St. James the Great Primary and Nursery School Wins Award

St. James the Great Primary and Nursery School in East Malling, Kent has won the category award for schools at the Kent Design Awards.  Keegans are proud to have been part of the design team, providing CDM Co-ordinator Services.

The project creates a new 1FE school and nursery building adjacent to the existing St James the Great Primary School near Maidstone. The building adds seven new classrooms, a nursery, communal and specialist learning spaces, staff facilities and a new PE hall.

Central to the design is the open shared learning space which stretches out under an undulating roof that is punctured by oval skylights. This area, which contains the library, group work, ICT and SEN areas, is segregated by a series of low, curved walls which delineate each space. The long vista through this communal space looks out to the timber decked external reading space, sculpture garden and adjacent parkland.

The school integrates with the local community by enabling the PE hall for evening community use and can act as a self-contained unit for this purpose.