Samuel Rhodes are two schools a special school attended by pupils with moderate learning needs and pupils with a range of different diagnoses. They deliver a bespoke and inclusive curriculum that is very much focused towards life-long access to the community and the work place. Robinson spent time learning with the children in both the primary and secondary schools.
The vision of the Samuel Rhodes Schools is to provide pupils with the life skills, social competencies, practical abilities, and qualifications to find a meaningful role in our community as resilient and increasingly independent adults. This aim pervades the two learning spaces, and is embedded in everything from the teaching approaches to the pastoral care; it therefore informed the work the children did using the ABC method.
For example, at both schools children were shown a filmic example of a postal centre and the people who work there figuring out what space we were looking at by looking at the letters, packages, conveyor, belts, and clothing that we could see in the film. The children identified the Postal Service straight away, and unpacked the clues which led them to this conclusion. The children also identified areas of the school which were special to them. In groups of three and four, the children went around the school with a chaperone to document, using photography, the dining hall, football pitch, library, and the grassy area.
At the primary school, ideas about transformation of their dining spaces and their playground were key elements that the children wished to transform. They designed new elements of spatial design for these important places, using drawing and photography.
The secondary school children were very excited about the recording equipment Robinson brought to audio record their narratives about those spaces and things they might suggest to make them even better. Not only did they do a great job telling their stories, they also helped with the sound recording itself. They took turns holding the microphones and helped with using the recording devices. The resulting recordings were clear as a bell and absolutely perfect; much better than Robinson could have done herself.
What did Robinson learn?
All children, regardless of verbal fluency, have important ideas for transformation of their spaces.