Andover's Bancroft Elementary School was recognized with the top honor—the Ed Kirkbride Award—at this year's Northeast Regional Conference of the Association for Learning Environments, held March 15-18 in Providence, Rhode Island.  

Per the A4LE website, the winner of the Kirkbride Award “exhibits exceptional strength in each of the judging criteria,”  defined as the learning, physical, and community environments, and the planning process. Bancroft is the second SMMA-designed school to receive the distinction, following Ayer Shirley Regional High School in 2015. 

Opened in 2014, the new Bancroft School is star-shaped in plan, with five wings arranged around a central double-height entrance atrium and community-use spaces. The building serves an enrollment of over 600 students in kindergarten through grade five, and was built with a focus on sustainability and environmental responsibility, achieving LEED Silver certification from the United States Green Building Council in early 2016. 

Bancroft was also honored with Learning By Design’s 2017 Citation of Excellence, an award that “recognizes quality in educational facilities designs that enhance teaching, programming, academic outcomes, and the environment.”