Demonstration sites

Following our successful participatory process at Kingsdale School in South London, the DfES asked School Works to undertake further demonstration sites to refine the Kingsdale model.

Outcomes from these demonstration sites will help schools and LEAs develop output specifications and encourage them to embed the skills for ongoing stakeholder involvement within the school and wider council community. On completion of the sites the DfES will use the findings to inform their school design and stakeholder engagement policies.

As a development from the Kingsdale project, the process now being used involves:

• Bringing together a team of experienced facilitators including educationalists, architects, educational psychologists, communication experts, and visual and performing artists;
• Involving nominated school and Council staff as facilitators and project champions in order to embed the learning at the local level;
• Hosting a walking tour of inspirational architecture for pupils, teachers and wider stakeholders to foster creative thinking about what is possible in school design. Participants meet local architects and location staff on route and are asked to imagine how they would find working in the different environments and express how the buildings and spaces make them feel. Equipped with disposable cameras, participants set about capturing what they like and dislike about some of the details, features, buildings and spaces we visit. The results are used to inform and prompt discussion at the Design Festival;
• Creating and running a Design Festival led by experienced facilitators and representatives from both the schools and Council to engage participants on design themes and issues relating to the proposed building programme. Schools prioritise workshop themes they want included and to date these have included the extended school; safety and security; communications and information; school identity and shared ownership; valuing the past; access and circulation; the heart of a school; heating and lighting; colour and texture; and relationships between people in the school. Within these workshops participants have constructed their own virtual reality school, developed role play exercises, interviewed community representatives such as the local Fire Chiefs and their Head Teachers; undertaken market surveys of the wider school populations; written poetry; and created collages in order to explore their aspirations for the new school;
• Providing the council with a detailed report of the outcomes and recommendations for the way forward.

Please click here for site specific case studies.