Pedagogybased School Design Point Lonsdale Primary School Design

Pedagogy-based School Design Point Lonsdale Primary School

Design Share Survey All staff individually completed this survey and the following two questions. • Five reasons you believe stand in the way of implementing your selected reforms. • General comment if any

Student/Staff/Community Workshops Participants in these workshops were given a plan of the existing site and asked to draw in the buildings and facilities they believed we should have and where best they could be located. Discussion and sharing of ideas followed. All workshops facilitated by principal and architect

Research Base Thornburg’s metaphors correlate closely with the various learning structures in our classrooms. Campfire – a place of smaller group meetings, cooperative groups, Watering hole - community circles Cave - individual learning space and reflective practice

Research Base Nair states that 21 st century learners need to be: • • • Literate and numerate Proficient in an area of interest Collaborative learners Problem solvers Confident with strong sense of self Emotionally intelligent Socially adept Globally responsible Autonomous and Lifelong learners

Research Base Mc. Crindle’s work on generational learning suggests that learning spaces need to be places of engagement where the learning is real: open, authentic, transparent and transferable relevant: communicated in a way to accommodate varied learning styles responsive: involves all in active learning relational: based on strong relationships and loyalty

Research Base Fisher’s guiding principles for effective teaching and learning. • Design spaces for multiple users concurrently and consecutively • Design to maximise the inherent flexibility within each space • Design to make use of the vertical dimension • Design to integrate previously discrete functions. • Design features and functions to maximise teacher and student relationships • Design to maximise alignment of disciplines • Design to maximise student access to, use and ownership of the learning environment

Consultation Treasure Cards These formed the basis of the overall consultation process. Each of the Treasure Card formats was slightly different to cater for the needs of the surveyed group. The cards were sorted and key ideas shared then analysed and collated by the architects. Information gathered underpinned the development of the Education Specification and the ensuing schematic design discussions.

Dear Parents, You would now all be aware that we are moving into an exciting time for Point Lonsdale P. S. Making the facilities planning list means that we really can begin to dream, think and plan at the point of possibility. But it must be a shared dream and underpinned by what we want for our children and their community now and into the future to use the rhetoric, we are planning an educational space for the next 3 generations, so let’s get it right. To this end we each need to think about our site and the elements in our buildings and grounds that we most value and would wish to have included into any future development. Please complete the treasure card on the reverse and return to school by Monday August 29 th. Yours sincerely Fay Agterhuis

Results Students wanted their student created art works, open space, playground and fig tree maintained with many talking about larger and brighter classrooms. They also wanted gardens, better toilets and access to indoor and out door learning spaces. Depending on their ages emphasis was placed on school pets and improved access to I. T. Parents and community indicated that the fig tree, art works and open space were key to any future development with a strong view that the new spaces should be environmentally friendly and utilise E. S. D principles. Colour, light and capitalising on our marine environment were deemed important too. Staff wanted light, bright flexible learning spaces where they could work and plan together, anytime anywhere, technology that worked and adequate storage. Places to meet with parents were seen to be of importance as was access to active and passive learning spaces. They too listed the fig tree, artworks and open space for play as essential in maintaining the “culture” of Point Lonsdale P. S. into the future.

Treasure Cards The treasure cards: • gave everyone a voice • allowed for an efficient consultation process • provided hard evidence of what was required by the community • are a tangible reminder of our journey • can be used as an accountability tool • Guide post building work especially in grounds development and teaching focus • guided the architect’s initial thinking about a design that connected past and present

Schematic Design

We constantly stressed the importance and value of the students’ contribution and they had ownership and a vested interest in seeing it happen. When funding didn’t eventuate in the 2006 Budget Sam decided to act and persisted until he got a visit from the Minister. Never underestimate the power of student Voice.

Mondrian Walls » • Colour is important. • We have a consistent colour scheme throughout the building. • The points of difference are the doors and fascias which differentiate the spaces. • The Mondrian feature walls use these colours. All students completed a unit of work on Mondrian to enhance their understanding of this building element.

Learning Common • Corridor space was consolidated to form the learning common which serves as both a whole school assembly point and break out space. It’s never empty and accessible from all learning areas.

Learning Studios • The school has 2 learning studios. Each equivalent to 4 classrooms. • They are able to be configured in various ways through a system of Hufcor panels which are a combination of white board and pinboard. • Each studio has its own store and teacher workspace. • Student lockers have been purpose built to contain locker tub and a space for bag and helmet. Lockers are also designedto act as sound barriers

Transparency Glass is used extensively throughout the building for internal walls and bi-fold doors. The principal office and art studio are located at the student entry. The majority of learning spaces and hence teaching practice are visible at all times.

The building has been designed to sit sympathetically within the natural environment and energy efficiency is important.

Building Automation System Lighting Heating Thermal Chimney Rain water Harvesting Security system

• • Some key questions to ask about the learning occurring within classrooms. Is it transferable? Is it multi-dimensional? Is it real and able to be assessed authentically? How likely is it to become redundant?

The Challenge The greatest challenge facing us in these early stages is bringing parents along on the journey with us. We have to change hearts and minds and most importantly confront issues head on. This is not the time to bury our heads in the sand wait for practice to become embedded. We must all get out there, tell the stories and celebrate successes.