Middle Years
Flexible Learning Spaces: Prioritising Future-Focused Learning
At Trinity Lutheran College, we are at the forefront of innovation, preparing our students for a world of rapid change and uncertain futures. At the heart of every future workplace is the need for both workers and workplaces to be agile and adaptable. Learners need to be co-constructors, self-directed, reflective collaborators and evaluators. At Trinity, we don’t have traditional classrooms. We have innovative flexible learning spaces that promote creativity and serve as community learning hubs for our Middle Years students.
Underpinning the design of this precinct, are the developmental needs of students in the Middle Years. It provides students with breakout and maker spaces to explore, ideate, build and evaluate. Students engage with projects and problems in spaces that allow them to decide what and how they want to learn. We know that students require 21st Century skills such as collaboration, creative thinking and critical thinking. In our new flexible learning spaces, we clearly see these skills in action every day. The flexible learning spaces provide students with the built environment for active learning, independent thought and opportunities for curiosity, improving cognition, development and learning. The outdated, traditional classroom model was teacher-focused. In contrast, our Middle Years spaces are authentically student-centred, whereby students have choice and voice in their learning journey.
From qualitative surveys, students report that they love the look and feel of the flexible learning spaces. They enjoy the participatory and active nature of their learning communities. Our Middle Years educators can effectively team teach in these new spaces, professionally collaborating to produce the best learning outcomes for students. At Trinity Lutheran College, we understand that students learn at different rates and in different ways. In the Middle Years, our teachers are experts at differentiation, ensuring that they are meeting the individual needs of each student in their care. Our flexible learning spaces are designed to facilitate collaborative work, individual work and project work. As a result, our teachers can work closely with individual students to determine the next step in their learning journey. John Hattie says that feedback is “the most powerful single innovation that enhances achievement”. Our new classrooms allow for improved teacher-student communication and collaboration.
As a globally focused school, our flexible learning spaces are connecting students to the world. Our Middle Years students have been using technology to connect to classrooms in Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong and India. Students have been collaborating globally in Geography and Science. The learning hubs have facilitated these opportunities for student growth and global networking.
Through our new Middle Years learning spaces, Trinity has prioritised the needs of young, adolescent learners who require task relevance, negotiation and integration, along with a sense of community and belonging at school. The pedagogy underpinning the design of the Middle Years precinct is futures-focused and clearly communicate Trinity’s commitment to innovation and 21st Century skills. Our approach to teaching and learning empowers students as communicators, planners, problem-solvers, creators, digital citizens and global citizens.
Mrs Jennifer Gibb
Head of Contemporary Pedagogy (Years 6 -12)
