CLASSROOMS at Holy Cross Primary School are specially designed to help prepare children to learn, in line with recommendations from new research.

According to a report from Salford University, primary school children perform better academically in reading, writing and maths if their environment is well designed.

Researchers said the layout, construction and decoration of classes had a significant impact on performance, and said natural light, temperature, air quality and individualised classroom design were also important.

Many of their recommendations were included in the design of Holy Cross Primary’s purpose-built reception class extension.

Jayne Rutherford, foundation stage leader at the school, said: “I think it’s about ensuring children’s readiness to learn, and part of that is making sure they feel emotionally secure in their environment.

“And if I can get my room in a place where they can come and they feel happy and secure then they will be ready to learn.

“The design of the room is all around natural woods and colours, and there are a lot of small windows which mean that there is plenty of natural light coming in.

“We’re also lucky in where the school is based in that we don’t have glare from the sun and we have a lot of natural light.

“There is a canopy around the whole school too to reduce any glare, and we have skylights too.”

The school have also installed air conditioning in every classroom to maintain the temperature, and the school looks out on to the Lawns, where the children can watch the changing seasons.

The research from Salford University was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and was carried out through detailed surveys of 153 classrooms over a three-year period.

It estimated the impact of moving an average child from the least to the most effective space would be about 1.3 sub-levels of the national curriculum - a big impact as pupils typically progress at a rate of two sub-levels a year.

The report’s author, Prof Peter Barrett, said: “Humans are essentially animals, and their brains respond well to good natural conditions.”

John Coe, from the National Association for Primary Education, said: “This research makes it clear that it’s not just what is said to children - the instruction they get from a teacher - the whole experience is important. The study directs us back to the individuality of the child. They are not just units, they are individuals, and more attention needs to be given to their individual wellbeing.’’