Westbury Junior School SEND Rooms

The Situation

We were approached by Westbury C of E Junior School to renovate their sensory room. When we visited the school to meet the staff and complete a site survey, we were saddened to see the state of the room that children were being sent to for relaxation, play or regulation. The room had been badly damaged and was not fit for purpose.

The Challenge

As with many educational environments, the space needed to facilitate lots of children within the school with differing needs and requirements. Key requirements were:

Providing a space for calm and regulation, but also sensory input and stimulation
Catering to the range of school age children
Making effective use of a small space
Robust equipment to withstand heavy use
Meeting safety standards without compromising on the experience

There was also a need to ensure the final design would work practically day-to-day, not just visually.

What We Did

Tigerplay worked closely with the school’s SENCO to learn about the children at the school and the requirements of the space. Following on from this collaborative approach we decided to split the room in two, creating a ‘Sensory Room’ and a ‘Soft Room’.

The process included:

An initial consultation with the school SENCO and key staff members to define priorities and constraints
Careful consideration of zoning to separate children needing to relax/regulate and children needing sensory stimulation/input
A detailed site survey to assess layout and building the internal wall to create two rooms
Development of technical drawings to bring the concept to life
Full manufacture and installation by the Tigerplay team including fully-adjustable sensory lighting, heavy-duty wallpaper, cocoon swing and interactive projector with a wide range of games and features.

Every element was designed to maximise the experiential offering while ensuring the room was useable and suitable for the school environment.

The Outcome

The result is two well-balanced, safe environments that:

Offer separate, inviting spaces for regulation and stimulation
Fully adaptable environment (as with all our sensory rooms) – settings can be adjusted to choose colours, patterns and light temperature
Supports a range of age groups comfortably
Allows for easy supervision and access by staff
Meets recognised safety standards
Makes efficient use of the available space

The school was able to move forward with confidence, knowing the rooms had been carefully designed from both a creative and operational perspective.