Gippsland Region
Korumburra Primary School
The students and teachers at Korumburra Primary school moved into their library and classrooms facility at the beginning of the 2011 school year.
We spoke to Principal Bill Jeffs and Assistant Principal David Gray about the school’s experience so far.
Which classes/years are based in the facility?
Our building houses two Year 4 classes, two Year 5 classes and two Year 6 classes.
How has the school involved parents and members of the community in the BER process?
Parents and community members have had many opportunities to see the building. Quite a few parents and grandparents were given a tour of the new building during the Year 6 graduation disco, and we held a number of tours after our twice weekly assemblies. We also held tours for school councillors and students during various stages of the building process, with great support from our site foreman and contractors.
Open learning spaces are obviously different from a more traditional classroom. How have the students responded?
In an open learning environment we are encouraging everyone to respect people and their personal space and belongings. At the start of the school year the students and teachers met to talk about the new building and how to manage its use. They developed a number of values to ‘live by’ in the new building.
How are the students involved in the day-to-day “business” of the new building?
The students are involved in the care of the building. There are jobs such as bag trolley supervisors, lunch order delivery people, vacuum cleaner operators for special cleaning as required, end-of-day computer checkers and students whose job it is to rearrange the new furniture that is used in the central space. The kids are generally great with all of this and are caring for all aspects of the new building very well.
Has student engagement changed as a result of the open learning spaces?
The students are now doing much more work in small groups. They are utilising the various spaces that our building offers including the extensive central space, small meeting rooms and computer work spaces at each end of the building. In terms of student engagement, we get the feeling in talking to the kids that they love the extra space and the various options that this provides.
What role does ICT play in the new BER facility?
We have seven computers at each end of the new building as well as having a library bank of 10 Netbooks. The school has a 1:1 Netbook ratio for Year 4 students which came about completely as a consequence of the new BER building, Given the ICT wireless potential of the new building we wanted to maximise the opportunities for our students. This initiative required a lot of work on our part and on the part of our ICT technicians but the impact of this program has been extremely positive. On any given day now you will see kids arrive at school and show what they did at home with their Netbooks the previous night. They are much more motivated than we’ve seen previously.
How are the interactive whiteboards (IWBs) being used?
It is great to see our staff working collectively to improve their skills in the use of the IWBs as a curriculum tool. The staff feed off each other and it is a delight to see how the learning in the new building is so positively influenced by the new technology. In one class, the teacher has set up an image of a wall with the children’s names on it as bricks. When the students arrive at school in the morning, they have to drag their “brick” from one part of the wall to another to signify that they are at school.
How are teachers responding to the new building?
The way the teachers are allowing their students to work has seen a significant change in some teaching approaches. It is now easier for staff to give the students greater ownership of, and responsibility for, their learning.
How did you prepare staff for the challenge of new learning areas?
We have worked hard on ensuring that the entire building is the teaching space. Teachers no longer create their own space in the rooms, apart from a small desk for their notebook computers.
We did a lot of work prior to completion of the building to ensure that those teachers who went in there understood the teaching expectations. Some of these teachers visited other schools to give us ideas about how to use the spaces.
