Ladies and Gentlemen.

My name is Connor Gillies, I am eleven years old and I am Chairman of Room 13 in Lochyside Primary School, Fort William. Room 13 is an art studio in which the pupils of the school have full control of everything that goes on. It is run by a group of pupils who are elected to the management team from primaries 6 and 7 (the ages range from 9 – 11 years).

Before I begin to explain to you how we manage to run a business while going to Primary School (which seems to be enough of a days work for most young people) let me tell you about how it all began for me.

The very first time I came to know about Room 13, I was invited by Danielle Souness (who you will be hearing from next) to visit the Room 13 studio in Caol Primary, which she was Managing Director of at the time. It took my breath away when I saw what went on. I began to dream that my school could have a Room 13 too. I didn’t know at this point that Room 13 had already approached the other schools in the area, and that my headmistress Miss Smith had already written back to say that she’d be really interested and keen to discuss the possibility of Lochyside having its own Room 13 studio.

Well, we found out later that Miss Smith wasn’t convinced by the idea of having pupils working completely independently in her school but went along to meet the management in Caol. She spent an afternoon speaking to Danielle and her colleagues and looking at the artworks in the school gallery and she was “just gobsmacked!”

The first Room 13 opened in Lochyside about six months later, and the following June we held our first AGM electing a proper management team who would be in control for the following school year. At this point I became Chairman and Kirstin Moynihan took over as Managing Director. This management team is completely responsible for running the studio and making all the business decisions. We hold a formal meeting every month to discuss matters that we need to make decisions about. We have to organise everything, from ordering materials (we always use professional equipment like oil or acrylic paint and large canvases) to raising money and balancing the books. It is also up to us to keep the room clean because the school cleaners don’t have the responsibility of cleaning up after us in our own space.

The management team has eleven office bearers including a Managing Director, Secretary, 6 Directors and a Treasurer, who looks after our bank account. We have one adult on the team who is our artist-in-residence, Claire Gibb. She has the same rights as a Director.

Teachers don’t have any part to play in the Room 13 studio at all. In fact, they rarely come into the room unless we invite them.

Kirstin (who you will remember is Lochyside’s Managing Director) and I meet with Miss Smith once a month to keep her informed with what’s going on and discuss any issues that affect the school. For example, just recently we have been talking about Room 13’s photography team taking the school photographs this year. Caol Primary’s Room 13 have been doing their school photos for a number of years and the results are very professional. It is a great way for us to earn money, but first we have to convince staff and parents that we would do a good job.

The pupils in the school have permission to use the studio Wednesday to Friday (although next year it will be open 5 days a week. During classtime children are allowed to take a break from their curriculum and come to Room 13, but only if they get the work the teacher has set done.

The teachers in the school are very good about supporting what we are doing. It might seem disturbing to have pupils walking in and out of class and I can imagine that you yourselves as teachers might find that difficult. We have to remember to think of this and be responsible about how we manage our time, so that we are back in class in time for the next lesson. As I am writing this I am in Room 13 and my class are doing maths. I know that I have to be back in class after playtime and the work that I’ve missed I will catch up on later or take it home to finish.

I spoke to a few teachers in preparation for today – I thought that you might be interested in their point of view. Miss Smith said that the project was excellent for the school. She was very impressed with our organisational skills when we arranged a fundraising disco. We did all the preparation and realised how much hard work it is even to arrange something fun. We also realised that we have to work with the teachers because there are some things we can’t do – at the disco many teachers gave their time to come and supervise for us. If we didn’t have the support of our teachers Room 13 would not work properly.

This conference is the first public talk Lochyside Room 13 has been involved in so we have been really excited about it. When I was preparing what I was going to say to you all today I asked lots of people who use the studio what they thought of it because I was wondering how I could describe what it means to us. The following comments are some of their answers combined with my own thoughts.

Until Room 13 opened in school learning wasn’t really much fun. In class you do not have any choice about what you do, but in Room 13 you do. Everyone enjoys the freedom. Teachers don’t always think that what we are doing up here is important, but they don’t know the full details of what’s going on.

We have our own library, which anyone is free to look at and get ideas for artworks. Artists in the school put a lot of serious thought into their artwork and are made to think very hard about what they are doing. The management are always busy doing the tasks that are needed to keep any business running smoothly. No-one is allowed to skive or mess around in Room 13 or they will be sent back to class. Usually there is no problem with bad behaviour because everyone is there by choice and doing things that they want to do.

I think the most important thing for me is that in Room 13 everything is real. Lots of children enjoy playing “Office” but because we are running a business for real, the lessons we are learning will stay with us for life. I think that it is much easier to learn and remember things if you are having fun doing it and that should be what going to school is all about. At the end of this year, I will be leaving Lochyside Primary to go to the High School and management of the Room 13 studio will be passed to the new team that will have been voted in.

I will find it hard to leave because Room 13 has become very important to me but I am proud of what I have achieved and I’m glad that I was part of the making of Lochyside Room 13. I know that the studio will be passed into good hands because the Primary Sixes in the management team have been learning about how to take charge of the business. After leaving primary school I will still be able to return to the studio after school hours, and take part in activities and trips such as this one. Although there is no Room 13 in the High School, plenty of opportunities open up for High school students who have been trained by Room 13. I might get the chance to go on an expedition abroad to work in India or Nepal.

So you see ladies and gentlemen, working in Room 13 when you are my age is like opening a door that lets you change the way you see things and the way you think about things. If you are eleven and running a successful business before you have even left Primary School it gives you a huge boost and you can just imagine what you can achieve with the rest of your life!

The good thing about Room 13 is that people look forward to coming to school cause they know that no matter what subjects they are doing in class they will enjoy themselves in Room 13. It makes a difference to the school. We feel more respected because the teachers understand that we have our own responsibilities and they talk to us more like adults, which is how we should be treated.

Thank – You very much for listening to me ladies And Gentlemen!!

Connor Gillies, Chairman Room 13 Lochyside, 2003 / 2004

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