This week I was fortunate to pay a visit to Linwood North School in Christchurch. I was very interested to see the design of their school, which was built at a similar time and by the same company as the Stage 1 build at Clearview Primary. There are lots of similarities between the two builds, with the main differences probably being that they have corridor bag storage, inside bathrooms and bifold doors between classes and learning studio areas. Breakout rooms are off the learning studio. At Clearview we have bag storage inside the classrooms, outside bathrooms and breakout rooms between two classroom spaces. We have large sliding doors dividing class space from the learning studio area. Linwood North will soon welcome Ferndale Special Education School to their campus, integrating this facility with theirs. They are looking forward to this as an enriching experience. They also have Early Childhood Provision and Plunket Rooms on site. Linwood North is currently without a hall due to earthquake damage, and have utilised their learning studio spaces for shared gatherings. This space can be a bit small when parents are involved as well, so they are looking forward to having the hall back in the future. Future plans include developing pedagogy around the classroom spaces that they have, continuing to integrate ICT to a high level, and providing a hub for their community. Wondering: As a lower decile school, Linwood North has a lot of support from outside agencies. They often need to use some features such as breakout spaces for meetings and for teacher aides to work with students. Different schools will have different needs - how can we ensure that school design takes these into account and caters by providing appropriate and necessary spaces?Schools are not just "one size (or design) fits all."
1 Comment
Lisa
23/6/2013 07:53:52 pm
I LOVED having my children's bags IN the classroom when I taught in the US - it was logistically so much easier, so I am sure you are noticing that too. I loved reading the link re toilets! Very interesting. I have also taught in a school where I had a toilet attached to my own classroom. Definitely something I would like to see in new class builds!
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AuthorMy name is Ngaire Shepherd-Wills. This website is a record of my TeachNZ sabbatical, Term 2, 2013 and then I have continued to share my wonderings and discoveries about Innovative Learning Practices. I now work for CORE Education. Views are my own. Tags
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