Case Study
Moorfield Primary School
When Moorfield Primary School undertook a £500,000 refurbishment and new building project, it was the ideal time to upgrade its lockers and storage systems for pupils.
The 271-pupil school in Newport, Shropshire, had a variety of coat pegs and “rickety, old” lockers, which School Business Manager Joanne Jones said were “in dire need of replacement”.
“The old lockers for the junior school children were not conducive to health and safety,” explained Mrs Jones. “They were quite old and rickety and some of the doors were bent. They were also not permanently fixed.”
Another problem with using coat pegs and lockers in the school’s central covered courtyard was that the area often became congested as pupils struggled to gain access to their belongings at the same time. If bags or coats were on the floor, it also caused tripping hazards.
Link Lockers’ offered Moorfield Primary School the ideal solution to its storage facility problems, tailoring the design to enable the lockers to fit perfectly into the spaces available outside each of the junior school classrooms.
The company was also able to demonstrate how the lockers could be positioned to work around existing elements, such as radiators.
The clever design has led to less congestion and crowding and it also means that the corridors are now free of clutter. This is a major safety consideration, following the introduction of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order in 2006, which has put the responsibility of fire safety into the schools hands.
“We used to have bottleneck situations when the children were trying to get to their lockers at the same time,” explained Mrs Jones. “Now the flow is a lot easier, which makes it a lot safer if we ever have to evacuate quickly. It’s also a much neater environment.”
A total of 183 lockers, a mix of half- height, three-quarter height and full height lockers, were installed to provide appropriate access to different age groups within the school. The school chose inset wood effect Solid Grade Laminate doors, which are finished as lime wood, to match the classroom doors and architrave.
All have sloping tops to prevent debris collecting, while some had support frames to accommodate skirting boards, which allowed the lockers to fit directly back to the wall.
All the lockers have hasp and staple locks, which enable them to be secured with a padlock, if necessary. At Moorfield, however, the lock is used without a padlock to simply hold the door shut without locking it.
“Link Lockers were very good from start to finish,” says Mrs Jones. “We were clear about what we wanted as it had to fit into the school scheme, but there were a lot of different options and pricing structures.”
She also praised the quality of the lockers. “They are very sturdy, are properly fitted to the walls so they remain in place, and come with a good guarantee,” said Mrs Jones. “The children absolutely love them and the school governors, who had to approve the expenditure, are also very happy with them. This was a long-term purchase and we had to get it right.”
The covered central area, where the old lockers were accommodated, has now been transformed into a garden space.