the big question: where does all the time go?

Like many schools in the UK, the pressures on resources - particularly the time and space available for learning - are high. The key issues identified at Walker are mostly affected by these two factors. What will be important outputs of the Our New School project are the systems and processes which allow a school to use these resources more innovatively.

travelling off-site

Vocational learning is becoming increasingly popular, but attending a class off the school campus can mean lots of planning and paperwork, and a half day round trip for students and staff with time wasted travelling between A and B.

With an opportunity to spend money on a new building comes the need to create some principles around how vocational learning should happen in the future and the systems and resources needed to provide a range of vocational options sustainably...

rushing through lunch

Like many schools in the UK lunch happens in shifts at Walker as there is only space for a third of the children at any one time in the dining areas. The dining areas are also used as teaching spaces so staff are constantly moving furniture. The lunch 'hour' is just 25 minutes for a student and is also tightly scheduled for teachers, who may have to supervise toilets or yards or prepare lessons and have only very little time to relax.

miles away from everyone

Miss Dodd is a Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) and a fairly new arrival at Walker. Her classroom is a long distance from the staff room where colleagues meet to chat or just switch off for a few moments. As Miss Dodd's classroom is so far away, she sometimes doesn't get to see any other adults all day and can feel isolated besides missing out on exchanging ideas and experiences with other teachers. Teachers also have to concentrate for hours at a time - it takes a lot of effort to hold the attention of a class of thirty people and without breaks this is even more difficult.

I forgot my pen again!

Small things like a student turning up for a lesson without basic equipment can cause delays and set the student and teacher relationship off on the wrong foot for the rest of lesson. These small disruptions are frustrating for those students who are ready to get on with the lesson and are tiring and demotivating for the teacher.