Greenvale North West Primary School (Interim Name) abuts rapidly growing residential areas in the suburb of Greenvale. The school is located in the corner of Blossom Drive and Greenvale Gardens Boulevard. The school will work in partnership with the community to provide authentic learning opportunities and best academic and personal outcomes for all students.
The school will operate with a Supported Inclusion model providing inclusive education for a substantial cohort of students with disabilities. Supported Inclusion provide opportunities for all students and educators to benefit from inclusive models of teaching and learning and the varied expertise of staff.
It is proposed the new school will establish a set of guiding principles to inform and guide future community use of both school and community facilities. Where appropriate, the new school could establish Joint Use Agreements with the City of Hume to develop access and use arrangements for agreed shared facilities.
Shared Vision and Goals
Greenvale North West Primary School (Interim Name) will have a clear and shared understanding of their educative purpose, values and vision. The school will build consensus among staff about how these values can be consistently communicated and collaboratively put into practice in order to guide all educational decisions made.
The establishment of a vision will allow the school to create a compelling view of the future that engages all stakeholders in the educational journey. Relationships between staff, students, parents and the wider community will reflect what is valued and provide a strong platform for dialogue and engagement. Communication about goals as well as progress towards them will be a regular part of the school’s processes.
To ensure tomorrow’s leaders receive skills to achieve in life, the alignment of the schools focus on the needs of learners and empowering all students to learn and achieve personal success regardless of their individual circumstances. Personal success in learning involves developing a positive disposition to learning and the holistic development of self—intellectual, emotional, social and physical. Health and wellbeing, developing a sense of community and belonging, inclusion of all learners and honouring and celebrating diversity are vital to a strong society.
Knowledge and understanding of themselves and their world, combined with developing general capabilities, will ensure young people are equipped to participate and contribute meaningfully in society—a society facing the complexity, uncertainty and challenges that continue to emerge in a highly connected, globalised, technological world.
The vision for education aligns with global trends in 21C learning. It is considered highly probable that learning will continue to evolve according to themes that are already evident:
- approaches to learning and teaching that recognise the holistic, personal and social nature of learning and that we learn through every aspect of our lives
- greater integration of school with community
- increasing global and virtual connectedness
- greater accessibility to learning anytime, anywhere and anyhow
- learning through the lifespan and across ages
- learning extending outside of traditional hours
- increasing opportunities for learning through virtual experience
The overarching design principle–responsive design
Responsive design requires that, while being required to support and enable the four key Education Principles, the Facilities design and facilities management systems must:
- focus on removing all barriers to inclusion (Universal Design);
- enable individual school communities to implement their own learning and teaching approach e.g. ensure the Facilities can adapt to a range of organisational models to be developed by the school leaders, staff and community;
- enable Facility-based decisions concerning specialisation;
- embed the potential for adaptability for varied current uses; and
- be future focussed and able to be reconfigured to accommodate changing needs resulting from new learning technologies, curriculum changes and changing demands for use that might occur over the long term.
The principles of the Education Facilities Design of Greenvale North West Primary School (Interim Name) are derived from the following Education Principles:
Learners and learning are central
Create contemporary learning environments that facilitate a learning and learner-centred approach:
- design integrated Learning Settings and zones that support and enhance a full range of learning and teaching activities for a range of group sizes from individual, one to one, small collaborative groups to larger group learning, including:
- direct, explicit teaching, demonstration and presentation
- dialogue, story-telling, community of inquiry
- meetings for discussion, planning and decision-making
- structured and free-form interaction and collaboration
- creative activities with media, general and specialised equipment and
- materials
- investigative activities with general and specialised equipment and
- materials
- construction, modelling and simulation through play-based learning
- and/or authentic settings
- display of learning resources and student work
- quiet reflective activities and/or individual research
- rehearsal and performance
- gatherings, assemblies ceremonies
- support disciplinary and interdisciplinary learning within and between Victorian Curriculum knowledge domains for each stage of learning
- ensure age-stage appropriate fit out of spaces for learning, recreation and socialisation
- provide choice of spaces to support individual learning needs (e.g.: for quietness and a sense of enclosure)
- provide seamless access to learning by ensuring virtual connectivity locally, nationally and globally
- ensure ease of access to learning and teaching resources at the point of use through distribution of appropriate storage throughout learning spaces
- activate, invigorate and enrich learning spaces - indoor and outdoor
- ensure all areas of each Site are assets for learning and maximise the use of the outdoor environment as an integrated component of the total learning environment paying particular attention to sustainability education
In addition, the key overarching design principles for Supported Inclusion are summarised below:
- Design should focus on removing barriers to inclusion
- Each Supported Inclusion should be designed as one school, with a common design approach and aesthetic across all facilities on the site
- The design of the facilities should be flexible enough to support varied uses, different approaches to teaching and learning, school-specific decisions concerning specialisation and changes over the long term to curricula, practices, technology and demands for use
- The facilities should enable and support cutting edge inclusive teaching and learning practices (while also recognising that practices will change over time)
- Spaces should encourage collaboration between both students and staff
- The built environment should be as least restrictive as possible– as student behaviours can and should be managed primarily through good operational practices.
Support collaborative learning and teaching for professionals
- make provision for meeting spaces for professional collaboration and planning in small, medium and large groups
- enable teacher modelling, mentoring and peer observation by ensuring teaching is visible and can be observed unobtrusively in situ
- design learning spaces for seamless flow of students and teachers between integrated Learning Settings and spaces
- arrange and layout the Learning Settings to provide for seamless access to and from required resources and ease of flow between spaces
- juxtapose spaces ensuring continuity and appropriate merging of atmosphere and acoustic requirements
- provide fit out of the Learning Settings that is appropriate for the specific learning activities for which the setting is designed.
Community
Support a sense of community and belonging within the Facility and within the wider community
Design Facilities that:
- welcome and promote inclusion of the community
- actively promote community access and engagement
- have a human, family feel as opposed to an institutional feel
- have community focal points that create wholeness and oneness through gatherings, incidental crossroads and serendipitous social interaction
- support Learning Neighbourhoods and Learning Communities as the basic organisational structure
- involve the sharing of resources and learning spaces
- inspire participation in, and responsibility for the learner’s
- community and respect for others and property
- provide Facilities that can be shared by the community to host a diversity of purposes, including out of school hours support, for building a community culture
- respond to the local context and assist in creating a local context for new communities
- promote integration over segregation including integration of relocatable buildings through innovative design and effective master planning
Diversity
Promote and support enhanced inclusion, access and choice for all learners
- promote and support enhanced inclusion of learners with special learning needs
- go beyond minimum compliance and employ Universal Design Principles (design for all) that aim to make the built environment more usable by more people–equitable access, flexibility in use,
- simple and intuitive use, perceptible information, tolerance for error, low physical effort, size and space for approach and use
- provide choice in Learning Settings
- provide signage, display areas, meeting and gathering spaces to honour and celebrate cultural diversity and contribute to the development of intercultural understanding
Wellbeing
Design Facilities that are aesthetically pleasing, welcoming and support the physical, emotional and social wellbeing of the students and staff
- provide a welcoming entry to all Facilities
- provide indoor conditions and amenity that support and enhance learning
- promote delight and inspiration among students and the broader school community
- educate the aesthetic imagination and the senses
- include informal community and social spaces and thus opportunities for students to further develop personal and social capability
- provide a continuum of learning and recreation
- actively promote the safety and security of all students, staff and visitors and minimise security risks
- integrate Facilities with the natural and urban environment
- actively promote safe and easy access by all modes of transport and encourage students and staff to travel by sustainable modes of transport wherever possible
Focus on Teaching and Learning
The quality of classroom teaching at Greenvale North West Primary School (Interim Name) will be a significant indicator of the school’s effectiveness. Effective teachers know how students learn and build on the knowledge their students bring with them. Purposeful teaching will ensure that all students have the opportunity to learn in a classroom environment that has clear learning objectives, challenging learning goals and ongoing and systemic monitoring and feedback.
High Expectations of All Learners
Greenvale North West Primary School (Interim Name) will have high expectations of all members of their school community. Teachers and students will be challenged to take advantage of all opportunities to learn and to persist when confronted with situations that require new learning. An explicit focus on effort rather than ability underpins learning interactions and the modelling of desired behaviours as there is a shared belief that all students can learn to high levels.
High expectations are also evident in the quality of relationships between all members of the school communities and their engagement and contribution to the wider community. A commitment to continuous improvement will be reflected in the way that the schools consistently communicate the importance of self-improvement and higher standards when initial targets and goals are met.
Accountability
The school will establish a rigorous and intelligent system of accountability through which school, teacher and student performance can be monitored and evaluated. The school will use performance data to identify, support and monitor all students and plan professional learning activities for staff. Valid and reliable accountability measures will also allow the school leadership team to provide parents with meaningful information about the progress of the school and their children.
Learning Communities
Greenvale North West Primary School (Interim Name) will aspire to become a learning community that shares a common vision and goals, where all members work collaboratively to enhance the teaching and learning environment. Learning communities are comprised of individuals with diverse expertise and knowledge which is valued, and through collaboration, drawn out, shared and used to solve school-based challenges. The learning community fosters openness, dialogue, inquiry, risk-taking and trust. In this environment, teachers feel they can make informed and responsible decisions about innovative teaching strategies.
Stimulating and Secure Learning Environment
Greenvale North West Primary School (Interim Name) understands that the nature and quality of the environment in which students and teachers work in has a significant impact on their learning. Effective schools are stimulating places to those learning, working and visiting. The design of the environment embodies the values and principles of the school and fosters creativity and a culture of learning. Quality relationships contribute to an environment where all members feel safe, secure and valued.
Establishing the new Greenvale North West Primary School (Interim Name)
The new school presents an exciting opportunity for a Principal to exercise a significant influence on the creation of a contemporary school connected to the community and the future effectiveness of learning outcomes of the students.
The Principal of Greenvale North West Primary School (Interim Name) will have leadership qualities which ensure the effective operation of the school upon commencement, with responsibilities in the year prior to opening including to:
- work collaboratively as part of a Planning Group and consult with the community as required to make key decisions for the establishment of the new school, including:
- developing a vision and educational rationale for the new school;
- developing a vision for learning and designing a framework for pedagogical approaches which maximise the opportunities presented by the inclusive and contemporary learning spaces;
- designing a school curriculum and organisational structures that will support achievement of the school’s vision and values;
- developing an understanding of the design intent of the new school facilities;
- creating an identity for the school – determine the school logo and uniform; and
- select, employ and provide appropriate support for staff who are inspired to work collaboratively with the Principal, the staff and community to refine and implement the school’s vision once in operation;
- proactively engage with the local community to develop processes and systems which set the foundations for the new school to become a community that links families and children to services and support, provides learning opportunities and builds a vibrant supportive community;
- develop a strategic approach to the professional learning of staff and the ongoing development of the school’s culture as it grows;
- establish relationships and network with Principals of the other schools to support and learn from each other;
- work collaboratively with the Department’s central and regional offices to select furniture and ICT equipment that supports the school’s vision for learning and ensures the design intent of the learning spaces is realised; and
- establish financial and IT systems in accordance with the Department and school council requirements.
The commencement date for the Principal of Greenvale North West Primary School (Interim Name) has been set as the start of Term 2 in order to allow sufficient capacity to undertake the above in the year prior to the school opening in Term 1, 2021. The key focus of this additional period is to proactively engage with the local community and to ensure effective school opening.
