Southwark Council has appointed us to design a new build SEMH primary school for 56 pupils. Beormund Primary School is a specialist school providing support and learning for primary aged pupils with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs and will offer an additional outreach class for KS3 (year 7 pupils) to aid their transition into secondary education. Currently situated in the north of the borough, the school is to be relocated to the former Bellenden School site in Peckham.

The children arrive with huge barriers to learning. They often have difficulty regulating their emotions, processing language and expectations, adhering to social norms, building relationships and verbalising how they think and feel; complex emotions which manifest in challenging behaviours. Having been excluded from mainstream settings, some often have a disassociation to education, a mistrust of adults and low self-esteem. Collectively, the school team, seek to empower the children to hold a positive view of themselves and reignite their love of learning.

Beormund is a small, nurturing and therapeutic school where children are taught in small classes of no more than 8. Teachers provide, alongside the National Curriculum, fun, engaging, personalised, creative, purposeful and challenging learning experiences, which draw upon different (visual, auditory & kinaesthetic) learning styles. Beyond the classroom, a team of therapists nurture and support the children to explore their trauma and attachment needs through art therapy, drama therapy, counselling, ELSA (Emotional Literacy) and Lego Therapy. Speech, language and communication needs are prevalent and addressed through small group, 1:1 or whole class sessions.

Southwark Council’s aspiration is for a school that will inspire and have a positive influence on the outcomes of the pupils and for a building that is energy efficient, minimising pollution, maximising natural site characteristics for energy generation and conserving resources where possible.  

Cullinan Studio is working closely with the school team and consultants to design a school that prioritises connections to nature, natural daylight, fresh air and using and expressing natural materials wherever possible. It will be a net zero carbon scheme, both in terms of energy use and embodied carbon and will use prefabrication to speed construction and improve quality; building on the success of their flat-pack Holy Cross Primary School prototype, Swindon. 

Other school projects undertaken by Cullinan Studio in London include: the Millennium Primary School in Greenwich, which is often cited as an exemplar way of organising schools as a departure from more institutional models; the phased modernisation of the Grade 2 listed Rosendale Primary School in Lambeth; and a new gatehouse building for Torriano Junior School in Camden. The practice has also recently been appointed by Bankside Open Spaces Trust to transform Marlborough Sports Garden in Southwark into a colourful, state-of-the-art mixed sports facility that is freely available to local school pupils, other children and young people, particularly those who are living in poverty.