🔹 Overview
Simple Acoustics worked with Sherwood Hill School to transform their learning environment into a more regulation-friendly space for pupils with complex needs. The project focused on improving acoustics across the entire school to support wellbeing, engagement, and access to learning.
🔹 The Challenge
Sherwood Hill School, a specialist setting for autistic pupils with high support needs, faced significant challenges due to poor acoustics throughout the building.
Despite being a purpose-built site, classrooms, corridors, stairwells, and the hall created overwhelming noise levels. This made it difficult for pupils to remain regulated, particularly during transitions between spaces.
As a result, students experienced increased stress, reduced engagement in learning, and a higher number of incidents during movement around the school.
🔹 The Solution
Following approval of SEN funding, Simple Acoustics delivered a comprehensive acoustic treatment programme across the school.
This included installing acoustic cladding in all 13 classrooms, as well as hallways, stairwells, and the main hall. Each space was carefully treated to reduce noise levels and create a calmer, more supportive environment for pupils and staff.
🔹 The Results
The improvements have had a significant and lasting impact across the school.
Pupils are now able to remain more regulated within their classroom environments, choosing to stay engaged in lessons for longer periods. Transitions between spaces are calmer and less stressful, supporting a smoother school day.
There has also been a noticeable increase in participation, with more pupils able to engage in both classroom learning and whole-school activities.
The success of the project has led the school to explore extending acoustic treatments across their additional sites.
🔹 Client Feedback
The impact of the project is best reflected in the school’s own experience:
“We are a state-maintained foundation school with 3 campuses situated in the London borough of Sutton.
We reached out to simple acoustics as we had a project to make our school environments for regulation friendly for our complex cohorts, and the acoustics was part of this project.
Our Sherwood Hill Campus is a purpose-built site for autistic pupils who have high support needs in order to feel safe around others and access learning.
The site opened 10 years ago but the acoustics were not effective at supporting learning in the classrooms, corridors, stairwells and hall.
This was affecting the pupil’s ability to remain regulated for learning in the classroom and increased stress during transitions around the building.
This led to reduced engagement in learning and several incidences during transitions. We approached the Local Authority who agreed to fund an acoustic project through an SEN grant. This involved simple acoustics cladding all 13 classrooms, hallways and stairwells and our hall.
The impact of this work has been really positive. Pupils remain more regulated in their class environment, choosing to stay in class for longer periods, resulting in a positive impact on learning; they haveimproved ability to transition with less stress around the school.
More pupils can engage in class and whole school activities and events in the school. We are currently assessing the need to complete similar works on our other 2 sites.”
Anna Richardson – Head of Strategy & Pastoral Support
Sherwood Hill School, Carshalton
