Story Hub: Copperfield College
We recently finished evaluating our three-year Story Hubs pilot program.
We’re sharing the stories of those first Hubs.
“Write without fear.”
We co-designed the Copperfield Hub in 2019 with a cross-campus working group of about forty Year 7 students. They visited every Year 7 English classroom and asked: “What would make you excited to try new things with your writing?” They then analysed the responses in three smaller groups during a visit to 100 Story Building, each developing a concept to present for a vote. The final concept was based around three ideas: a tree that needs to be fed by stories; a dragon, the guardian of the tree; and the planet both come from.
Artist Alia Syed Rose ran sessions with the students to create the final physical design. Alia transformed a classroom at the school’s Kings Park campus, selecting warm wooden furniture, mossy green rugs and cushions, and using textured paint (in colours chosen by the working group) to evoke the moods identified by the students. Alia added an imposing door to the dragon’s lair, a window box that acted as a portal to the other planet, and the magical tree itself, which was hung with “dragon houses” for baby story dragons. The working group participated in the build by painting the dragon houses and branches of the tree, an experience which connected them more deeply to the Hub. The creative classroom was successfully launched by the working group students themselves in late 2019. (You can download the presentation they gave describing the design process.)
The Copperfield Hub was distinct due to the school’s large size, two separate campuses, and being the only Hub based in a high school. The Hub was coordinated by the literacy leader for Year 7-8 teachers. Engagement with the Hub and Professional Learning was disrupted by the arrival of COVID in 2020, further lockdowns in 2021, and when a key staff member left the school in early 2022. But the room is still talked about and used, primarily for literacy and EAL lessons.
