The four movement rules on the sign encourage a healthy lifestyle, says Marnetta van Raak, Healthy School coordinator at Het Hooghuis. “The schoolyard has been completely renovated to encourage students to be more active and to increase biodiversity. Better rainwater drainage was also necessary.”
Redesign
During the redesign in the Christmas holidays, all paving slabs were replaced with tree bark, grass pavers and durable play grass. In addition to the exercise elements in the yard, seating elements for socialising were placed among the plants. Van Raak: “This way, we not only encourage students to exercise more, but also unconsciously teach them about the importance of nature. During and after school hours. Moreover, the design makes students more sociable.”
Student council input
To shape the design for the new yard, the student council of Het Hooghuis West location was asked for ideas. These were subsequently incorporated into the drawings, according to Van Raak. “A working group passed the input on to Joost van Pelt, concept developer | overall design for educational institutions, Pieter Verbraak, Pjotr-Design and Hans Brouwers of Brouwers Groenprojecten. We now have a yard that not only meets our objectives, but also increases the school’s hospitality. It even inspires teachers to hold lessons outdoors.”
Healthy School approach
The Green Schoolyard fits perfectly with Het Hooghuis’s mission: to make students and colleagues aware of the impact of a healthy lifestyle. To give them a head start in the world of tomorrow. “We aim to achieve this by learning and working together on a healthy lifestyle and environment,” says Van Raak. “We call this the Healthy School approach. The Green Schoolyard is a wonderful example of it.”
Het Hooghuis
Het Hooghuis consists of six different schools in and around Oss. The West building is one of the two buildings of ZuidWest, a VMBO-B/VMBK-K school.