Literacy wall word search, originally uploaded by loulrc.

Here’s an interesting idea for a corridor - a word search. This one is in a High School but I could see this working in Primary too. You could adapt this for other purposes as well. How about a series of Sudoku outside a maths room? (Plastic covered means the solutions can be rubbed off )
Lots of people enjoy word and number puzzles and whilst they may not encourage deep learning they do provide interest to a dull waiting area. There is some evidence that using them regularly enhances brain function.
One drawback with plastic covered corridor displays though can be the temptation to pick at them. Lou, who designed this one says:

Trouble with working in a secondary school though…we have to cover everythng with heavy duty plastic, and now the rotters have been picking out staples from that…best thing is to do the display, record it in its glory and send pics to the depts for CPD folders etc and OFSTED…

I wonder if anyone can suggest solutions to this or the reasons for it?

1. 3D Art Display, 2. Medusa, 3. sunflowerdisplay.jpg, 4. Sunflowers and Bees - detail, 5. seasidedisplay.jpg, 6. Asset Map - Detail, 7. School Project Asset Map, 8. Class 3H Pirate Day Display, 9. 1st Grade, 10. Women’s History Month, 11. Land Use, 12. The Romans, 13. DoReMiFaSoLaTiDo, 14. DoReMiFaSoLaTiDo, 15. DoReMiFaSoLaTiDo, 16. DoReMiFaSoLaTiDo

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.
Three years ago, when I started the Classroom Displays group on Flickr, I had a vision of great displays all over the world being torn down and vanishing for ever at this time of year. All that work and all those great learning ideas gone. Whilst in other classrooms, or even down the corridor, other people were tearing their hair out trying to think of new ideas. I wanted to find a way to change that.

There are well over 700 images in the group pool now and over 150 active members from all over the world. The group is growing faster now than ever before and there are some fantastic images of displays as you can see from this slideshow.

David over at Booruch describes in his podcast how he used the Classroom Displays Group on Flickr to help him plan next terms displays with his classroom assistant. They spent a Friday afternoon with the slideshow from the group up the interactive whiteboard and used the images as the basis of a discussion. This seems to me a really powerful way of working with the inspiration that the group provides, collaboratively analysing and reflecting on what they saw, seeing how it might fit or jar with their context.
I also think this is a great use of the whiteboard for staff development. This is a tool that the children are used to using for their learning but it can be just as powerful a learning tool for staff.

Shelters Display (2), originally uploaded by kardon.

I love this set of displays for a design technology topic. Click though to the original and see the annotations.
Tom Barret says:

This is a set of photographs of my Design and Technology display on shelters. It is in a Year 6 class and is a unit that we teach alongside our World War 2 work in history. The final piece of work that the children produce is a model bomb shelter. Take a look at the notes on each photograph for more details as to what makes up the display.
What you currently see is the final, finished display - we had the display up throughout the unit and we slowly added to it as our knowledge and skills progressed. So it truly acted as a learning display for us.

In his excellent blog ICT In My Classroom he encourages others to add their photos of displays to the Classroom Displays group on Flickr:

why not take a photo of one of your good displays and contribute to the growing pool of pics. This would also be a great professional development opportunity and helps contribute to portfolios of work. I have started my own School Displays set in my Flickr account to keep such evidence.

Quite right

The main display in the hall - end of day three, originally uploaded by hydra arts.

Hydra Art Workshops are a group of artist who work in schools in the North West of England. I’ve been a fan of their work for sometime and I particulary like this recent project. They worked with 78 Year Six pupils to produce several panels for the main hall. The children who took part were presented with certificates to mark their involvement but I think the lasting impact for them will be the knowledge that their work will remain on view in the school now that they’re moving up to High School.
This kind of continuity in school can easliy be overlooked. A Leavers Assembly or a party are lovely but it’s quite powerful for children to feel that some part of their work will continue to be valued. At my last school Year 6 usually worked on a leaving gift for the school. We were lucky enough to have an artistic learning mentor but we never managed to afford ‘real’ artists. Often it was an art work for the hall, although one year they made a musical washing line for the circle garden. We felt it was important for the school to mark their departure in this way. The works were well liked by later children, some liked to remember brother’s or sister’s involvement. Sometimes when children came back for various reasons they were quite touched to see their work still on display.

Hydra Arts said:

when we were originally booked for the workshops, i absolutely wanted to mark the fact that the year 6 pupils were leaving primary school and wanted them to all be involved in the same process and contribute to a collaborative art project

Do you have experience of working with artists in schools? Did you find it worthwhile? How do later children view the art? Please tell your story in the comments.

No display this time, just a word of warning:

There have been over 3000 staff injuries from falls in schools in the last 5 years in the UK. Classroom assistants and teachers are both at risk from falls especially in older buildings with high ceilings. At this time of year they are more likely to be stripping boards and possibly re-backing them rather than actually putting up displays. Putting in that extra effort to yank out a staple, straining to reach something just beyond your grasp puts you at risk. Even quite low falls from desks and/or chairs while putting up displays can be damaging.

Be aware of your school’s health and safety policy and risk assessment, which should cover the possibility of falls. You need to not just know it but follow it! In some schools the policy is carefully displayed, perhaps in the staffroom, and then totally ignored. I’ve found myself precariousy perched, even standing on a wall mounted computer bench, or balanced on a sink trying to just reach a tricky bit. If I’d fallen I would have been in clear breach of the Staff Health and Saftey policy and I’d have had no claim against the school for any injuries I sustained. The policy clearly states that you have to use step ladders but from a step ladder there is no way to reach the top of the display board. I could/should have refused to do it, but then my teacher would have done it herself and she’s shorter than me! So you probably need to get some agreement as a whole staff that none of you will take risks. Might be something to take up with your union rep and/or your Well-being facilitator (if you have one).

Here’s some advice from the HSE

● Always ask yourself if you can avoid or minimise work at height if possible, eg use lightly weighted strings to pull display items up over beams, prepare displays as far as possible before putting them up.(I totally disagree with this bit - heavy displays are much harder to put up!) Avoid becoming another statistic

● Always use suitable equipment for working at height, eg ‘kick-step’ type stools, properly designed and maintained low steps, poles for opening high windows etc. Your school should have this sort of equipment. If you still can’t reach without overstretching, ask for help from a premises manager. (This may lead to you watching her do exactly what you were about to!)
● Be aware of your school’s health and safety policy and risk assessment, which should cover the possibility of falls from height.

● Always think of your personal safety and assess the risk from what you propose to do.

● Remember that school furniture was not designed for you to stand on.

● Be aware of obstructions at all times.

● Wear suitable footwear.

● Report poor maintenance, such as damaged window mechanisms, which could create hazards.

● Be aware of slippery surfaces, particularly stairs.

● Reduce accidents on stairs by encouraging people not to run or push.

● If you are worried about the lack of equipment or its poor quality, inform your head teacher or safety representative.