Key Stage 3 Seating Area - Fairfield High School

Setting the Scene

Fairfield High School is a happy, vibrant and diverse Academy Secondary School at the heart of a brilliant multicultural city.

It has over 1,000 pupils attending and is a part of the Excalibur Academies Trust, alongside 10 other schools in 4 local authorities, stretching from Bristol to Reading.

At Fairfield High School every individual is encouraged to challenge themselves, work creatively in collaboration with others, and most importantly achieve the sense of joy that comes from the determined effort to succeed in learning.

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Customer Objectives

Fairfield High School wanted to develop their year 7 and year 8 outside communal areas. The school is a large modern building with a vibrant and inspiring inside area; however, Sarah felt the Outdoor Areas were rather cold and wanted to break up the large outdoor tarmac and paving stone space with areas for the children to socialise. The aim was to make the transition from their Primary settings to the Secondary School more gradual. The School had been given money from the Excalibur Academies Trust for the project, so wanted to ensure the best value for money.

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Our Solution

For the Year 7 area, our solution was to add areas of Just Like Grass, this has given the area a softer feel, breaking up the vast expanse of tarmac and paving slabs. We also installed a Tri-Tiered Planter, Perch Benches, Picnic Tables and 26 Grass Topped Stools! This gives the Year 7 children multiple seating opportunities for breaktimes and lunch, allowing them to create their own seating and social spaces with the movable Grass Topped Stools.

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We also installed a large Bespoke planter in the Year 8 area which worked alongside the steps, making use of the muddy patch there and creating a more visually stimulating scene, whilst also slightly raising the wall edge and blocking the drop to the lower level. The Planter has Perch Benches alongside it, so it can be used as a seating area.

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Testimonial

"It all looks fantastic! The students are really pleased, particularly with the year 7 area and the staff
have commented on how much calmer things are there now, so it really is brilliant, thanks
so much for all of what you did to help us reach this point."

Sarah Minns, School Business Manager