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Leigh School teacher Dominique Vikstrand, principal Julie Turner, teacher Debbie Fox and carnival organiser Rachel Bigwood in front of the new building site.
The Leigh School Carnival on Easter Sunday marks the beginning of the primary school’s new innovative learning environment.
A new open plan classroom is due to arrive during the Easter break and open in Term Two. The school hopes to raise at least $15,000 at the carnival for new furniture to suit the open plan area.
Principal Julie Turner says the Ministry of Education has paid for key furniture, including adjustable tables, seating and shelves, but additional items will be needed. However, they won’t know exactly what until they start working in the new space.
“It’s a unique situation and we’ll be adjusting the furniture as we all adjust to the room,” she says.
The new class is designed to be a flexible open space to encourage a range of learning styles for collaborative group activities, with breakout spaces for independent learning.
It will replace two 25-year-old prefabs that were removed from the school at the end of last year to make way for the new building, which will be sited near the school pool.
The new building will combine two classes, and house 40 children, plus Year 2 to 4 teacher Dominique Vikstrand and Year 5 to 6 teacher Debbie Fox. New entrants will remain in their current class.
Both teachers say they are looking forward to applying new teaching techniques in a purpose-built room.
“We know how the children relate together socially, but now they will need to interact in a formal setting,” Debbie says.
Dominique says they will also have to figure out how to work and support each other.
“The environment will enable us to teach and work in different ways.
We’ve done a lot of planning, but it will become more clear once we are in the room,” she says.
The Carnival is a major fundraiser for the school, and last year raised $15,000 towards a playground renovation and library upgrade.
This year’s highlights include an Easter egg hunt, the ever-popular giant ice slide and fairground amusements, including vertical bungees, mini hot rods, bouncy castles and inflatable slides, plus seafood, quick-fire raffles, a silent auction and plenty of local food and fish.
