Pupil participation in full-scale construction projects is perhaps the most striking aspect of manual work at the two schools—from huts to cabins to classrooms to a new sewage system. Construction work did not form part of the formal timetable, like ‘useful work’ and craft work, but these one-off projects punctuated the history of both schools (Appendices A and B) and the results became iconic symbols of hands-on pupil participation at the schools. Both headteachers made bold claims for the extent and importance of this building activity, with John Aitkenhead suggesting that pupils ‘think they have built the school as indeed they have—or helped to build it’ and Kenneth Barnes that the school was ‘built by our own hands’. The headteachers celebrated the idea of pupils collaborating with staff to build needed infrastructure—and were also supportive of pupils’ own independent building of huts and dens.