Designing Your Workshop

Timbucktoo Design Festival

Aims: To allow the participants the opportunity to contribute their views on:

• How the school can represent its history in the new building
• Who needs to be involved in making those decisions
• What the school history means for how the school portrays itself and its identity in its community
• What they would want to see in the new school;
• What they would want to avoid in the new school;
Outcomes: That participants will have been able to share their personal views on how the school can look to the future while valuing the past That participants will have identified their key priorities for the new school That participants will have been able to develop their thinking creatively during the workshop and in ways that they can then apply to other areas of their work.

Proposed content:

Activity Timing (minutes) Afternoon timings Introductions and ground rules In pairs get them to introduce each other and say: - who they are - where they're from - one thing that the group wouldn't know about them (could be a hobby, or an achievement) 10 1.15 - 1.25 Look at photos from the inspirational tour. What do the outsides of these buildings say about their history? How old are the buildings? Do you think they have been used for different things in the past? How do you know? As them to think about their school and its history. What can they see around their school which says something about its past? Think about their community. What can they see around the community which says something about its history? Identify the key symbols about the school and its history and ask whether they like or don't like these symbols and stories and why. 30 1.25 - 1.55 In pairs, ask them to put themselves into the future. They have left school and are working. They are invited back to the new school for a class reunion. Ask them to write a short story, no more than 3 paragraphs about what they see. Ask them to focus on the things they would recognise from their old school. Ask then to read out their stories and flip chart key themes. 40 1.55 - 2.35 Draw out two or three key symbols and ask the split into small groups. Ask groups to take a symbol and design an aspect of the school where it will be represented (badge, logo, banner, crest etc). They can use any materials or pictures they want. Ask them to think about who it is for and what they want to get from it. This will help them think where it should be sited in the building. Share the outcomes of the exercise, asking each group to explain what they did and why. Discuss any common themes and try to draw out any issues which are a priority for the group. 60 2.35 - 3.35 (including 15 min morning break) Finish by asking the group to complete a post it exercise. They each have 3 post its to identify the things they would want to keep from their existing school and take forward into the new school. One should be under each heading : - something which makes me happy - something which makes me proud - something which would make me sad if it wasn't there 5 3.35 - 3.40 Close the session : Thank the group and end the session. Check they know where they need to be next. 3.40 - 3.45

Resources:

• Large sheets of A3 paper/Flipchart
• Small sheets of A4 paper or pads
• Pens/pencils
• Large chunky coloured marker pens
• Magazines/photographs/postcards
• Scissors
• Glue
• Coloured paper