How will school expansion & being on a building site effect learning?

[eversomuch]

Just learned that the primary school dd odds only to start at next year is planning to expand from 2 forms to 4. all still to be confirmed, planned, etc, but I wonder how it will impact learning & the children.

Assuming it all goes through, building work would probably start in 2 yrs, just as ds would start reception, & dd started y2.

the school is currently rated outstanding & has a lovely community feel & is very nurturing. I think it's possible to maintain that atmosphere even in a larger setting. my primary concern is whether they can maintain the excellent level of education/ achievement if the kids are on a building site for a year or more. (there doesn't seem to be anywhere else the kids could go while building in happening.

I'd love to hear from anyone who has been through a school expansion like this. how did your dc do in that environment & how did the school manage things?

DD's school has had a vast amount of building work over the 7 years she has been there. From whole buildings to refurbishing classrooms.
Any destruction has taken place in holidays and there has been no impact on the children at all. The only time it impacted there lives was for the two terms that they had to enter the dining room from the other side.

To be honest, there's absolutely nothing you can do about it so not a lot of point in worrying. Yes - I'm sure it will have an impact. But the staff at the school will all be working their socks off to make sure it makes as little difference to the children as possible. It's only a year out of 7 years of primary education - yes, while it's happening it will be disruptive but it will soon all be forgotten.

Our primary school is expanding from 3-4 forms and is having a huge extension built. It is a bit of an inconvenience as everyone has to squeeze through one little gap to pick up the kids, but we are coping.
And the kids are loving watching the construction and seeing what is being done every day.

All the evidence is that the quality of teaching matters far more than the environment in which the school operates. I would not expect any significant impact on your daughter's learning.

I don't think it will. this is my area of work - any noisy works etc will be Restricted hours or before / after school and not during exam periods. A lot will be phased for holidays / weekends. Also any one going onto a school site will be enhanced DBS checked (I realise that wasn't your concern but just thought I'd mention it!).

SW16?
Ds's school possibly nearby was a building site while in Reception. The school managed it well - it was worse for me as for a while we had to all use the back entrance and take kids to the hall rather than just to classrooms at the front, which with the crowds and walking round meant I had 15 minutes more commute and got to work late until a rota of parents was set up. And they didn't have after school club on site for the first year - they did finally arrange to have people escort the kids to nearby school, at extra cost.

If it's the one I'm thinking of, there's more space so should be able to build the new bits without losing playgrounds etc for the duration.

eversomuch:

Amazingly St. Mediocre (which expanded whilst DDs were there) handled this incredibly well - largely because LEA is expanding several schools - so an approach had already been devised.

Some of the years had to be moved into temporary portacabins - they weren't gorgeous but they generally worked. The 'sop' to parents of children in the portacabins was this: more field trips/ outdoor activities increased and classes outside whenever the weather/ topic allowed it.

The construction side of things included children making design suggestions for the new playground. Working out the number of bricks in the new walls. Making safety signs/ under construction signs. Lots of input from various classes on colour scheme/ decoration/ planting ideas/ playground equipment ideas.

The architects, the city planner and some of the construction workers talked to children about their jobs and what they did educationally to get there. The brick layer was a huge hit - the winner of guess the number of bricks in the new wall and his whole class got to make hand prints in cement at the base of the new wall which will 'always remain there!'

Yes there were days when the crane was distracting or there was lots of noise from breaking up tarmac/ tearing down some of the walls of the old school. Yes there were a few days when the school was closed because the electricity was off - and the school added those on to inset days rather than planned inset days around it - which got a few grumbles. But - in general the disruption was kept to a minimum. I think particularly noisy work was done out of term or on inset days. It seemed like things lept along during half-term and holidays.

The real issues were additional traffic and occasionally poor timing - so delivery of crane at 3 p.m. overalapping with Christmas production and lots of parents arriving. But it wasn't intentional and we all survived.

N10?!!
If so there may be no choice as the building is not really for for purpose and this is the only way that the lea will pay for a new school.

Thanks, everyone. It's good to hear that these things are generally managed pretty well. I hadn't considered the educational aspect in the kids having a chance to see the construction process from start to finish. That's definitely a positive way to see it.

Our school was pretty much a building site for the last six years. The work was mostly fenced off from the parts of school that we being worked on, and there were times that the library/computer room/art room/music room had to work out of a demountable over the years as different parts were built. We were without a gym/hall/theatre for a year, but it's Australia, so we just did outdoor activities and no one really noticed. Like PastSellByDate we had lots of fun activities around the building process, lots of making of models of possible buildings, working out materials required, and lots of art projects based around the new facilities. We did the handprints as well, plus decorated bricks, some massive mosaics, and the kids have done almost all of the landscaping (not the heavy lifting, but the designs and putting in plants).

We now have a shiny new school with absolutely fantastic facilities and it's been completely worth it.

Ours has just gone from 2 to 3 form entry. It was all managed really well with minimum disruption to kids and yes, all used as learning for example looking at play equipment and designing new equipment etc. The playground was small for a bit but only as small as some schools get all the time, and now we have it back it feels SOOOO big. It's a massive strain on the Head, and also a strain on the teachers, I think, but if it's managed well, there really shouldn't be major problems and it goes very quickly (ours was a year and a half, and it whizzed by).

All noisy work was done out of hours. Not a jot of noise during school time. Road did have a whole lot of markings to stop parking and make deliveries easier, but was a good thing I think as I walk to school.

If it is the school that NotCitrus thinks it is the Head will ensure that the impact on the children will be minimal. He has an outstanding Ofsted to maintain!

It is a very popular school - 2 to 4 form growth is approved and deemed necessary to meet the needs of local families and to ensure sibling places can be maintained.

This same school is also seeking outline planning permission for a building for a secondary phase on an adjacent site. They will become an all-through school. This is still subject to decision by the LA but there is a need for secondary places in that part of the borough, detailed plans have been drawn up and consultation with parents has begun.