It was ‘Building Futures’ Day today at Junior School as girls from Reception through to Year 6 were all off timetable to immerse themselves in the world of architecture and our new school building!

Several of the year groups had already paid an on-site visit to the new building last term (with the final two to visit later this term) and today were learning about the thinking and processes behind designing the building itself. The team of architects at Hawkins Brown who have been working on the new build project gave the girls the following brief:

“We need a new school….
Our client, Notting Hill & Ealing Junior School have recently contacted the team to ask us to design a new school. All the staff who worked on the scheme have left the practice so we need to start by understanding your school and what is needed in a classroom.”

The girls set to work with their sketch books and stickers to draft their ideas before making Lego models of their designs. Architects from Hawkins Brown also explained the importance of thinking about key elements like natural light and heating to make a space as comfortable as it can be when considering a design. Some worked in pairs, others individually while one very collaborative group in Year 2 worked as a team of 8 together on their design!

All sorts of spaces were given the NHEHS Juniors design treatment, from the playground, science lab, art room, music room, classrooms, staff room, not forgetting the very practical Year 2 group who included a toilet!

Calling on their architectural skills, pupils also took part in themed activities during the day including den building, playground planning and learning how to create scale drawings. Year 1 and Reception also made larger scale models out of craft materials of what they wanted their classrooms to look like!

We also learned what life was like as an architect while Natasha, the services and sustainability engineer for Skelly and Couch enjoyed lunch with the Junior Eco Council to discuss the sustainable elements of the build!