A Space was established in 1997 by Alex Sainsbury (Glass-House Trust, Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts), the Social Science Research Unit (SSRU, University of London) and Hackney Education (now The Learning Trust), following a year-long feasibility study. The A Space service was designed to pilot new approaches to:

• consulting directly with children and young people about their needs

• delivering therapeutic support services and activities in and out of curriculum time designed to meet the emotional, psychological, educational and social needs of children and young people

• working across a cluster of primary and secondary schools in partnership with teachers and professionals from the statutory and voluntary sectors

• supporting parents and carers
  

The development of the A Space provision and the cluster model were both documented and analysed by the research team from the SSRU between 1997 and 2001. This work informed the development of the Extended Schools Strategy both locally and nationally. In 2005, ARTSPACE was developed to take forward the A Space model. It was registered as a charity dedicated to the provision of therapeutic services and arts workshops to promote emotional learning. The core A Space service is now delivered to children and families under this independent charity.