SEND/SEMH Education
Building better futures for pupils
The bespoke nature of SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) and SEMH (Social, Emotional, and Mental Health) provision cannot be met by a single design or construction solution. Through our design and build experience and investment in collaborative research, we understand the unique requirements of creating spaces that cater for diverse learning needs.
Evidence-based research to better inform SEND school delivery
What makes a great SEND School? In 2019, we embarked on an extensive independent research programme exploring how to optimise the process involved in creating buildings and estates that enable children and young people to truly thrive and reach their potential.
From the findings, we released an initial paper titled Building Better Futures which explores models of best practice in SEND school delivery and then led to further research to create the SEND Blueprint for Success - a document welcomed by the DfE, their professional service providers and contractors as a tool that helps anyone embarking upon the design and delivery of a SEND school.
Purposeful design that meets stakeholder requirements
We care about creating environments that enable young people and their support network to thrive. Many of our projects involve working in an existing live school environment, so early on in our projects, we work with pupils, teachers, parents and carers to ensure there is no stone unturned in the planning process, establishing key milestones and any special requirements our teams must be particularly aware of.
Examples include carefully planning site deliveries to avoid pupil disruption or noise, organising inclusive site tours for all potential building users, utilising digital technology such as BIM models to allow learners to preview their classrooms, or planning a dedicated soft landings process to smooth the transition of pupils into their new surroundings.
At Lexden Springs SEND School, a now-210-place school, with 30 places for boarding accommodation, the team created new learning experiences for pupils as part of construction. Designated areas were positioned around the site according to activities of interest or at a safe distance to see particular work taking place that day. The area was nicknamed ‘The Cage’ and the students asked questions which the site staff answered in a way that the students understood putting things into context and helping to reduce students' anxieties.
Reaching collective sustainability goals
We have a business goal to be net zero by 2030 and part of our Responsible Business strategy is to ‘Improve the Environment’ by creating optimal learning environments that are not only functional and beautiful, but also sustainable for future communities.
We always look to incorporate our client’s sustainability goals into our projects such as Trent View College in Scunthorpe for the DfE, a 60 place post-16 school that supports young people to develop life and employability skills. They wanted to be the first school in the world built to strict Passivhaus standards around energy efficiency, whilst still including a heat-intensive hydrotherapy pool, flexible teaching spaces and access to outdoor areas.
At Prestley Wood Academy School in Cambridgeshire, the team delivered a new 150-place SEND school located in the heart of the new Alconbury Weald development, a new community being built on the former 1.4-acre RAF site. The team has aligned to Cambridgeshire County Council’s ‘Nearly Zero Carbon Buildings’ initiative and is committed to using pre-dominantly renewable energy sources for their high-energy consuming buildings. The building is completely fossil fuel-free in operation and takes its energy from air source heat pumps and photovoltaic panels. What’s more during the early stages of the design phase, our team worked with our supply chain to remove 574 tonnes of carbon by reassessing the foundation design.
Achieving social value
As part of our commitment to ‘Enhancing Communities,’ we promise to plan for, deliver and measure the social value investment a project creates by collaborating with our stakeholders on a Social Value Charter at the start of the project.
At The Bridge School a new SEND school, in Ipswich, our dedicated social value manager supported our project team in the delivery of local community engagement projects, aligned to Suffolk County Council’s strategic objectives. Activities included refurbishing the Lighthouse Women’s Aid charity buildings in Ipswich – fitting a new kitchen and decorating the facilities and specific STEM, construction and sustainability learning opportunities created specifically for the schools’ learners.
Upon project completion, we monetise the social value achieved, using reputable digital tools to measure the lasting impact to the community and provide detailed outcomes from the project for our customers. In the case of The Bridge School in Ipswich the project generated £9.2m in social value – a 100% return on the project cost.
In order to inspire future constructioneers, the project team signed a partnership with West Suffolk College. Although this marked six years of collaboration, this step formalised the partnership, and meant the team could continue to deliver upon the educational engagement requirements outlined in the gatsby benchmarks. Throughout the Sir Peter Hall school project, our teams welcomed students on site to learn about careers, whilst also giving lectures in the college on a diverse range of industry topics, this contributed to the overall £6m invested in social value on the project.
"Working with Morgan Sindall Construction is proof that long-term partnerships with meaningful activities and targets really do work. It has helped us develop our students and it’s helped Morgan Sindall find talented apprentices that have gone on to climb their career ladder. Knowing the partnership will continue long into the future is something the college is really grateful for and I know our students are excited about their futures because of it too." Debbie Coomes, West Suffolk College
Case Studies
