WHAT'S THE INSIDE LIKE? Above is the beautiful reception desk designed and made by the artist Andrew Skelton. If you can remember from earlier postings, it is recycled!!! The limewashed (white coloured) timber it is made of was saved from the big 'glulam' beams that held up the roof of the hall in the old infants school.

The desk is lovely and curvy and different heights and everyone loves to lean on it and stroke it and little children love to push their faces into the pink recesses. Andrew has also made a 'wiggly' seat in the atrium and the reception desk 'wiggles' through the entrance lobby and becomes a seat outside as well.

Lynne the Headteacher gave the construction team presents, Tom gave a speech saying thank you to all the folks who had helped make the school so special and Richard the labourer from KIER who has been on site everyday being really really helpful (and is still smiling), got a special thankyou.
There were lots of flowers. All sorts of folks had sent cards and flowers, saying thank you to the team for their hard work and wishing all of us the very best in our 'wonderful', 'beautiful' 'lovely' new school. The 'touchdown shelf' was a good place to display them all. Can you see the big screen monitor on the wall? This can be linked to a laptop and show anything so folks in the waiting area can see what we have been doing.
The atrium is also the home of the library, so vistors can look at a book while they wait on the wiggly seat. The library has a special curved seat/screen designed by Kath that screens off the quiet part of the library for working.

ARRIVING AT SCHOOL...

Our new school is in use as the autumn term has now started and we get to arrive at school through the park!!! So parents and children get to walk through the Mount Pleasant Park on their way to school and on the way home, we get to see the trees and birds instead of traffic, noise and pollution and we can use the playground before school (if we're early) and after if we've been good.

This is how you see the school if you come into the park from Mount Pleasant Road and follow the path.

Our new school is in use as the autumn term has now started and we get to arrive at school through the park!!! So parents and children get to walk through the Mount Pleasant Park on their way to school and on the way home, we get to see the trees and birds instead of traffic, noise and pollution and we can use the playground before school (if we're early) and after if we've been good.

This is the view of the school that you get if you come into the Park from the Vincent Road/Sitwell Road side and follow the path.

As you arrive you can see the Nursery playground and entrance down to the right, you get to go down the ramp to get there. This is where you go through the brill gates that andrew Skelton made. The entrance to the nursery is through the main gate and then through the nursery gate on the right. Yes, we know there are several gates to go through to get to the nursery but, there is lots of space and the ramp is wide and all the gates are there to make it safer for the nursery children.
When you've gone through the gate you can go straight ahead and under the canopy (the wooden/glass thing you walk under) and through the SWISH...SWISH (automatic) doors into the wonderful reception area. Did you recognise Kath (our interiors technologist) in the picture above?

BACK 2 SKOOL...

Hooray...the builders have moved outWOW...look at that blue sky!

You couldn't have asked for better weather on this the first day that people could come and visit the school. Term starts proper on Monday but Friday afternoon was an opportunity for parents and children, grandparents, friends and other folks who were just a bit nosy, to come and look inside the new school and see what has been happening behind the site fence!

Evelyn talks to a parent in the atrium.

Ben (the architectural year out student) offically opens the toy store that he designed, in the nursery playground. It's really clever because the gates fold in hald and fold back so that the store can be used as a shelter to play in as well. See the movie of how the gates work.

THINK PINK...!!!

Open afternoon 1.30-4.30pm Friday September 7th

HSBC have been at it again!

This is one of the creature towers, (a bit like a bird table but meant for insects and birds)that they built when some more enthusiastic HSBC folks came to help put substrate on two areas that will have biodiverse planting, the south side first floor teaching terrace and the roof of the school office next to the front door. Unfortunately these can't be planted just yet as it could be too dry for them and so the plants will come soon. Honest!

The special planting is being designed by Nigel Dunnett of Sheffield University Landscape Department and will be co-ordinated by Jeff Sorill from the Green Roof Centre (newly set up in Sheffield). HSBC have given the project a grant that will help to plant this area and also seeding on the main roof.

Nature has been doing it's best to colonise the main roof in advance of the intended seeding...we have some lovely 'weeds'....NO a biodiverse roof doesn't have weeds just natural colonisation! The wildlife seem to like it, we have seen earwigs, ladybirds, bees and birds on the roof and there are some lovely flowers but we don't know their names. It has changed a lot since the bare photos in the March BLOG postings about the roof.

SCREEDING...

Yes we know this is a bit late and was taken in April but we thought you should still see it!
This is a peculiar job...

I bet you're wondering what the heck a screed is? It is the final smooth material that is put over the structural floor before the floor finish (carpet/lino etc.) is laid. You have to wade around in a big sloppy puddle with a special kind of rake with no prongs that you 'tamp' the screed with to get all the air bubbles out. This picture shows the floor being done in the hall and of course our screed is on top of the underfloor heating pipes if you remember.