Quakers Hill Public School

Imagine-Believe-Create

Telephone02 9626 9655

Emailquakershil-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Future focused

Rationale 

Quakers Hill Public School prides itself on delivering outstanding education through best teaching practice through a better than 1:2 ratio. Technology is embedded throughout each and every classroom and e-learning is an integral part of all teaching and learning programs.

At Quakers Hill Public School we deliver outstanding educational outcomes through e-learning as it is vital in engaging our students and providing them with a stimulating environment in which to learn. Today's world is a digital world, changing rapidly, and we are committed to preparing all of our students for this world.

E-learning is the terminology we have chosen to represent our philosophy, because we are talking about more than technology and the use of computers and netbooks. We are also talking about the integration of iPads, iPods, game consoles, smart response systems, beebots, interactive whiteboards, video conferencing and so much more. How this 'e-learning' will look will be uniquely different from classroom to classroom and from stage to stage, but will be equally as effective, as important and as stimulating.

Transcript

00:02 [Music]

00:14 [Music]

00:19 my name is Chris Lambert I'm the deputy

00:21 principal at Quakers Hill public school

00:23 where you started the journey towards

00:25 future focused learning about four or

00:27 five years ago where we started to

00:29 immerse ourselves in professional

00:31 learning as a staff looking at the work

00:32 of dr. Stephen Harrell and and all those

00:35 ideas around future focused classrooms

00:37 and making the space adaptive and

00:39 flexible to the needs of 21st century

00:42 learners and the skills that they need

00:43 the reason that we did that was in

00:46 response to to need essentially the old

00:49 model of industrial style learning with

00:52 children sitting in rows facing the

00:54 board chalk and talk and and that style

00:56 of learning is an outdated model

00:59 teaching the children skills that are no

01:02 longer needed in the workforce moving

01:04 forward so we really need to create

01:05 adaptable flexible students you know

01:09 we've creative mindsets and in order to

01:11 do that we needed to change the way our

01:12 better god she worked and we needed a

01:14 space to match

01:16 [Music]

01:18 so this space here is one of our

01:20 kindergarten classrooms we have a few

01:24 different spaces through the school

01:26 where we open up the doors and have teen

01:28 teaching environments with two

01:29 classrooms paired together this is a

01:32 kindergarten space with two very young

01:34 and energetic and excited teachers who

01:36 have come to embrace the the idea of

01:38 future focused learning and future

01:40 focused learning practices and so what

01:43 we wanted to do here was to create a

01:44 space where we were able to set things

01:47 up so they were flexible and adaptable

01:48 but also so that the furniture had a

01:50 purpose and it wasn't just merely a

01:52 table for children to sit at and and

01:54 read and write and look up at the board

01:56 but rather a space where they could

01:58 create what they wanted and what they

02:02 needed to happen but also use the

02:03 furniture as a teaching tool we also

02:05 needed to recognize the fact that

02:07 students learn best when they're

02:09 comfortable and they're in an

02:10 environment they feel comfortable in and

02:12 yet traditionally we ask our children to

02:14 sit at the same table and sit there for

02:16 hours on end completing tasks and work

02:18 without ever really giving any thought

02:21 as to is that comfortable for every

02:22 child and so in here we wanted to create

02:24 different options for the children to

02:26 choose and where they wanted to sit so

02:28 they have the choice of sitting at a

02:30 table and sitting on an ottoman or

02:32 standing at a standing height desk there

02:34 are children who can see that or daniil

02:37 on the floor or sit on the floor lay on

02:39 the floor lay on Ottomans we have the

02:41 Jenga blocks which and we'll go anywhere

02:43 in the room and the children pick the

02:45 space they want to work on and work out

02:47 and put the blocks down and and the way

02:49 they go we are very much focused on

02:51 making sure that there's more than one

02:53 focal point in the room so it's not that

02:56 model of just everyone sitting facing

02:57 the front because if you're look in this

02:59 room there is no front there is no front

03:01 of the room and it changes all the time

03:02 based on the needs of the activity and

03:04 the best thing about this is that it's

03:06 light its movable so the children and

03:09 they're only five six-year-old children

03:11 can pick up each individual piece and

03:13 move it to a different section of the

03:14 room if that's what we want or if that's

03:17 what we need if that's what the lesson

03:18 requires and dictates

03:20 [Music]

03:24 one of the big changes that we've

03:26 noticed with furniture as a rule as its

03:28 evolved is that the fact that it needs

03:31 to become meaningful and purposeful has

03:35 become more of a forefront in in

03:37 designer's thoughts and northern ival

03:38 are definitely one of those companies

03:40 who are well ahead of the curve in that

03:42 regard all of the pieces in here are

03:44 very well thought out very well

03:46 constructed durable one and all of those

03:49 sorts of things but beyond that the

03:50 creativity behind the designs it's not

03:53 just what's a little fancy shape that we

03:55 can make this into it so let's make this

03:57 table into a shape that has meaning and

03:59 has relevance so that we can use it in a

04:02 practical sense and in a practical

04:04 environment in a lot of the other

04:05 classrooms where we have northern novel

04:07 furniture we've got tables that are flip

04:10 tables so it's not just your traditional

04:12 table they see that it's a ride on

04:14 surface they ride on it and then at any

04:16 point they can flip that table up and

04:17 all of a sudden it's a display board

04:19 that they can show to the rest of the

04:20 class like a traditional whiteboard but

04:22 functional and purposeful as a table as

04:24 well I guess the best thing about the

04:27 furniture aside from as I said the

04:28 quality and the durability of it for us

04:30 has been the fact that it is so

04:32 functional and purposeful in in a range

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