ABSTRACT
Early Learning has traditionally been on the ground floor, small in scale, and largely segregated to allow good parental access and ensure safeguarding. This chapter explores how creative design solutions and innovative educational thinking can change the way we think about what is possible. The Early Learning Village (ELV), Singapore, which opened in August 2017, set out to do this on a larger scale than anything we have seen in the UK. Exploring the rationale and design concept for this school provides lessons as to how we might challenge our thinking for the future. Many urban children are already educated in what we would consider to be tall schools of varying ages. Canon Barnett Primary School in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, built in 1901, operates over five floors with additional mezzanine levels, and has a wonderful external rooftop learning terrace.
