Milnes primary school

A School in a Village – A Village and it’s School

Working with the Education team at Architecture and Design Scotland and the community of Fochabers.

Milne's is designed as a Campus to ‘grow’: its progress and performance logged through decisions made as to what to keep, what to erase and what to prioritise for the future. Thus, young people can learn how to assert influence over their local living conditions and lead the necessarily patient but hugely rewarding process of change.

A Learning Patio

This project explores the fascinating ‘between’ of inside and outside space through positioning a simple sheltered structure adjacent to a learning ‘patio’. This space would benefit hugely from the inclusion of loose materials allowing pupils to plan and construct their own space and invent their own games and artefacts.

In the analytical method phase of the project conducted with the pupils it was clear that the boundaries of space and territorial allocations are very important to them. Walls, edges and thresholds are significant to their spatial comprehension and the way they experience external space.

Growing Spaces

In the teachers consultation workshop a vegetable garden where the teachers could make curricular relationships to food and to lifecycles got the second top vote in their priorities exercise.

Learning Ambition

Earth to Plate Learning - Pupils host an ‘open day’ - Pupils host a plant ‘sale’ - Pupils find allied spaces within Fochabers to meaningfully distribute plants that they have raised - Older pupils pass on skills to younger pupils .