Space-making: the edge of school

This workshop aimed to think about the relationship between, and the significance for children of time and space in school. We asked how children begin to understand that school itself might be odd? An ‘Odd after school club’ was designed as a new ‘place’ and ‘time’ to reflect, with children, on how the ‘usual’ place and time of school feels. Becky and Jo built an environment where relationships, behaviour and activities were less hierarchical. Although of course they also needed some of school’s structures to undertake their activity safely. A key activity involved playing hide and seek in the school after normal hours, where the potential for transgression and disruption was ever present. They used large paper photographs as ‘skins’ to hide in, negotiating where the child and school begin and end. In this seminar participants can also try hiding in the skins. Through this seminar we asked how work with children can build in ways to ‘see’ school from a different perspective, and what the risks might be in opening up this possibility.