Wren Academy opened to its first cohort of students in September 2008. It is the second school in the country to specialise in design and the built environment. Staff are really enthusiastic about the opportunities this offers to deepen and broaden learning within the curriculum.
Wren Academy year 7 students © Wren Academy
Most specialist schools adopt an existing curriculum subject, but the design and built environment stream is unique because it applies across all subject areas, encouraging a lateral and holistic approach to cross-curricular learning.
Early in October 2008, our students visited St Paul’s Cathedral and a choice of one other building of interest – the London Eye, the Royal Festival Hall or Allies and Morrison – as part of the How Places Work programme run by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE).
The visits were led by the school’s art, design and technology department but immediately inspired staff in other disciplines. To prepare for the visits, our students attended a focus day led by trainee art and design teachers from the Institute of Education.
Working with small groups of students, the teachers learnt how art and design education can assist learning from places. All staff, regardless of their subject, were able to engage students in the process of interacting with space.
Students sketchbook from city visit, Wren Academy © Wren Academy
Many teachers returned to Wren inspired to follow up the learning back in the classroom. For example, one maths teacher explored Sir Christopher Wren’s use of mathematics at St Paul’s. A small group of students revisited St Paul’s a few weeks later to learn how Wren used his love of astronomy and science in his design of St Paul’s.
Wren Academy has future plans that will use buildings and places as a stimulus for learning across the curriculum. Our humanities department is liaising with CABE on a Green Day programme, for example.
As Wren Academy comes towards the end of its first term, we have already witnessed the power of our specialism to engage students in learning that links skills and knowledge from across the curriculum. The personal learning and thinking skills of the new secondary national curriculum can be developed deeply and effectively through well-planned projects that have the built environment at their heart.
We have been delighted with the enthusiasm of our staff and our students. Their feedback shows how the built environment is creating inspiring learning opportunities in a connected framework.
