Bridging the Gap - Overview

From zooming into the area using virtual mapping technology or visiting the viewing gallery on the top of a Stratford tower block Bridging the Gap will give you a bird's eye view of the Olympic developments and inspire you to want to find out more.

Overview

Bridging the Gap is an innovative programme of architectural education designed to inspire enthusiasm and encourage learning about the built environment, regeneration and the 2012 Olympics in Newham’s primary and secondary schools.

Bridging the Gap is ideally placed to provide learning outside the classroom opportunities which themselves can support many of the core aims of Every Child Matters and the objectives of the Government’s sustainable communities agenda. The growing emphasis on cross curricular learning and the Department for Children, Schools and Families’ recent cultural offer to all pupils, make Bridging the Gap an attractive option for schools wishing to bring regeneration awareness and citizenship opportunities to their students.

The Bridging the Gap programme was piloted in a total of nine schools over three school terms in 2007. Each term the team worked with one secondary school plus two feeder primary schools located close by.

Every school was offered the same overall package, which was then tailored to meet their particular needs, including the option to tie the programme into a particular strand of the curriculum: geography, design & technology or art. The package comprised the Bridging the Gap roadshow plus a series of measures to further embed learning including presentations to assemblies, mounting displays of work from the roadshow and training for the teachers involved.

Over 1400 pupils in Key Stages 2 and 3 had the chance to take part in a Bridging the Gap roadshow or wider school activities such as assemblies and presentation of results in each school. From the pilot schools, 17 teachers have received training, support or access to resources from the Bridging the Gap website to equip them to deliver built environment education in the classroom.

The Bridging the Gap roadshow has several features which the evaluation judged to be key to its success.

Creative

The children tackle challenging tasks using exciting creative methods which produce lasting visual results which they can display and take pride in.

Enjoyable

The team set out to demonstrate to children and their teachers that it is fun to learn about the built environment generally and locally.

Take risks

The team encourage children to take risks, to work as independently as they are able; and to have a go however daunting a task might seem.

New experiences

The activities are designed with the hope that every child will find something new in the roadshow, whether it is a fieldtrip to a new place, a new way of working, or a new creative technique.

Inclusive

The strong visual nature of the roadshows give them a high level of inclusiveness across language barriers and different special educational needs.