page_title: Primary school
section_title: Building design specifications
hierarchical_section_title: Primary school / Building design specifications
caption_attribution_description: A typical classroom library (probably 3rd grade) at an American elementary schoollibrary
context_page_description: A primary school, junior school, elementary school or grade school is a school for children from about four to eleven years old, in which they receive primary or elementary education. It can refer to both the physical structure and the organisation. Typically it comes after preschool, and before secondary school.
  The International Standard Classification of Education considers primary education as a single phase where programmes are typically designed to provide fundamental skills in reading, writing and mathematics and to establish a solid foundation for learning. This is ISCED Level 1: Primary education or first stage of basic education.
context_section_description: The building providing the education has to fulfil the needs of: The students, the teachers, the non-teaching support staff, the administrators and the community. It has to meet general government building guidelines, health requirements, minimal functional requirements for classrooms, toilets and showers, electricity and services, preparation and storage of textbooks and basic teaching aids. An optimum school will meet the minimum conditions and will have:
  adequately sized classrooms—where 60 m² in considered optimum but 80 m² for the reception class
  specialised teaching spaces
  a staff preparation room
  staff welfare facilities
  an administration block
  multipurpose classrooms
  student toilet facilities
  a general purpose school hall
  adequate equipment
  storage
  a library or library stocks that are regularly renewed
  computer rooms or media centres
  counselling, sick and medical examination rooms
  Government accountants having read the advice then publish minimum guidelines on schools. These enable environmental modelling and establishing building costs. Future design plans are audited to ensure that these standards are met but not exceeded.  Government ministries continue to press for the 'minimum' space and cost standards to be reduced.
  The UK government published this downwardly revised space formula for primary schools in 2014. It said the floor area should be 350 m² + 4.1 m²/pupil place. The external finishes were to be downgraded to meet a build cost of £1113/m².
caption: A classroom library in the US
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