When head teacher Sandra Critchley took over at Falmouth secondary school in Cornwall, it was not only on Ofsted's 'at risk' register, but in possession of a design and technology block that shamed that title. Positioned prominently near the main entrance, the single-storey concrete frame building had, like the school, seen better days. So when the Sorrell Foundation's 'Joinedup-designforschools' inititiative rolled into town in 2004, it chose to concentrate its attention on this block. The foundation is well known for successfully teaming schoolkids with designers to generate new approaches to educational design. It paired London practice Urban Salon with the teenagers to develop some theoretical schemes. Practice director Caroline Keppel-Palmer says the whole experience was enlightening and exciting for both parties. 'Student groups were taken from different years and they used imaginative ways, such as writing plays, to draw attention to the shortcomings of the building as it existed,' she says. 'Space was cramped and there were discipline problems, as female teachers had to leave the block altogether to use the toilet. All in all, the building was seriously failing its users.'
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