT)equipment is used across the curriculum, itmay be taught as a course to allow pupilsin lower years to learn basic skills. It mayalso be taught as an examination subject,although the demand for this is decreas-ing. IT facilities may also be placed insmall untimetabled clusters around theschool (paragraphs 4.68 and 4.74).

IT Room (zone C - D)

4.28 IT rooms are usually available to bebooked on an ad-hoc basis for a variety ofsubjects, such as English or humanities, aswell as being partially timetabled for ITcourses. The size of an IT room dependson the number of machines and support-ing hardware, such as printers, and thearea allowed for pupils to carry out associ-ated graphic and written work. It is likelyto be in zone C-D. If the room is sharedwith business studies or is used for desktop publishing, it may be more appropri-ate to refer to zone E.

4.29 Additional teaching storage require-ments may range from 0.3m2 to 0.4m2 perworkplace.

Science'

4.30 Science involves a high percentage ofexperimental work, particularly at KS3 andKS4, requiring regular access to a range ofservices. Some science lessons can takeplace in general teaching rooms, but mostwill require a laboratory.

Notes1: The video and leaflet'Making IT Fit (DfEE 1995)provide guidance onaccommodating computers inschools.2: Building Bulletin 80:Science Accommodation inSecondary Schools, HMSO1995, covers detailed design.

.3 7 31


Figure 4.5: two sizes ofscience laboratory at oppositeends of zone D.

Science Laboratory (zone D)

4.31 Activities that need to be accommo-dated in science include small groups ofpupils carrying out experiments andteacher demonstration. The size of anylaboratory will depend on the furnituresystem to be used and the group size. Anarea from the middle of zone D allows fora typical range of activities. Laboratories inthe lower area of zone C might have alimit on the range of activities and thechoice of furniture they can accommo-date. This size would not be recom-mended for all the laboratories in a suite.A laboratory in the upper part of zone Dcould accommodate specialist sixth formequipment and long-term experimentsalongside general science provision.

4.32 Untimetabled rooms which supple-ment the main teaching areas may include:

an animal room;

a microbiology room;

a greenhouse;

an outdoor project area;

a darkroom;

an IT resource/display area.

4.33 Preparation areas are needed inscience for cleaning and sorting laboratoryequipment as well as storing materials. Afloor area of between 0.4m2 and 0.5m2per workplace should provide sufficientoverall storage and preparation area. Thelower figure will be appropriate when one

Science Examples (figure 4.5):The examples below illustrate how the arearanges in zones C and D can apply to a sciencelaboratory. Both spaces provide for 30 pupils totake part in practical and non-practical activities.The larger space is from the upper part of zoneD. Additional benching at the back of the roomallows sixth formers to set up and monitor long-term experiments. There are two computerworkstations, a position for a mobile fumecupboard and a rack for pupils coats and bags.The smaller space is at the lower end of zone C.There is no fume cupboard and no additionaltable for a computer. Coats and bags are storedoutside the room.

32 L

central preparation room is used. This iseconomical and more convenient fortechnicians than several smaller spaces.

Design and Technology'

4.34 Design and technology encompassesa range of designing and making activities.These can be divided into the followingspecialist categories:

food;

multi-material construction, includingworking with wood, metal and plastics;

control technology includingelectronics and pneumatics;

textiles;

graphics.

Teaching spaces may accommodate one ormore of these specialisms. Combinationsof these activities are more likely to occurin small schools'.

4.35 As well as the untimetabled supple-mentary teaching areas described laterunder multi-materials and food, a designand technology suite may have a sharedIT or design/resource area (see paragraph4.76), a display area or a sixth formproject space within it.

4.36 The number of the different types oftimetabled rooms depends very much onthe proportion of specialisms done indesign and technology in each school. Forexample, a school may choose not to offerfood as a component of design andtechnology. The following text describes atypical range of specialist spaces. Notes arealso included on the most likelycombinations of specialist activities.

Food Room (zones G - H)

4.37 Specialist activities in a food roominclude food preparation, cooking andanalysis. The size of space will depend onthe number and variety of workstations.An area from the middle ofzone G-Haccommodates a broad range of practicaland non-practical facilities. A space fromzone F may be suitable where two ormore food rooms share certain commonfacilities (see paragraph 4.38). A space


from the upper part of the range in zoneH can allow a very high ratio of cookers topupils alongside less practical activities.

4.38 A supplementary teaching areas nextto a food room may be used forexperiments in food technology or foodtasting. Some facilities, such as laundryequipment, could be in an adjacent room,allowing the main room to be smaller.Additional teaching storage for foodtechnology might amount to between0.5m' and 0.6m2 per workplace.

Multi-materials Workshop (zones G - H)

4.39 Multi-materials activities involve theuse of floor standing and bench mountedmachines as well as hand tools at workbenches. IT may be used for both designand manufacture, with computerisedmachinery sitting alongside manualmachinery. The machine provision affectsthe size of space. Where a single room isused for multi-materials, the upper part ofzone H may be required. A pair of work-shops, both with an area from the middleof zone G-H, can accommodate a broadrange of facilities including some graphics.An area in zone F may be suitable if, forexample, drawing facilities are available inan adjacent area or if there are other largermulti-materials rooms nearby (see figure4.6). An area above zone H may beappropriate where:

facilities are provided for pneumatics,electronics and control technology(PECT) alongside an adequate range ofmulti-materials facilities;

post-16 pupils are working alongsideKS3 or KS4 pupils on industrialprojects, for instance on vocationalcourses.

4.40 Supplementary teaching areasadjacent to a multi-materials workshopmight include an external project area anda heat treatment bay, located within adefined area near or within the workshopfor ease of supervision. An area of between14m' and 20m2 will accommodate areasonable level of heat treatment equip-ment. A preparation area of about 30m2 to35m2 will accommodate preparationmachines and associated materials used by

39

Notes1 : Building Bulletin 81:Design and TechnologyAccommodation in SecondarySchools, HMSO 1996, coversdetailed design.2 : Health and safety issuesmust be considered whencombining activities.

33


Figure 4.6: examples of twosizes of multi-materialsworkshops; two at 85m2 andone at 109m2.

Multi-materials Examples (figure 4.6):The examples below show a pair of multi-material spaces and a single workshop for up to20 pupils: the pair of spaces are taken fromzone F and the single space from zone H. Allthree spaces are multi-material but the twosmaller workshops act as a pair, each havingpedestal machines with a different material bias.The single workshop is assumed to be the onlyworkshop, possibly in a small school. The fullrange of machines is therefore concentrated intoone area and the space is larger than a typicalspace from zone G-I-1. Both examples provide abasic level of bench and pedestal machinerysuitable for use with metal, wood and plastic,

with provision for plastics equipment either on atrolley or bench. There are vices for up to 20pupils. Multi-benches allow provision for handtools and CNC machines enable computeriseddesign as well as making. The larger singlespace has tables for designing and finishingactivities, the smaller pair of workshops do not.The smaller spaces might be appropriate wheredrawing and designing take place in anadjacent resource area, possibly shared withother design and technology subjects.Alternatively, multi-bench tops can be coveredand used as tables. In both drawings a heat bayis assumed beyond a low wall indicated inwhite, similarly a preparation area is assumedthrough double doors on the opposite wall.

34

the technician. This area could be com-bined with the additional storage require-ments of multi-materials which rangebetween 0.6m2 and 0.8m2 per pupil. Thepreparation area should be located nearthe multi-materials workshops.

Pneumatics/Electronics and ControlTechnology (PECT) Room (zone F)

4.41 Typical activities in PECT includedesigning, making and experimentingusing mechanical, electrical, pneumaticand electronic components and systems.IT will be used both for design andmanufacture, perhaps using CAD-CAMmachinery'. The size of space will bedetermined partly by the range ofactivities and the provision of computersand machinery for design andmanufacture. An area from zone F allowsfor a range of activities including smallscale construction involving hand tools. Ifthese facilities are not required a spacefrom zone E could be used.

Textiles Space (zone E - F)

4.42 Textiles activities in design andteclmology usually include a range ofactivities such as sewing, weaving,knitting and materials analysis. The sizeof the space depends on the extent of theactivities and equipment. An area fromthe upper part of zone D may accommo-date a limited range of activities but anarea from zone E-F gives greater flexibil-ity. If the school offers a vocationalcourse in art and design or if textilesactivities such as screen printing takeplace in the same space, an area from theupper part of zone F may be suitable (seeparagraph 4.46). The additional teachingstorage requirement for textiles fallsbetween 0.4m2 and 0.5m2 per workplace.

Graphics Space (zone E)

4.43 A specialist graphics room may alsobe used for design and technologyparticularly in large departments, al-though graphics often takes place in theother rooms already listed. An area fromzone E allows for a broad range ofactivities including modelling and CAD'.

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Art

4.44 Art involves work in two and threedimensions in a variety of media includingpaint, ceramics and textiles.

General Art Room (zone D - E)

4.45 An area around the middle of zoneD-E accommodates a broad range ofmainly two dimensional art activities, suchas drawing, painting and graphics. An areafrom the lower part of zone D may besuitable but it is likely to limit the facilitiesthat can be provided.

3D Art/Textiles Studio (zone F)

4.46 A space which is equipped foractivities such as screen printing ontotextiles or three dimensional constructionwork using plaster or clay may require anarea from zone F. IF facilities for ceramicwork are included in a room with otherthree dimensional art, an area from themiddle of zone F-G may be appropriate.

Figure 4.7: graph showingarea zones B to F. In theformulae, G is the KS3 or KS4group size. The sixth formgroup size (g) is shown on thelower line of the horizontal axis(g = G 4- 1.5).

Note1: CAD-CAM machinery usescomputer aided design (CAD)to control a computer aidedmachine such as a lathe.

35


36

4.47 Supplementary teaching and re-source areas used in art might include:

an IT resource/display area;

a darkroom;

a kiln room;

a sixth form project room;

an outdoor project area.

4.48 The additional teaching storagerequirements for art fall in the range0.4m2 to 0.5m' per workplace.

Music

4.49 Activities in music include listening,composing and performing. There mayalso be extended curricular activitiesranging from individual instrumentallessons to orchestral concerts. Listeningactivities usually involve a whole class andmay take place in a standard classroom ifthe acoustic conditions are suitable. Formost activities in music a specialist space ispreferred, supported by group rooms,allowing pupils to disperse in small groupsfor some composing activities.

Music Rooms (zone B or D)

4.50 Composing and performing involvethe use of instruments and often takeplace in small groups. An area from theupper half of zone B can accommodate arange of practical activities.

4.51 An area in zone D enables extendedcurricular activities such as recitals or choirrehearsals to take place in addition to theactivities already described. This may beuseful as one of a group of music spaces.Music may also be performed to anaudience in a larger space (see paragraph4.55).

4.52 The supplementary teaching areasassociated with music include grouprooms, for instrumental teaching andcomposition in various small group sizes,and a recording control room. Additionalteaching storage requirements for musicamount to between 0.3m2 and 0.4m2 perworkplace.

Drama

4.53 Drama activities may be carried outin a large classroom or main hall as part ofEnglish, but if drama is taught as anexamination subject, a suitably equippedspecialist studio is preferable.

Drama/Media Studio (zone D - E)

4.54 An area in zone D-E is suitable forclass work in drama with no other audi-ence. A similar space in could be used as astudio for activities in media studies, suchas making videos, as audiences need notbe accommodated.

Performance Space (zone F and above)

4.55 An area in zone F allows for per-formances to small audiences. Such aspace may also be suitable for musicalperformances or dance activities and mayneed to have a high ceiling to hang stagelighting and to enhance the acoustics ofthe room.

4.56 Music, drama and extra-curricularactivities such as school plays will require aspace to perform in front of a large seatedaudience. The area needed for will beabove zone F, so schools may use:

a specialist theatre space, normallytimetabled for drama;

the main assembly hall;

a gymnasium or sports hall, if suitableflooring is provided and the acousticsare acceptable;

occasionally an outdoor amphitheatre,in fine weather.

4.57 The areas for assembly described inparagraph 4.65 will be needed for a spacewhere a large audience is to be accommo-dated. An area for the stage and wings willneed to be added, similar to that of adrama studio. If the stage area is acousti-cally discrete, it may be used as a separateteaching space. If the space is also used forPE activities, the areas described inparagraph 4.59 and figure 4.9 can be usedto estimate the size of hall required.

4.58 Spaces used for performances mayhave adjacent supplementary teaching


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spaces such as a control room for stagelighting and sound systems, or a greenroom and dressing room facilities near tothe stage area. Space will also be neededfor storing equipment and costumes.

Physical Education Spaces'

4.59 All schools require an indoor PEspace for at least one class group. Figure4.9 illustrates the range of activities thatare possible in sports spaces of differentsizes. Approximately half of the curricu-

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lum time in PE will take place outdoors,particularly athletics and team games (seeparagraph 5.4). Theory aspects of PE as anexamination subject may be taught in ageneral teaching space. A PE space mayhave a dual use as the assembly orperformance space, in which case the sizeof the space will also depend on theassembly group size.

4.60 A gymnasium space of 260m2 willallow for a range of team games andgymnastics for a group of 30 pupils. If asecond space is to be provided, this may

4 3

Figure 4.8: graph showingareas, zones A to FI, for allgeneral and practical spacesas follows:

standard classroomlarge classroomGNVQ/business roomIT roomscience laboratoryfood room*multi-materials*PECT*textilesgraphics2D art3D arVtextilesmusic roommusic recital roomdrama/media studioperformance space

A

C-D

G-H

G-H

E-F

D-E

D-E

F+

The broken line above zone Hindicates a further zone thatmay be appropriate in someunusual cases, such as wheretwo practical activities arehoused in one space, asdescribed in paragraph 4.39.

In the formulae, G is the KS3or KS4 group size. The sixthform group size (g) is shownon the lower line of thehorizontal axis (g = G + 1.5).

*group sizes are unlikely toexceed 25.

Note1: The Handbook of Sportsand Recreational BuildingDesign: Volume 2 IndoorSports (second edition), TheSports Council 1995, givesrelevant guidance.

37


Figure 4.9: table showingpossible activities in a range ofPE spaces.

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be equipped for a different activity such asdance which will require a space of about145m2 for a group of 30 pupils.

4.61 Alternatively, a sports hall of 520m2can accommodate two groups of 30 formany activities and can also be used byone group for indoor sport requiring large'pitches'.

4.62 As part of the PE facilities there maybe supplementary facilities for smallgroups such as a fitness room. Approxi-mately 1m2 per workplace should beallowed for the storage of PE equipment.

Non-Timetabled Teaching

Areas

4.63 Teaching spaces which are predomi-nandy untimetabled include:

halls used for assembly, examinationsand public performances;

the library resource centre and any localresource areas;

various supplementary teaching spaces;

social and study areas.

The number and size of these areas willdepend on the philosophy and organisa-tion of the school and some functions willoverlap. These spaces must be consideredwithin the teaching area available after allthe timetabled spaces have been listed.Some schools may also have an area forindividuals or small groups with specialeducational needs (paragraph 4.78).

Halls

4.64 Access to a large space such as a hallwill be needed for assembly, examinationsand music and drama performances tolarge audiences. Many of these activitieswill happen infrequently so it is best forsome large spaces to be multi-purpose andperhaps partially timetabled. Somethought should be given to the position ofthese spaces in relation to the departmentsthat may use them.

Assembly

4.65 All schools need to have space wherepupils can gather for daily collectiveworship, in groups which may vary from ayear group to, occasionally, the wholeschool. An area of 0.4m2 to 0.55m2 perpupil may be needed, depending onwhether pupils are standing or sitting.Additionally, the area of any space usedfor assembly should allow for circulationand space at the front for small scalepresentations. Unless it is partially timeta-bled, it is unlikely that a space with theambiance of a traditional hall would beutilised sufficiently to be justified withinreasonable gross area constraints if it isabove 260m2. In larger schools, spacessuch as sports halls should be consideredfor occasional whole school gatherings.

4.66 An adjacent storage area is useful forchairs, rostra and similar equipment.

4 4

Resource Areas

4.67 The library resource centre is themain information base for the school. Itcan accommodate a wide range of activi-ties including reading, IT use and groupstudy. Whole class groups are usuallytaught induction courses for information-handling skills in the library. It is quitecommon to find the library partiallytimetabled for personal and social educa-tion (PSE) and for other subjects such asEnglish or history.

4.68 Additional resource areas may belocated within or close to departmentalsuites. Resources may include books andmaterials, accessible by pupils', related tothe activities of the particular department.They often house clusters of IT equip-ment. These local resource areas are oftencombined with a supplementary teachingarea where pupils can work individually orin groups away from the main class.

4.69 The graph in figure 4.10 shows arange that may be appropriate for thetotal area of all the school's resourcespaces. This includes the library resourcecentre, which would normally occupy anarea above the broken line on the graph,associated teaching spaces such as acareers space, and other resource areasaround the school. This area would notinclude any timetabled spaces which arealso used as bookable resource areas, suchas IT rooms, or dedicated sixth formstudy areas, which may be adjacent to thelibrary resource centre (see paragraph4.80). The upper end of the area rangecould provide space for a library sup-ported by local resource areas or anintegrated library resource centre for an11-18 school. In each case a careers areacould be included in the total area. Thelower end of the range may be moresuitable for a school with no sixth formand no additional local resource areas.

The Library Resource Centre

4.70 Ideally the library resource centreshould be able to cater for 10% of thetotal number on roll, engaged in a variety


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of activities at any one time. The areashould be large enough or have a flexiblefurniture layout to allow whole classteaching when necessary.

4.71 To cater for a broad range of activi-ties, the library resource centre may needspace for:

fiction and non-fiction books;

a reference section including news-papers, periodicals (perhaps onCD-ROM) and resources such ascharts, maps and photographs;

IT work stations including CD-ROM(some perhaps in an adjacent space);

multi-media kits or inter-active videosor IT;

film and audio materials;

artefacts, including models and speci-mens;

informal seating;

quiet study;

study space for individual pupils orsmall groups;

a control desk;

4 5

Figure 4.10: graph showing arange for the total area of theresource areas, including: thelibrary resource centre (usuallytaking up at least the areaindicated by the broken line);local resource areas indepartments; any careersspace. This area would notinclude any timetabled spacesalso used as resource areas orsixth form study areas.

Note1: Spaces used for resourcesthat are predominantlyaccessed by staff count asnon-teaching area.

39


Library Resource Centre Example(figure 4.11):The plan below shows a library resourcecentre suitable for an 11-18 school with 900KS3 and 4 pupils and about 200 sixth formpupils (as in appendix 3). It can accommodatea reasonable ratio of books to pupils ofaround 7.5:1, with some books on display, onthe basis that a further 2.5 books per pupilare elsewhere. It has reading and referenceareas, IT and audio-visual facilities and adisplay space. There is sufficient area for awhole class group to use the central facilitieswithout disturbing others, including sixth formstudents, who may be working unsupervisedor using resources elsewhere in the library. Asmaller library may have a lower provision ofall of these facilities, with feker computers,and would be suitable for an 11-16 schoolwith a similar number on roll.

Figure 4.11: an example of alibrary resource centre layout.

a careers library (in or adjacent to themain space);

display/exhibition area.

4.72 The overall layout should allow for awelcoming atmosphere, with natural lightbut sufficient wall space for full heightshelving. It should allow general supervi-sion from the control counter, whichshould be near to the entrance and may benear the office or workroom. One mainentrance may be best for security. Storagefor coats and bags also needs to be consid-ered.

4.73 The following non-teaching spacesmay be required to support the libraryresource centre:

librarian's office;

O workroom;

II

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11

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40

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equipment and stock storage.

The librarian's office may be combinedwith the workroom, where books aresorted and catalogued. The storage areamay be used for audio-visual aids as wellas books in which case adequate securitymeasures must be taken. A photocopiermay be in the office/workroom or in themain space near the counter.

Local Resource Areas

4.74 The size of a local resource areadepends on the range of activities beingaccommodated. An area in zone A(figure 4.8) accommodates a small clusterof computers in an area with minimalcirculation. If the space also serves as asupplementary teaching area, such as adesign/resource area (as in paragraph4.76), an area in zone B may be needed.It is often economical to use resourceareas for additional functions such associal bases or display, or to share themwith partly timetabled spaces.

4.75 The storage needs of local resourceareas are part of the overall teachingstorage of relevant departments summa-rised in paragraphs 4.93 to 4.100.

Supplementary TeachingAreas

4.76 There is a range of untimetabledsupplementary areas used by small groupsfor different activities. Spaces range froma group room for a foreign languageassistant (FLA) to a dark room and havealready been described under each subjectin this section. These spaces may also beused as local resource areas. A design/resource area in a design and technologysuite, for example, may provide displayspace alongside resources and a sharedarea for design.

4.77 The table in figure 4.12 shows thepossible relationship between timetabledand untimetabled spaces. It demonstratesthat more than one activity may benefitfrom access to the same type of supple-mentary space and that in some casessharing could be considered.

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SEN Support Spaces'

4.78 Most schools have teaching supportfor pupils with special educational needs.This is usually in the form of assistance intimetabled lessons, but some individual orsmall group tuition may be done, oftenrequiring a resource space. The numberand size of rooms required depends on theparticular needs of the pupils, but the areais likely to be in zone B.

Study and Social Areas

4.79 Some schools may choose to use aportion of the untimetabled teaching areafor social areas such as 'house bases'. It iseconomic to partially share other timetabledrooms or link exhibition or circulation spaceto effectively create these spaces.

4.80 Schools with sixth forms usuallyprovide an area for private or self-study forpost-16 pupils. It may be adjacent to or inthe same space as a common room, formore social activities, or deliberatelyseparate. The demand for self-study areacan be derived from the timetabled pupiltime outside taught lesson time, assumingthat sixth formers will use the libraryresource centre during lessons as well as intheir study time (see appendix 3).

4 7

Figure 4.12: table showingthe possible range and locationof supplementary teachingareas for practical subjects.

Note1: See Building Bulletin 61:Designing for children withspecial educational needs:ordinary schools, HMSO 1984,now out of print but availablefrom HMSO Books(Photocopies Section).

41


Figure 4.13: proportionalbreakdown of non-teachingareas.

Non-Teaching Areas

4.81 There is a range of non-teachingfacilities that schools might need inaddition to the teaching storage describedearlier in this section. Changes in prioritiesand school management have highlightedthe importance of flexibility andadaptability in planning for these areas.

4.82 There can be a wide variation in theextent of non-teaching accommodation inexisting schools and in briefs for newschools. Non-teaching spaces areimportant for the effective operation ofthe school, but they can easily consumetoo much of the total area. In section 1 itis suggested that between 40% and 43% ofthe total gross area might be devoted tonon-teaching accommodation.

4.83 The table in figure 4.13 indicates anapproximate percentage breakdown of thetotal non-teaching area based ongroupings according to function. Apercentage range is given which reflectsdifferences of school organisation andnumbers of pupils on roll. Pupils withspecial needs will also affect the provision.The final schedule of non-teaching spacesmay need to be adjusted to suit theavailable gross area.

type of space

staff and admin. accommodation

pupils storage/washrooms

teaching storage

catering facilities

ancillary spaces

circulation and partitions

total non-teaching area

proportion of total

non-teaching area

proportion of

gross area

13% 14% 5.2% 5.6%

10% 13% 4.0% - 5.2%

13% - 15% 5.2% 6.0%

10% 15% 4.0% - 6.0%

3% - 6% 1.2% 2.4%

44% - 48% 17.6% - 19.2%

40%

42

Staff Accommodation

4.84 The range of accommodationprovided for staff must include a headteacher's office, social and work area forteaching staff and staff lavatories. It mightalso include:

deputy head teachers' offices;

general office and secretarial rooms;

heads of departments' offices ordepartmental bases and stores;

senior administrators' or bursar's rooms;

reprographics facilities;

staff showers';

central stockroom storage;

staff changing facilities;

medical or rest room.

All of these functions might be expectedto occupy 13% to 14% of the total non-teaching area.

4.85 Head teachers and seniormanagement will require space formeetings and interviews which may needto be confidential. Sometimes, records,valuables and cash are stored in theseoffices, in which case additional securitymay be necessary. There may be offices forfaculty heads, possibly shared in smallschools. The librarian may also have anoffice or workroom (see paragraph 4.73).

4.86 General office accommodation andsecretarial facilities have to balanceopenness and accessibility for staff, pupils,parents and other visitors with theoccasional need for security andconfidentiality.

4.87 Staff social and work spaces providean area for large group meetings,refreshment and relaxation, and forpreparation, assessment and recordingwork. Care must be taken not to over-provide for these important butintermittent functions. In general, a staffroom capable of holding 75% of full timestaff for social facilities and 15% to 20% offull time staff for work space should besufficient. This maximises the use of thespaces, and assumes that large meetingsmight take place in the teaching

accommodation. Each departmental suitecan benefit from a departmental basewhere staff prepare work, and wherereference and audio-visual material isstored. This space may overlap withsupplementary teaching areas.

4.88 Reprographic facilities can generatelarge demands for space, as thetechnology enables schools to producemost of their own resources. It might besensible to contract out the reprographicwork to specialist centres, with savings onstaff costs, time and space consumingequipment.

4.89 Staff lavatory provision' should beseparate from those for pupils. Facilitiesfor the disabled may be unisex and usedby adults and pupils (if it is in a self-contained room off a circulation space).

Pupils' Storage and Washrooms

4.90 These functions might occupybetween 10% and 13% of the non-teaching area and include:

pupils' lavatories;

storage or lockers for personalbelongings;

areas for changing and showering;

facilities for the disabled.

The statutory requirements for pupils'lavatory provision are set out in theSchool Premises Regulations; one sanitaryfitting must be provided for every 20pupils. In washrooms for boys, up to athird of these may be urinals. The propor-tion of wash-hand basins to sanitaryfittings should be 1:1 in washrooms withtwo fittings or less, and at least 2:3 inwashrooms with more than two fittings.

4.91 An area is needed for pupils' storageor lockers sufficient to allow for storingand drying of pupils' outdoor clothingand for storing baggage and personalbelongings2. A combination of clusters oflockers and classroom coat and bag parksis generally more effective than centralcloakrooms.

4.92 Pupils' changing and showeringfacilities must be provided. The area will


subject

general teaching

GNVQ/business

IT

science

food

multi-materials

art and textiles

music

PE

area per workplace

0.08 - 0.09m2

0.3 0.4m2

0.3 0.4m'

0.4 0.5m2inclusive of preparation

0.5 0.6m2

0.6 0.8m2exclusive of preparation

0.4 0.5m2

0.3 0.4m2

0.09 1.00m2

relate to the amount of both indoor andoutdoor sports facilities that can betirnetabled for use at any one time.Normally, it is sufficient to provide achanging room for half a year group.Equal and separate facilities are needed forboys and girls. There is a growingmovement away from communal showersin schools, particularly where privacy isrequired for religious reasons. The SportsCouncil recommends an area of 0.75m2per pupil changing and a ratio of oneshower (occupying 1.7m2) to every sevenpupils changing, or more for outdoorsports3.

Teaching Storage

4.93 Storage additional to the localstorage included in the area of teachingspaces (figure 4.8) is needed, either withinthe classroom or in separate walk-in stores.The area ranges in figure 4.14 can beused as a guide to storage requirements.

4.94 The higher end of the range maybe suitable in smaller schools where a coreof equipment and materials may berequired. The lower figure may beappropriate where storage or preparationis concentrated into one space, forexample in science.

4.95 There are more storage spaces inpractical areas than in general teachingbecause of the range and quantity of

alD

Figure 4.14: table showingstorage requirements fortimetabled subjects.

Notes1: Workplace, Health Safetyand Welfare Regulations 1992,Approved Code of Practicegives guidance on theminimum provision of sanitaryconveniences for employees.2: See A&B Paper number 15,Lockers and Secure Storage,DES 1990 and building bulletin58: Storage of Pupils' PersonalBelongings, HMSO 1980.3: Handbook of Sports andRecreational Building Design:Volume 2 Indoor Sports(second edition), the SportsCouncil 1995.

43


44

material to be stored. This can include rawmaterials, equipment, work in progress,finished work and musical instruments. Itmay be necessary to control levels ofhumidity and temperature within somestores.

4.96 In science, preparation areas areneeded for cleaning and sortingequipment. There should also be amaterials preparation area associatedwith multi-materials activities, in an areaadditional to that shown in figure 4.14.

4.97 The area needs for drama storagewill vary depending on the size of theschool and the drama courses and extra-curricular activities offered. The need forgreen rooms and storage space for pupils'belongings may also be considered.

4.98 In addition to the storage needed fortimetabled areas, there will also be generalstorage requirements for untimetabledspaces. Storage for chairs and rostra maybe needed adjacent to the main hall.

4.99 Equipment and stock storage spacesmay be required in the library resourcecentre. The storage needs of local resourceareas are taken to be part of the overallteaching storage.

4.100 All of the teaching storage mightbe expected to occupy between 13% and15% of the total non-teaching area.

Catering Facilities

4.101 The pattern of provision of schoolmeals has changed considerably over theyears. Schools are no longer obliged toprovide cooked meals. This, together withfurther developments in food preparation,refrigeration and storage, have caused thereduction in size of school kitchens. Manyare now 'finishing kitchens', simplycooking or heating convenience food. Thescale of operation, number of staffemployed and ancillary facilities such as alavatory, office and rest room will varygreatly. Combined with the dining areathe allowance within the total non-teachingarea can vary between 10% and 15%.

4.102 The dining area is likely to beheavily used at lunchtimes and possibly at

other break times. Allowing time forclearing up after meals, there may bescope for the space to be used for otherteaching or non-teaching purposes andthis could be allowed for in the timetableanalysis (section 2). Current take-up ratessuggest that, at most, 80% of pupils haveschool lunch. Generally, at least threesittings spread over the lunch break arepossible, and an area of 0.9m2 per pupil atany one sitting is a reasonable rule-of-thumb. In addition, there must also besufficient area given to non-diners to eattheir sandwiches. The scope to vary theoverall catering provision lies within thepriorities given to dining by the schooland the management and organisation ofthe facilities.

Ancillary Spaces

4.103 Ancillary spaces include: thecaretaker's office; maintenance storage;boiler or plant rooms; and cleaners' stores.The need for these spaces is dependentupon the management and organisation ofthe school. They might occupy between3% and 6% of the non-teaching area.

Circulation and Partitions

4.104 The amount of internal partitionsoften relates to the level of circulation,and the design of the building has a greatimpact on the proportion of the areataken up by circulation. Whereverpossible, designers should try to minimisethe circulation areas. They cannotnormally be used for any educational orsocial purpose and they simply add tocapital and recurrent costs. However, thecirculation routes need to be wide enoughfor fire safety and for pupils to move easilythroughout the school between lessons.Corridors that are too narrow can lead tojostling and bad behaviour. Theproportion of area that is occupied bycirculation and partitions tends to operateinversely to the size of school and mightrange between 44% and 48% of the non-teaching area.

5 0

Section 5: School Grounds

This section outlines the main issues in the choice anddesign of school sites, and then gives guidance onareas. The overall site area comprises two types ofpredominantly timetabled areas (playing fields andhard surfaced games courts), non-timetabled areas(for informal and social use and for habitats) and thearea taken up by the buildings and access.

Figure 5.1: table showingsome types of environments inschool grounds and theirpossible use.

5.1 The layout of the site should allowfor various overlaps in the usage of theseareas. For instance, hard surfaced gamescourts and the spaces around them mayalso be used for informal and social use.Figure 5.1 shows the type of environmentthat might be seen in each area and theopportunities that they can offer.

Type of Environment

time-tabled

I non-timetabled II otherareas

.I'5..S

.g1,1

>,-is.m

a u5

,0.-.,=,miE

?

P3c-C.cu

-oc'.3

.73-8

a,a)E

2

E=B0E=0To

E= (T,

.c u0 wre 3TE .7>.

0 -a

E==aE=°

>s.oE

playing fields

grass pitches/play area

all-weather pitches00

0 0hard surfaced games courts

games courts

multi-games/skills practice00

00

informal and social area

soft: grassed areas

landscaped areas/mazes0 0

0 0 0 0 0 000

00

00

hard:social areas at edges .

marked street games area 0 00

0 000

00

time-line/maps

seating/shelter0 0

00 0

000

amphitheatre

structures/sculpture 000 0

0 00

00

00

habitat areas

gardens/trees

rock garden/vegetable plots00

0 00

00

00

00

00

00

00

wildlife habitats

livestock enclosures00

0 00

00 0

00

00

00

nature trail

orienteering trail0

0 00 0 0 0 0

0ponds/streams

weather station00

00

0 0 0 0buildings and access

soft landscape

roads/pedestrian access00 0

car parking/service yards

outdoor storage/bicycle sheds 000

Opportunities

5.2 A school's grounds can offer manyopportunities:

for pupils' education, recreation andsocial development;

for community use;

for developing links with sports clubs.

The design and layout of the facilitiesshould aim to meet the demands of theformal curriculum, including physicaleducation (PE) and other NationalCurriculum subjects, as well as those ofthe informal curriculum, before and afterschool and during break and lunch times.The nature of the grounds can alsoinfluence the 'hidden curriculum', themessages and meanings which pupils andvisitors 'read' from the ways in which aschool's grounds are designed, used andmanaged.

Timetabled Areas5.3 PE involves many activities, includinggames, athletics and outdoor and adven-turous activities, which place demands onthe grounds. It is usually the only subjectin the formal curriculum which requiresoutdoor facilities to be timetabled.

5.4 The amount and type of provision foroutdoor PE can be derived from therequirements of the formal curriculum inthe same way as the curriculum analysisdescribed in section 2 can derive thenumber and type of indoor spacesrequired. The examples discussed insection 2 and in the appendices assumethat 50% of PE teaching will betimetabled outdoors. The number andtype of facilities will also depend onvarious factors including:

the statutory requirements for playingfields;

the characteristics of the site;

the indoor facilities available (includinga swimming pool);

the extent of extra-curricular andcommunity use.

pre -r rfwv f+Nakii AIME 45


Type of pitch or court

Association Footballmini-football 5-a-side

football smallmediumlargemedium

Basketballbasketball

Hockeymini-hockey

hockey

Netballfirst-step netball

adult

6-a-side

7-a-side

Age Range length(m)

8 14+ 30 40

8 13 70 8013 - 15 75 - 8215 16+ 91 96

18 and over 96 100

18 and over 100 110

12 and over 28

10 12 36 minunder 14 50.3 - 54.9

small 11 13medium 13 15large 15 16club 16 and over

netball full-size

Rugby League Footballmini-leaguemod-league

8 11

12 and over

under 9under 11

rugby league small 11 13medium 13 15large (adult) 15 and over

Rugby Union Footballmini-rugby under7 and under 8

under 9 and under 10under 11under 12

rugby

Tennisshort tennispadder tennis

smallmediumlargeadult

Lawn Tennis Assoc. court

Volleyballmini-volley ball

volleyball

Multi-Games Areasjunior enlarged netball

senior 3 netball/3 tennis3 netball/4 tennis

Cricketpitch size determined by age

11 - 1313 1515 16+

16 and over

5 11

5 - 11

11 - 16+

width end margin(m) (m)

18.5 28

side margin comments(m)

40 - 50 6.0 4.545 - 55 6.0 4.550 59 6.0 4.560 - 64 9.0 6.0

64 - 75 9.0 6.0

15 1.0 1.0

18 - 2236.5 45.7 4.57 3.0

73.2 45.7 4.55 2.7582.3 50.3 4.55 2.7591.4 50.3 4.55 2.7591.4 55.0 4.57 3.0

15.25

30.5

10.15

15.25

0.75 2.0

0.75 2.0

0.75 2.0

0.75 2.0

60 40 5.0 2.0 5.050 80 35 - 60 5.0 2.0 5.0

60 80 35 50 5.0 2.0 5.070 - 90 40 - 60 5.0 2.0 5.080 100 55 - 68 6.0 2.0 - 6.0

30 20 3.0 4.559 35 3.0 4.559 38 3.0 4.559 43 3.0 4.5

75 46 3.0 4.582 50 3.0 4.5

91 - 96 55 59 3.0 4.5100 69 3.0 4.5

13.4 6.1 1.8 2.6 1.5 2.111.9 5.5 1.8 - 2.6 1.5 - 2.1

34.75 17.07 (5.49) (3.05)

9 13 9 6 3.0 3.0

11 and over 18 9 3.0 3.0

8 11 39.5 27.5

11 - 16+ 55 3511 16+ 65 40

radius of outfieldunder 7 14.63 )

under 9 15.54 ) 30m or to fit available spaceunder.10 16.46 )

under 11 17.37 )

under 12under 13

under14 and under 15

18.29 ) 35 - 37m (junior NCC)19.2020.12 40 46m (senior NCC)

margins not applicable as play isusually to rebound walls

recommendation of FA UK

under 12 court for mini-basketballthe same, with double sized teams

6-a-side is for recreation (mainlyindoors) with no margins as playis to rebound walls.

first step court dimensions maybe scaled down proportionately

) in-goal dimension not fixed as) goals are set outside play area

in-goal dimension 6 8min-goal dimension 6 8min-goal dimension 6 - llm

in-goal dimension 2min-goal dimension 5min-goal dimension 5min-goal dimension 5m

in-goal dimension 6.5min-goal dimension 6.5min-goal dimension 9.0min-goal dimension 10 22m

four games accommodated onone full size tennis courtmargins used in play, so margindimensions included in court size

can be played within one thirdof full-size courtpreferred surface grass or sand

dimensions include margins(space for other games)

dimensions include marginsdimensions include margins

cricket squares and artificialwickets are normally locatedbetween winter games pitches

46- 52

Playing Fields

5.5 Playing fields contain summer andwinter games pitches and other provisionsuch as cricket nets and athletic facilities,as listed in figure 5.2. For effective landuse and safety, pitch layouts shouldinclude adequate margins around theplaying area, especially where pitchesadjoin, as recommended by the relevantnational games governing bodies. Marginsinclude run-off areas around pitches andspace to allow realignment of pitches tocompensate for wear. Larger clearancesmay be needed where pitches are close toroads or buildings, or to minimise thelikelihood of balls falling onto adjacentland. The broken lines on the graphs infigures 5.8 and 5.9 indicate the statutoryrequirements for playing fields, whichinclude margins.

5.6 There will also normally be otherareas around the perimeter of the playingfields that are unusable for games due totheir shape or other characteristics andnot therefore counted against statutoryrequirements. Such spaces can be devel-oped as habitats, as described in paragraph5.21, or for informal and social use.

5.7 There is no statutory requirement forplaying fields for pupils under the age ofeight, but infant schools may benefit fromsome grassed space for skills developmentand small games, within an area similar tothat of hard surfaced games courts injunior schools (as shown in figure 5.3).For primary schools, the playing field areawill include one or more marked pitches.A straight running track with six or eightlanes and a length of 60 to 80m is usefulfor summer use. At secondary level, thearea should provide winter pitches forteam games chosen by the school. Insummer, cricket pitches and a 400mrunning track may be laid out. The trackshould avoid the heavily used areas of thewinter pitches, such as goal-mouths.

5.8 A statutory requirement is for playingfields to be of a quality to sustain at leastseven hours of use per week in term time.This will require an adequate specifica-tion, including good drainage. Heavieruse may require an improved pitchspecification.


Hard Surfaced Games Courts

5.9 Hard surfaced areas for games courts,and any skills practice areas adjacent oroverlapping, should be level, drain welland have an even surface which is free ofobstructions. Tarmacadam is usually used,but other surfaces (as in paragraph 5.12)are also possible. Areas should be of ashape and size suitable to allow courts tobe marked out, with reasonable margins,to the dimensions set out in figure 5.2.The graph in figure 5.3 shows a range ofareas for hard surfaced games courts for alltypes of schools. However, infants areunlikely to need formal courts, as the hardsurfaced portion of the area for informaland social use can be laid out for skillslearning and small games practice.

Multi-games areas

5.10 For juniors, a court for organisedgames is valuable, such as a full-sizenetball court. Where space is limited,netball can be played on a slightly smallercourt by scaling down the dimensions.The 'grids' formed by the markings canalso be used for mini-games such as shorttennis. Any other hard surfaced areas usedfor PE need to be close to the court toenable the teacher to maintain effectivesupervision.

Figure 5.2 (opposite):recommended dimensions ofcourts and pitches used inschools, related to age. Margindimensions should be added,in all cases except lawn tenniscourts, to both ends and bothsides.

Figure 5.3: hard surfacedgames courts: graphshowing range of areas for thehard surfaced games court orcourts for all types of schools,except nursery, infant and firstschools which are unlikely torequire formal courts.

4000

3500

3000

2500

a 2000

I 1500

1000

500

600+1.9N

300+1.8N

150 300 450 600 750 900 1050 1200 1350 15001650 1800

Number on Roll (N)

47


3500

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

300+5.5N

150+5.1N

90 150 210 270 330 390 450 510 570

Number on Roll (N)

Figure 5.4: primaryinformal and social areas:graph showing range of areasfor informal and social use forprimary and middle schools.Individual judgements may bemade about schools with fewerthan 90 pupils.

48

5.11 At secondary level, the hard surfacedprovision will often include a range ofmulti-games courts. By laying out avariety of courts within a single area,supervision is made easier and the range ofgames extended. For example, three orfour tennis courts, overlaid on to netballcourts, can also be used for mini-hockeyor five-a-side football.

All-weather pitches

5. 12 A range of artificial surfaces isavailable for games courts and pitches thatcan be used more intensively andimmediately following rain. The surfacesmay be hard porous (water-bound), notcommonly provided now as maintenanceneeds can be high, synthetic turf orpolymeric'.

5.13 The choice of surface should bebased on performance, safety anddurability, through:

the properties best suited to the typesof games to be played, such as the 'ballbounce';

slip resistance and abrasiveness;

wear resistance;

maintenance requirements.

The location of all-weather pitches shouldallow pupils to avoid treading in mud byhaving to walk over grass to reach them.

L r 4

Non-Timetabled Areas

5. 14 Non-timetabled areas include spacesfor informal recreation and social use andfor natural habitats. They can offeropportunities for the formal and informalcurriculum (summarised in figure 5.1).

The formal curriculum

5.15 Apart from PE, many subjects in theformal curriculum can benefit from theuse of a variety of outdoor spaces andhabitats, usually on an irregular basis. Forinstance, there are possibilities for theteaching of skills such as:

observation and classification in science;

mapping and recording in geography;

communication and comparison inEnglish and humanities;

estimation and analysis in mathematics;

surveying and design in design andtechnology or art.

5.16 Part of the formal curriculum mayoften be served through the provision ofoutdoor seating or an amphitheatre. Atime-line or map marked on hard playareas can be used in mathematics,humanities and geography, whilestructures or sculpture can enhance art. Apond may provide a resource for teachingabout life processes and living things inscience or about contrasting environmentsin geography. Plants, animals and soils canbe investigated thoroughly if pupils havedirect experience of natural habitats.

The informal curriculum

5.17 Informal learning and recreation alsotake place before and after school, andduring break and lunch-times. This mayoccupy a quarter of a pupil's school dayand much of this time will be spentoutside. The character of a school'sgrounds can affect pupils' behaviour.Grounds which provide diversity ofprovision, including seating and shelteredareas, can allow pupils the maximumopportunity for creative play and socialdevelopment.

Informal and Social Areas'

5.18 A significant portion of the siteshould offer a variety of hard and softareas to suit the formal curriculum andthe informal and social activities of pupilsduring breaks and before and after school.These areas should be convenientlysituated and robust, but should alsoprovide shade and shelter. They mightinclude site furniture and a suitablelandscape, including smaller, more inti-mate areas. Ranges of areas for informaland social use are shown in the graphs infigures 5.4, for primary and middleschools, and 5.5, for secondary schools.

5.19 Approximately half of this spaceshould be hard surfaced area additional tothat for games courts. In primary schools,this might be marked out for street gamesand geometric designs and infant pupilsmay use this for PE (see paragraph 5.9).In secondary schools, it should be largeenough for boisterous play, while quieter,sheltered bays around the edge enableseparate activities to take place withoutisolation. The remaining half of this areais likely to offer grassed space and softlandscaping suitable for pupils' use (whichmay overlap with habitat areas). It mightalso include an amphitheatre or sculpture.

5.20 Spaces around the school buildingcan often serve as social areas if sitefurniture is provided. A position near tothe building is generally desirable for easeof access and supervision, although carehas to be exercised over the proximity ofball games to windows. In primaryschools, a patio close to the building willoften act principally as a social or teachingarea, while the active play areas arebeyond it. Groups of seats in circles orsquares facing inwards, or low walls, canincrease the opportunities for pupils to sitdown and socialise.

Habitat Areas

5.21 There is benefit in all sizes and typesof school for a proportion of the groundsto be developed for a wide range ofactivities, including wildlife habitats,garden areas, livestock enclosures, and


7500

7000

6500

6000

";; 5500

Tg 5000

4500

4000

3500

1

2000+3N

800+2.8N

600 750 900 1050 1200 1350 1500 1750 1800

Number on Roll (N)

natural landscapes. Equally, differenthabitats, for example, an historical gardenor an orienteering trail, can supportparticular subjects. They can also enhanceplay or recreational time. Increasingly,habitat areas are being given a central andaccessible location, rather than being seenas optional extras. However, some wildlifeareas should normally be undisturbed, soare best positioned away from busy socialareas. Areas that are unusable for playingfields due to the shape of the site may besuitable for habitat areas.

Other Areas

5.22 Remaining areas will include thefootprint of the buildings and areas thatare generally unsuitable for pupils' use,except for access. These are all groupedunder the following heading.

Buildings and Access

5.23 This includes the footprint of theschool buildings, access roads, service yards,car parks, paths and outdoor storage. Somesoft landscape may also fall within this areaWit is not suitable for other use. Theproportion of the total site occupied by thisarea is likely to be higher in a small schoolthan in a large one of the same type.

Figure 5.5: secondaryinformal and social areas:graph showing range of areasfor informal and social use forsecondary schools. Individualjudgements may be madeabout secondary schools withfewer than 600 pupils.

Notes1: Hard porous (water-bound): a finely crushedsurface of clay bound material,stone or blaes, on a base ofcoarse clinker, ash or crushedstone. Under pitch drainage isusually provided.Synthetic turf: coarse plasticpile, usually sand-filled, on aplastic or rubber shockpadbacking, laid on a preparedbase of concrete, macadam orunbound stone. Under pitchdrainage is normally provided.Polymeric surfaces:shredded rubber (mostcommonly), wood fibres orgranules of cork, rubber andplastics bonded with bitumen,latex or polyurethane, on abase of concrete or macadamlaid to fall.2: The area for informal andsocial use added to either thearea of hard surfaced gamescourts (for schools with pupilsover the age of eight) or thesame area of grassed space(for infant schools), plus somehabitat area, is generallyequivalent to the 'recreationarea' defined in the previousEducation (School Premises)Regulations (1981).

49

Figure 5.6: example of sitelayout of a 315 place.primaryschool.

Layout of the Site5.24 Planning the layout of any schoolsite should involve the consideration of awide range of options before one ischosen for further development. Thelandscape design should provide aframework, yet allow for the school todevelop its grounds gradually, with theparticipation of pupils. The playing fieldsand the area of buildings and access aretwo major determinants of the size andcharacteristics of the remainder of the site.

5.25 The relationship between indoorsand outdoors is most important. Thelocation, configuration, layout andservicing of the school buildingsfundamentally affect the creation andeffective use of external space. When theindoor and outdoor spaces are plannedtogether, the effect that different buildinglocations and orientations have on thedesign of the remainder of the site shouldbe appraised before a final decision isreached. If later extension of the buildingis envisaged, it is better to identify fromthe start where this could be sited.

50

5.26 The site layout should take account of

the nature of the site, including itsshape, contours, subsoil and exposureto wind, rain and noise;

the need for supervision, often overmore than one activity at a time;

O trespass, vandalism and security;

A Primary School Example (figure 5.6):

This example (left) illustrates a 5 to 11 primaryschool for 315 pupils. The total site area of13,800m2 is in the middle of the area guidance infigure 5.8, between 12,922m2 (3000 + 31.5 x315) and 14,725m2(3700 + 35 x 315). Thestatutory minimum playing field area for the 135pupils over eight years of age is 5,000m2.Separate hard games and grassed provision areprovided for infants and juniors.

1. Playing Fields

5000m2 36% of total site area

A 70m x 40m grass pitch is provided for wintergames by junior pupils. In summer, an 80mstraight running track is marked out, with othergrass areas used for cricket practice and gamesof rounders.

2. Hard Surfaced Games Courts


Juniors use a multi-games area incorporating avariety of court markings within a netball court.This is alio used for informal recreation.

3. Informal and Social Area

2000m2 14.5% of total site area

Infants use a multi-use playground marked out withstreet games and geometric designs for PE. Withplay features such as boats and stepping stones,it is also used by all pupili as informal and socialarea. They also use a grassed space and areasnearer the building, which provide soft landscapingand terraced seating which can also be used fordemonstrations and drama.

4. Habitat Areas


Around the edge of the site, there is a nature trailthrough copsing, a wildflower meadow and anorchard, as well as experimental plots and a pond.

5. Buildings and Access


A single entrance leads to a car park and acompact service area. The pedestrian site entry isseparate from vehicular access.

' EST COPY AVALABLE

A Secondary School Example (figure 5.7):

This example illustrates a secondary schOol for1000 pupils. The total site area of 73,500m2is inthe middle of the area guidance in figure 5.9,between 70,000m2 (14000 + 56 x 1000) and76,000m2(16000 + 60 x 1000). The statutoryminimum playing field area is 45,000m2.

1. Playing Fields


Winter pitches (shown with broken lines) comprisethree small, three medium and one large, taken asfootball pitches in the layout. Alternatively, rugbyor hockey could be provided, although the pitchdimensions vary. Summer facilities (solid lines)include one cricket square and one non-turf cricketpitch, set between winter pitches. A 400mathletics track is marked out on the grass,avoiding rough areas such as goal-mouths wherepossible. Cricket nets, high jump and long jumpprovision are accommodated at the perimeter (notshown).

2. Hard Surfaced Games Courts


A multi-games area is provided, which can be usedas three netball courts, three tennis courts or onefive-a-side football pitch.

3. Informal and Social Area


Hard surfaced areas are provided for boisterousactivities and an amphitheatre area can be usedfor break-time activities as well avdrama or music.Nearer the buildings, paved areas accommodateseating adjacent to planting for socialising and foran outdoor classroom during summer. Partiallyplanted soft areas are between the buildings andplaying fields for educational and social purposes.

4. Habitat Areas


Defined habitat areas are provided for gardenareas and woodland, including nut and willowcopsing and orchards, as well as a nature trail, apond,.wetlands and wildflower meadowland.Incidental habitat areas are located on grass areasadjacent to the playing field unsuitable for pitchesand in the perimeter hedges and trees, wherewildlife habitats and an orienteering trial arelocated.

5. Buildings and Access


The buildings are close to the road and the singlemain access. Two parking areas are provided forthe school and for community use of the sportsfacilities.

Figure 5.7: example of sitelayout of a 1000 placesecondary school.

BESTCOPY AYALA LE 5 7 51

landscape quality and serviceability;

access for the physically disabled;

safety in terms of circulation, andlocation of activities;

relationship between changing roomsand PE facilities;

community use (see paragraph 5.29).

Pitch and Court Layouts

5.27 Careful attention should be given tothe layout of pitches, courts and practiceareas. Their location, size and shapeshould be based on a number of consid-erations, including the:

statutory requirements for playingfields;

safety considerations, including pitchmargins and the direction of play (forexample for cricket nets);

gradient (a uniform fall of about 1:100is ideal, but an even fall of up to 1:50 ispossible, or more if it is across the lineof play);

layout of winter games pitches and theirrelationships to summer athletics andcricket provision;

orientation of pitches (a north-southdirection is desirable for most games);

accessibility for maintenance equipmentand water if irrigation is needed.

5.28 Two examples of typical site layoutsare illustrated in figure 5.6, a 5-11 primaryschool, and figure 5.7, a secondary school.The associated text indicates the choicesmade in the design and the proportion ofsite available for each of the five types ofarea already outlined. In both cases, aneconomic approach to the layout designhas confined the buildings and access to acompact area near to the site entrance andthe shape and position of the buildingprovides a protected environment for theimmediate outdoor activities on hardpaved areas. There is a progression fromthe building to areas for informal andsocial use, then to hard surfaced gamescourts, and finally to playing fields andhabitat areas.

52

Extra-Curricular andCommunity Use

5.29 Many schools run activities at theend of the school day which may placedemands on the grounds. The greatestpotential for community use may well liein the hard games courts or multi-gamesarea (paragraph 5.10), especially wherefloodlighting is provided. Schools mayhave joint-use agreements with a localauthority or with another organisationsuch as a local sports club. The key issuesare the quality, durability and viability ofthe facilities. This means good access,including reception and parking, self-contained changing rooms and sufficientfinancial return to at least cover themarginal costs'.

Site Area Formulae

5.30 The establishment of a target foroverall site area, including playing fields, isimportant when considering a new school.It can also provide a valuable yardstick forconsidering improvements to existingschools. The graphs in figures 5.8 and 5.9show ranges of total site areas for 5-11primary schools and all types of secondaryschool, based on analysis of existingschool sites and the likely needs of newschool grounds. The ranges allow forvariation in the shape and contours of thesite and in the size of the building com-plex. They are based on formulae for eachkey stage (KS), like those in section 1,although in this case KS1 and KS2 havedifferent formulae due to the statutoryrequirements for playing fields for pupilsaged eight or over.

5.31 Area ranges for types of schoolsother than those used in the graphs can bederived by using the following formulae inthe appropriate proportion:

Key Stage 1 total site area (m2):

upper line 3500 + 21N


Key Stage 2 total site area (m2):


lower line 3150 + 42N


25000

20000

15000

10000

5000

90 150 210 270 330 390 450

Primary School Size: Number on Roll (N)

510 570

3700 + 35N

3000 + 31.5N

statutory minimumplaying fields area

Key Stage 3 total site area2 (m2):

upper line

lower line

8000 + 70N

6000 + 66N

As there is little difference in the demandfor site area in KS3, KS4 and post-16pupils, the formulae in figure 5.6 can beused for all types of secondary schools:

Key Stage 3/4 total site area (m2):

upper line

lower line

16000 + 60N

14000 + 56N

In all cases, N is the total number on roll,including sixth form pupils and receptionclasses, which should be counted as KS1for this purpose, but not nursery classes.

5.32 These general recommendations arenot appropriate for primary schools withless than 60 pupils or secondary schoolssmaller than 450 (and similar pro-rata

figures for other types of school), forwhich individual judgements must bemade. Appendix 4 gives formulae for avariety of types of schools, based on thismethod.

Nursery Pupils

5.33 Nursery schools and nursery classesare not included in the site area per pupilguidelines because of their widely differingneeds and circumstances. The site area fora nursery class or a unit sharing the accessand car park of an infant or primary schoolis likely to be at least 15m2 per pupil. Thisincludes about 9m2 per pupil for anoutdoor play area, which would be mainlyhard surfaced. A free-standing nurseryschool may require 25 to 50m2 per pupilor more depending on factors such as

5 9

Figure 5.8: primary schoolsite area: total site areaguidelines for 5-11 primaryschools. The broken lineindicates the statutoryrequirement for playing fieldsunder the School PremisesRegulations. Due to therelatively large incremental stepin the statutory playing fieldsminimum at a NOR of 469,schools above this may needmore site area than indicated.

Notes1: Refer to 'Our School YourSchool' DfEE 19962: The formulae for KS3 areused as a device to covermiddle schools, which aregenerally smaller than therange of NOR in secondaryschools, covered by theKS 3/4 formulae. They do notindicate that KS3 pupils havediffering requirements fromthose in KS4.

53


140000

120000

100000

co80000

cn

Ta

60000

40000

20000

450 600

HI I I I IIH IIH H750 900 1050 1200 1350

16000 + 60N

14000 + 56N

statutory minimumplaying fields area

1500 1650 1800

Secondary School Size: Number on Roll (N)

Figure 5.9: secondaryschool site area: total sitearea guidelines for allsecondary schools (notincluding middle deemedsecondary schools). Thebroken line indicates thestatutory requirement forplaying fields under the SchoolPremises Regulations.

54

pupil numbers, the extent of car parkingneeded, and whether it is combined withday care, community or other facilities. Inlarger nursery schools, some allowancemay be expected for economy of scaleand the proportion of soft play areawould increase. At the time of writing,more detailed guidance is being prepared.

Confined sites

5.34 VVhere available land is limited, thedisadvantages of a restricted site may needto be weighed against the merits of aparticular location. Where the site isbelow the recommended area range, theshortage of space can be offset to someextent by an increase in landscape qualityto allow more intensive use. This is likelyto mean more hard surfaced area, such as

0

a hard porous or synthetic surface that canbe used for both PE and recreation.

5.35 In some situations, the playing fieldsmay need to be off-site, perhaps somedistance away. In this case, the guidancearea figure minus the statutory playingfield area would normally be appropriatefor the main site. However, sufficient landmay not be available to meet the statutoryarea requirements for playing fields. TheSchool Premises Regulations allow hardporous pitches to be counted as doubletheir actual area as they can support moreintensive use. Similarly, synthetic pitchesmay allow the statutory area requirementto be reduced further. The statutory areamay also be reduced where there is regularaccess to additional sports provision, suchas a swimming pool, community sportscentre or joint-use facility.

Appendix 1: A 5-11 Primary School Schedule

This appendix details a method for creating a scheduleof accommodation for a primary school, using a typicalexample of a 5-11 school increasing in size to 14classes.

Notes1: The total gross area, basedon the formulae in section 1,will range from(420 x 3.4) + 170 =1598m2to(420 x 3.8) + 200 = 1796m22: This will not match theproportion of teacher time asthe number of pupils beingtaught at any time will vary withsubjects and age groups.

6.1 First, the gross area and teaching arearange is estimated using the guidance insection 1. Then a timetable analysis is usedto identify the curriculum demand for anytimetabled spaces, as outlined in section 2.These areas, together with those of theother teaching spaces and non-teachingspaces, are determined from the guidancein section 3 and are added to the sched-ule. Finally, adjustments are made to theoverall schedule to ensure that it conformsto the original area constraints.

6.2 The example, based on a real school,was built for 315 infant and junior pupils.The method described below is used todevelop a schedule of accommodation, aspart of a design brief for a final number onroll of 420. The method described recog-nises the way that primary schools tend tobe organised at present, but other meth-ods, such as that in appendix 2, could alsobe used.

Overall Areas

6.3 Using the formulae in section 1, therange of gross area for a school of 420 canbe seen to be 1598m2to 1796m2in total'.In a school of this size it is reasonable toexpect considerable economies in the scaleof provision of non-teaching areas such asoffices and kitchen facilities. A teachingarea exceeding 62% of the gross area couldtherefore be achieved. In this example62% amounts to between 991m2 and1114rn2. This teaching area will bepredominantly the basic teaching area asdescribed in section 3 plus the timetabledteaching spaces and any untimetabledteaching areas.

Curriculum Analysis6.4 In order to establish the demand forthe timetabled spaces, a curriculumanalysis is used. It follows the basicprinciples outlined in section 2. There are

6 1

two key differences: namely how theinformation necessary to put these princi-ples into practice is obtained, and theassumption that the spaces required arerelated to the activities to be housed andnot the subjects.

6.5 Many primary schools have non-teaching assistants (NTAs) who maysupervise groups of pupils independentlywhilst remaining under the control of theteacher. It is therefore useful to calculatethe space requirements for small groupswithdrawn from the class in specialist ordiscrete spaces supervised by an NTA orteacher.

6.6 It is possible to calculate the numberof rooms from the total supervising timerequired, as the equivalent of teacherperiods as defined in paragraph 2.17.However, the percentage of curriculumtime that is most likely to be known is theproportion of total pupil time2, so themethod used identifies the percentage oftotal pupil time spent in each type ofspace and then uses the average groupsize to determine the number of spacesrequired, as in paragraph 2.24.

Step 1: Distribution of PupilTime

6.7 The first step of the analysis is toassess the average amount of time, in anaverage week, that each pupil needs to besupervised in each type of specialist ordiscrete space.

6.8 This may be known from an agreedbrief, or may be derived from an analysisof a proposed timetable or programme ofwork. If the week is assumed to bedivided into a number of roughly equalsessions, these can be used to determinethe percentages of time that a typicalpupil spends in the various types ofteaching spaces. This may be derived byfirst analysing the average of the pupiltime:

for each year group; or

for each predominant subject; or

for different key stages, as appropriate.

55


Figure 6.1: steps 1 and 2for the infants department:(four classes rising to six)based on the averageproportion of pupil time perweek (excluding assembly) andan average group size acrossall three years.

56

6.9 In this example, all pupils will eitherbe in assembly or at break or in anothernon-teaching activity. It is not thereforenecessary to include assembly in the pupiltime assessed. If assembly is timetabledfor some classes while others are inlessons, assembly should be regarded as atimetabled activity.

6.10 In the example used here, infantsand juniors are taught for differinglengths of day, so these times have beencalculated separately (in figures 6.1 and6.2) and the numbers of spaces addedtogether at the end. Some weeks mayinvolve special events, such as prepara-tions for Christmas. These unusual weekscan be ignored for the purposes of thisexercise.

Average Group Size

6.11 In order to calculate the number ofspaces from the curriculum percentages,the average group size for each space-typemust be used. A reasonable average mustbe estimated, bearing in mind that theactual group size at any time may varyabove or below this figure. The maximumlikely group size (slightly higher than theaverage) will determine the size of spacerequired.

6.12 In primary schools, a number ofdifferent activities are usually carried out atthe same time by, for instance, four or fivegroups in a class. Most of these activitieswill take place in the basic teaching area,but one or two may be in a withdrawngroup, supervised by an NTA or anotherteacher. The information required is: howoften and for how long such sub-groupsare to be provided with a separate super-vised space, away from the rest of the class.

6.13 It is possible to measure the averagegroup size as a number of pupils. How-ever, it is often easier to use the class as thebase unit and define the group size as afraction of the class, as in figure 6.1 and6.2. This also allows a broad range ofgroup sizes to be encompassed within asimple average and avoids any complica-tion caused by different sized classes.Hence, a group made up of a quarter ofthe class might be between six and ninepupils. In this case, average class sizes of30 mean group sizes of seven to eight.

6.14 It should be noted how the groupsize affects the demand for spaces. Forinstance, if there are of about six pupils (afifth of a class) in each group, the numberof times the groups need to meet is fivetimes more than the number would be ifthey met in a whole class group.

Number of infant classes increasing from 4 to 6

pupil timespent in

averagegroup

numberof spaces

numberof spaces

SPACE TYPES space-type size calculated for calculated for4 classes 6 classes

(as a (as fraction 1% x no of classes ) (% x no. of classes )

percentage) of class) ( group size ) ( group size

class bases 83.1%in basic teaching area

timetabled supplementary areas:

1 (up to the whole class) 3.32 4.97

mixed use practical 4.0% 0.25 (7-8 pupils) 0.64 0.96food 1.5% 0.25 (7-8 pupils) 0.24 0.36

small group withdrawal 3.8% 0.25 (7-8 pupils) 0.61 0.91

studio 3.8% 1 (whole class) 0.15 0.23hall 4.8% 1 (whole class) 0.19 0.29outdoors 2.8% 1 (whole class) (0.11) (0.17)

TOTAL 100% 5.15 7.72

FTE number of teachers and NTAs in contact with pupils for 6 classes = 7.71


Number of junior classes increasing from 6 to 8

pupil timespent in

averagegroup

numberof spaces

numberof spaces

SPACE TYPES space-type size calculatedfor 6 classes

calculatedfor 8 classes

(as a (as fraction (% x no. of classes ) (% x no. of classespercentage of class) ( group size ( group size )

class bases 79.75%in basic teaching area


1 (up to the whole class) 4.78 6.38

mixed use practical 4.00% 0.25 (7-8 pupils) 0.96 1.28food 1.25% 0.25 (7-8 pupils) 0.3 0.4

small group withdrawal 3.75% 0.2 (2-4 pupils) 1.12 1.5

studio 3.75% 1 (whole class) 0.22 0.3hall 5.00% 1 (whole class) 0.3 0.4outdoor 2.50% 1 (whole class) (0.2) (0.2)

TOTAL 100% 7.68 10.26

FTE number of teachers and NTAs in contact with pupils for 8 classes = 10.5

Step 2: Calculated Number ofSpaces

6.15 Having established the informationin step 1, the number of spaces demandedcan be calculated in the next column bymultiplying the percentage of pupil timeby the number on roll and then dividingby the group size, as in paragraph 2.25.

6.16 The number of spaces relates to thenumber of separate pupil groups,supervised by a teacher or NTA,scheduled at any one time. Primaryschools must bear in mind that smallgroups withdrawn to discrete space typeswill require supervision by teaching staffor NTAs'. It would clearly be a waste ofarea and resources to provide such spacesif the associated demand for supervisingtime was unrealistic. Average group sizesof less than five are likely to require anuneconomic amount of supervision time.

6.17 As a rough check, the total numberof spaces calculated should beapproximately equal to or below the fulltime equivalent (FTE) number ofteachers and NTAs2. If not, the numberof staff may have to be increased or thedemand for rooms reduced by raisingsome average group sizes. As figures 6.1and 6.2 show, the calculated number ofspaces for the increased number of classes

in the example (six infant and eight junior)is proportionally higher than that for theoriginal numbers.

Step 3: Rounded Number ofSpaces

6.18 At this point, the actual number andtype of spaces required can be decided,based on a reasonable frequency of use, byrounding up the calculated figures.

6.19 For the basic teaching areas, thenumber of class bases will almost certainlyneed to be the same as the number ofclasses in the school. The calculatednumbers need only be included to ensurethat the totals align with the availablesupervising time (as in figures 6.1 and 6.2).

6.20 For timetabled spaces, some judge-ment will be required in considering if thefrequency of use justifies the number ofspaces. If the initial frequency seems toohigh (above 95%), the number of spacesmay need to be increased. If the frequencyof use is low (below 60%), some multi-usespaces might be used for a variety ofactivities. At this stage, therefore, a slightlydifferent list of space types may be drawnup to include spaces which might accom-modate, for example, food preparation andscience experiments at different times in

63

Figure 6.2: steps 1 and 2for the junior department:(six classes rising to eight)based on the averageproportion of pupil time perweek across all subjects andan average group size acrossall four year groups.

Notes1: Parent helpers, etc. are notincluded, on the assumptionthat only paid staff time issufficiently reliable.2: In this example:In the infants department: sixteachers teach six classes for34 periods per week onaverage = FTE of 5.83. FourNTAs teach for 57 periods perweek = FTE of 1.63 and thehead and deputy teach for anaverage of nine periods perweek = FTE of 0.25, the totalFTE being 7.71.In the junior department: eightteachers teach eight classesfor 38 periods per week = FTEof 7.6. Six NTAs teach for 96periods per week = FTE of 2.4and the head and deputy teachfor 20 periods per week = FTE0.5, the total FTE being 10.5.In figures 5.1 and 5.2, the FTEnumber of teachers and NTAsin contact with the pupils canbe seen to just exceed thecalculated number of spacesrequired.

57


number of spaces calculated maximumfrequency

roundednumber

actualfrequency

existingpermanent

newspaces

SPACE TYPES infant junior total of use of spaces of Use spaces required(a) (b) (c) (a/c)

class bases 4.97in basic teaching area


6.38 11.35 90% 14 81% 10 4

mixed use practical 0.96 1.28 2.24 90% 3 75% 2 1food 0.36 0.4 0.76 90% 1 76% 1

small group withdrawal 0.91 1.5 2.41 90% 3 80% 2 1

studio 0.23 0.3 0.53 90% 1 63% 1hall 0.29 0.4 0.69 75% 1 69% 1

outdoors (0.17) (0.2) (0.37)

TOTAL 7.72 10.26 17.98 23 16 7

Figure 6.3: step 3 for wholeschool based on total ofcalculated spaces for six infantand eight junior classes, fromfigures 6.1 and 6.2.

Figure 6.4: steps 4 and 5for whole school based onarea guidelines in section 3.*some withdrawn groups willuse the library in this case, soonly two small group roomswill be needed.

the same space.

6.21 Figure 6.3 compares the roundednumber of spaces for the enlargednumber on roll to the number of existingspaces. There is a need for more timeta-bled spaces as well as more class bases.

Studios and Halls

6.22 With smaller schools, the demandfor both a studio space for music and ahall for apparatus-based PE may beaccommodated in one space. In theexample, the demand in the 315 placeschool for studio and hall-based activities

SPACE TYPES

numberof spacesrequired

basic teaching class bases 14

timetabled supplementary areas:mixed use practical 3food 1

small group withdrawal*studiohall

21

1

other supplementary areaslibrary (inc. 1 withdrawal) 1

TOTAL TEACHING AREA

maximumgroupsize

(pupils)

averagearea of

space (m2)

totalteachingarea (m2)

(number x area)

30 56 784

8 19 578 19 19

4 or 8 10 2030 32 3230 140 140

26 26

1078

Total gross area' with teaching area at 62% of gross 1739

58

was sufficiently low for only one space tobe needed. The increasing number on rollraises the demand such that a hall and astudio will now be desirable. One reasonfor this is that the available hours for thehall are less than other spaces as it is usedfor dining, so the preparation and ckaringtime for tables must be taken intoaccount. The maximum frequency of usefor the hall is therefore 75%, on the basisthat it is unavailable for the periods beforeand after lunch, leaving 30 out of 40periods per week available.

Step 4: Space Sizes

6.23 Finally, the area of each space mustbe decided, ideally on the basis of thelargest group size that will normally use itand on the activities that will take placewithin it (figure 6.4). The maximumgroup sizes in that column have beenjudged from the likely upper limit of theinfant and junior averages.


6.24 The information on timetabledspaces and their area can then be added tothe other untimetabled supplementaryteaching area, including the library, and anotional non-teaching area based on theguidance in section 3. Figure 6.4illustrates the final schedule chosen in this

64

example. The total teaching area iscomfortably within the guidelines of grossarea for a school of this size, by using 62%of the gross area as teaching area. In othercases, some adjustments may be requiredto individual spaces to address the overalluse of all the area and its relationship tothe acceptable gross area.

Final Adjustments

6.25 Depending on the acceptable grossarea, based on the individual needs of theschool, the following options are alsoavailable:

increase the group sizes for sometimetabled areas to decrease thedemand (although this will increase thearea required for some rooms);

reduce the supplementary areas andallow for such activities to take place inthe basic teaching area;

reduce the basic teaching area to allowfor all the preferred supplementaryspaces to be accommodated;

share the use of supplementary spacessuch that the frequency of use of allspaces can be increased and less spacecan be used more effectively.

6.26 Figure 6.5 illustrates the secondoption listed above, within the same grossarea as the chosen schedule.

6.27 Some final checks should be madeon the completed schedule. It isimportant that:

the total teaching area should be areasonable percentage of the gross areaavailable within the guidelines inSection 1, i.e. around 57% for a smallschool and at least 60% for a large one(as in this example);

the classroom or equivalentaccommodation provides theappropriate capacity when calculatedusing Annex D of Circular 6/91;

the provision of timetabled spaces doesnot tend to reduce the use of the classbases to below about 80% of theworking week (if the class bases areoccupied for much less than this, they


could be partially timetabled toaccommodate other activities);

any specific timetabled spaces providedare in use for a reasonable proportionof the week;

that sufficient and appropriate staff (i.e.teachers and NTAs) are likely to beavailable for supervision of thetimetabled spaces, while retainingenough staff time in the classroom (seeparagraph 6.17).

Other Options

6.28 If the teaching method of the schoolhad been to use a more open planapproach, many of the discrete areas listedwould be incorporated in the overall basicteaching area. Similarly, if the schoolpreferred all but the hall and studio basedactivities to be in enclosed classrooms, theclasses may be nearer 63m2 and resourceswould be duplicated in classrooms ormoved around on trolleys (as in figure 6.5).

Figures 6.5: an alternativeoption for the final schedule ofaccommodation.*this total area could comprisea series of 14 enclosedclassrooms, as illustrated, or amixture of 14 smaller baseseach with access to sharedteaching areas that might beused for practical activities.

ALTERNATIVE: ENCLOSED CLASSROOM DESIGN

SPACE TYPES

number maximum average totalof spaces group area of teachingrequired size space (m2) area (m2)

(pupils) (number x area)

basic teaching area:classrooms 14(including practical)

timetabled supplementary areasstudio 1

hall 1

other supplementary areaslibrary (inc. withdrawal) 1

TOTAL TEACHING AREA

30 63 882*

30 40 3030 140 140

16 26

1078

Total gross area with teaching area at 62% of gross 1739

65 59

Appendix 2: An 11-16 Secondary School Schedule

This appendix details the method, including curriculumanalysis, used to create the schedule of accommoda-tion for the 900 place 11-16 secondary schoolsummarised in section 2. This example is a schoolwith a relatively academic curriculum, within a grossarea at the bottom of the range.

Figure 7.1: data used tocalculate the pupil periods andteacher periods in years 7, 8and 9.

Notes1: The total gross area, basedon the formulae in section 1,will range from(900 x 5.5) + 1200 = 6150m2to(900 x 6) + 1300 = 6700m2

60

7.1 As with the primary school example inappendix 1, a gross area and teaching arearange is estimated using the guidance insection 1. Then a curriculum analysis isused to identify the curriculum demandfor timetabled spaces, as outlined insection 2. These areas, together with thoseof the other teaching spaces and non-teaching spaces are determined from theguidance in section 4 and are added to theschedule. Finally, adjustments are made tothe overall schedule to ensure that itconforms to the original area constraints.

Overall Areas

7.2 Using the formulae in section 1, thegross area range for an 11-16 school of900 is 6150m2 to 6700m2in total'. In thisexample the lowest area will be the aim,with a teaching area at 60% of the grossarea, amounting to 3690m2. This teachingarea will be predominantly timetabledteaching spaces but will also include

untimetabled teaching areas such as thelibrary resource centre.

Curriculum Analysis

7.3 The five steps described in section 2are followed in this example, the first fourof which cover the curriculum analysis:using a statement of the curriculum tocalculate the demand for timetabledspaces. In order to quantify the overallcurriculum data, the following curriculumbreakdown has been used.

Curriculum Breakdown

7.4 The curriculum breakdown in figure7.2 shows one method of totalling thecomplexities of organisation of all fiveyear groups in the school. Other methodscould be used to equal effect. The aim isto identify the total pupil periods, teacherperiods and average group size for eachsubject.

7.5 This example is somewhat simplifiedin that years 7, 8 and 9 have the samecurriculum. The spread sheet in figure 7.2would also serve if the data were differentfor each year group, for instance if theywere different sizes (although the yeargroup sizes are usually assumed to be thesame for design purposes). In each of the

DATA FOR YEARS 7,8,9

subject

Englishmathsmodern foreign languageshumanitiesreligious educationPSE

IT coursessciencedesign and technologyart

musicdramaPE (indoor)games (outdoor)

TOTAL

periodseach pupil

taughtab

pupils in year =180 (aa)

maximum number averagegroup of groups pupil teacher groupsize in year periods periods sizeac ad ae af

(aa/ac) (aa x ab) (ab x ad) (ae/af)

5 27 7 900 35 25.75 27 7 900 35 25.75 27 7 900 35 25.74 27 7 720 28 25.72 27 7 360 14 25.71 27 7 180 7 25.7

1 20 9 180 9 205 27 7 900 35 25.73 20 9 540 27 202 30 6 360 12 30

2 30 6 360 12 301 30 6 180 6 302 30 6 360 12 302 30 6 360 12 30

40 7200 279

6 6


11-16 Curriculum Breakdownperiods per week 40

= total number on roll 900

= FTE number of teachers 47.6

= contact ratio 0.78

total pupil periods (a x b) 36000

total teacher periods (a x c x d) 1485

periods teachers teach fa x d) 31.2

Number of Pupils

year 7

180

pupil teacherperiods periods

year 8

180


year 9

180


year 10

180


year 11

180


TOTAL

900total totalpupil teacher

periods periods

PiEnumber ofteachers

English 900 35 900 35 900 35 900 40 900 40 4500 185 5.9mathematics 900 35 900 35 900 35 900 40 900 40 4500 185 5.9modern Languages 900 35 900 35 900 35 720 32 720 32 4140 169 5.4humanities 720 28 720 28 720 28 720 32 720 32 3600 148 4.7religious education 360 14 360 14 360 14 360 16 360 16 1800 74 2.4PSE 180 7 180 7 180 7 540 21 0.7general studies 360 16 360 16 720 32 1.0TOTAL GENERAL 3960 154 3960 154 3960 154 3960 176 3960 176 19800 814 26.1IT/ business studies 180 9 180 9 180 9 180 9 180 9 900 45 1.4science 900 35 900 35 900 35 1440 64 1440 64 5580 233 7.5design and technology 540 27 540 27 540 27 540 27 540 27 2700 135 4.3art 360 12 360 12 360 12 180 8 180 8 1440 52 1.7music 360 12 360 12 360 12 180 8 180 8 1440 52 1.7drama 180 6 180 6 180 6 180 8 180 900 34 1.1P E (indoor) 360 12 360 12 360 12 270 12 270 12 1620 60 1.9games (outdoor) 360 12 360 12 360 12 270 12 270 12 1620 60 1.9TOTAL 7200 279 7200 279 7200 279 7200 324 7200 324 36000 1485 47.6

FTE number of teachers 8.9 8.9 8.9 10.4 10.4pupil:teacher ratio 20.1 20.1 20.1 17.3 17.3 18.9special educational needs 15 12 12 0 39

first three years, the pupil periods andteacher periods are based on the data infigure 7.1.

7.6 The pupil periods stem from thenumber of periods each pupil needs to betaught each subject over the 40 periodweek (column ab, figure 7.1) multipliedby the number of pupils in the year group(aa in figure 7.1). The teacher periods arebased on the maximum group size inwhich each subject will be taught. In thiscase, the school have agreed that 27should be the maximum size of generalteaching groups, so the year group of 180will be divided into seven groups and theactual average group size will be:

180 7 = 25.7

7.7 Sometimes (for instance for PE) theyear group is divided into six, when theaverage group size is the standard form ofentry size of 30. When the year is in ninegroups, as with design and technology,the groups average 20.

7.8 As figure 7.1 shows, the teacherperiods for each subject (column af) arethe number of periods each pupil needs tobe taught (column ab) multiplied by thenumber of concurrent groups (columnad).

7.9 The information for years 10 and 11has been calculated on a similar basis, withan increased number of groups in the yearfor most subjects resulting in a loweraverage group size. One reason for this isto allow option groups to be created. Itmay be necessary to break KS4 informa-tion down further if the options availableare complex.

7.10 The full time equivalent (FTE) ofthe number of teachers can be usefullychecked by dividing the teacher periodsfor any year or subject by the number ofperiods that teachers teach (g in figure7.2). The pupil:teacher ratio may also becalculated for each year by dividing thenumber of pupils in the year by the FTEnumber of teachers (in the shaded areas infigure 7.2).

Figure 7.2: curriculumbreakdown for 900 place11-16 school example.

6 7 BESTCOPYAVAOLABLE61


Figure 7.3: steps 1 and 2 ofthe curriculum analysis, plusthe initial rounding of thenumber of spaces, in step 3.

11 - 16 pupils

subject

Method

Explanation

TOTAL GENERAL

standard

large

lT/ business studies

science


7. 11 As illustrated in figure 7.3, the firststep is to list the total pupil periods(column v) and teacher periods (columnw) resulting from the curriculum break-down discussed above (figure 7.2), and tocalculate the average group size across theschool by dividing the pupil periods bythe teacher periods (column x). Theoverall percentage of pupil time spent oneach subject can also be inserted (columnu). This can be a useful check and, if thespread sheet is reconfigured, the percent-age figures and group sizes alone can beused to estimate the demand for changingnumbers on roll (see paragraph 2.22).

a = periods per week

= total number on roll

= FTE number of teachers

= contact ratio

= total pupil periods (a x b)

= total teacher periods (a x c x d)

7. 12 As a check, the total number ofpupil periods should equal the periods perweek (a) multiplied by the total numberon roll (b). Similarly, the total number ofteacher periods should equal the periodsper week (a) multiplied by the FTEnumber of teachers (c) multiplied by thecontact ratio (d).

Different types of space in one subject

7. 13 Some subjects, notably design andtechnology, require a number of differenttypes of space. It is possible to work outthe number of spaces required for thesubject up to step 3, then decide whatkinds of space they will be. It may be

© 77 5%© 22 5%

percentage

ofcurriculum

v as

percentage

of total

STEP 1

total total averageteacher teacher groupperiods periods size

from from

curriculum curriculum v/w

breakdown breakdown

(figure 7.21 (figure 7.2)

55.0% = 19800 81415345 631 24.3

= 4455 183 24.3

2.5% =

15.5% =

design and technology 7.5%food 0 21 5%multi-mat/graphics © 35 5%PECT © 21 5%textiles © 21 5%

900 45 20.05580 233 23.9

2700 135 -

= 581 29 20.0= 959 48 20.0= 581 29 20.0= 581 29 20.0

art 4.0% =

2D art © 60 0%3D art/textiles © 40 0%

musicdrama

P E (indoor)

games (outdoor)

TOTAL

62

1440 52 -

864 31 27.7576 21 27.7

4.0% = 1440 52 27.72.5% = 900 34 26.5

4.5% = 1620 60 27.04.5% = 1620 60 27.0

100% 36000 1485 37.13

68

40

900

47.6

0.78

36000

1485

STEP 2

number ofspaces

calculated

w/a

20.3515.77

4.58

1.13

5.83

3.380.73

1.20

0.73

0.73

1.300.78

0.52

1.30

0.85

1.50

"1.50

41

STEP 3

number of frequencyspaces of userounded

nearest y as

whole no. percentage

above y of z

16 ) 96.9%

5 )

2 56.3%

6 97.1%

1

2

1

1

72.6%

59.9%

72.6%

72.6%

1 78.0%

1 52.0%

2 65.0%

1 85.0%

2 75.0%

(external space)

more accurate to identify the number andtype of spaces needed by sub-dividing theteaching and pupil periods of the subjectat step 1, as in figure 7.3. The propor-tions in column u for food, multi-materi-als/graphics, PECT and textiles aretypical but may change depending on theschool and its strengths. A similar sub-division has been used to identify thenumber of large general teaching roomsrequired and the need for a 3D art spaceincluding ceramics or wet textiles.


7.14 Having established the informationin step 1, the number of spaces demandedcan be calculated in the next column (y)by dividing the number of teacher periodsby the periods per week.

7.15 The proportions of time for special-ist design and technology spaces, largeand standard general teaching rooms, and2D and 3D art have been multiplied bythe total figures for the subject to give anexact calculated number of spaces re-quired for each.


7.16 At this point, the actual numbersand types of spaces required can bedecided, based on a reasonable frequencyof use, by rounding the calculated figuresup. In figure 7.3, an initial rounding upIlas been done. By looking at thefrequencies of use resulting from this firstattempt, a more reasonable number canbe estimated, as shown in figure 7.4.

7.17 In this simple example, very fewchanges have been made, but otherexamples may need more judgement inconsidering if the frequency of usejustifies the number of spaces. If the initialfrequency seems too high (above about90% except in PE), the number of spacesmay need to be increased. If the fre-quency of use is low (below 60% unlessthe space is used for free access as well),some rooms might be identified to cater


for the activities of more than one spacetype. At this stage, therefore, a slightlydifferent list of space types may be drawnup.

7.18 In this case, the following considera-tions have been made:

the number of standard general teach-ing spaces has been increased to 18,with five large general teaching rooms,giving a total of 23 at a more reason-able frequency of use of 88.5%;

the two IT spaces have a lowtimetabled use at 56%, but will also beavailable for irregular bookings ofclasses in other subjects, or for smallgroups from other classes, so this wasfelt to be reasonable;

the number of science laboratories hasbeen increased to seven to reduce theusage to an acceptable 83%;

3D art is only to be used 52% of thetime, but in practice this room will alsobe used for 2D art, so the frequency ofuse will even out between the two artrooms;

some drama may be taught in one ofthe music rooms, and vice versa, toallow more flexibility in teaching andtimetabling, which would mean theoverall frequency of use for music anddrama would be 72% (the average of allthree spaces);

PE would require two spaces at 75%usage each, or a sports hall. The assem-bly hall has been identified as thesecond PE space, used for up to 60% ofthe time for dance or movement. Inpractice, this may be less if outdoor PEfacilities can be more heavily used.

Step 4: Space Sizes

7.19 Finally, the area of each space mustbe decided, ideally on the basis of thelargest group size that will normally use itand on the activities that will take placewithin it. The maximum group sizes havebeen judged from the likely upper limit inthe curriculum breakdown, bearing inmind that room sizes need to be designedto suit possible minor changes in group

69 63


Figure 7.4: steps 3 (contin-ued), 4 and 5 of the curriculumanalysis.

Types of Space

method

explanation

total general

STEP 2

number ofspaces

calculated

standard 15.77large 4.58

IT/business studies 1.13science

design and technologyfood

5.83

0.73multi-mat/graphics 1.20PECT 0.73textiles

art2D art

0.73

0.783D art/textiles 0.52

music 1.30drama 0.85

PE (indoor) 1.50games (outdoor) 1.50

TOTAL 37.13

STEP 3

number of frequencyspaces

adjusted

based on

reasonable

freq. of use

of use

y as

percentage

of z

maximumgroupsize

based on

curriculum

breakdown

18 ) 88.5% 305 30

2 56.3% 257 83.2% 30

1 72.6% 212 59.9% 21

1 72.6% 21

1 72.6% 21

1 78.0% 301 52.0% 30

2 65.0% 301 85.0% 30

1 90.0%* 30(external space)

43

STEP 4

averagearea per

spacem2

from

section 4

guidelines

5062

7285

1031038884

91

109

7091

260

totalteaching

aream2

z

average

area

900310

144595

1032068884

91109

14091

260

3121

NON-TIMETABLED SPACES

SEN withdrawal space

library resource centrelocalAT resource areascareers areaFLA/seminar spacemusic group roomsdarkroom

heat treatment baykiln

assembly hall (used for PE)

TOTAL TEACHING AREA

NON-TEACHING AREA

staff accommodationpupils storage/washroomsteaching storagecatering facilitiesancillary/circulation/partitions

STEP 5

1

1

21

1

5

1

1

1

1

@ 5.5% of gross

@ 5.0% of gross

@ 5.0% of gross@ 4.5% of gross

0;0 20.0% of gross

60.0%

6

15

5

3434

21

1432813

7

8

10

15

4

260

2114356137

4010154

260

3690

3383083082771230

TOTAL GROSS AREA

lower line for gross areaupper line for gross area

64

6150 m26700 m2

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

6150

(teaching area = 60% of gross area)

70

MOE WORKPLACES

work-places

per space

totalwork-places

based on

Circular

11/88

workplaces

per space x

no. of spaces

30 54030 150

20 4030 210

20 2020 4030 30

30 30

30 3030 30

20 4020 20

30 30

15 15

30 30

15 30

30 30

1315

sizes in the longer term. In this example,all areas are based on the middle of theranges recommended in section 4.


7.20 The information on timetabledspaces and their area has then to be addedto the other untimetabled supplementaryteaching area, including the SEN supportspaces (based on the amount of teachingrequiring a special room for withdrawngroups). The overall area of the libraryresource centre, the local resource areasor IT clusters needed and the careersarea, are from the middle of the range infigure 4.10.

7.21 A notional non-teaching area, basedon 40% of the lowest gross area of therange, has been divided into five types ofspace with a guide figure for each based onthe average of the guidance in section 4.

Final Adjustments

722 In this example, the acceptablegross area, based on the individual needsof the school, has been achieved by themeasures described above. Within thesame or a slightly larger gross area, anumber of other options would beavailable, including:

to include a sports hall, equivalent totwo PE spaces at 75% frequency of useeach', and use the assembly hall fordrama. The remaining drama andmusic could then share two rooms(this option is shown in figure 2.1);

use an art space as a graphics room forsome design and technology and teachPECT in a multi-materials workshop,resulting in only four design andtechnology spaces;

reduce the untimetabled teaching areato allow for more timetabled spaces tobe accommodated, or vice-versa.

7.23 The final stage is completed bychecking the following points: -


Gross Area

7.24 As discussed, the final gross areafalls at the lower end of the rangesoutlined in section 1. The teaching area is60% of the gross. In a smaller school orone with other constraints, a lower figureof 57% to 59% may be acceptable.

MOE Capacity Compatibility

7.25 The number of workplaces providedby this schedule can be calculated usingthe definitions in annexe A of Circular11/88, as can be seen in the last twocolumns of figure 7.4. The capacity of theproposed schedule, using the 'MOEformula' method in annexe A of Circular11/88, is 967. This is 7% to 8% over thenumber on roll for which the schedulehas been planned, which allows for somevariations in admission numbers each yearand some pupils with special needs.

Average Frequency of Use

7.26 The FTE number of teachers in theschool is 47.6 (as in figure 7.2) and thecontact ratio is 0.78. The calculatednumber of timetabled spaces is 37.13(47.6 x 0.78). The final number of spacesis 43, which results in a reasonableaverage frequency of use of timetabledspaces of around 86.3%.

Registration Bases

7.27 The basic organisation of this schoolis that the six forms of entry in each yearare normally divided into seven forteaching classes. Several subjects are stilltaught in groups of 30 in years 7, 8 and 9and in years 10 and 11 groups varydepending on options, so it may bereasonable to assume that 30 bases arerequired (six groups per year). In thisbrief, there are 23 general teaching roomsand the four art and music rooms areavailable, leaving three groups that willhave to be registered elsewhere, such as inthe library, IT/ business studies rooms orother specialist rooms not containingeasily damaged or potentially hazardousequipment.

71

Note1: In practice, a sports hallmay be used by two teachinggroups for some activities,such as gymnastics, and byone group for other areas ofthe curriculum, such as teamgames, so the frequency ofuse of the sports hall is likelyto be higher than the 75%calculated for the equivalenttwo spaces.

65


This appendix uses a curriculum analysis to create aschedule of accommodation similar to the 11-16school in appendix 2, but with an additional sixth form.Also, in this example, the school has a more voca-tional curriculum, and aims to accommodate thedemands of the brief within a gross area in the upperpart of the range.

Notes1: Teacher periods in bold infigure 8.1 indicate the changesto the example in appendix 2.2: The total gross area, basedon the formulae in section 1,will range from(5.5 x 1115) +1200 +(2.5 x215) = 7870m2to(6 x 1115) +1300 +(3 x 215)= 8635m,

66

8.1 The 11-16 curriculum is similar tothat in appendix 2, for ease of comparison.To emphasise a more vocational slant, thepercentage of time pupils spend learningdesign and technology has been increasedto 10%, at the expense of some REteaching, and the group sizes have beenreduced'. The demand for design andtechnology spaces therefore increases,while the need for general teaching roomsis reduced. Similarly, at 1(54 art is taughtmore and IT is not studied as a separatecourse.

8.2 The post-16 curriculum containsGNVQ courses in business (both interme-diate and advanced), advanced health andsocial care and science and one yearintermediate courses in art and design andmanufacturing, as well as a number ofA-levels and general studies.

Overall Areas8.3 This school has a stay-on rate of 60%on average, or 215 pupils in Years 12 and13. Using the formulae in section 1, thegross area for an 11-18 school with a totalnumber on roll of 1115 is shown to be inthe range of 7870m2 to 8635m2 in tota12.As the intention is to aim for an upper-range area, this might be around 8500m2,with a teaching area, at 60% of the grossarea, of 5070m2 including timetabled andnon-timetabled spaces.

Curriculum Analysis8.4 The five steps outlined in section 2are followed, as in the previous appendi-ces. Like appendix 2, a curriculum break-down has been used to determine the datarequired.

Curriculum Breakdown

8.5 The 11-16 and 16-18 curriculumbreakdowns are done separately. In thisexample, the curriculum data in figure 8.1is collated relating to a range of space-types (like appendix 1) as well as subjects.In figures 8.1 and 8.2, the overall teacherperiods for all subjects or courses aretotalled by subject in the bottom row,with the pupil periods, percentage of pupiltime and the calculated number of spacesfor each subject, to give an indication ofthe rooms required for each subject (forinstance, for a suite of spaces). But theyare also totalled under the different typesof space required, in the right handcolumn. This demand for space-types isthe data that are required for the scheduleof accommodation, but the simplemethod of assuming all spaces are subject-specific can be difficult in 11-18 examples.

8.6 Courses such as GNVQs often needto be taught in a variety of specialistspaces, both practical and general. Infigure 8.2, a number of examples of thiscan be seen.

GNVQ business, like all GNVQcourses, involves some core units suchas numeracy and communication,which may be timetabled in classroomsor in a lightly equipped GNVQ/business room. Other units may requirea business office environment or heavyuse of IT equipment.

Some timetabled time may be awayfrom the school site, in visits and workexperience. Such activities are notusually regular enough to show on aweekly timetable, but in this exampletwo periods per week in GNVQ healthand social care are timetabled off site.

GNVQ manufacturing is usually donewith a range of practical facilities,including those in food, multi-materialsand PECT rooms, while core units andrelated study may be done in a smallgeneral teaching space, an IT room or aGNVQ 'base'. These various activitiesmay be possible in one or two multi-purpose rooms, but this methodenables relatively standard space-typesto be shared with other courses.


Figures 8.1 and 8.2:curriculum breakdown of 11-16 and 16-18 pupils by subjectand activity-related space type.

11-16 CURRICULUM BREAKDOWN

Figure 8.1English mathsteach group teach grow

Per size per size

modernlanguagesteach group

per size

RE/PSEhumanides gen. studiesteach grow teach group

per size per size

ITteach group

per size

scienceteach group

per size

design &technologyteach group

per age

artteach group

per size

musicteach group

per size

dramateach group

per size

PE

teach group

per size

TOTAL

Naduperiods

averagegroup

sitsyear 7 35 25.7 35 25.7 35 25.7 28 25.7 14 25.7 8 22.5 35 25.7 36 20 12 30 12 30 6 30 24 30 280 25.71year 8 35 25.7 35 25.7 35 25.7 28 25.7 14 25.7 8 22.5 35 25.7 36 20 12 30 12 30 6 30 24 30 280 25.71year 9 35 25.7 35 25.7 35 25.7 28 25.7 14 25.7 8 22.5 35 25.7 36 20 12 30 12 30 6 30 24 30 280 25.71year 10 40 22.5 40 22.5 32 22.5 32 22.5 24 22.5 64 22.5 40 18 16 22.5 8 22.5 8 22.5 24 22.5 328 21.95year 11 40 22.5 40 22.5 32 22.5 32 22.5 24 22.5 64 22.5 40 18 16 22.5 8 22.5 8 22.5 24 22.5 328 21.95TOTAL/AVERAGE 185 24.3 185 24.3 169 24.5 148 24.3 90 24 24 22.5 233 23.9 188 19.1 68 26.5 52 27.7 34 26.5 120 27 1496 24.06TYPES OF SPACE:

General Teaching

small group

standard group 175 24.3 143 24.3 169 24.5 52 24.3 55 24 594 24.34large space 10 24.3 42 24.3 96 243 25 24 173 24.27

Practical Spaces

GNVQ/business

IT room

science lab: small group

science lab: standard group

10 24 24 22.5

233 23.9

34

233

22.94

23.94food 0 28.0% 50 19.1 50 19.15multirmaterials 0 28.0% 58 19.1 58 19.15PECT .0 22.0% 40 19.1 40 19.15textiles 0 17.0% 30 19.1 30 19.15graphics/CAD @ 5.0% 10 19.1 10 19.1520 art 0 65.0% 44 26.5 44 26.4730 art/textiles 0 35.0% 24 26.5 24 26.47music room 52 27.7 52 27.69drama studio 34 26.5 34 26.47

PE spaces

gym/sports hat 0 50.0% 60 27 60 27

offrsite/outside 0 50.0% 60 27 60 27TOTAL 185 24 185 24 169 24 148 24 90 24 24 23 233 24 188 19 68 26 52 28 34 26 120 27 1496total pupil periods 4499 4499 4139 3599 2159 540 5579 3600 1800 1440 900 3240 35992percentage of curriculum 12% 12% 11% 10% 6% 2% 15% 10% 5% 4% 3% 9%

calculated number of spaces 4.63 4.63 4.23 3.7 2.25 0.6 5.83 4.7 1.7 1.3 0.85 3

POST-16 CURRICULUM BREAKDOWN

Figure 8.2 modern =enemies/ IT/ health & manufac- art & PE/sports generalNOR English maths languages humanities science business social care turing design music studies studies TOTAL averagePer teach group teach group teach group teach group teach group teach group teach group teach group teach group teach group teach group teachgroup teacher groupyear per size per size per size per size per size per size per size per size per size per size per size per size periods slot

(bd. GM WI. GNVQI (UM IMO 0121 10000121

one year course

year 12 45

two year courses

year 12 85

9 15

16 15

9 15

20 15 16 12 32 13 44 13

22 21

20 15 20 10

22 12 22 12

8 10

6 15

14 15.6

6 15

10 17

96

200

15

13.44year 13 85 16 15 20 15 16 12 32 13 44 13 20 15 20 10 8 10 8 6 14 15.6 10 17 208 13.15TOTAL/AVERAGE 215 41 15 49 15 32 12 64 13 88 13 62 17.1 40 10 22 12 38 11.2 8 6 34 15.5 26 16.5 504 13.62

TYPES OF SPACE:

general teaching

small group 41 15 49 15 32 12 60 13 4 6 6 15 192 13.69standar group

large space

practical spaces

10 17 10 17

GNVQ/business 12 13 37 17.1 24 10 6 12 6 11.2 85 13.75IT room 4 13 25 17.1 10 10 4 17 43 15.08science lab: small group

science lap: standard group

food

76 13

4 10 6 12

4 6 80

10

12.65

11.2multi-materials 4 12 4 12

PECT

textiles

graphics/CAD

4 12

2 12 4 11.2

4

6

12

11.442D art 0 70.0% 18 11.2 2 17 20 11.7430 art/textiles 0 30.0% 8 11.2 8 11.16music room 8 6 2 17 10 8.2drama studio 2 17 2 17

PE spaces

gyrn/sports hal 0 50.0% 13 18.4 13 18.4

off-site/outside 0 50.0% 2 10 13 18.4 15 17.28Selastudy 1351 (501

TOTAL 41 15 49 15 32 12 64 13 88 13 62 17 40 10 22 12 36 11 8 6 34 15 26 17 502total pupil periods 615 735 384 832 1144 1062 400 264 402 48 526 430 6842percentage of curriculum 9% 1155 6% 12% 17% 16% 6% 4% 6% 1% 8% 6%

calculated number of spaces 1.03 1.23 0.8 1.6 2.2 1.55 1 0.55 0.9 0.2 0.85 0.65

%.

BEST COPY AVABLABLE

67


Figure 8.3: steps 1 and 2 ofthe curriculum analysis, plusthe initial rounding of thenumber of spaces, in step 3,for the 11-16 and post-16pupils separately.

BASIC DATA a Periods per week 40c FTE number of teachers FTE 66.6d Contact Ratio 0.75f = Total Teacher Periods (a x c x d) 1998 = total w for whole school

11-16 CURRICULUM ANALYSISbi = Total 11-16 Number on Rollel Total 11-16 Pupil Periods (a x bl) 36000 = total v for 11-16

TYPES OF SPACE:

Method

Explanation

General Teachingsmall groupstandard grouplarge space

Practical SpacesGNVQ/businessIT room

science lab: small groupscience lab: standard grodP

food

multi-materialsPECT

textilesgraphics/CAD

20 art3D art/textiles

music roomdrama studio

PE spacesBrVsports halloil-site/outside

TOTAL

900

totalteacherperiods

from

curriculum

breakdown

(figure In

0

594173

34

0233

5058403010

4424

5234

6060

1496

approx.groupsize

from

curriculum

breakdown

STEP 1

approx.pupil

periods

w x p

recaleedpupil

periods

q x

(total ol/el

recaleedgyoupsize

v / w

STEP 2

number ofspaces

calculated

w/a

STEP 2

number of frequencyspaces of use

rounded

nearest y aswhole no. percentage

above y, of z,

24.3 14455 14458 24.3 14.85 15 99.0%24.3 4199 4200 24.3 4.33 5 86.5%

22.9 780 780 22.9 0.85 1 85.0%

23.9 5579 5580 23.9 5.83 6 97.1%19.1 957 958 19.2 1.25 2 62.5%19.1 1111 1111 19.2 1.45 2 72.5%19.1 766 766 19.2 1.00 2 50.0%19.1 574 575 19.2 0.75 1 75.0%19.1 191 192 19.2 0.25 1 25.0%26.5 1165 1165 26.5 1.10 2 55.0%26.5 635 635 26.5 0.69 1 60.0%27.7 1440 1440 27.7 1.30 2 65.0%26.5 900 900 26.5 0.85 1 85.0%

27.0 1620 1620 27.0 1.50 2 75.0%27.0 1620 1620 27.0 1.50 2 75.0%

35992 36000 37.40 45 83.1%

POST-16 CURRICULUM ANALYSIS

= Total post-16 Number on Roll 215e2 = Total post-16 Pupil Periods (a x b)

TYPES OF SPACE:

method

Explanation

General Teachingsmall groupstandard grouplarge space

Practical SpacesGNVQ/businessIT room

science lab: small groupscience lab: standard group

foodmulti-materialsPECT

textilesgraphics/CAD

20 art3D art/textiles

music roomdrama studio

PE spacesgym/sports halloff-site/outside

Self-study

TOTAL

TotalTeacherPeriods

from

curriculum

breakdown

(figure 81

192100

8543

BO

0

104406

208

10

2

1315

1351

502

Total w tor whole school 1998

8600 = total v for post-16

approx.groupsize

f rom

curriculum

breakdown

.STEP 1

approx.pupil

periods

w x p

recaleedpupil

periods

q x(total cd/e2

recaleedgroupsize

v / w

STEP 2

number ofSWIM

calculated

y2

w / a

STEP 2

number of Frequencyspaces of Use

rounded02

nearest y aSwhole no. percentage

above y2 of 02

13.7 2628 2630 13.7 4.80 5 96.0%17.0 170 170 17.0 0.25 25.0%

13.7 1169 1170 13.8 2.13 3 70.8%15,1 648 649 15.1 1.08 2 53.8%12.7 1012 1013 12.7 2.00 3 66.7%

11.2 112 112 11.2 0.25 1 25.0%12.0 48 48 12.0 0.10 1 10.0%12.0 48 48 12.0 0.10 1 10.0%

11.4 69 69 11.4 0.15 1 15.0%11.7 235 235 11.8 0.50 1 50.0%11.2 89 89 11.2 0.20 1 20.0%8.2 82 82 8.2 0.25 1 25.0%

17.0 34 34 17.0 0.05 1 5.0%

18.4 239 239 18.4 0.33 1 32.5%17.3 259 259 17.3 0.38 1 37.5%50.0 1750 1752 50.0 10.881 1 87.5%

8592 8600 12.55 25 50.2%

68 7 4

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

(pupil:teacher ratio @ 66.6 teachers . 16.7)

Pupils studying A-level sports studiesmay need access to a science laboratoryfor lessons in human biology. If thesecan be timetabled, the demand can beshown on the curriculum breakdown.

General studies often involves anumber of activities, requiring time in avariety of types of space.

8.7 The demand for facilities such as ITfor GNVQs may be difficult to achieve ifeach course is treated separately, butidentifying the overall demand can lead toefficiently used, shared specialist spaces.

8.8 There is also a further breakdown ofsome spaces for the range of group sizes,as sixth form courses (and some 1(54subjects) often have sufficiently smallgroups to justify rooms for a maximumof, say, 16. Group sizes are usuallyrelatively small for all years in practicalsubjects other than science, so onlygeneral teaching spaces and sciencelaboratories are broken down into roomsfor small and standard groups. TheGNVQ/business rooms are assumed tohouse post-16 groups of 20.


8.9 For the purposes of calculating theneed for types of spaces, the total numberof teacher periods and overall averagegroup sizes for each type of space can beused, from the tables in the right handcolumn of the curriculum breakdowns(figures 8.1 and 8.2).

8.10 At this stage, a quick check of thedata may be worthwhile. The total teacherperiods should equal the FTE number ofteachers x the contact ratio x the periodsin a week. Similarly, the pupil-periods foreach space-type, derived from the numberof teacher periods x the average groupsize, should total the number on roll foreach age range x the periods in the week.

8.11 In this example, this is anopportunity to reconfigure the averagegroup sizes, as the original estimate maynot be exact (as numbers cannot easily bepredicted in the sixth forms). The shadedareas in figure 8.3 show the initial


calculation. The reconfigured data is thenaltered slightly in proportion to thecalculated total pupil periods and theactual number (the number on roll x theperiods per week).

8.12 The self-study time of sixth formpupils needs to be accounted for, in orderto ensure the pupil periods total is correct.In this example, private study has beengiven a notional number of teacherperiods, not included in the total, whichcan be used to show the demand for aself-study area. An overall proportion oftime that all sixth formers are expected tobe untimetabled could also be used.


8.13 In this example, the number ofspaces for the 11-16 pupils and the sixthform have been calculated separately, thenadded together (figure 8.3). This can beuseful if the sixth form has a longer weekand more periods than the rest of theschool.

8.14 It is also useful, if step 3 is done foreach as in figure 8.3, to check the demandfor sixth form use when calculating thefinal number and size of spaces in steps 3and 4. For instance, if a total of four ITrooms were chosen, two would bepredominantly used by KS3 and 4 pupils,in an average group size of 22.5, and twoby sixth form groups of around 15. Thiscould affect the area of the rooms,decided at step 4, and the furniturelayouts.


8.15 Having derived the total calculatednumber of spaces for each space-type andadded the 11-16 and post-16 figurestogether, the actual number of each typeof space can be decided (figure 8.4). Areasonable frequency of use will allowmany subjects to have suites of subject-specific rooms, while other specialistspaces will be shared.

7i 69


Figure 8.4: step 3, 4 and 5 ofthe curriculum analysis for thewhole school.

types of space

methodexplanation

general teaching

STEP 2

number ofspaces calculated

11-16 post-16 TOTAL

Y1 Y2 Y

small group 4.80 4.80standard group 14.85 0.25 15.10large space

practical spaces4.33 4.33

GNVQ/business studies 2.13 2.13IT room 0.85 1.08 1.93

science lab: small group 2.00 2.00science lab: standard group 5.83 5.83

food 1.25 0.25 1.50multi-materials 1.45 0.10 1.55PECT 1.00 0.10 1.10textiles 0.75 0.75graphics/CAD 0.25 0.15 0.40

20 art 1.10 0.50 1.603D art/textiles 0.60 0.20 0.80

music room 1.30 0.25 1.55drama studio 0.85 0.05 0.90

PE spacesgym/sports hall 1.50 0.33 1.83

off-site/outside 1.50 0.38 1.88

self-study (0.88) (0.88)

TOTAL 37.40 12.55 49.95

STEP 3

number of frequencyspaces of

adjusted use

based on y asreasonable percentagefreq of use of z

517 )5 )

89.7%

3 70.8%3 64.2%

3 66.7%7 83.2%

2 75.0%2 77.5%

1.5 73.3%1 75.0%

0.5 80.0%

2 80.0%1 80.0%

2 77.5%1 90.0%

2 76.0%*

(1) 87.5%

58

STEP 4

maximum average totalgroup area per teachingsize space area

m2 m2

(bold Iron, z xindicates section 4 average6th form) guidelines area

16 41 20530 50 85030 62 310

20 75 22525 72 216

16 75 22530 85 595

20 100 20020 100 20020 87 13120 82 8220 78 39

30 91 18230 109 109

30 74 14830 91 91

30 260 520

50 74 74

4402

STEP 5

NON-TIMETABLED SPACESSEN support spacesixth form common arealibrary resource centrelocal/IT resource areascareers area

1

1

1

21

7 21 2150 80 80

165 16515 36 726 14 14

FLA seminar space 1 4 8 8music group rooms 6 4 8 48darkroom 1 3 10 10heatbay 1 4 16 16kiln 1 4 4assembly hall (*used for PE) 1 40.0% 260 260

TOTAL TEACHING AREA

NON-TEACHING AREA

staff accommodation CO 5.5%pupils storage/washrooms (4) 5.0%teaching storage © 5.0%catering facilities @ 4.5%ancillary/circulation/partitions CO 20.0%

average proportion of gross

111

et

5100

468425425383

1700

TOTAL GROSS AREA

lower limit of gross areaupper limit of gross area

70

78708635

m2

m2;

76

8500

MOE WORKPLACES

work- totalplaces work-

per space places

based oncircular11/88

workplacesPer Space xno. spaces

20 10030 51030 150

20 6020 60

20 6030 210

20 4020 4020 3020 2020 10

30 6030 30

20 4020 20

30 60

30 30

15 1530 3030 305 10

30 30

1670

8.16 In this example, the number of eachtype of space is usually based on a simplerounding up to the nearest whole numberabove the calculated figure. Otherexamples may need more judgement inconsidering if the frequency of usejustifies the number of spaces, asdiscussed in appendix 2 (paragraph 7.17).In this case, the following considerationshave been made:

The number of standard generalteaching spaces has been adjusted to17, with five large general teachingrooms and five small sixth formseminar rooms for groups of up to 16,giving a total of 27 at a reasonablefrequency of use of 89.7%.

The three GNVQ/business roomshave a low frequency of timetabled useat around 71%, but will also beavailable for GNVQ students inuntimetabled periods (reducing thearea needs for the self-study space).

Similarly, the three IT rooms have alow timetabled use at about 65%, butwill also be available for irregularbookings of classes in other subjects.Two untimetabled IT clusters areincluded for small groups from KS3and 4 classes or sixth-formers in self-study periods.

There are seven general sciencelaboratories and three advancedlaboratories for sixth form lessons, withan overall frequency of use of 78%.

Graphics has been identified as aseparate activity under KS3 and 4&sign and technology (figure 8.1) anda specialist graphics space is timetabledfor GNVQ art and design andmanufacturing. Together they show ademand for one space used 40% of thetime, which is unacceptably low. Thisroom will therefore double as a PECTroom, as two spaces used only for thiswould also have a low usage. Theaverage frequency of use of the tworeconfigured rooms will be about 75%.

Some drama may be taught in a musicroom, and vice versa, to allow moreflexibility in teaching and timetabling,


which would mean the overallfrequency of use in the music anddrama rooms would be around 82%.

The assembly hall is of a suitable size tobe used for PE for up to 40% of thetime. This reduces the usage of thesports hall to be the equivalent of twospaces at 76%, allowing it to be used byone group in some periods and by twoin others (see paragraph 4.61).

The notional teacher periods and groupsize for sixth form self-study (or privatestudy periods), in figure 8.2, are notincluded in the totals, but indicate ademand for a study space. This may belinked with the library resource centre.The pupil periods derived for self-studyindicate that sixth-formers will spendan average of 20% of timetabled time inself-study (1752 out of 8600).

Step 4: Space Sizes

8.17 Finally, the area of each space mustbe decided, ideally on the basis of thelargest group size that will normally use itand on the activities that will take placewithin it. The maximum group sizes havebeen judged from the likely upper limit inthe curriculum breakdown, bearing inmind that room sizes need to be designedto suit possible minor changes in groupsizes in the longer term and that groupsizes in sixth forms are less predictable andcan be quite wide-ranging. In this case,sixth form groups are envisaged to be amaximum of 16, so the areas of seminarrooms and advanced science laboratoriesnormally used only by the sixth form arebased on this number (with a 50% in-crease for post-16 workplaces as post-16group sizes equal G 1.5 in the formulae).


8.18 The information on timetabledspaces and their area has then to be addedto the other untimetabled supplementaryteaching area, including the SEN areas(based on the amount of teaching requir-ing a special room for withdrawn groups).The overall area of the library resource

7 d71


72

centre, the local resource areas or ITclusters needed and the careers area, arewithin the range in figure 4.10.

8.19 A notional non-teaching area, basedon 40% of the lowest gross area limit, hasbeen divided into five types of space witha guide figure for each based on theaverage of the guidance in section 4.

Final Adjustments

8.20 The final stage is completed bychecking the following points:

Gross Area

8.21 As discussed, the final gross area fallstowards the upper end of the rangesoutlined in section 1. The teaching area is60% of the gross.

MOE Capacity Compatibility

8.22 The proposed schedule provides1670 workplaces, including the diningarea, as can be seen in the last twocolumns of figure 8.4. These figures canbe used to calculate the capacity, usingthe 'MOE formula' method in annexe Aof Circular 11/88. In this case thecapacity is 1193 if no pupils with specialneeds are allowed for, assuming thatPECT is taken as a 'light craft' space andthat the dining area is not used forteaching. This is sufficiently close to beacceptable as the MOE formula does nothave a direct relationship to the opera-tional assumptions: some allowance needsto be made for variations in admissionsand special needs.

Average Frequency of Use

8.23 The FTE number of teachers in theschool is 66.6 (as in figure 8.3) and thenumber of timetabled spaces is 58. Thenumber of spaces is 87% of the number ofteachers.

Registration Bases

8.24 As in appendix 2 (paragraph 7.27),the basic organisation of this school is sixforms of entry in each year, so 30registration bases are required (six groups

r*

L

per year). The sixth form will register, ifnecessary, in the common area or studyspace provided. There are 22 classroomslarge enough for groups of 30 and the fiveart and music rooms are available, leavingthree groups that will have to beregistered elsewhere, such as in seminarrooms, the textiles room or otherspecialist rooms not containing easilydamaged or potentially hazardousequipment.

78

Appendix 4: Summary of Area Formulae

This appendix summarises the formulaefor the gross area of school buildings andsite area for school grounds, both as atotal and per pupil, for those types ofschools already covered in the text andalso for other types of schools. It uses themethods described for gross areas inparagraphs 1.21, and for site areas in

paragraph 5.31. Although the formulaewill still be a useful guide, primary andmiddle schools with significantly less than90 or more than 630 on roll, and second-ary schools with less than 600 pupils, willneed to make individual judgements basedon possible economies of scale. Each pairof formulae represents the range.

Note: The upper age in the ageranges shown is one yearabove the average age of theupper year group, so, forinstance, junior schools takepupils aged 7,8,9 and 10. At11, they join a secondaryschool. Schools with ageranges from 5 are assumed toinclude reception classes andmay also include nursery pupils.

type of schoolwith age range and number ofyear groups in each key stage (KS)

Infants

age 5 7 (KS 1:3)

First

age 5 8 (KS1:3, KS2:1)

First

age 5 - 9 (KS1:3, KS2:2)

Primary

age 5 11 (KS1:3, KS2:4)

First and Middle (combined)

age 5 12 (KS1:3, KS2:4, KS3:1)

Junior

age 7 11 (KS2:4)

Middle deemed primary

age 8 12 (KS2:3, KS3:1)

Middle deemed secondary

age 9 13 (KS2:2, KS3:2)

Secondary (lower)

age 11 - 14 (KS3:3)

total gross areaof school buildings

gross areaper pupil

total site areaof school grounds

site areaper pupil

200+3.8N 3.8+200/N 3500+21N 21+3500M170+3.4N 3.4+170/N 2800+17.5N 17.5+2800M

200+3.8N 3.8+200/N 3588+27.1N 27.1+3588/N170+3.4N 3.4+170/N 2887+23.6N 23.6+2887/N

200+3.8N 3.8+200/N 3640+30.8N 30.8+3640/N170+3.4N 3.4+170/N 2940+27.3N 27.3+2940M

200+3.8N 3.8+200/N 3700+35N 35+3700/N170+3.4N 3.4+170/N 3000+31.5N 31.5+3000/N

263+4.04N 4.04+263/N 4238+39.4N 39.4+4238/N224+3.63N 3.63+224/N 3375+35.8N 35.8+3375/N

200+3.8N 3.8+200M 3850+45.514 45.5+3850/N170+3.4N 3.4+170/N 3150+42N 42+3150M

325+4.28N 4.28+325/N 4888+51.614 51.6+4888/N277+3.85N 3.85+277/N 3862+48N 48+3862/N

450+4.75N 4.75+450M 5925+57.8N 57.8+5925/N385+4.3N 4.3+385/N 4575+54N 54+4575/N

700+5.7N 5.7+700/N 16000+60N 60+16000/N600+5.2N 5.2+600M 14000+56N 56+14000M

Secondary 1300+6N

age 11 16 (KS3:3, KS4:2) 1200+5.5N

Secondary 1300+6N+3n

age 11 18 (KS3:3, KS4:2, 16+:2) 1200+5.5N+2.5n

Secondary 1450+6.08N+3nage 12 - 18 (KS3:2, KS4:2, 16+:2) 1350+5.58N+2.5n

Secondary 1700+6.2N+3nage 13 18 (KS3:1, KS4:2, 16+:2) 1600+5.7N+2.5n

Secondary (upper)

age 14 18 (KS4:2, 16+:2)

2200+6.45N+3n

2100+5.95N+2.5n

6+1300M

5.5+1200/N

6+1300/N+3n/N

5.5+1200M+2.5nM

6.08+1450/N+3n/N

5.58+1350/N+2.5n/N

6.2+1700/N+3n/N

5.7+1600/N+2.5n/N

6.4-5+2200/N+3n/N

5.95+2100M+2.5n/N

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73

BEST COPY MUM

Bibliography

74

GENERAL

The Education (School Premises) Regulations1996 HMSO 1996. ISBN 0 11 054152 9

Department for Education and EmploymentCircular 10/96: The 1996 School PremisesRegulations 1996

Department of Education and Science BuildingBulletin 7: Fire and the design of educationalbuildings (sixth edition) HMSO 1992.ISBN 0 11 270585 5

TITLES REFERENCED IN TEXT

Department of Education and Science DesignNote 34: Area Guidelines for SecondarySchools 1983 (now superseded by this document)

Department for Education Building Bulletin 77:Designing for pupils with special educationalneeds: Special schools HMSO 1992.ISBN 0 11 270796 3

Department of Education and Science BuildingBulletin 61: Designing for pupils with specialeducational needs: ordinary schools HMSO1984. ISBN 0 11 270313 5*

Department for Education Making IT Fit (videoand booklet) 1995

Department of Education and Science A&BPaper 15: Lockers and Secure Storage 1990

Department of Education and Science BuildingBulletin 58: Storage of pupils personalbelongings HMSO 1980. ISBN 0 11 270494 8*

Department of Education and Science BuildingBulletin 56: Nursery Education in convertedspace HMSO 1978. ISBN 0 11 270460 3*

Department of Education and Science DesignNote 1: Building for Nursery Education 1968

Department of Education and Science Broad-sheet 1: Nursery Education: low cost adapta-tion of spare space in primary schools 1980

Department for Education and EmploymentBuilding Bulletin 80: Science Accommodationin Secondary Schools: a Design Guide HMSO1995. ISBN 0 11 270873 0

Department for Education and EmploymentBuilding Bulletin 81: Design and TechnologyAccommodation in Secondary Schools: aDesign Guide HMSO 1995. ISBN 0 11 270917 6

The Sports Council Handbook of Sports andRecreational Building Design, volume 2:Indoor Sports (second edition) ButterworthArchitecture 1995. ISBN 0 7506 1294 0

Department for Education and Employment OurSchool - Your School: community use ofschools, after school activities 1995.ISBN 0 85 522473 8

HEALTH AND SAFETY

British Standards Institution BS 4163: Code ofpractice for health and safety in workshops ofschools and similar establishments BSI 1984.

The workplace (health, safety and welfare)regulations 1992, SI 1992 No 3004 HMSO1992. With:

Health and Safety Commission Workplacehealth, safety and welfare: Workplace(Health, Safety and Welfare) regulations1992: approved code of practice andguidance HMSO 1992

Department for Education and Employment AGuide to Safe Practice in Art & DesignHMSO 1995. ISBN 0 11 270896 X

The Food Safety Act 1990 HMSO 1990.

CLEAPPS School Science Service Risk Assess-ment for Technology in Secondary Schools.CLEAPPS School Science Service 1990

The control of substances hazardous to healthregulations 1988, SI 1988 No 1657.Updated 1994, SI 1994 No 3246 HMSO1988 and 1994

Health and Safety Executive OccupationalExposure Limits 1984: Guidance Note EH 40HMSO 1984

Health and Safety (display screen equipment)regulations 1992, SI 1992 No 2792 HMSO1992

SERVICES

Department of Education and Science DesignNote 17: Guidelines for environmental designand fuel conservation in educational buildingsHMSO 1981 (to be revised)

The Electricity at work regulations 1989, SI1989 No 635 HMSO 1989

British Gas and Department for Education andScience Guidance Notes on Gas Safety inEducational Establishments British Gas 1989

British Standards Institution BS 5925: Code ofpractice for ventilation principles anddesigning for natural ventilation BSI 1991

Health And Safety Executive Guidance NoteGS23: Electrical Safety in Schools HSE 1985

British Standards Institution BS 8313: Code ofpractice for accommodation of buildingservices in ducts BSI 1989

Institution of Electrical Engineers Regulationsfor electrical installations: IEE wiringregulations IEE 1991

Department of Education and Science BuildingBulletin 70: Maintenance of mechanicalservices HMSO 1990. ISBN 0 11 270717 3

80

SCHOOL GROUNDS

The Sports Council Handbook of Sports andRecreational Building Design, Volume 1Outdoor Sports (second edition) ButterworthArchitecture 1993. ISBN 0 75 061293 2

Department of Education and Science BuildingBulletin 71: The Outdoor Classroom HMSO1990. ISBN 0 11 270730 0

Department of Education and Science BroadSheet 17: Playing fields: marginal areas 1983

Department of the Environment and The WelshOffice Planning Permission: A Guide forBusiness 1994

Department of National Heritage Sport:Raising the Game 1995

Learning Through Landscapes Special Places;Special People: The Hidden Curriculum ofSchool Grounds 1994. ISBN 0 94 761348 X

Learning Through Landscapes Using SchoolGrounds as an Educational Resource 1990.ISBN 1 87 286504 6

Learning Through Landscapes Play, Playtimeand Playgrounds 1992. ISBN 1 87 286510 0

Learning Through Landscapes Ecology in theNational Curriculum 1990.ISBN 1 87 286502 X

Learning Through Landscapes Trees in theSchool Grounds 1992. ISBN 1 85 741095 5

Learning Through landscapes Pond DesignGuide for Schools 1988. ISBN 1 87 065122 7

Department of Education and Science DesignNote 11: Chaucer Infant and Nursery School,Ilkeston 1973

Department of Education and Science DesignNote 47: St John's School, Sefton: the designof a new primary school 1989

Department of Education and Science BuildingBulletin 48: Maiden Erlegh Secondary SchoolHMSO 1973. ISBN 0 11 270084 5*

Department of Education and Science BuildingBulletin 49: Abraham Moss Centre, Manches-ter HMSO 1973. ISBN 0 11 270345 3*

Department of Education and Science BuildingBulletin 53: Guillemont Junior School,Farnborough, Hampshire HMSO 1976.ISBN 0 11 270351 8*

Department of Education and Science BuildingBulletin 59: The Victoria Centre, Crewe:school and community provision in urbanrenewal HMSO 1981. ISBN 0 11 270525 1*

BEST COPY AVALABLE

National Children's Play and Recreation UnitPlayground Safety Guidelines 1992.ISBN 0 85 522405 3

National Playing Fields Association Facilities forAthletics 1980. ISBN 0 90 085895 8

National Playing Fields Association Gradientsfor sports facilities 1983 (republished as TAN23 1996)

National Playing Fields Association Sports Turf1993. ISBN 0 49 149503

National Playing Fields Association Schools PlayGrounds 1990. ISBN 0 94 698529 3

Football Association and The Sports CouncilArtificial Grass Surfaces for AssociationFootball 1995. ISBN 0 90 097196 4X

The Sports Council Artificial Turf for Hockey1990. ISBN 0 90 657798 5

A Guide to Habitat Creation PackardPublishing Limited 1991. ISBN 1 85 341031 4

FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS

Further guidance in the form of building bulletinsis planned to cover the following areas:

school grounds;

nursery provision;

boarding accommodation;

accommodating art in secondary schools;

accommodating music in secondary schools;

GNVQ and sixth form accommodation;

large spaces.

81'

out of print but availablefrom HMSO Books(Photocopies Section).

75

Glossary

Note:1: See DfEE Circular 10/96:The 1996 School PremisesRegulations.

76

General

CAD-CAM: Computer aided design forcomputer assisted machinery.

CD-ROM: Compact Disc Read Only Memory.Computerised reference data.

CNC: Computer Numerically Controlled.

FREQUENCY OF USE: The average amountof timetabled time that a space is used, expressedas a percentage of the total time available in thedmetabled week.

FTE: Full Time Equivalent.

GROSS AREA: The total floor area of a buildingor buildings, measured to the inside face ofexternal walls, including the area of internal walls.

GROUP SIZE (G): The number of pupils in ateaching group using a teaching space.

IT: Information Technology (this includescomputer hardware and software).

KEY STAGE (KS): The periods in each pupilseducation to which the elements of the NationalCurriculum will apply. There are four key stages,normally related to the age of the majority of thepupils in a teaching group. They are: beginning ofcompulsory education to age 7 (KS 1); 7-11(KS2); 11-14 (KS3) and 14 to end of compulsoryeducation (KS4).

LEA: Local Education Authority.

m2: Square metres.

MOE: More Open Enrolment.

NC: National Curriculum.

NTA: Non-Teaching Assistant.

NUMBER ON ROLL (N): The total numberof pupils enrolled in a school, including those inthe sixth form. This may be assumed to be thesame as the 'normal number' as defined in theSchool Premises Regulations'.

PE: Physical Education.

PSE: Personal and Social Education.

RE: Religious Education.

SEN: Special Educational Needs.

SCHOOL PREMISES REGULATIONS(SPR): The Education (School Premises)Regulations 1996, which came into effect on

1 September 1996.

TEACHING AREA: All areas in a school whereteaching or learning is accommodated, includingtimetabled teaching spaces and untimetabledareas such as the library resource centre and otherresource areas predominantly for pupil use,darkroom, kiln room, heat treatment bay, grouprooms, self-study areas and social areas. It doesnot include dining or predominantly staff areas.

WORKPLACE: A place to work, i.e: a tablespace and seat, for one pupil.

Primary

BASIC TEACHING AREA: The class basesand any shared teaching areas, but excludingsupplementary teaching areas (see below).

CLASS BASE: A room, bay or open areaexclusively used by one class for core activities.

SHARED TEACHING AREA: An area sharedby two or more classes for general activities.

SUPPLEMENTARY TEACHING AREA:A room or other discrete space designated forparticular activities such as a hall, library, studioor specialist practical areas (whether timetabled ornot).

YEARS R TO 6: Primary school years arenumbered from R and 1 to 6. Pupils enter theReception class (Year R) at, or shortly before, agefive. Pupils under five may also be in nurseryclasses or nursery schools.

Secondary

FLA: Foreign Language Assistant.

GNVQ: General National Vocational Qualifica-tion: a range of vocational courses usually taken inthe sixth form but sometimes at KS4.

PECT: Pneumatics, Electronics and ControlTechnology: activities in NC design andtechnology, often done in one type of space.

SELF-STUDY: Private or unsupervised study bypupils, usually post-16, during the timetabledweek.

YEARS 7 TO 11: Secondary school years arenumbered from 7 (first year) to 11 (end ofstatutory schooling). The sixth form is sometimesreferred to as years 12 and 13.

Grounds

PLAYING FIELDS: an outdoor, grassed areasuitable for the playing of team games, laid outfor that purpose and capable of sustaining teamgames for seven hours a week during term time'.

HARD SURFACED GAMES COURTS:suitable hard surfaced area laid out for court(s)for team games, plus any marginal areas that maybe used for small games and skills practice.

INFORMAL AND SOCIAL AREAS: suitableareas for informal games, including infant PE,social interaction and protected leisure activity, ofwhich over half should be hard surfaced.

HABITAT AREAS: planted or speciallydeveloped areas to support the curriculum.

BUILDINGS AND ACCESS: total area of thefootprints of all school buildings, roads, carparking, service and delivery areas and pedestrianaccess within the school site.

Printed in the United Kingdom for HMSODd. 301878 C50 8/96

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This building bulletin gives non-statutory guidance on theprovision of teaching and don-teaching accommodationfor nursery, primary and secondary pupils. It also coversschool grounds. Area Guidelines for Schools is publishedagainst the background of the removal of statutoryteaching area and outdoor recreation area requirementsfor schools.

It is aimed at the early stages of school projects, whenstrategic decisions must be made about the buildingsand site. Those responsible face a number of importantchoices in the way school premises are to be providedwithin available resources. This document is intended tohelp inform the way those choices are made.

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There is an important balance to be struck betweeneducational requirements, in terms of the curriculum andits delivery, the area of accommodation or land neededto support those requirements, and both the initial costand running costs of that area. While the quality of schoolbuildings and grounds and an imaginative plan for theirdevelopment is clearly important to the school's functionand its standing in the community, excessive area is tobe avoided; it will not only cost more to provide but willrepresent an unnecessary drain on a school's budgetyear after year.

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