Unlocking Learning Adventures: Pens Meadow School's Outdoor Transformation (SEND)
Pens Meadow is a special school providing a quality education for pupils with complex needs, severe learning difficulties, including autism, and pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties.
Play to Measure are experts in creating exciting and accessible spaces to support child development. At Pens Meadow Special School we transformed an inaccessible space into engaging learning environments to support outdoor learning and Forest Schools education.
This project included an outdoor classroom, sensory relaxation garden, a music play area, a mud kitchen, a water play area, a series of interlinked tree houses and a marina complete with nature pond, converted boat, jetty and boat house.
The Marina
Being near a body of water can have a positive effect on our mental health and well-being, giving our brains and our senses a rest from overstimulation. Aquatic environments blend both blue and green spaces to ease anxiety and offer a place for relaxation.
A large, self-oxygenating nature pond was created, surrounded by a jetty walkway featuring benches, roped balustrading and driftwood cladding. An old birdwatching hut was refurbished and turned into a boat house for group activities and nature watching.
An old boat was beautifully restored and adapted to make it wheelchair accessible.
The Outdoor Classroom
The outdoor classroom with a large table, bench seating and ramped entry was built to accommodate nature rather than obstruct it. The decked area was sculpted around the trees, allowing them to continue to grow ‘through’ the structure. A large chalk wall was adorned with carved wooden leaves painted by students from the school.
The Forest Walkway
There were some very inaccessible parts of the Forest School site which needed to be made fully accessible for wheelchair users. The decked walkway was built throughout the forest, weaving through the trees to minimise the disturbance of the natural environment.
Pathways along the walkway lead off to different learning zones to make the site more engaging for children with sensory disabilities. Each zone features unique structures that are fully inclusive and accessible, creating stimulating play spaces that respond to the sensory needs of children and young people.
The Music Zone
We know that music making is fun and it gives children a way to be creative and express themselves. Research has also shown that music can benefit children in many other ways including increasing brain development, improving coordination and enhancing wellbeing.
The music play zone created for Pens Meadow School features two Babel drums, a giant xylophone and tubular bells, all of which are wheelchair accessible.
The Water Zone
There are many benefits to outdoor water play such as helping children develop hand-eye coordination and building focus and concentration. Water play can be a calming, therapeutic activity or an invigorating, challenging activity.
The water zone featuring restored wooden guttering and translucent pipes weaving in and out of the structure, is designed so that all water routes flow to a single place for ease of refilling.
The Chill-Out Zone
A sensory chill-out space was created to provide a place for relaxation and escape from the sensory overload some children face each day.
The space features a decked area with chalkboards, mirrors, tactile items, wind chimes and wind spinners. Surrounding the deck are a series of colourful hammocks to relax in and enjoy the woodland.
The Mud Kitchen
A u-shaped mud kitchen built amongst the trees offers a large open space for messy and imaginative play. Two Belfast sinks from the school’s old mud kitchen were incorporated into the design.
The Tree-Top Village
A series of raised interlinking platforms nestled amongst the trees offers children the opportunity to direct their own play in an exciting and sometimes challenging space. Children and young people need to learn to assess and manage risks so the tree-top village was designed with rope bridges, ladders and a climbing wall. Ramped entrances ensure wheelchair users are able to enjoy the structure and a bucket pully system adds to the many physical and role-play possibilities this space offers.
“Working with Play to Measure has been a really positive experience for Pens Meadow. The students and staff have been fully involved in the design and build itself where possible. The Play to Measure team are more than creative, they are ingenious, in designing challenging, adventurous, safe environments that have enhanced the provision we can offer our pupils in our Forest School beyond our expectations. I would recommend Play to Measure without hesitation.”
