Tony Woodfield, Managing Director of www.keepitkool.co.uk highlights the importance of protecting children from the dangers of UV radiation when providing outdoor learning activities.

The UK’s largest public building programme for more than half a century is well under way, and the government’s new agency, Partnership for Schools (PfS), will deliver the Primary Capital Programme, Building Schools for the Future (BSF) and the Academies Framework. The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) is adviser on the procurement and design assessment processes and all BSF projects will now go through CABE’s schools design review.

But disturbingly, when Ofsted backed up the call for investment in robust, flexible, safe and useable outdoor space with an investigation, it found that only six of all the headteachers it interviewed had any meaningful knowledge of the subject, and even they were unsure of how other national guidance and programmes, such as the National Strategies, linked to it. Ofsted remarked pointedly that this was not helpful to them in arguing the case for learning outside the classroom!

CABE
Fortunately, the latest 10-point Schools Design Panel Guidelines from CABE takes an initiative by recommending that designers ‘make assets of the outdoor spaces’ and ‘achieve a high-quality play space for every childrens’ facility’. Ofsted supports CABE, saying that when planned and implemented well, learning outside the classroom contributes significantly to raising standards and improving pupils’ personal, social and emotional development. Sun shading and weather protection feature prominently in the criteria which call for a host of considerations. There’s not space in this brief report to examine these in detail, but key points include making best use and enhancing the character of the site, providing shelter from the prevailing wind, rain and sun, making provision for outdoor learning and ensuring that the new learning space supports the school’s learning structure. CABE also calls for designs to make clear links between the indoor and outdoor learning environments.

Concerns
Ofsted expressed concern that some schools had outdoor areas that, too often, lacked suitable canopies which unnecessarily limited the use of these areas. Taking up this theme, the ‘Every Child Matters’ Report joins with Common Core, Cancer Research’s ‘SunSmart’ campaign and the World Health Organisation’s White Paper in insisting that any outdoor construction takes into account the 86,400 cases of skin cancer (source: Cancer Research UK) diagnosed annually in the UK. Skin cancer is very rarely diagnosed in children, and that leads to dangerous complacency. We need to pay heed, says Cancer Research UK. Many skin cancers take years to develop. Damage to the DNA of young people’s skin cells may develop into skin cancer several decades later. And the most serious type of skin cancer - melanoma - is the most common cancer in 15 to 34 year olds. So children are at risk not only during outdoor learning but also during break times and on summer school days.

Practicalities
Outdoor learning and play is now a key part of the Early Years and Foundation Stage National Curriculum. Schools are now required to have a Sun Safe Policy in place. Cancer experts, the NHS and local authorities are all quite clear that outdoor learning and play between 11am – 3pm from May to September should only be conducted in the shade – something that is currently completely lacking in most school playgrounds. Education sector designers are increasingly specifying weatherproof shade sails and waterproof tension structures to provide the twin requirements of outdoor UV protection and covered space that allow young people to have a safe environment in which to learn and play. Architects and headteachers have identified – sometimes only after experiencing problems – the need for structures to be robust, flexible and able to cope with our famously ever-changing weather. Many designers are specifying free-standing structures and capitalising upon their visual potential to brighten up essential areas such as sand pits, seating areas, swimming pools and playgrounds. A good structure will be fully compliant with CABE criteria but also add a visual statement to the school grounds and facilities and take a Whole Life Approach with materials capable of offering an expected life of 20-30 years.

Structures should be easy to clean, resistant to rot, mildew, fading, fraying and tearing, and able to filter out at least 90 percent of UV radiation (depending on the material chosen) while allowing light and air to pass through, reducing the temperature in the shaded area by around one third.

CABE is leading from the front. The CABE Space/CABE Education guide contains a range of examples of how young people can be engaged in the mutually reinforcing nature of the provision process, from design through to maintenance, giving students the opportunity to input into shapes and colours that can include overlapping hyperbolic squares, conics, triangles and more.

www.keepitkool.co.uk