How do you set up schools in your city?

[Psiman 177]

Do you just plop schools on their own or do you add any other lots with them?

For Elementary Schools, I sometimes put a Playground adjacent to it.

For High Schools, in my previous game, I would usually do something like this - add a Basketball Court and a couple of small Open Paved Areas, or a Tennis Court. Then I'd surround them with Grass and plant trees to make an enclosed space. A Soccer Field would be cheaper actually - do Americans have Softball Fields in schools?

Maybe I should build some communal playing fields around the city with Soccer Fields and Softball Fields within distance of inner-city schools.

What do you do in your city?

ETA: Large inner-city high school in my previous city:

[CorinaMarie 29,923]

29 minutes ago, Psiman said:

What do you do in your city?

[Cyclone Boom 17,032]

Here's one of my recent examples with an Elementary school in a suburban neighbourhood:
 

I tend to surround schools with standard parks such as the above basketball courts, tennis courts, playgrounds, etc. My reasoning is it gives the kids some nice place to play, and also blends in as an extension of the school grounds (owned by the local council). Here I thought it fits nicely with the road being on a corner, although health and safety wouldn't be very impressed without having metal barriers built in front of the courts.

[Psiman 177]

13 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

1) Do those cars belong to the staff or the pupils?

2) Is that a school for... cows? 

3 minutes ago, Cyclone Boom said:

Here I thought it fits nicely with the road being on a corner, although health and safety wouldn't be very impressed without having metal barriers built in front of the courts.

I'm thinking of adding a 1x1 Open Grass Area With Fence lot, to create more realistic-looking enclosed areas. Might be a useful piece for other things around town too.

[CorinaMarie 29,923]

1 minute ago, Psiman said:

1) Do those cars belong to the staff or the pupils?

Some of each. I added the extra parking cause when I was in HS many of us drove. For me the bus was super annoying cause it first picked us up out in the sticks, then went to an elementary school where everyone from about 10 different buses transferred and then went back across town to drop us off. Took about 45 minutes when it was only 10ish from my home to the HS.

 

1 minute ago, Psiman said:

2) Is that a school for... cows? 

Yep. That's the Gary Larson Elementary School.

[The Thinker 479]

51 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

That reminds me of a village in the New Forest that I stayed at some 12 years ago, free-range cows everywhere!  Got to the point where we had to go the long way round a river because some cattle were obstructing a footbridge. 

 

 

Oh, and to answer the OP's question, admittedly I don't really do anything super special for the most part, though I do occasionally garnish the land around my cities' elementary schools with the odd park and/or playground, and I always make sure that all educational establishments are well serviced by a bus stop, and maybe a subway station too (if convenient).

[RobertLM78 1,598]

I too like to put playgrounds adjacent to elementary schools.  Lately I've been putting one of SimGoober's pools (namely the more 'public' looking pool) adjacent to high schools.

[CorinaMarie 29,923]

49 minutes ago, RobertLM78 said:

SimGoober's pools

Those look good. I especially like the bottom, rectangular one. (I've also fixed up the broken description and dep linkys for it.)

[RobertLM78 1,598]

4 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

Those look good. I especially like the bottom, rectangular one.

They've been an excellent addition to the parks menu.   Yes, the rectangular one is great - and is the one I use for high schools.  

[Psiman 177]

New school designs. I'm not sure tennis courts are that efficient on a per pupil basis.

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

Being an engineer, I don't garnish my functional buildings with any of those fru-fru lots (and I don't have as much of a problem with mansion proliferation either). Instead, I tend to cluster service buildings having similar radii (large elementary, large HS, large hospital). Only if where buildings are too small to cover the depth of a block do I add parks. My blocks are 6-wide, so my libraries at 2x2 are backed by small green parks, and the rare filler med clinic (e.g. covering an island too small for a hospital) is often backed by a green park or plaza.

[RobertLM78 1,598]

3 hours ago, jeffryfisher said:

Being an engineer, I don't garnish my functional buildings with any of those fru-fru lots

Hehehehe - but schools regularly have playgrounds attached in Real Life - hardly fru fru 

(Now, I suppose one could argue that the tennis courts (sorta a yuppy thing to begin with) adjacent to high schools is a bit fru fru )

What kind of engineer are you, anyway? 

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

21 hours ago, RobertLM78 said:

What kind of engineer are you, anyway?

Disclosure: I'm not a certified engineer in the narrow, very mathematical sense of the word. I only have had the word in some job titles over the years as I have developed and tested software (including pc games and relational databases).

[monkeywater 910]

On 11/24/2018 at 7:05 PM, Psiman said:

I'm thinking of adding a 1x1 Open Grass Area With Fence lot

could you link to the download for those?

[Psiman 177]

On 30/11/2018 at 4:58 AM, monkeywater said:

could you link to the download for those?

They're homemade, and will be included in my upcoming beautification lots mod, although they're easy enough to make.

[badwithnames14 35]

"It's Liq"