Vision Led Design

At Freemans Bay School, we strongly believe that it is important to have a clear vision for learning that prepares students for their future. The five-year olds who start school this year will be graduating from Highschool around 2035. We need to think about what sort of spaces they will be working and studying in and join the dots between education space, curriculum design and developing attributes needed for their future world. The Innovative Learning Environment (ILE) design of our new buildings promote flexibility, collaboration, creativity, choice and personalised learning.

Our school vision of "Engage, Enrich, Empower" underpins our plan to align school design and collaborative and flexible ways of teaching and learning. We want our students to experience learning spaces like the modern activity based designed office spaces that many parents experience in their work spaces today, rather than the factory typing pool or hierarchical silo offices of the past.

The item on TV1’s ‘Seven Sharp’ show last week, looked at ILE through a very narrow lens. It was disappointing that the article was so one sided. It did not refer to the New Zealand Ministry of Educations research and evidenced based policy on ILEs accessible on their website. Nor did it refer to any of the research underpinning the global movement towards ILE in education and workplace design.  The  OECD Handbook on Innovative Learning Environments pulls together recent research on ILEs. You can also click here for some of the latest research on ILEs.

The ‘Seven Sharp’ article seems to be promoting teaching in single classrooms in the same way as  in the 1960s or back in even further. The sentiment of, “It worked for me so therefore why change things”, does not have the depth of thinking required to influence schooling design.  It is important to rethink last century school design and align with what we want to happen today. Joining the dots on the best evidenced conditions for learning and attributes required in the workforce beyond 2035 is a priority for school design.

Typical 1960's single cell classroom

Sir Ken Robinson, in his 2010 Ted talk,” Bring on the Learning Revolution”  promotes that for students to meet their creative potential in our schools we must shift from standardised schools to schools that personalise learning and create conditions where learners can discover their passions and flourish.

Our New Entrant Learning Zone

Freemans Bay School vision of "Engage, Enrich, Empower" underpins our plan to align school design, and teaching practice ensuring that students will have the attributes to be successful and happy in their future lives.

Connected Educators

October was "Connected Educators" month. I was invited to collaborate to on a project to develop an e-book with a group of highly motivated people, all who have a interest in education based here in New Zealand.

The chapter I wrote is about the amazing opportunities that I have enjoyed through connecting with others through Twitter.

Enjoy the book!

Dream Big and Be Brave

We are feeling quite frustrated with the time that it is taking for the the design process of our new school, to become a reality. We have been at master design process now for two years.  As a learning community we need to keep moving and changing to develop our teaching and learning to support the transition to our new school buildings or as if we are already in our new school buildings.

We started with wondering how could the current buildings be reconfigured in a way that they would support collaboration, personalising learning and flexibility.How could we create spaces in the interim that could be rearranged to support collaboration, experimentation and innovation?  Could the current spaces be tweaked so that teachers and learners could move around, have choices on where they could learn? How could we move from regular classrooms with desks and a white board which designated the front of the room to spaces that lend themselves to interdependent, co-operative, presentation areas and a range of gathering spaces?

We were brave! We knocked out walls and created spaces for teams of teachers to collaborate.

The first space we did this with created a learning zone from two old classrooms - we just pushed back the sliding doors and two teachers of Year 3 and Year 4 students worked together. 
The biggest challenge in this space was the acoustics. We added soft furniture and lined the open trusses and this treatment has improved the sound issue. 

The next thing we did was to knock a hole in the wall of another two classrooms - this also created a second space where two teachers could collaborate. Continuing to utilise the premise of Fullan's idea of "Value what you Value" - those teachers who were prepared to work in these spaces were able to choose different furniture to experiment with. This was on the understanding that they would remove their teacher desks and several other pieces of furniture on the "less is more," philosophy. Note the fantastic igloo that these classes have built out of recycled milk containers - as their cave space!  All the furniture in these spaces can be easily shifted so you can have all 60 students together for presentations. Full wireless, AV and interactive white boards, with the addition of mobile TV maximize the impact for students learning and there is a lively learning buzz in these remodelled spaces.

Now look at what we have just done in this term break. This strategy  is even more radical and I think very bold. See the class doors and panels in these learning areas - well they have been removed. Actually 3 classroom entry sections have been removed out of 5 classroom sections in total.

We have created super learning spaces! There are 5 or 6 teachers working in these spaces with up to 180 students. We have essentially created a space that can work for teams of 3 or 2 or across 5 or 6 teachers. The wireless access has also been upgraded and the year 5 and year 6 students have moved to "Bring Your Own Device for Learning". However we already have a ratio of 1:2 computer devices across the school.

The teachers in these super spaces will now trial different ways in how to  utilise the spaces available will add value to the learners experience. They will be exploring the opportunities the new environment provides. Linking back to Fullan's ideas in the previous post - this is a serious physical restructuring that will enable the school vision around learning to be stretched  by teams of teachers and learners. 

The teachers will have opportunities to explore how other schools with super-sized - spaces have utilised their enviroment to support learning. They are also encouraged to reflect on the range of research that is available.

Initially they have been encouraged to discuss the following within their teams:

• What are their agreed ways of working as a team?
• Consider different ways of collaboration, which will they be utilising?
•   -  Co-teaching Models
• Will different areas be utilised for different purposes?  If so what furniture will be needed?
• Learning Studios
• Caves, Campfires and Watering Holes
• Learning Settings
•  Where are the GO TO spaces
• ·         For all?
• ·         For half?
• ·         For teacher groups?
• ·         For a quiet space?
• ·         For working in groups of twos or threes?
• How will students be grouped to support their learning?
• How will student learning be tracked and supported?

They have also been encouraged to look at this work Professor Stephen Heppell which I thought was quite practical and inspiring. Also this  of Melissa Heppells teaching space at IPACA. This will help to visualise different learning spaces and ideas to build on.

These teachers have agreed  to develop their use of spaces in different ways over time. They are all excited about the possibilities. It will be an interesting journey which I will be able to focus on writing about. This will be a real test of the idea that the environment is the third teacher. In our case we are testing the waters as we take our learning vision "Engage, Enrich, Empower" to a new level. We are certainly dreaming big and being very bold and brave in our latest transition strategies.

What are your thoughts about these strategies? Do you believe the environment is an enabler to driving learning vision? Have you any suggestions to share? I look forward to your comments.

A Fun Start - Exploring Possibilities

On our teacher only day to start this year - we worked with Steve Collis from Northern Beaches Christian School, SCIL Centre,  in Sydney. We worked with Steve on a one day professional development programme called; "Re-Image Learning". 

We explored video footage from Northern Beaches Christian School - we are interested in the work at this school around learning design, personalising learning and collaboration. 

SCIL Building tour - Stephen Harris from SCIL on Vimeo.

Our teachers are exploring ways to strengthen team teaching, experimenting with more open layouts and technology. We are in process of redesigning most of our school. Effectively a whole new school will replace most of our current buildings over the next two years. We have a sense of urgency around preparing our teachers and learners, in fact our whole learning community for the changes that are coming.

The modelling exercise allowed our teachers to think through what learning in our new hubs will look like and dream big. The task was to build a profile of a learner in 2017 and create a model that demonstrated a snap shot in the day, at school - a moment in time, that reflects our vision around learning. The models could be created in a range of ways (giving choice). eg virtually or cardboard, modelling clay etc. 

The teachers reflected that this was a fun, non threatening play way to integrate and develop their ideas.

This activity was a creative way to explore the possibilities of teachers working in learning hubs in a way that supports the vision of the school: Engage, Enrich, Empower. The activity put us in the shoes of the learner and reminded us the importance of having fun when learning. 

Having fun in a creative way is  an empowering way to learn - for all of us learners

SEK International School Catalunya

What a stunning setting. We had an hours train ride from Barcelona - then were picked up by the school bus to be taken through the village to this amazing school set on a mountain in Catalunya. Teachers worked with a group of students to build a dream classroom out of recycled materials. Stephen Heppell supported the project at SEK International School in Catalunya. The classroom was an old computer suite. The students went through an inquiry process where they discussed problems about their current classroom learning environments and looked for solutions to address these problems. The students researched the impact of noise on learning, measuring acoustic qualities of their classrooms in the school and explored solutions such as soft furnishings to improve acoustics. Stephen Heppell talks more about this student learner led design project on his blog. The students  wanted to create an environment that supported flexible, fun and learning the way they enjoy. The classroom has an ocean theme, with a sea cave, whiteboard bubbles and lots of fun features. The interesting response from many students in the school is they want their teachers to book the space for learning as they learn better there and teachers agree- so there is a full booking schedule for the room. The classroom and  the students focus on improved  learning in the classrooms is influencing how teachers think about teaching and design of teaching spaces. This clip of Richard Gerver speaking encapsulates this schools philosphy on future focused innovative thinking about learning.

Creative response to growing rolls at Lauriston School, London

Laureston School, Hackney in London   had a growing roll and needed to replace and increase their current school size  and then demolish the old buildings. Performance, creativity and the arts are important drivers for Lauriston School and it was important that these key beliefs were reflected in the new build. The site is very tight and the school needed to be  in operation during the works. The solution was to build a new 3 storey building that created a school more than twice that of the original, at the same time increasing the play space. The foundation stage younger classes are located on ground level with free flow access to outside play. Raised classrooms create a covered playground which is a great space for all weather play. There are  roof decks at various levels   which increase the amount of external playspace and outdoor learning experiences. The school is constructed with large prefabricated timber panels and these provide an exposed timber internal environment that is  warm and visually appealing. They also work well for mounting displays. Large wooden vents, easily operated, provide a sustainable ventilation system. The  way the teaching and learning seemed to work was for the core teaching and learning to be delivered in classrooms and creative experiences in the adjoining creative spaces. Small group teaching also utilised these shared spaces. The school has some great outdoor spaces including school vege gardens and a wonderful tree house.

   Strategies to strengthen learning  links with the community was impressive,  including  a separate art studio for 

   artists in residence  and  also utilised for school and community workshops and exhibitions 

Engaging Challenging Communities in Learning Design

Croxteth Primary School, Liverpool Host: Headteacher:  Karen McBride Governer: Rev Iain Brookes The Croxteth Community Primary School and Child Development centre is in Mossway Liverpool - it is a new school build and opened in June 2012. This school is set in an area that has experienced generations of unemployment and the social issues that go hand in hand with low socio economic areas. The new school design has engaged the community and dramatically increased the school and home partnership around learning. Karen explained that a lot of the design elements came from student led design, This is a single storey building with classrooms arranged around three covered courtyards. The building includes a impressive central learning zone / information centre, garden rooms, art and music rooms, a large community room and a creche. There is an impressive ”4D Create” media room where the students can be immersed in  different worlds virtually to support their learning. There are outside areas for integrating play with the curriculum, as well as vegetable gardens and large tarmac areas. There is very little wasted circulation space and areas such as the internal courtyards are utilised for moving through as well as learning and gathering places. A key feature of the building is its sustainable ’green roof’ which has been planted with vegetation to absorb rainwater and provide insulation. Along with solar roof panels and water collection the school is very sustainable. The students are taught in regular classrooms and the shared spaces are utilised for break outs for independent and collaborative work. These spaces inspire creativity. I was really impressed  with the positive effect the inclusive process of school design had on this community. The improved results in student achievement is a testament to how school design can engage the community and strengthen school and home partnerships around learning.

Stirling Campus Office Block Conversion

Abington Vale Primary Late 2012, Abington Vale Primary school became part of the Northampton Primary Academy Trust. The school saw this as an opportunity for more autonomy to drive the school vision around collaboration. The academy joined together four schools which each became a campus of the Academy. Abington Vale is a primary school across two sites. Park Campus is the original site built in 1968. While in UK on my travel fellowship, we visited Stirling Campus which opened in 2013. The local council purchased Stirling House, a three story commercial office block in 2012. The office block conversion design principles are open, flexible and collaborative. This was the first initiative in the country but apparently it is common to refit commercial buildings as schools in Scandinavia and USA. The academy is committed to developing a dedicated outdoor space for the 4/5/6 year olds and this was under construction while we visited. The driver for building this new primary school was roll growth, as they are expecting more reception students over the next two years.   The council had commissioned a report to consider options for a new primary school and the cost of the commercial building fit out was significantly cheaper than a new build. The 180 reception students currently occupy the ground floor and the principal is working on getting the next levels ready for occupation as these reception students moves through the school. Principal Laura Cichuta is passionate about the spaces and ensuring that as the students move up through the school that the curriculum design of collaboration, flexibility and personalising learning will be consistent. The challenge for the school is that the allocation of space per pupil is less and there was not funding for furniture and computers. However they use lots of different funding routes for solutions to these issues. The take out for me was around the rich discussion had with Laura around the development of teaching and learning. She said that the starting point is working in teams and building those teams. You have to collaboratively work through; ·        How do we organise? ·        How do we make it work?  I was impressed with the fact that whole groups could progress through the building as the school grows- they just move up a level and the next intake moves in to the ground level. The big advantage with this is that the pedagogy, which is aspirational around personalising learning can gradually be imbedded as the school grows. The other huge advantage is the opportunity to experiment and play with the open spaces to consider the possibilities of future learning space and learning design opportunities. The idea of a school in an office block conversion is a bit of a foreign concept in New Zealand, however I can see if carefully designed and with a commitment to indoor as well as outdoor learning spaces - it can be an excellent, economic fit for purpose.

KIWIANA CORPORATE DESIGN... JOINING THE DOTS

JOINING THE DOTS .. FROM 2014 TO 2030
Five year olds starting school this year at Freemans Bay School will graduate to  start in the workforce in the  2030s. We are thinking about what those work places will look like by exploring  the thinking that informs ways of working in leading corporations, universities and other tertiary institutions. Two recent visits in Auckland to the ASB North Wharf Building and Lion Corporation gave an opportunity explore the philosophy behind their new buildings. 

Both corporations  have a focus on the key principles of collaboration, openness, innovation and sustainability. Like the recent school builds we have viewed, these new corporate headquarters breakdown traditional silo ways of working. These designs naturally draw people together  to share, collaborate and innovate through a series of  gathering and meeting places. The key principles of design in these future focused work places join the dots between the ways our students are working in schools today and their role in society in the future.  

ASB NORTH WHARF, WYNYARD QUARTER. AUCKLAND                     
           
Derek Shortt, ASBs property manager, took staff from Freemans Bay School on a tour of the new ASB North Wharf building. The spaces are made up of a series of 'neighbourhoods' and 'boatsheds' - both have a nautical and waterfront theme. Workspaces include places for highly focused individual work, spaces for meetings for small and larger groups to work. The design principles are based on ASBs business vision:

• Choice
• Collaboration
• Community
• Transparency

The principle of collaboration is intrinsic to the building design and to the organisations way of working. Put simply -  "people working togetherto make the outcome of their endeavours better than the sum of individual parts." (Navigating into the Future, ASB North Wharf, Auckland, New Zealand, 2013)-

The ASB design supports freedom of choice, flexibility, sharing expertise and building a powerful creative work community.

LION CORP, FREEMANS BAY, AUCKLAND

Lion Corps new headquarters adjacent to Freemans Bay School in Napier Street is a fun and funky environment. It has a village feel with design elements that  bring together quintessential Kiwiana, with motifs from Cape Reinga to the Bluff.                                                                                                     
Principles of collaboration, innovation and creativity are intrinsic to the Lion Corp fit out. Every aspect has been designed to bring people together throughout the day. People are encouraged to move around and utilise the various work spaces creating opportunities for dialogue as they encounter others while on the move. This creates a village feeling, building community and a sense of physical, personal connectivity and well-being.                                                                                                                                                                                                               

When thinking about design principles for our schools we need to look at other types of building design for inspiration. We need to consider future focused design of corporations, universities, art galleries and museums. When we look at solutions such as these two corporate case studies we can join the dots and aspire to create learning environments that are powerful, creative, flexible, collaborative, open communities of practice.

      

                                                                                      

BREAKTHROUGH AT STONEFIELDS NEW LEARNING HUBS

OPEN LEARNING SPACES PLG
In 2011 Chris Bradbeer, AP at Stonefields school started a PLG (Professional Learning Group) which meets once a term for a building tour and discussions around  thinking about the physical and learning design. The sites visited have included, primary, secondary schools, tertiary institutions, libraries and corporate organisations. Understanding the vision of these organisations and how learning and working happens from the inside has provided opportunities for meaningful conversations around how design, research and learning philosophy converge. I love these meetings and have been to most of them. I follow Chris's blog and enjoy his reflections on the design process that has continued at Stonefields school. 

STONEFIELDS NEW LEARNING HUBS
Last week we visited Stonefields School fantastic new learning hubs. Chris discussed with us his thinking about the optimum number of teachers that works well in a learning hub. Two is too little - as that relationship lacks bounce! More than three becomes too complicated. Three is the number that works best.

It was wonderful to see so much shared ownership of the school's vision through teacher and student voice. The leadership team  has spent a lot of time with their school community, parents, staff and students, reflecting on what had worked well in the first building stage and considering new steps for the latest learning hub. The learning hubs include kitchens, creative making spaces, digital recording rooms and breakout spaces. Although the hubs are distinct, they are open and interconnect visually.

We observed a range of student learning activities during our visit during their 'Breakthrough Time". Students were involved in a range of personalised, collaborative learning activities utilising both indoor and outside learning spaces.

It was a privilege to talk to these students  during Breakthrough and see their engagement  in  learning.  

The school staff have a real commitment to coaching students about how we learn, experiencing being stuck and developing strategies to get through being stuck. They are explicit about what learning feels like, that the frustration you experience is  OK - you just need to know what to do to get through it. 

The leadership team worked through a major consultation process to prioritise the ideas they wanted incorporated in the design. This process is continuing as they canvas parents,staff and students for ideas for the master planning of their site.

I am humbled by the generosity of  principal Sarah Martin and the team at Stonefields School who continue to share their thinking about their school design process and allow others to view it in action.

We have such a lot to reflect on from out visit  and really appreciated  the openness and time given at Stonefields School as we begin our own journey to rebuild  Freemans Bay School.

ITS ALL ABOUT LEARNING - FROM NORTHLAND TO AUCKLAND

In recent years, the design of new and remodelled school in New Zealand  has evolved dramatically from teacher-led, front facing, private, single celled classrooms to student-focused, flexible shared teaching and learning spaces. The opportunity for schools to remodel or rebuild is a catalyst for school leaders and communities to explore school values  and beliefs about effective teaching and learning. The design process is a catalyst to reflect on thinking of the changing nature of learning. The process itself can influence changes in the ways that teachers teach and engage learners in meeting their current and future learning needs. Visits to schools that have been through this process is an opportunity to explore recent trends and thinking about learning and design, the deep thinking behind decisions made and what  the learning  looks like in practice. T The building design can be a driver to develop shared culture around learning that is open, sharing, flexible and collaborative. It reflects the thinking of learning design - the learning philosophy, culture and partnerships around learning.

Te Kura O Pukemiro (click on the link to see slide show)

Te Kura O Pukemiro is in Kaitaia, Northland, New Zealand. This school is a Kura Kaupapa Maori School where the students are delivered their curriculum in through the context of Maori culture, values and the language of Te Reo Maori.  The Kura (school) caters for students from Year 1 to Year 13. 

The connection to tikanga, (Maori cultural values) are explicit in learning and also explicit in the building design. The central courtyard draws visitors into the atea (formal entry) which  leads to the Wharenui (hall). 

The  school  buildings are grouped around the courtyard. Each building is named after a significant ancestor of the whanau (families) of the local area. The open teaching spaces each have an Awhina (break out) space and shared wet areas. The Kura is Kaitiaki  (Guardian) of the adjacent wet lands and bush regeneration, conservation areas care of which is supported by the local community and kura. Conservation and guardianship are common themes in the curriculum. The Kura was built to a Green Star rating.

Hingaia Peninsula School

The vision of this school is for learning to  be collaborative, creative and agile. The building design enables this learning philosophy to take shape through three learning studios. Each learning studio has a large central  learning space and with a break-out spaces which act as 'caves' and 'campfires', The students have access to working individually, in groups or creatively through these break out spaces that are colour coded to their function. Students also have access to a digital production space, including green screen.

Year 1-2, Year 3 -4, Year 5-6 students grouped in the three studios, shared by three teachers.   Each student is assigned to a Whanau (family) leader, who is their learning coach and is the person for the learning partnership between the students family. This teacher supports the students pastoral, and learning needs. The students explain how they learn at Hingaia Peninsula School in this Campbell Live News TV Clip.

The teachers and students are able to combine groups and classes according to student learning needs and interest - in a personalised learning environment.