The most recent image from Google Earth
School Overview: The school is part of the Nord Anglia system, of which there are approximately 20 schools worldwide, following the English National Curriculum. Its students score well above the world average on the IGCSE and IB external examinations. The school has approximately 900 students and an active parent-teacher association along with a charitable arm called NordStar. While it is not the only English-language school in Warsaw, it is the main one offering the same curriculum as one would receive in England. While the school itself was founded in 1992, this campus was opened in 2005. The Nord Anglia Education Story
Google Earth image from twelve years ago
Location: The school is located at Limanowskiego Street, Warsaw, Poland. The school is divided into two campuses, and this is the campus for ages 5-18. The campus is large and green, with extensive shade canopy in places. Benefits: It is in the largely residential neighbourhood of Sadyba, located near the French School and a popular mall, Sadyba Best Mall. It is on a side road between two major arteries, Sobieskiego Street and Powsinska Street. It is a spacious campus, with low-level buildings.
Challenges: The road on which it is located is used to access both these arteries so it gets a lot of traffic. Parking is a challenge near the school, as there is little on-campus parking. Most parents park on the street to access the school grounds. It is not directly on a direct bus route, but there are nearby bus stops on the major and side arteries. Most of the residential area is apartment blocks and it is unclear as to how many students live in the neighbourhood.
School Entrance: The campus is gated and walled, as is common in Warsaw. There are separate entrances for cars and for pedestrians, both of which have electronic access. Benefits: Monitored gate access will help control who enters the campus, supporting student and staff safety. The mode of ingress through the lower fenced area inside the pedestrian gate would help with the traffic flow of people.
Pedestrian access gate
Challenges: The mode of egress through the lower fenced area to the pedestrian gate could create a bottleneck during a school evacuation. Any safety plan would have to take this into consideration and perhaps include a strategy for people to leave via the vehicular access gate, which is wider.
Vehicular access gate
Outdoor and Athletic Play Areas: The play areas are respectably-sized, with the fields located adjacent to a street, although there is a metal fence barrier separating them from the sidewalk. Benefits: According to the school’s website, the outdoor areas have been set up as learning zones. The interior of the track is artificial turf. Polish law is quite detailed about the set-up of outdoor play areas and the amount of time that students spend outside in all but the worst weather. Even as an international school, the British School would have to follow these guidelines. Challenges: Grade levels would have to schedule access to the outside play area if they want to manage the number and age of children playing there at the same time. Also, given the winter weather to which Warsaw is prone, the school would have to have a plan and procedures in place if students could not play outside.
Outside Play Area
Basketball court and grassy play area
Athletic Playing Fields