Students gain design experience and create plans to develop school grounds
Students at Bristol’s North Star 240° are getting a taste of a career in landscape design, working on a real-life project to enhance their own school grounds.
Ten students took in their first workshop session with property developers, Socius and landscape architects, PRP.
Over the next few months, the team from Socius and PRP will guide pupils through the various phases of landscape design, from consultation, planning and development through to completion, as they transform a previously unused area of their school grounds in Lawrence Weston.
North Star Academy Trust said: “This will be a fantastic opportunity for our students to help shape the space around them. Some of the initial ideas have been fantastic and whatever the outcome I’ve no doubt the result, as well as the journey itself, will be of massive benefit to all our students.”
North Star 240° is a secondary school that works with pupils with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs. Its pupils have previously had difficulties within mainstream education, finding emotional and social development hard as well as sustaining positive relationships.
Together with PRP and Socius, the students will develop a 630m2 piece of land next to the school playing fields. With some of the initial ideas from the introductory session including: a vegetable patch, a coconut tree, outdoor gym, a shed with tools, a sensory garden, fishpond, statue, flowers, bird boxes, benches, jerk pan, hammock, swings and a tunnel.
Mike Dodd, development director at Socius, explains: “This is going to be a really fun and exciting project for everyone involved.
“For the students, they’re not only getting to be a part of a development within the school grounds, but it will be a project that they can really take ownership of. They will be the decision makers on this project.
“Our aim is to then take them through the entire landscape design and development process, helping them manage a project and a budget. But ultimately creating something that they can really be proud of, and hopefully inspire some of into seeing property and development as career path they want to follow.”
Angeli Ganoo-Fletcher, director at PRP added: “We are thrilled to be part of such an exciting project and will cherish working with the students to create a space that we have designed collaboratively and that, most importantly, they will be able to call it their own in the future.”
Socius is an impactful developer with over £1bn development pipeline across major UK towns and cities including Bristol. Its proposed development at St Christopher’s Square is set to be the first in a new generation of ultra-sustainable integrated retirement communities, creating over 100 homes for older people looking to live independently for longer.
The development aims to address the shortage of specialist accommodation in Bristol for older people, and free up under-occupied family homes in the local housing market. The site, which will be managed 24/7, will offer residents the opportunity to receive increasing levels of care and support, as and when they need it, reducing the pressure on the NHS and wider care system.
The Bristol WORKS initiative choices young people in Bristol have by offering meaningful experiences of work. WORKS will equip future generations with the passion and skills to make positive life choices regardless of their background. It is part of the Bristol Learning City Partnership and is building a unique collaboration between employers, learning providers, and local communities to develop a skilled local workforce.
