To support growing enrollment and improve academic outcomes, Beaumont USD embraced a K-8 education model for the new Summerwind School.
Our design for the new campus creates an upper “Academic Campus” and lower “Athletic Campus.” The Administration Building anchors the Academic campus while classroom buildings, gym, and food service building form around a central park where students of all grade levels can come together. This “Central Park” is the green belt of the campus that separates the lower grade and the upper grade classroom buildings, and it also connects all the building structures together. This is a secured campus with a single-entry point from the Administration building to ensure safety. To improve flexible learning spaces, academic buildings feature a direct connection from classrooms and flex- labs into the collaboration areas. The storefront system between collaboration and courtyard brings in natural lighting and promotes transparency, providing a sense of supervision for these spaces as well. Inclusion is a state mandated requirement, but implementing it proved to be challenging. Summerwind Trails is the first campus within the district that offers close adjacency for special education(moderate/severe) programs to the rest of the classrooms. This model will serve as an incubator for other campuses.