Spotlight on NZ’s Learning Spaces Aotearoa workshops

One of the highlights of the jam packed day for November 2nd's Learning Spaces Aotearoa are the workshops that follow Webly Ings keynote address.

There are four to choose from.

The first workshop is particularly apt, given our location and host for the day, Hobsonville Point Secondary School, Dr Noelene Wright has literally written the book on the creation of the school. More specifically her book is titled “Becoming an Innovative Learning Environment, The Making of a New Zealand Secondary School”. It is incredibly valuable to have the journey recorded about this innovative school, now open for five years. How has it worked in practice? What is the importance of its visionary thinking?

Workshop two is presented by Lisa Horton. Lisa is an educational planner and interior designer with her own consultancy, based in Melbourne. She previously worked at leading practice Hayball on notable projects in Australia and New Zealand. Projects such as the Caulfield Grammar Learning Project, South Melbourne Primary School and Marshland School here in Christchurch. Her workshop is focused on the idea of designing a learning setting as a building block for the wider environment. This approach is useful to inhabiting existing spaces and the design of new spaces, equally relevant to both educators and designers.

Workshop three literally brings people together from across the country. We have invited three principals, each with their own unique and fascinating story of how their school has changed and developed, and to share their experience. Mike Anderson is the principal of Waimairi School in Christchurch who has undertaken rigorous prototyping in front of their upcoming rebuild. Deborah Fenton is the principal of Island Bay School in Wellington, where they have altered both their practice and existing spaces in a series of projects over many years and finally Kris Hughes, the principal of Riverhead School in Auckland has created a vision around learning that is reflected not only in the building but also in how the spaces are used.

Last, but definitely not least we have Mark Osbourne providing an update on the ILETC Project. Mark will be familiar to many of you for his own work. Here he will be speaking as part of the research team for this landmark project, which is based in Melbourne studying learning spaces across Australasia, with a global reach. ILETC, short for Innovative Learning Environments & Teacher Change seeks to fill the gap in research on the effectiveness of different learning spaces and identify which tools are needed to fulfil an innovative learning environment’s pot.

That is just the morning. There are then site visits, a panel discussion and drinks in the afternoon ready for the inaugural NZ Chapter Awards ceremony. We hope you can join us for this fantastic day on Friday November 2nd.

Download the Learning Spaces Aotearoa programme and book tickets here

Nga Mihi

Murray Robertson, Architect : Director
Chair, Learning Environments New Zealand

Please note this is not LEA"s Regional Day Out - details for the Regional Day Out in Melbourne on November 16 can be found here