Manorfield Primary School Pop-up

• Pop Up

We have trialled our first pop-up school proposal at Manorfield Primary School in Tower Hamlets, London, demonstrating that it is still possible to create an environment that can safely accommodate more pupils but also allow the social distancing rules to be observed. The tent measures 6m x 18m and is supplied by Cumbria-based marquee specialist, Original Marquees. The temporary structure has been used to host classrooms and as a lunch area for pupils, delivering at least 25% more socially distanced capacity than what the school currently offers.

Paul Jackson, Headteacher, Manorfield Primary School, said, “Our children have been out of school for far too long. We want to bring as many children back to school in as safe a way as possible.

“We won’t bring back more children than it is safe to and need to find creative solutions to enable the wider opening of schools. The creation of additional pop-up accommodation in our playground will support us in doing this and meeting the needs of our children. We are very excited to see more of them returning to school.”

The concept focuses on utilising outdoor space to ease the circulation load in existing school buildings. It involves reusing resources including festival marquees, that would otherwise be dormant, to build temporary classrooms and portable facilities incorporated with the two-metre social distancing rules. Not only will the pop-up structures enable better spacing between individuals, they will also create more capacity to take on further pupils. As well as improving air-flow and wellbeing, we see this as an opportunity to utilise public or large outdoor spaces in unconventional ways that might not be thought of previously.

Wayne Head, Director, Curl la Tourelle Head, said, “Our pop-up school initiative offers a robust and adaptable suite of temporary structure options, ranging from simple canvas marquees to fully operational, insulated and engineered facilities capable of servicing entire year groups through the planned ‘big summer of catch-up’ and autumn term beyond.

“We are confident that we have the solution to help schools increase their capacity and bring back more pupils, while still following the social distancing rules and ensuring a safe environment for the children and staff.”

We are in discussion with other schools across the country and overseas, with the aim of rolling out the concept further and wider. In addition to Original Marquees, we are partnering with global temporary structure provider, Veldeman, to produce pop-up accommodation that can cater for full year groups and be lit with lecture theatre equipment, heating and air conditioning.

The pop-up tent at Manorfield Primary School is expected to stay until the end of the current school term.

We have produced a mailer on Pop-up schools for leaders in education across the country, explaining how our concept supports a safe return to school. This has already led to several schools commissioning prototypes that provide a rapid expansion in classroom provision to enable socially distanced learning over the coming months.

The flyer can be viewed digitally here.

For related enquiries please contact: [email protected]