Learning Spaces

Timber does it in a hurry

A new-build housing estate brought rising roll numbers and an urgent need for more classroom space at a village primary school near Chippenham.
Pupils exiting classroom space

Staff at Sutton Benger CE Aided Primary School knew they needed a more permanent solution than that offered by mobile classrooms, but were also constrained by the design of the school building which left them with nowhere obvious to extend.

Leading joinery manufacturer Scotts of Thrapston was approached by the 162-pupil school to provide a new classroom.

Traci Langford, finance officer at the school, said: “New housing in the village meant that we needed to provide an extra classroom to accommodate the increased pupil numbers.

“The school building, while fairly modern, doesn’t lend itself to an extension, the position of corridors and access would make it very complicated. Equally, we wanted to provide a permanent building, so a mobile classroom was not an option. The Scotts building provided the answer.”

Scotts, who have been making and distributing timber products since 1920, first started creating education buildings in 2014 and like the rest of the company’s projects, Sutton Benger’s new classroom was constructed and ready for use in a matter of weeks.

Commencing the project

Work began before the end of the summer term and the classroom was ready for the Year Six class to move in to when they started in September.

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