Bundarra Primary School in Portland has worked with graduate Architect Tom Morgan from Sharkmouse in 2010 and 2011 to design and build this fantastic space! The children worked hard this year to refine their initial design into something that could be built in the school grounds. Their initial design was fairly large and enclosed, however it was redeveloped and tweaked to become an open space situated in a garden.
Plantings have been completed and cushions go out each day for the children to use. This is a space for the grade 6 children and they used it for about 3 weeks before the end of term. Art Teacher Jenn Collett has done an incredible amount of work seeing this project to fruition and is extremely proud of their achievements. We are too - an awesome job to all involved!
There will be an official opening of the Bundarra Eco-Cubby in March - we'll keep you posted!
image courtesy of Tom morgan
Beautiful! But... a little undewhelming for two years work. I think the Melbourne Kindy's eco-cubby reflected the kids work better.
Posted by: Thad Mungold | Sunday, 15 January 2012 at 15:09
The Eco-Cubby project is not a building project; rather, it focuses on the learning process the children go through. We at Eco-Cubby celebrate the achievements of all schools and kindergartens involved. Projects vary significantly across the state, both in their delivery and in their outcomes – not all outcomes are measured by an actual built cubby.
On this blog it is difficult to document the less tangible outcomes of the project. These outcomes are documented through anecdotal observations and learning stories. Children engage in and direct their own learning in a variety of ways and we observe things such as: their excitement at working with an architect/designer at their school, the learning that takes place outside of the classroom when children investigate their school grounds, the development of hands on numeracy skills to understand measurement and scale and the numerous hours of lunchtimes children willingly give up to collaborate on ideas and work together to construct cubby models. For some children being part of Eco-Cubby was a reason to go to school everyday instead of truanting, which in itself is possibly one of the most important outcomes of the project.
We are incredibly proud of what the Bundarra Primary School students have achieved. The time it took to realise a built outcome is not important, as circumstances differ from school to school and can’t be compared, however, for a structure to be built at all signifies a teachers' absolute dedication to the project and to the students involved.
The students at Bundarra Primary School recognise what they have achieved. Their journey is one of sustainability, placemaking and ownership - their structure is modest but their names are recorded on it and it’s their space. We celebrate them!
Posted by: Eco-Cubby | Monday, 16 January 2012 at 21:48