In 2013 Moray Council sent out a tender for Seafield Primary school to have a sensory room and a soft play room. Rhino UK were delighted when they heard they had won the tender, down to their imaginative design and proven track record of offering exceptional customer service and excellent quality equipment.
Within the tender Rhino had to submit drawings of how the schools rooms would be laid out and what sensory resources would be implemented, one room being a multi-sensory room and the other a soft play room.

The dimensions of the rooms are very small so it was very important that the spaces were made the most of and provided the best sensory experience possible in this small space. Fiona Grant the Resources Officer at the Council said herself ‘What Rhino achieved in such small spaces is quite remarkable’.

The Multi-Sensory Room 

The equipment
As you can see from the drawing a lot of sensory was incorporated into the room, giving a wide range of resources to suit a variety of user needs and to stimulate all of the senses.As you step into the room you are greeted by the glowing UV carpet, the sound of your favourite music and beautiful projection around you, taking you into a completely different world from the world that you were in a few seconds ago. Then you can climb onto the giant cushion, get really comfortable and take control of the large bubble tube in the corner using your colour controller to change colour of the bubbles. The fibre optics can fall into your lap for you to touch and admire and, be mesmerised by the beautiful changing colours.

All around you are exciting, stimulating sensory resources. A tactile panel to explore different textures, a sound sensitive chaos which changes colour and brightness when you make noises. A UV light which makes the line lite mirror glow and, ladder lights which encourage vocalisation, breathe control and regulated volume.

All of the equipment can be adapted to suit the individual user’s needs; some people like everything turned on in the sensory room, others may find this too stimulating and need to use individual pieces of sensory equipment.

Soft Play Rooms

With limited space the soft play area had to ensure to have a variety of activities, shapes, heights and colours to create a playful and exciting space for the children to burn off some energy and have great fun! Complete with tunnels, slide, stepping stones, squidgy floor and balance beams the hoist accessible rooms provides opportunities for all ages and abilities.

What happened next?
A few months after this project was completed Moray Council got back in touch with Rhino UK and had chosen Rhino to be their preferred, trusted supplier for all of their sensory needs across their schools. This was fantastic news for Rhino!

Rhino received excellent feedback from Fiona Grant from the Council, “Ian from Rhino was so helpful both with discussions with the school and myself. In fact both your engineers were a pleasure to deal with.”

Throughout the following 2 years Rhino UK designed and fitted a sensory room and soft play room into two more schools belonging to Moray Council; Millbank Primary School and Applegrove Primary School. These room designs were modelled on the successful rooms at Seafield Primary school. This meant the schools had rooms that were proven to work and benefit their pupils learning environments.

The Outcome
All of the room projects have now been successfully completed and the rooms have already have provided great pleasure and learning development for the students at the schools. Resources Officer said, ‘Throughout the process Rhino have been an absolute pleasure to deal with, providing an exemplary design service and onsite service from both staff and sub-contractors. Everyone that has come into contact with them has commented on how smooth the whole process was. And the rooms that have been kitted out – amazing!’

The team at Rhino UK have built strong relationships with the council and schools and, keep in touch to ensure the facilitates are kept in full working order and additional therapy resources provided to continue the fantastic work of the SEN team.

Rhino looks forward to working with them in the future.