Mt Wellington School - Sod Turning Gallery

Sod Turning Mt Wellington School on PhotoPeach

Mt Wellington School Design

Building Design on PhotoPeach


After returning from Jasmax, our Architects this morning I am reminded of what a privileged position it is to dream and scheme about possibilities for classroom/school design, from the ground up. I am constantly having to challenge traditional mental models about how things have always been in school. Take the traditional big librarian counter for example, portraying a 'fort Knox' scenario of please don't enter! One of the most exciting parts is thinking about how classroom spaces might be furnished to cater for various learning scenarios and preferences.

Pushing Boundaries - School Design

Image taken from Stephen Heppell's site
I was told recently that a trillion dollars is spent on education a year across OECD countries. The scary reality is there has been no significant change in educational outcomes for students in 60 years. This would suggest more of the same is not the answer. Thinking 'different' perhaps is! How do we maximise the evidence highlighted in John Hattie's recent Visible Learning meta analysis, about what works? What actually has an impact on student outcomes? How do we design learning to take into consideration opportunities where students self grade (1.4 effect size) and provide opportunities for rich feedback to be integrated into everyday learning.
With this in mind I am currently grappling with what impact does the traditional school design have on student outcomes if any. How do you flip the traditional on it's head and create the new, what might be possible? I am in a privileged position currently thinking about how one might design learning environments/spaces to ensure that learning experiences, opportunities and student autonomy is increased. Has the traditional classroom contributed to the no change in student outcomes?
More questions than answers as I sit and scribble how multiple learning zones and spaces might be organised/ furnished to maximise student ownership and autonomy and ultimately increased student outcomes.
The more I search the more innovation I find. Check out this cushion hub above that looks like it helps to make learning fun, comfortable and maybe maximises student outcomes!

Framing Learning

It is a privilege to have the opportunity to think big and conceptualise how learning could be framed to meet the needs of 21st century learners. Our thinking is constantly evolving as we dialogue, research best practice and imagine the possible future our students will live in.