School Landscape Design Services

School Landscape Design – Creating That Extra Classroom

External spaces for children in schools are just as important as any other, a safe haven with places to play, hide, explore and learn can be infinitely fascinating and exciting, a forum in which to inspire and teach them.

Our school landscape design team here at Openview Landscape Design Ltd have become experts in creating spaces for children and as a result we have had the opportunity to go into numerous schools throughout Kent, Sussex and Surrey and help the teachers/parents coordinate large, and small, school landscape design projects aimed at benefiting the children and improving the school grounds; creating that extra classroom.

School Landscape Design – Ideas for Creative Spaces

Some of the most popular requests for ‘extra classrooms’ are nature zones designed to help the children learn about the natural world and environmental issues. The team have helped to create natural ponds, native hedging, coppicing, woodland areas and wild flowers; plants that attract a wide array of birds, butterflies and bees. We can also incorporate hedgehog shelters, ladybird towers, bee ‘hotels’, and even ponds with gentle sloping sides to encourage amphibians to come in and out. Where possible we can also use eco-friendly resources such as bark and mulch from sustainable woodlands, organic composts and even rubber chippings from re-cycled tyres.

To achieve all of this we are able to help with ways and means of obtaining funding, sourcing material from local companies and coordinating classroom sessions designed to inspire the children and get them involved in the landscape design of their new school space. Popular spaces which you may like to think about include:

• Nature areas with bird hides and boxes
• Dipping ponds and platforms
• Storey telling circle
• Active play zones designed for physical education
• Vegetable growing areas
• Sensory garden
• Theatrical stages for performances