According to The Children’s Society (2021)* 1 in 6 children aged between 5 and 16 are likely to have…
Setting up a book corner for the new school year in your classroom
When you are considering how and where to create a book corner for your classroom, some of your design choices…
Intimate, relatable and protective: what we can learn from the design of reading spaces for expert readers
Alberto Manguel, the director of the National Library of Argentina once commissioned his own library to house his extensive private…
Are all young readers well-served by the design of schools?
If you are involved in any aspect of the design or refurbishment of schools for young children, you will inevitably…
Reading and the body: the unacknowledged physical challenges of learning to read in school
In the 2010s, while working as a Reading Recovery1 teacher, I witnessed the daily challenges that young children face when…
Of tides and rock pools: a growing awareness of the school building beyond the classroom
The first time I came to understand the design of a school to be of any significance to its staff…
How to break eggs: consciously disrupting our habituation to school buildings
Why is it important to address the phenomenon of habituation to spaces in schools? A surprisingly large amount of effort…
Possibility blindness: habituation to school buildings
The classrooms, corridors and hallways of primary and nursery schools in the UK are almost uniformly furnished with plentiful display…
Voices from precarious spaces: dedicated spaces for therapeutic practitioners in schools
In this post, I draw on the voices of therapeutic practitioners working in schools to consider why it might be…
A place of greater safety: an exercise
In Reflecting on the core values of therapeutic spaces I proposed an initial exercise to prompt reflections on some of…
Precious Spaces 