Shade for schools

Buildings, trees, umbrellas, canopies and shelters can all provide shade in the school grounds. When you are thinking about shade you need to consider:

• what shade is currently available in your school
• where pupils tend to gather when outside
• whether you can move equipment to shadier areas
• how much money you have to invest in shade structures or trees.

Trees provide long term, environmentally friendly and attractive shade. But they can take a long time to grow. Things to consider when planting trees include:

• planting fast growing trees which offer plenty of leaf cover - willow trees are a good example
• making tree planting an event - invite local celebrities or MPs along and tell your local newspaper
• contacting local garden centres - they might give you a discount or even provide trees for free.

Shade structures can offer a short or a long term solution to providing shade in schools. Things to consider here include:

• whether you want a permanent or a temporary structure
• whether you want shade in this area all year round (or do you want to be able to roll up a blind for example)
• the size of the area you want to shade
• fundraising to meet the costs of any new shade structure
• talking to local businesses to sponsor your shade structure, for instance putting their logo on a shade blind in return for funding.

For more ideas about how to develop your schools grounds have a look at the Learning Through Landscapes website.