Route AMoodboard 1 of 3Working name · for parent discussion20 frames · 7 bands

Grounded School

Ground first. Learning stands on something real: soil, stone, clay, a fixed rhythm and an adult you can name. The whole school at one table, and the table stands on the ground.

Feels first Steady
Band 1

Place

Low, wide horizons. Earth fills the lower two thirds of every frame.
A low dry-stone wall made of rocks running across a grassy field
01 · The wall that holdsStone laid by hand, built to stay. Look for this weight on the island: old farm walls, retaining walls, and the clay banks along the roads. [to check on site]Photo: Carl Tronders, Unsplash · not Waiheke
Dark brown soil with clods and small stones in a turned field
02 · Turned groundA bed dug that morning. The clods are left as they fell.Photo: Avinash Kumar, Unsplash
A toddler's bare feet stepping through rough grass beside an adult's legs, shot from ground level
03 · Bare feet on the track to the gardenShot from 40 cm high, 35 mm lens, early sun behind the camera. Two pairs of bare feet in different sizes walk away from us up a pale clay track, with dew on the grass at the edge. No faces, and the horizon sits at the top fifth of the frame. Waiheke clay is pale and ochre, not red, so the colour must match the island, not a stock photo. [to check on site]Photo: Alexander Mass, Unsplash · grass, not Waiheke clay · concept image, not our school
Band 2

Hands

Pressure, weight, grip. Hands that push down into material.
Hands covered in wet grey clay shaping the rim of a ceramic bowl
04 · Clay on the knucklesThe mess is the proof. Crop tight, keep the slip on the skin. This is the poster image direction from the briefPhoto: Anne Nygård, Unsplash · adult hands
A hand holding a handful of dark soil
05 · A handfulHold the soil out to the camera, palm up, like showing something to a friend.Photo: Alicia Christin Gerald, Unsplash
A wooden mallet and a worn chisel resting on a roughly split block of pale timber, with chips on the bench
06 · Splitting kindlingOverhead, three-quarter view. A child’s hands steady a froe on a short round of untreated pine on a chopping block, and an adult hand holds the mallet at the edge of the frame. Side light, chips on the block. The picture is about steady, careful hands, not danger.Photo: Orsolya Vékony, Unsplash · tools at rest, stand-in until the shoot
Band 3

Children

Stand-in images, no faces. The real frames wait for the commissioned shoot and written consent.
A child's legs in jeans and patterned gumboots wading through a muddy, sandy stream, cropped at the waist
07 · Boots, mud, concentrationKnee-height shot. A child crouches over a puddle at the garden edge in muddy gumboots, with hands in the water. The frame cuts at the shoulders, so no face. Overcast or low sun. No branded clothing.Photo: Daiga Ellaby, Unsplash · concept image, not our school
Two children of different heights, cropped below the shoulders, holding one fallen branch between them on a pine-needle forest floor
08 · Something heavy, carried togetherTwo children of different heights carry one log between them, shot from behind as they walk away, with the older child at the heavy end. This shows different ages through weight, not sentiment. Shoot at the children’s eye level. Write consent before the shoot.Photo: Duygu Güngör, Unsplash · cropped below the faces · concept image, not our school
Band 4

Objects

Tools at rest. Heavy, used, honest. Nothing new.
An old axe stuck in a tree stump
09 · The tool, at restA worn handle, a working block. Shown as an object, never in a child’s hand.Photo: Kéoma Oran, Unsplash
A round brown clay pot held on open palms
10 · A made bowlAn unglazed, uneven pot held up as finished work. It shows the work rather than claiming it.Photo: Yuri Bodrikhin, Unsplash
Two hands setting a floury dark loaf down on a wooden board on a linen-covered table, against a chalk-grey wall
11 · Bench line-upShot straight on at bench height: a spade leaning on the left, a wooden mallet, and a loaf the children baked, still floury. All of them stand on the bench edge, which reads as the ground line in real life.Photo: Franzi Meyer, Unsplash · loaf only; spade and mallet still to be photographed · concept image, not our school
Band 5

Material & texture

Raw clay, end grain, hessian, plaster. Matte, never glossy.
Close-up of crumbly brown soil
12 · Soil, closeThis is the source of the Soil ink (#3B2F28).Photo: Aaron Ghena, Unsplash
Close-up of stacked split firewood, end grain facing camera
13 · End grainStacked split wood: a ruled rhythm made by hand, with no two pieces alike.Photo: Sven Brandsma, Unsplash
Close-up of coarse, undyed hessian weave in pale stone grey
14 · Hessian meets plasterA sack of potting mix leans on a lime-plastered wall. The left side is coarse weave and the right side is smooth chalk, with a single hard edge between them. This frame sets the colour temperature of the Chalk base (#F2EDE4).Photo: Ashes Sitoula, Unsplash · hessian only; the plaster edge is still to be photographed
Band 6

Type & print

Heavy rules, stamped labels, painted timber. Two-colour riso.
15 · Palette, in proportionSwatch heights show how much of each colour to use. Clay is about 3.7:1 on Chalk, so use it only for large type and stamps, never for body text. This board stays brown, with no green.non-photo frame

Ground first.

One room. Six children to start. The whole school at one table. (teacher’s own hand goes here, scanned)

Display · Young Serif 400 (OFL)Text · Karla 400/700Body 1.5 line-height
16 · Type specimenYoung Serif is soft but sturdy: weight with no ceremony. Karla keeps the text plain-spoken. No crest, no Latin, no formal serif.non-photo frame · Google Fonts
Grounded School Grounded G wordmark · stamp · 32 px avatar one colour · burns into timber · prints as linocut
17 · The ground lineA thick, slightly uneven baseline that every word stands on. It must stay heavy (at least 1/6 of the cap height), or it starts to read as a bank’s rule. It is drawn by hand, then fixed as a vector.non-photo frame · inline SVG
18 · Riso, two drumsSoil plus Clay on uncoated stock. Misregistration and halftone are allowed. The weekly rhythm is the proof, so print it before claiming anything. The days are illustrative: the real timetable is [data needed].non-photo frame · CSS print simulation
Band 7

Light

Low morning sun, from the side. Long shadows give soil its form.
Low sun over a misty field with trees silhouetted against a warm sky
19 · Before the day startsWarm, low and quiet. It sets the temperature of the board, not the subject.Photo: Sasha K, Unsplash · not Waiheke
Low sun raking across ridges of broken earth and stone, every clod casting a hard shadow
20 · Raking light on the bedShoot within 40 minutes of sunrise, on the school’s own garden bed. Light skims the surface so every clod casts a shadow. Avoid harsh midday summer light (the brief).Photo: Tim Mossholder, Unsplash · not Waiheke