The question on everyone’s minds is: what does a post-Covid-19 school look like?
How are we going to solve the issue of welcoming learners back in a safe, sustainable way that gives confidence to staff, children and parents? It’s a challenge that is keeping headteachers and their teams up at night, so here we offer some ideas that we’ve developed while working with educationalists, neuroscientists and teachers as well as drawing on our own learning space design expertise and on the data that’s available on how to control the virus. No two schools are the same and each will have to come up with their own way through this unprecedented challenge, but some of these suggestions may, we hope, help.
Physical distancing - because ‘socially’ we need to stay close!
We discuss the Government guidelines and offer some thoughts of our own.
Hygiene: cleaning and sanitising hands and surfaces
Do they have to sanitise every pencil and every paint brush after each use? Clearly this is impractical.
Health and Wellbeing; face coverings are effective
We’re not talking about scary surgical masks. Anti-viral snoods or funky scarves – it can be more like fancy dress than something medical.
Physical Spaces
At Spaceoasis® we have talked about ‘form follows function’ in terms of learning space design for many years and it’s just as relevant now.
Organisation of Learning
You can have up to 15 students in a classroom, so you’ve got to figure out where the others are going to be – this requires a radical change in approach.
