Ready for the new school year

Rotherhithe Primary School has been completed, and after a phased handover looks forward to its first full year in a fantastic new building and grounds. fabrik have worked on the project alongside Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios for 5 years and it is always a joy to see the original vision delivered. We went to site in August to see how the planting had faired over the summer, and although not best for holidays, the soggy weather has helped the planting and trees to bed-in and establish. The school facilities team have done great work in caring for the planting in these first few months.

Situated in the London Borough of Southwark, the school’s masterplan was visionary from the outset. The space allowed for greening and interactive, enriching play was all part of the original concept of a ‘school within a garden’. In what is a tight urban site, and with pupils coming predominantly from the neighbouring flats, the school grounds have to work hard to deliver as much greening and access to nature as possible. The features include a central courtyard with tiered amphitheatre that functions as an outdoor classroom, a forest garden with woodland gazebo, den building kits and grow gardens for herbs and vegetables, a MUGA for sports and activities, and various timber climbing frames for different levels of ability, all wrapped in a soft, green frame of 50 new trees with biodiverse prairie and woodland understorey planting. All of the school’s windows look out to greenery, including to the extensive canopies of the retained, mature trees on site. We hope this outlook and interaction with nature within the grounds will prove a calming and enriching experience for the pupils as they return next week.