The new school at Nettlebed was a community-led project. Oxfordshire County Council funded most of the project by disposing of the schools' previous premises, which dated from the 1920s. The rest of the funding came from South Oxfordshire District Council and the local community, which is selling the original Victorian school building it has used as a community centre since 1928.
The new school is a modern, single-story building designed to complement its woodland setting and provide level disability access throughout. The building housing the primary school includes a purpose-built pre-school room, four classrooms, an IT suite, two resource areas for artwork and cookery, a special needs room for teaching small groups, offices, a staff room and a fully equipped school kitchen where pupils' meals are prepared from scratch. The school hall has a folding wall so that it can be partitioned to provide flexible space that the community can hire for social events and club meetings.
The foyer and library area features a locally produced stained glass window depicting nettles and other wildlife. The window is set into the curved flint and brickwork wall at the school's entrance, and was specially commissioned from local artist Lyn Clayden following a grant from the Swyncombe Educational Trust.
Outside there is a pre-school play area, a playground, and an all-weather multi-purpose sports pitch available for community use outside school hours. A quiet garden area will commemorate Mrs Rosemary Moore, the school's previous headteacher, who initiated the replacement school project but died in post before she could see it realised.
Challenges and solutions
The health, safety and welfare of the pupils and staff in neighbouring buildings was of the upmost importance. Deliveries had to be timed to avoid pick-up and drop-off times.
The head teacher was keen to give pupils ownership of their new school. Beard organised site visits at the beginning of the project and towards the end as internal finishes were being completed.
"Everyone who sees the school thinks it's very beautiful.
It's a very high quality build, and we achieved everything we hoped for because Beard managed to find efficient ways of delivering certain aspects of the design."
