Beatlie School Campus landscape design

Challenge

Beatlie School is an Additional Support Needs (ASN) school for young people between 3 and 18 years old with severe and complex medical needs and learning disabilities. The original school, located in West Lothian Scotland, catered for 36 pupils, however the existing facility was not suited to the complex needs requirements and bespoke educational curriculum that the school provides.

To support the school’s needs, a new site was selected for the development of a purpose-built campus. SLR was appointed to design the external environment of this new campus, drawing on our experience and expertise in designing and delivering fully inclusive school grounds.

Solution

SLR provided landscape architecture, inclusive design, and stakeholder engagement services to this project. Our team worked closely with West Lothian Council, school staff, and pupils, to develop a consultation-led design that caters to varied users in an inclusive way, ensuring outdoor learning and access to nature is available to all the pupils equally.

Drawing on our expertise in delivering high-quality educational environments and our ‘Learning Through Landscapes’ accreditation, we designed a fully inclusive playground and outdoor learning environment that integrates nature, sensory experiences, play, and learning. This included a sensory garden and play space, a wildlife area, classroom spill-out spaces, outdoor learning area with an orchard, an area with accessible play equipment, and a wildlife pond with decking.

Inclusive design principles guided every stage of the project, ensuring the outdoor spaces support pupils with varying mobility, sensory, and learning needs while promoting independence, social interaction, wellbeing, and connection to nature.

Early and ongoing engagement with stakeholders, including pupils and staff, was essential to shaping a responsive and effective design. These consultations generated valuable insights, reflected in the evolving plans.

Beatlie School Campus offered a unique opportunity to connect young minds with the natural world. By designing a sustainable, biodiverse landscape we aimed to inspire a lifelong appreciation and respect for the environment. Nature-based solutions and sustainable practices were integral throughout the design process, developed in collaboration with the ecology and civil engineering teams.

Following completion of the school we, along with the wider design team, undertook a Post Occupation Evaluation with the school, staff, and the client team. This process enables us to reflect on the design process, measure the project’s success, and learn for future projects. The school have continued to enhance their external spaces, adding more features which build upon the project’s designs and further increase the value of the space provided for their pupils.

Impact

While the new school campus serves a relatively small roll of 39 pupils, the impact of the outdoor environment is significant and far-reaching.

The design was not about size, or wow factor, but about creating a meaningful, responsive space that enhances the daily lives of its users. The school features classrooms and specialist therapy facilities such as sensory rooms - complemented by extensive outdoor play and garden areas to give the pupils the best educational experience they can have.

The new landscape provides a calm, sensory-rich environment that supports learning, health, and wellbeing. By introducing natural, stimulating resources, the space fosters independence, curiosity, and confidence - helping pupils grow into healthy, responsible, and motivated learners.

Outdoor learning has always played a central role in the school’s ethos, with research highlighting its benefits for children with additional needs including reduced anxiety, enhanced social skills, and greater engagement across the curriculum. Now the school has a space that reflects this ethos and enables the teaching staff to maximise their opportunity to invest in the outdoors and link it to their curriculum.

All images © Chris Humphreys Photography Ltd | www.chrishumphreys.net