World Cafe Session Summary Notes

World Cafe Session Summary Notes Case studies of briefing for benefit in Scotland School Estate Conference at Victoria Quay Monday 25th November 2013

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Introduction 50 delegates from 31 Local Authorities, representatives from SportScotland, SFT, Teaching Professionals and design and construction professionals created a diverse range of participants.

The World CafĂŠ format set out six tables with a facilitator at each. Delegates attended three tables, allowing them to explore different case studies. The aim was to provide an open and creative conversation.

The World CafĂŠ discussion looked in detail at the opportunities for better briefing for education benefit, considering six case studies in Scotland. Each case study considered how local authorities have developed different processes to link the education brief and spatial brief through collaboration. Each session began with a short verbal presentation to provoke discussion, then facilitators at each table invited discussion on the issues that arose.

The following pages summarise these discussions.

To view videos and presentations from the Conference visit www.ads.org.uk/smarterplaces 2

Contents collaborative briefing processes 01. The Jan Pollock, Quality Improvement Officer at East Dunbartonshire Council beyond the school gate 02. Learning Dugald Forbes, educationalist

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Briefing for refurbishment of small schools Annette Patterson, Asset Development Manager for Scottish Borders Council with Lesley Munro, Headteacher from Earlston and Gordon primary schools

idea of shared spaces 04. The Steven Quinn, Head of Service, Education and Skills at North Ayrshire Council

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Briefing for and delivering spaces for outdoor learning Juno Hollyhock, Executive Director of Grounds for Learning

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Re-imagining an existing interior setting Sam Cassels, Strategic Design Advisor, Scottish Futures Trust

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01.

The collaborative briefing processes used

by East Dunbartonshire in their investment programme in six secondary schools, and in their recent design work with SFT Jan Pollock, Quality Improvement Officer at East Dunbartonshire Council

Provocation

Following the award of funding from the Scottish Government for a new Lairdsland Primary School, to cater for 280 pupils under the Schools for the Future Programme, East Dunbartonshire Council worked with the Scottish Future’s Trust to develop a reference primary school design to meet SFT metrics. Stakeholder engagement formed a critical part of the design process, building on the Council’s past experience building six secondary schools under the PPP model. Educational benefit was also at the heart of the proposal.

Engagement process

Pupils (P3-P7), parents and staff were consulted separately on the design through a series of four workshops which took place at fortnightly intervals.

Children and the Head teacher of an open plan layout school also attended to provide a different viewpoint, as did the Head of Service, Corporate Director and the architects, to highlight the importance placed on the process. It was Important to be clear about what was and was not possible – for example the new site for the school was not negotiable.

Workshop 1 concentrated on broad themes such as how to make best use of the site (beside a canal), single vs. double storey and circulation issues. Pupils set out what they liked about their current school and looked at inspirational spaces from other schools to get ideas. Workshop 2 looked at sustainability, adjacencies and proximity of areas and outdoor learning. Workshops 3 and 4 started to pull together the final design for stakeholders to comment on and see how their ideas had been incorporated.

Benefits of the approach

Gained buy-in from all stakeholders for the new school, especially once they could see how their ideas would be incorporated. The process was time consuming and intense but fortnightly meetings built momentum for the project.

Discussion Points Collaborative process

It is important to involve all stakeholders in the process. This may be time consuming but it can avoid problems later and provides an opportunity to reassure on any concerns they may have. They can see how their suggestions have fed through into the final design. In this instance the Council found that pupils were reasonable in the suggestions they made for the school.

Some people mentioned experiences of children, parents and staff being unrealistic in their expectations.

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It is important to have an architect who can communicate ideas with children. For example, in this case the architect made a board game to set out school layouts for pupils. It was generally agreed that all schools will have specific circumstances and needs, therefore a one size fits all approach was not helpful for getting buy-in from stakeholders.

Local authority and staff engagement

The local authority has an important role to play in providing guidance, support and constructive challenge, which is important to help teacher’s visualise how the design could work in practice. A committed head teacher will have an impact on the success of a project; however issues were raised regarding teachers lack of enthusiasm towards new layouts, often wishing to retain traditional classrooms and playgrounds. This highlights the importance of transition planning for staff.

Reference design

It is important that a reference design is scalable for different sizes of primary schools. Whilst certain elements are generic, it is vital to be able to customise a building to suit the particular needs of that community; taking into account geographical features or particular school educational strengths, such as music. It was noted that different authorities have different preferences for layouts and provisions of spaces. Whilst Schools for the Future projects must stay within SFT metrics these have enough flexibility to allow tailoring of the design by a local authority.

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02.

The principles of briefing for learning beyond the school gate, and the potential of using existing civic assets in places to support a range of learning opportunities, from learning towns to agile classrooms Dugald Forbes, educationalistalist.

Provocation

“A teacher is most effective in a space where they are confident and comfortable and where the pupils are stimulated and interested.”

Dugald asked the groups to consider; where do you teach? What is your most memorable learning experience as a school pupil? Where was the teacher most effective?

Dumfries’ Learning Town project as Case Study - The aim of the project is to create a “Learning Hub” which will serve four secondary schools in the area to provide greater equity and solve timetable problems of availability of courses and scarce resources, particularly in minority academic subject.

It is difficult for young people to become inspired as those who do well leave the area and don’t return, leaving the demographic “top heavy” towards the older generation. The projects’ proposal is that the Hub will have state of the art resources for minority academic subjects.

Students will elect to attend courses in the Hub and investigate and manage their own timetable. This engenders responsibility and inspires them to take control of their own learning, further education and future. Local businesses and specialist tradesmen linked closely to the burgh will provide practical work experience which, in turn, would give them the pick of future employees.

Discussion Points

“The “place” is not important, it’s the people who are inspirational, not the building - and in essence, a safe, open environment is all you need for effective teaching and learning.” Stirling council’s assessment of Raploch campus.

Current issues for towns

There are issues with how to deal with a deteriorating, inefficient and ‘unfitfor-purpose’ school estate. Many towns are struggling with deterioration of and dispersal of commercial activity from high streets, downturns in local economy and high youth unemployment. Rural or non-central belt representatives raised concerns that young people are leaving and not returning to the area, losing skills, potential, energy and entrepreneurship.

An uncertain future

All authorities and all schools are still uncertain about the shape, needs and final constitution of Curriculum for Excellence – in all phases. There are difficulties in planning a curriculum and an estate that will be as future-proof as possible. New and refurbished schools are fit for today but maybe not for the future, and what about the sustainability of smaller community facilities in suburbs if there was to be a larger central provision.

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Adapting to “A learning town” education model

There was interest in the association of alternative learning and teaching spaces with schools and hubs, but also concern about how this would be arranged, risk-assessed, quality-controlled, funded, maintained, issues with timetabling schools with education providers such as FE colleges, universities and employers. Concerns were raised regarding teenagers managing the demands of such a curriculum, particularly if it was delivered in a number of different centres.

How and might such developments be funded? At a first glance, it might appear that change was costly and was, in effect, increasing the school estate; in the longer term, however, such a development would not only be a worthwhile investment in facilities and people morale, it would also provide space and scope for the kind of 3-15 provision that most agreed was the way forward.

Making use of existing community assets

Some authorities with towns and schools in a similar economic situation are looking to close schools. Attendees were impressed that Dumfries is instead looking to restore and inspire. But will the hub mean the closure of existing community resources? Quite the opposite; rather the stimulation of them, such as using a cinema as a classroom. The intention is that around the hub will be small “learning villages” making use of existing community assets.

An economically depressed Town centre can affect a town’s ambition. School facilities in these areas often don’t inspire and engage, therefore future learning proposals need to value the pupil and inspire them to achieve, to see the area as somewhere to live and work, increasing esteem and positivity in the community.

The intention of the project is to make strong links with local businesses so that pupils will get on-site experience and proprietors may seek out talent for future employment.

Initially the community saw change as a threat; however by “working through the fear” there is now excitement about the project.

Practicalities of location

The site for the hub will be no more than 10/15 minutes’ walk or cycle, therefore minimal cost incurred by transport. It is hoped that the incentive of choosing their own curriculum will mean that pupils take responsibility for getting to classes although younger pupils would be policed for safety and security reasons. There is also the option to access the hub remotely for those who cannot travel.

The key to retaining pupils is providing as much opportunity and flexibility as possible.

In subject areas where equipment is required such as technical subjects, one central facility which served many schools would mean that it was possible to provide the very best equipment. One challenge is that teachers are not experienced enough to match the level of IT skills todays pupils possess.

Timetabling will enable pupils to get academic achievements under their belts relatively early, and then have time to learn “life-skills”. In terms of encouraging pupils previously prone to non-attendance, it was felt that these pupils would be much more amenable to attend a class which would be a life and future work skill.

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03.

Learning from briefing for refurbishment of small schools, how communities, teachers and learners were engaged, how the processes informed spatial briefing and the challenges to scale up to apply the lessons learned to larger, more complex estate challenges Annette Patterson, Asset Development Manager for Scottish Borders Council with Lesley Munro, head teacher from Earlston and Gordon primary schools Provocation

This session discussed a series of projects in the Scottish Borders, which are moving the focus of briefing from property-led to education-led. Starting to work alongside educationalists to develop their vision, priorities have become focussed on benefits for education rather than purely maintenance or building issues (e.g. providing early years provision and co-locating primary with secondary in order to develop active learning for senior pupils).

By collaboratively developing a strategic plan with educationalists, the council could identify which areas to target – so when money came along for the project, they could confidently propose where money should be invested. Working with a good designer to talk through key constraints and to develop concept plans was invaluable.

Headteachers in the Scottish Borders are starting to come together and ask ‘what does the future of education look like’, and are realising the need to understand and articulate education benefits in relation to the estate.

Scottish Borders Council are developing this with its schools, but are trying to find ways to incorporate this approach across different kinds of assets, and asking ‘how do we scale up the successes of small projects’?

Discussion Points How did you prioritise projects?

By looking at a mix of capacity, condition and suitability - taking this information mostly from the School Estate Management Plan (SEMP).

Funding for projects generally comes from the authority, so money dictates the scale. Even if a project doesn’t get the big funding, by having conversations to understand the vision of the school and the priorities, there are still elements which the Headteacher can take forward over time.

Is the outcome better through an ‘education’ rather than ‘buildingdriven’ approach?

From the educationalist point of view, there are significant differences - and these were achieved by sitting down with a good designer, six highlighter pens and a floor plan. It’s about getting the education and building concept right – and by speaking with education you can decide where best to spend pockets of money, which can in fact result in cost savings. It’s about managing expectations – elected members were positive about changes to education provision, and delivering education benefit.

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What’s the corporate idea/local authority view of where they see schools going? Are they keen to develop education benefit?

Different ideas are emerging from different towns of what education looks like in that place, so it’s no longer about looking at template solutions. It’s about having to negotiate with learning to come up with priorities and a strategy. It’s about choice! What does the school want? There needs to be consultation about education benefit, and education are more ready to have these conversations.

Where do cost benefits come if looking at it from education rather than building? What is the benefit of making accommodation changes if the whole building fabric isn’t upgraded?

Taking the School Estate Management Plan (SEMP) as the starting point and asking – where are the problems, what’s the suitability? It’s about having to do more with less money, and targeting where it’s important to deliver. It’s not just about the building, it’s about choosing between significant decisions, e.g. windows/disabled access versus other building benefits. And making the decision based on the benefit to education! Double glazing doesn’t necessarily improve educational benefits. It’s an issue of selecting priorities and asking, ‘what’s going to achieve more?’ – and if you can’t do the whole project, you can still do something.

How did you consult and reach an agreement on co-locating the Social Work office in the school? How are other facilities being brought-in council-wide?

In this example, the management of the school are committed to sharing services. The agreement is to have pre-planned drop-in with social work – and there are some integrated services with children and social work. There is an issue of how to replicate this on a larger scale.

Are bigger classrooms better, and if so how can we demonstrate this in terms of education benefit?

For primary schools, larger classrooms can facilitate more active learning.

It’s also about having a variety of spaces for different things. Furniture is an important consideration too, and should be invested in earlier – rather than coming later. It’s important to understand the value of decisions at certain points in the process. It’s also good to not label rooms, to allow for flexibility. And can the Headteacher have too much space or control over the project? The project reins need held a little, so that the education brief feeds back into the property brief.

Reflections

Whether looking at refurbishment or new build, the key point was to develop a vision and a concept plan by working with educationalists and good designers.

More is being achieved by working with and listening to headteachers. And it’s important to understand where they want to go for their school – and what’s the hook for the project? Starting to see the direction of travel in terms of creating different kinds of spaces.

It would be good to have visuals to demonstrate what change looks like, and to understand better how we capture the educational benefit. It’s also about sharing this intent across the authority, and different kinds of assets – but how do we do this?

It’s important to retain an element of control from design to delivery.

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04.

The idea of shared spaces to facilitate ambition and attainment by learners, of all ages, and backgrounds; and attachment by communities. This session will provoke questions about how we create spaces for learning, challenge zoning, ask questions about overlapping programmes and relationships in space between teachers, learners and communities Steven Quinn, Head of Service, Education and Skills at North Ayrshire Council

Provocation

A great deal of investment has been made over recent years in the upgrading of the school estate, improving teacher training and working on the Curriculum for Excellence. However, attainment has not increased.

Budget cuts are an opportunity to look at how we can do things differently.

We should no longer be looking at the suitability and the condition of schools in isolation, instead we should be looking at the whole corporate estate - and what benefits we can bring to all learners from 3-70. The estate should be about becoming community learning centres open to everyone.

How might this manifest when planning schools? We need to think better about adjacencies, for example performing arts should be adjacent to domestic science so that catering can be taken to support events and performances.

The main barrier is within education, and perceptions of how education is delivered. And consultation should be wider than just parents and pupils, it should be about listening to voices within the community.

Discussion Points School as a community asset

No one wants to see community assets close! So while most local authorities are happy to open facilities out of hours, there are challenges in closing existing community facilities. In some local authorities, there are many community centres which are largely empty during the day, and only used in the evenings – yet primary schools are often available during evenings too. But how do you bring in the public during the day? There are limitations on public mixing with children (issue of Dunblane still with us, so there’s a real nervousness about mixing public with daytime education). Yet, when the public are about, teachers see a real difference in the behaviour of pupils. And why should the public not be able to use shared services such as the library, café and swimming pool?

The proposed provision needs to offer first rate services or something better in easy reach – and community learning assets need to be at the heart of the community, i.e. In the town centre, not on the fringes. It has to be demand led, and the issue of affordable access needs to be addressed.

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More family engagement with the school

Poverty, neighbourhood and family are key to the outcomes for a young person so it’s really important that families and communities are more engaged. Having open access to school and facilities is important, and more needs to be done to work closer with parents and carers to involve them.

But community voice is more than just parents! Need to get others on board at an early stage, and in a positive way – ask people what they want rather than present a final picture.

Communication and leadership

Politicians buy into the concept of amalgamation, but are nervous about vociferous individuals not wishing community halls to be relocated in schools – it’s seen as a closure of facilities. Difficult decisions need to be made, and elected members need to buy into new proposals. And it’s important to engage with community groups earlier and take them with us so they see schools as a community asset – part of the learning ‘village’. How we use language to engage is important!

The leadership from Directors of Education needs to be strong.

Headteacher’s can deliver change in attainment – we have seen this – but the vision and strategic direction needs to come from the local authority.

Considering the cost

Opening up schools to the community comes at a cost – separate entrances, toilets etc – but is this good value when they are not always often used? A measure of what we do in education in gauged on how much we spend on schools and resources. But we need to think instead to think about the outcomes we achieve. An outcome based budgeting is needed by putting all assets on a single spreadsheet. Part of the problem, however is that the experience of local authorities is that if they make a saving they lose their budget.

New ways of working

Teachers demand classroom space, staff ask for separate IT reading rooms, and debating theatres - but these have to be incorporated into existing space. Technology can offer options (i.e. iPad and kindles) but teachers seem less happy with this. There’s a lot of wasted space and opportunity, for example many staff rooms are only used for half an hour each day. And why does a teacher need a desk? (Angus Council are doing away with desks).

There’s a mind set which is fixed on classrooms, and many Headteacher’s don’t support changes in “estates”. The community perception is also that schools need classrooms.

However, creative subjects are more open to having shared space.

Independent thinkers/learners should be allowed space to work independently without supervision, those who need additional support should be placed with a teacher. This gives independent learners life skill lessons.

Investment’s of £30m should not be around one person’s desires – teachers and pupils change over time, and Headteacher’s leave. There needs to be longer term strategic planning.

Demonstrating what works

Need to have someone get corporate asset management right so we can all learn from best practice. That is what would help drive change – when others see it works and we can all reap the benefits.

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05.

Learning about practical processes of briefing for and delivering spaces for outdoor learning, citizenship and development of children and young people Juno Hollyhock, Executive Director of Grounds for Learning

Provocation

“An effective school ground is never finished; it must change with time and evolve with its pupils.”

There is a view that the building is permanent but the grounds are temporary. There is a real need to understand that playgrounds are not just spare space and the design brief for outdoors should be considered part of the whole site planning process and make explicit reference to the delivery of the curriculum in the same way as the educational design brief does for the build process. We must understand where a school is at, the flexibility of the design brief, and through an engaging consultation process, understand if they are already using outdoor learning.

Discussion Points Designing for outdoor learning

A set of low cost options of standardised designs for essential elements of the outdoor space such as seating, shelter and storage would be greatly beneficial for delivering affordable outdoor learning.

It would also be useful to include considerations around maintenance costs of the landscape, for example a more natural landscape is often cheaper to install and maintain but it may need in-school policies around transition spaces and use of outdoor clothing.

What do I want to achieve?

“The question should be “what do I want to achieve?” not “what do they want?” Many clients don’t know what they want and they do not think it through, then sanction expensive equipment due to budget spending pressures. It might be helpful to introduce some sample risk/benefit assessments into the design consultation process to help schools and parents to make informed decisions about landscaping.

There is a need to understand the balance of challenge and risk, in a secured environment; parents need to buy in to this attitude to understand that the outdoors can have great benefits, and can broaden a child’s learning.

Children can make the decisions on their playground’s health and safety, undertaking the risk assessment allows the children to understand and assess the design, creating independent learners.

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Enabling change

Buy-in to outdoor learning should be embedded into recruitment and line management processes in order that the investment in the design and implementation is not wasted. We must look to change attitudes of dogmatic health and safety, particularly amongst teachers and parents. The fear of litigation due to the existing legal environment makes it much more difficult to create good, sustainable and cheap outdoor learning environments.

Teacher training could provide a platform to embed a change to traditional perceptions of outdoor learning; traditional teachers are embedded in traditional methods. The inertia for changing education is so slow, there are so many linkages available to build outdoor learning into education but the problem is engaging teachers into consultation for change.

Outdoor learning at secondary level

Secondary Schools have added pressures on the curriculum, with a focus on specific subject areas; there is no direct link between outdoor learning and the curriculum. There tends to be a lack of imagination and interest at consultation level for secondary schools. Trying to engage a teacher is very difficult. A disparity may be created between primary and secondary outdoor learning experiences if the sole focus is getting outdoor learning correct at primary level.

What does play look like at secondary level? Where do they go, what do they do? And what can we do to maximise secondary level outdoor learning?

A lack of planned outdoor spaces leads to the creation of spaces by the pupils themselves. Secondary level pupils like to get away from the school, create their own space, a sense of independence. We must create a holistic experience, how the outdoors can be tied into the learning lesson, not just bringing the lesson outside. The curriculum could tie outdoor learning into core subjects, with the examination system having aspects of outdoor learning.

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06.

Learning about the process of re-imagining an existing interior setting of a 1960’s school as a social space, flexible learning space and new identity for the school using a toolkit of simple principles and simple changes Sam Cassels, Strategic Design Advisor, Scottish Futures Trust Provocation

“The decision on whether to refurbish or rebuild is often made before the school fully understands their need for change. Could the change be incorporated into an existing old building?”

There is an assumption that refurbishment is second best to new build, that it doesn’t work, it’s too difficult and there are too many problems with it.

Why does refurbishment not happen more often and what are the problems?

Whilst new build schools appear to be the preferred option in most cases, there are often cases where a new school is unfeasible due to issues with timescales, money, key stakeholders and space requirements.

Due to current economic austerity, in order to make the best use of their resources clients have to also consider the refurbishment option, but how much is this happening? The decision to refurbish or build new should start with what is right for that school and community. Asking fundamental questions such as, what positive points does the current school already have? What is its real potential and how might this benchmark against a new building in terms of value, both financially and educationally? Does it have a good basic shell? And what would you propose for a new school building – are there many similarities to what you already have?

Discussion Points Varying levels of refurbishment

“Whole building refurbishment” - new design is required, major changes are made.

“Phased refurbishment” - one phase at the time, to gradually improve the school’s condition.

“Refreshment” - updated shell, fixture and fittings, a complex design team may not be required.

Varying levels of refurbishment can lead to a very complex project, which often puts stakeholders off. How do you start a phased process? Where do you start? How does it affect the pupils and the need to decant them? There needs to be a view that change is for the better - an educational benefit to refurbishing a school that meets the educational benefits of a new build, not just to re-build what is already there.

Showcasing and celebrating successful refurbishment

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We need to exploit success stories! There are lots of brilliant examples of good school refurbishments, but they are not talked about and celebrated enough. The more people talk about it, the more knowledge is shared, and the better each project will get. There is a need for more dialogue around school refurbishment.

Collaborating with key agencies

Working with various key agencies was raised as a key barrier to refurbishing schools. Members of the local authorities found the process of working with them long and difficult but agreed that involving key agencies early in the process helps to ease this.

Costing

Older buildings can be less efficient than new buildings, incurring greater lifecycle costs. The management of pupil decants can be costly, create excessive management issues, and potentially cause years of disruption to education.

Space requirements

An argument for refurbishment is that you can gain larger spaces through the adaption of existing spaces, particularly for community and communal use than what would be cost viable in a new school build.

An example was given where an existing school was used for decanting pupils while a new school was under construction. The existing school received great feedback from staff and pupils, who then moved to their new school and found this environment less satisfactory.

Engagement and consultation

Do you engage with the children, community and staff in the same way as for a new build?

The assumption is that children and staff of the school are not involved in consultation of a refurbishment project in the same way as they are involved in a new build project. Children have great ideas; they have a good insight into the working of the school, what works well and what doesn’t.

Designers and architects – when are they involved? Are they the right people?

What would happen if the “A-team” was put on the refurbishment project?

There is a need to get the right designers and architects involved, at the right stage in the process.

It is rare to see the “A-team” of designers and architects assigned to a refurbishment project. The “A-team” is assigned to new build projects, straightforward design and project progression, the types of projects which make the headlines. There is a need to demand higher expectations and place restrictions on designers and architects to force them to achieve more.

Managing the civic estate

With an increasing move toward utilising schools for community use, there are issues with relocating and incorporating community services into schools and how to deal with the impacts of the existing community facilities becoming redundant. It is important to identify what areas are lacking from investment in the current school estate, and rectify where investment is needed over the next 5 years.

What areas of a school should be re-designed and refurbished?

Areas seen as “Whole school spaces” were all highlighted as being important and where children really saw the benefits of innovative improvements – such as social spaces, sports facilities, dining areas and toilets. It was generally agreed that traditional classrooms, whilst they may need “refreshed”, don’t require innovative design to improve them as learning environments as they already serve their purpose. Learning spaces need to be suitable for all ages, particularly where classrooms and other learning spaces are used for adult education and community use.

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