Salmon’s Brook is a new build school with sixth form for 70 students aged 11 - 18 with social, emotion and mental health (SEMH).
Looking to provide a suitable environment with a high level therapeutic support and excellent teaching, safeguarding is a key design element with the key aim to create a civic street presence.
Responding to the need for a civic presence, the school takes on a single storey pitched-roof form which are utilised in the classrooms to offer a domestic environment and reduce anti-social behaviour.
Education
London Borough of Enfield
Enfield, London, UK
£9.8m
2022
Emulating a domestic feel, brick forms around the ground level external façade, employing a horizonal band at window and door height to give a human scale and break up the mass.
The layout is arranged around a central courtyard which acts as the heart of the school, allowing daylight and air to penetrate the circulation spaces and allow passive supervision.
Each classroom has access to a ‘calm room’ to allow children to retreat when required. Given the nature of students attending the school, there was a need for finishes to be robust and secure.
A visually strong saw tooth roof allows the school to stand out as a civic building, removed from the classic institutional look.
The flexible layout of the school allows each student to have a personalised education, with a heavy emphasis on supporting the transition to live beyond school and becoming integral members of their community.
