Suitcases Project: Cathedral School of St. Peter & St. John

I collect suitcases and use them in all manner of ways. This was one of my ‘middle of the night’ ideas that other Headteachers might have dismissed immediately as insane . Magaret at The Cathedral School however, was incredibly excited.

I arrived at the school with a van filled with 200 suitcases at 5.30 one Monday morning and placed them across carparks, rooftops, in trees and the playing fields, as if they had fallen from the sky. Each case contained 5 items loosely linked to the summer terms themes and had a balloon attached to it. Teachers and pupils new nothing about this. Teachers were simply told to abandon planning for one week and let pupils run with the inspiration. Problem solving was key from the outset, with some suitcases being out of reach, others locked and some too heavy to move.

All manner of unexpected and thoroughly exciting outcomes came from this. Myself, music practitioner Joe Harrison, Bookmaker Alison White and drama practitioner Leigh Gardiner then worked across the school for the rest of the term, using pupil planning to instigate projects.