school models

The all-age school

Moffat Academy is one of four new build schools as part of the PPP between Dumfries and Galloway Council (Smarter Schools) and E4D&G (Amey Ventures and Cyril Sweett). Unusually, the site accommodates pre-school, primary and secondary pupils.

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ESIGNED by 3DReid, the school is developed around a simple courtyard concept. The four sides

to the external facade actively engage with the surrounding community across the adjacent fields – in a conscious decision to avoid a ‘back’ to the school. The internal facades to the courtyard create a safe learning environment for all age groups within the school to look over, move through and experience

Resources

A downloadable practitioner-written guide provides the background to all- age schooling with some examples of the challenges schools may face, with possible solutions.

www.innovation-unit.co.uk

The Consortium of All Through Schooling (CATS) is a national interest group for all-through schooling and has as members all- through schools and academies, all- through soft and hard federations, all- through trusts and collaboratives along with local authorities.

www.allthroughschooling.org

without being overlooked by the surrounding community.

Stepping facade

The entrance facade steps progressively in below the over-sailing roof carried on a colonnade of steel columns, a reference to the strong tree lines prevalent in and around the site. This draws attention towards the main entrance, marked by a double height glazed ‘slot’. The first floor library and terrace also creates a book- end to the stepping facade, further emphasising the position of the main entrance. On entering the secure lobby, the courtyard becomes visible through the glazed wall beyond, drawing the visitor into the ‘heart’ of the school. From this point all teaching, social and administrative spaces can be accessed. At night, the solidity of the 8,680 sqm building is punctuated by glazed stairwells positioned on the axis of a historical tree-lined land boundary. This physical line has dictated the orientation of the school on the site, a point of reference bringing the building and the landscape together as a single entity.

Striped cladding

The use of colour and texture on the external facades has been chosen to respond to the rural location and local vernacular, with a blend of natural timber, bricks coloured to reflect the dominant local whinstone and render; and to portray a modern, contemporary feel

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with the use of the strikingly striped composite cladding panels, and the strong colouring to the primary and pre-5 elements. Moffat Academy is relatively rare in Scotland in that it embraces an ‘all- through’ approach to education, with a seamless and integrated model for teaching children from the age of four till seventeen. Some communities in Scotland

four sides to the external facade actively engage with the surrounding community

have a resistance to the concept, worried that the primary school element will become swamped by the secondary, but at Moffat the opposite is true, says Alex Donaldson, partnerships director at 3DReid. “The separate elements come together to create a whole much more than the sum of its parts, meaning the children benefit from improved facilities and a continuous, unbroken education.”

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