20 September is World Children’s Day. Under the slogan »Strong children, strong future!«, UNICEF and the German Children’s Fund are focusing this year, amongst other things, on the mental health of children and young people. Being strong does not mean always having to perform. Children have the right to play, to rest and to organise their free time as they see fit. This is set out in Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is a right that also has a spatial dimension. With the introduction of all-day schooling, school is becoming, more than ever, a place where many children spend a significant part of their lives. It is a place where they learn and work, but also where they run about, play, chat, experiment, laugh or simply seek some peace and quiet. Good school spaces must therefore do more than simply facilitate lessons. They need areas for physical activity and socialising, as well as nooks and sheltered spaces for retreat. Spaces that do not dictate down to the last detail what is to happen there. And activities that are open to all children, regardless of how much space, resources or opportunities they have outside school.
School is one of the few places where all children come together, regardless of their background or the opportunities they have at home. That is why it is a key responsibility for society to give them equal opportunities here to explore, grow and simply be children.
We are reminded time and again just how important this is by the children themselves. During one of our return visits to a school we designed, one child said about their school: »You can run really well in the sports hall and in the playground.« Another was excited about the Lego and Kapla blocks: »I don’t have that at home.« Small statements that say a lot about what school can provide. If we want strong children, we need to do more than believe in them. We also need to give them spaces where they can move, explore, rest and simply be children. Because that, too, is what school is for.
