Earlier this year we had the honour of working with Winchelsea Primary School to create two brand-new sensory spaces – an Immersive Room and Sensory Garden. Fast forward to Friday 1st December, we were invited to the grand-opening to explore and share the new space with members of the faculty and other invited guests.
For this week’s Sensory Blog, we’ll be sharing with you the events of the day and some insights in to both of these wonderful new resources for Winchelsea Primary School.
Images: 1. Woodblocx Landscaping | 2. Sensory Technology | 3. Woodblocx Landscaping
The Story Behind Winchelsea Sensory Spaces
Arriving at the school with a flurry of snow, we were greeted with a welcomed cup of tea and cake from the local tea shop, community support and spirit being at the heart of this school.
A very passionate Helen, the Head of Winchelsea Primary School, then begun her inspiring introduction as to how they had arrived here with these two fantastic learning spaces for the children. She had been on a journey since her beginnings as the Head of the school 15 years ago to enhance the learning experience for the children in the most effective way possible, and bring the school back up from struggling to outstanding!
Engaging the children to increase attendance, she started with the basics of role play with dress up clothes for the children and props for the classrooms. From air raid shelters to bring learning to life and even evidence bags brought in by local police to gather proof of alien invasion, all in aid of enhancing their imagination to help put pen to paper.
This all had a huge impact on the children but was too time consuming for the staff to set up on each occasion. This is where Helen had the idea of immersive learning using modern technology to keep up with the world the children are interacting in every day.
Bringing The Sensory Spaces To Life
- Immersive Room
After installing an external building to provide the space, Helen then contacted us at Sensory Techonlogy to design and install the required technology to bring any scenario to life using projection, sounds, 3D effects, scent and much more.
With the ability to create their own themes, the school have started to produce a bank of curriculum-based programs to engage the children and enhance their learning experience.
- Sensory Garden
Following on from the success of the immersive room, the school contacted us to help design and build a tranquil garden for the pupils.
With help from the children, they decided that a calming space within the school grounds was much needed. Helen agreed, especially following Covid, with so much emphasis now on the mental health of our young.
The overall time-span for this project was approx. 4 weeks. Throughout this period our team of engineers were able to install a range of interactive and calming equipment for the children to enjoy. In addition, we created a relaxing, sensory seating area using raised wooden planters supplied by Woodblocx Landscaping.
The blinds are no longer kept shut in the hall to hide the old, unused trim trail as the area now houses a very special outdoor space for the children with sounds, visuals, scent, and interactive elements to once again engage them in nature.
Images: 1. Woodblocx Landscaping | 2. Sensory Technology | 3. Sensory Technology | 4. Sensory Technology | 5. Woodblocx Landscaping
The grand opening of the two areas was met with so much interest and excitement from the local community with Winchelsea being at the very forefront of modern and engaging learning.
It has been a pleasure to be part of two very impressive and important projects for the children at this heart of the community school.
