Yesterday the many different disciples from HOK London collaborated to run a workshop with a 25 school kids between the ages of 11 and 18. The all-day session was set up by Stefan Jakobek, who heads up our Education department here, Studio Schools Trust and The Young Foundation to understand what sort of spaces students would respond well to a new type of school that is being developed here – the Studio School.

The idea of Studio Schools is to help 14-19 year olds better prepare for the world of work. They aim to provide young people with qualifications and a full range of skills – while also engaging them in working in, and running, businesses and social enterprises directly serving customers.

Studio Schools will be small schools of around 300 students. They will teach the national curriculum through interdisciplinary, enterprise-themed projects, but will have a very different style and ethos to most existing schools, with a much stronger emphasis on practical work and enterprise. Every student will have a personal coach; there will be mixed age teams; and the schools will have many of the features of a workplace (like booking holidays).

As you can see Studio Schools are uncharted territory, and their central principals are around giving their students choice and more independence. The 25 students from around the UK (some from Studio School pilot studies) came to HOK offices and work-shopped with HOK employees (including Graphic Design, Advance Strategies, Architects, Interiors), some teachers, and government policy makers identify what they wanted to be different about Studio Schools and in the end to physically design ideas for how they want these schools to look. The day ended with presentations from the students of the Studio School designs.

The success of the day was proven by the fact the students got up and spoke in front of a room of 50 by the end of the day, when some were uncomfortable to speak at all in the morning. Bt the end of the day the kids were empowered, and we and the policy makers are now armed with the ideas that could shape Studio Schools of the future. Here are some photos of the day… (you may recognise a certain Advance Stragies employee somewhere here…)