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Moortown: The Allerton effect
Teachers at Allerton High in Moortown have found the new £312 million building has had a profound effect on their students.
"They are excited, honoured, privileged and extremely happy to be in such a stunning environment," said deputy head Heather Scott.
"They also like the fact that they have designed significant pieces of it themselves – for example, the red funky furniture in the cafe."
The Allerton Effect has also influenced the teachers.
"Working in such an inspirational environment encourages everyone to
feel better about working and learning," said Heather.
"And I think it is true that colleagues are wearing brighter colours to match the stunning jewel colours we have!"
Heather herself travelled thousands of miles looking for design ideas to incorporate into the new school.
Famously, she went to Auckland, New Zealand, last year to attend a convention and visited several schools to observe building design and curriculum development.
She also visited Saffron Walden in Essex (to see a video room), the
David Young Academy in Leeds, South Leeds High and Bradford Academy.
"I could decide whether designs would be useful in our school," she said.
"At Saffron and Bradford, I saw two different types of video training room (where you can record the lesson and use it for training later) and it helped me decide how to lay out the two we have."
Finding your way around such a huge new building could be a problem but the school has simplified it by introducing colour coding. For example, science lessons are in the blue zone and maths is in the green.
"We deliberately did not give the pupils a plan or map of the building because we wanted them to learn it experientially," explained Heather.
"They use the signs and colours to find their way around it.
"I think the ability to say to a student: 'Head for the pink area' (humanities] helps them find their way. We've also used lots of vision panels in classrooms and offices so we can spot a child who is lost and help them on their way."
On every floor, there are so-called Break Out Spaces with cushioned cube seating (which can be moved into whatever shape is needed) and cube tables.
They are used for pair work, small group work, individual work and informal discussions.
In ICT there are two Break Out Spaces which are fitted with "flip-up desks" which house a computer on the inside.
The school has children of Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh faiths who all have access to a Multi-Faith Centre.
This features small coloured windows representing the multitude of religions and a large compass – which is accurately aligned north, south, east and west – in the middle of the floor.
Contractors are working hard to demolish the old school building – by Christmas is the latest estimate – and then new playing fields will be created in the void.
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