Bedgrove Infant School

Q&A with the School

We had a quick Q&A session with the school headteacher Caroline Wregglesworth, PTA chair Kerry King and library manager Mandy Richardson.

What is it you mainly use the room for?

We use it mainly for the library, but we also use it for intervention groups, extra work, and sometimes we have meetings in here.

What’s the reason for choosing this size?

We’re a large four form entry infant school, with 480, so we at least wanted a place for 30 children at a time.

Was there any particular reason you chose this design of building?

We wanted it to fit in without it being obviously intrusive because it’s within our courtyard with other buildings, we didn’t want it to be too high and take away from the lighting from the surrounding buildings. It fitted in really well.

What steps did you come across to find this product?

Initially, we were looking at a bus, which we thought would be good fun, but there were quite a lot of pitfalls with it. We were also looking at storage containers.

But we found you over Facebook, and then it went from there. We did have a few people come out and quote for wooden buildings similar to this, but they were hugely expensive. So, you fell in just at the right time.

 How is the building as a learning environment?

It’s lovely as a library. Where they were before they were in-between two classes so they had to be very quiet as other pupils would be learning, so it means now they’ve got that little bit more freedom, as they always love to talk about the books they’re reading.

In the summer, we want them to go out and have stories outside too, as we have future plans to do the ground outside.

Why did you choose Green Retreats?

You were a lot cheaper, and we liked the idea of it and it wasn’t like anything we looked at before.

We went to visit another school, Pebble Brook in Aylesbury because they were also using one (of your buildings) and they had good things to say about it and we liked what we saw so we decided that would suit our purpose.

We got you in touch with another school that had used Green Retreats before, did you have a prior relationship with the Pebble Brook School?

No, we asked if any schools were local to us, that had used Green Retreats before, because obviously, it’s always useful to actually go and see one of the buildings, and hear how they were getting on with it. They had really good report in not only the building and how functional it was, but also the relationship with the company.

Did you find any obstacles with any planning permission or permitted development to put the building in place?

No, we just had to make sure where the drains were, to avoid covering them. Otherwise, it was really quite straight forward, which was another plus point with going with Green Retreats.

Did you visit our showroom; how did you find it?

Yes, we did – I wanted one in my garden! It was really nice to see all the different types of garden rooms, it was worthwhile.

Would you recommend Green Retreats?

Yes, definitely.

And lastly, what were the children’s thoughts on the room when they first saw it?

“Wow!”

They absolutely loved it. They just wanted to run around it, have a look in every corner, every book, they really like it.

It also makes a good Santa’s Grotto! We completely dressed it up, for our PTA Christmas event. We just draped everything in white and got some penguins and a Christmas tree.