Creating a safe space away from the regular classroom is helping young students get the most out of their education.
At St Martin’s Catholic Primary School in Greenacres there is a place of wonder, a place where children can design, create, tinker, build and paint to their heart’s desire.
That place is Our Shed, a purposebuilt space that focuses on the wellbeing of the school’s young students, offering them a break from regular classroom learning when needed. Our Shed offsets the school’s existing Our Place, an all-day facilitated sensory room for inclusive education students who require regulated breaks.
“Our Shed has been a dream of ours for some time,” says Rose Valenti, assistant principal at St Martin’s Greenacres. “We have been involved with KidsMatter and it was something that came from the action team there.
“For some of our children who have shown some concerns, it might be an area they go to when they are having issues. It’s different to sitting in the classroom and learning – it’s about being in a small group and doing something completely different that they love. It’s using lots of other senses as well, such as touch and feel.”
Opening in early 2019, Our Shed started out as a safe space for children with social and emotional wellbeing needs, but has now become much more than that. “Students who show a keen interest in woodwork are also using Our Shed,” Valenti says.
“They create and design, they tinker, pull things apart and put them back together again, they can research and find things they would like to build. They might do boats, cars – at the moment there are some birdhouses being established. One of the boys in Year 6 has made a soccer table – there are so many incredible things being created.”
But, while being in Our Shed provides children with an escape from the classroom, it isn’t all about the fun. Projects in Our Shed involve science, technology, engineering and maths, providing students with a basic grounding in STEM education. “Although they don’t think of it as academic learning, a lot of learning is actually taking place,” Valenti says. “The projects cover all of STEM without it being the driving goal. Our Shed has a primary focus on wellbeing but it certainly does foster that STEM pedagogy.”
Our Shed is run by Pete Kuerschner, the school’s sustainability officer and one of the education support officers on campus. “Pete is so kind and patient,” Valenti says.
“Our Shed has become a really popular space in our yard. He opens it at lunch time some days so students can go in and tinker.
“As sustainability officer, Pete has already built relationships with the children through his passion for gardening and creating, so this is just taking it to the next level. The kids love it.”
As do the parents. “You can tell it’s something a bit different to what’s going on in other primary schools because, when I do enrolment tours, the parents are very surprised, very eager to see this area,” Valenti says.
“They create and design, they tinker, pull things apart and put them back together again, they can research and find things they would like to build”
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