Top of the Class

In this case study, we look at the makeover of Ursuline Academy and the outcome that the transformation has had on both students and teachers.

Dulux Smarter Spaces is a colour, design, planning and project management service developed especially to help empower schools to improve their learning environment. Smarter Spaces is not a vision for a brand, it's a movement for the educational sector as a whole. To deliver this, we're working with councils and schools across the country to design learning spaces that are not only inspiring and stimulating, but meet the needs of the busy learning environment. The mission is simple: to help teachers and children thrive through the power of their school surroundings.

As part of our initiative, we run a competition every year to get students involved in the design of their learning environment, as we believe letting kids have a say in their surroundings is the key to engaging them at school. As part of the competition, students across the UK were encouraged to choose an area in their school that would benefit from a makeover, how they would like it to look and why.

One of the two winning entries was the Ursuline Academy in Ilford, Redbridge, which won a free Dulux Smarter Spaces makeover as its prize. Students at the girl's school said their Design and Technology (DT) classroom needed a makeover so they could "let their imaginations be set free."

Their design concept focused on creating a classroom which "stimulated ideas", encouraging more girls to take up DT as one of their subjects.

Students worked with Dulux's professional design team to build on that concept, creating a classroom that echoes inspirational words from historical figures such as civil rights activist Maya Angelou and tech revolutionary like Steve Jobs.