Why can’t we have all our lessons out here in the park

“Why can’t we have all our lessons out here in the park?”

This is what Year 8 at collectively shouted as we headed back to school after our latest East 20 workshop. A year ago, these young people were pioneering students, the first year group to enter Chobham Academy, the first school to open in the Olympic Park.   

If the aim of the project is to excite the students about the opportunities in their school’s ‘back yard’, then I think we might have already achieved it.
 

Our challenge is to support the students in a search to find ‘places’ that are meaningful to them in this huge 560 acre newly formed site.  Four teams: #FishNet, The Great Banter, Anonymous and Banterlona, went where curiosity led them, heading for high points and searching out secret spots.

These are just a few of the lesser-known facts and places they uncovered on the Olympic Park:
  

• The landscaped slopes are perfect for rolling down 

• Tumbling bay playground appeals to people of all ages; there is no upper age limit

• The rustling leaves of the surrounding trees in fact make Portland Lake the noisiest place in the park

• You can literally lose yourself in a corner of Victory park… you’ll have to go to find out how.

Start points had previously been provided by a panel of speakers intimately involved in the design and maintenance of the park and its surrounding neighbourhoods. This inspiring panel included Kathyrn Firth, Chief of Design at the LLDC, Caroline Jupp, artist in residence currently based in a moving shed, and Nick Edwards of Fundamental. Even an imaginary alien who has just taken up residence in the park also made an appearance!

The places the students came across will become sites for large-scale viewfinders to be built in the next session. Quite literally watch this space…

Quality Badge Awarded

We are delighted that we have once again been awarded a Quality Badge by the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom (lOtC).

The badge is a nationally recognised indicator of good quality educational provision, helping  reduce the red tape associated with learning outside the classroom and thereby making it easier for teachers and other education providers to incorporate learning outside of the classroom into the everyday curriculum.

For more information on The lOtC and the Quality Badge, please click here. 

National Science and Engineering Week 2013

15th - 24th March - Book Now!

'National Science & Engineering Week shines the spotlight each March on how the sciences, technology, engineering and maths relate to our everyday lives, and helps to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers with fun and participative events and activities'

The Building Exploratory's fantastic science and engineering workshops are designed to engage your students with learning in exciting and interactive ways. 

All of workshops are linked to the national curriculum across a wide range of subject areas, from maths, science and design technology and geography. Our creative activities allow the students we work with to develop a range of skills including observation, spatial awareness, creative problem solving and critical thinking.

Call us now on 0207 6080 775 to discuss your workshop package for Science and Engineering Week. 

Workshops available: 

Building Bridges or Building the Stadium

In this workshop your class will learn about Forces in action as found in building and bridge construction. Children will gain an understanding of the crucial decisions engineers make when designing bridges and buildings and will learn how the interaction of forces determine which are the strongest shapes to use when building structures.  Working in teams, children participate in the Building Exploratory’s ‘bridge-building’ or ‘Olympic Stadium-building challenge.

Which team can apply their knowledge of forces to build the strongest structure?

Printing Planets

Reinforce your class’s learning from the Earth, Sun and Moon topic in this creative workshop. Children consider the features of each of the planets in the Solar System, and their relationship to the sun.  They discover the environmental and atmospheric conditions on the planets and learn how to represent them visually through mark-making, looking at the works of modern artists for inspiration. These new skills are then applied to making beautiful, ambient prints of the planets to display in your classroom.
 

Shelter: What from and what form? 

This workshop looks at natural features in a variety of environments and how a shelter can be constructed from locally-found materials.  Children work in project teams to agree the function of a shelter and how it will be designed and made.  Using model-making materials provided by the Building Exploratory, project teams build models of their shelters and present them to the class. 

Prices from as a little as £250 per workshop - Discounted packages available for multiple workshop bookings. Click here to contact us or call on 0207 6080 775

Progress in Geography

On Friday Head of Learning Janet Clark joined the Architecture Centre Network’s Head of Learning, Cara Courage, to speak at ‘Progress in Geography’, the Geographical Association’s Annual Conference and Exhibition at the University of Surrey.   

Around 70 geography teachers listened to Cara talk about the Network’s national offer to teachers and schools and Janet talk about the Building Exploratory's work with secondary school Geography Departments.  

Using Hackney as a case study, Janet encouraged teachers to use their local urban built environment and demonstrated how maps, photography, buildings and creative practice can be used to inspire and engage young people studying geography at all Key Stages.

Find out more about out our school workshops at www.buildingexploratory.org.uk/schools