Grammar Gazette- Issue 1, 2011

INITIATIVES

The School regards aesthetics as important in the nurture of youthful imagination. Considerations of colour, lighting and acoustics have all played a significant role in this refurbishment. Noise from air-conditioning, varying levels of lighting for different purposes and neutral colour schemes to assist students to focus have all been included in the design process. Multi-purpose classrooms will no longer have posters or maps on walls; teachers

Armed with a more sophisticated understanding of the learning needs of contemporary students, it was decided that atotal refurbishment was required to create the flexibility needed for twenty-first century pedagogy. Classroom structure and facilities are critical elements in the learning environment. For today's networked and connected students and teachers, the stereotypical

use audio-visual projectors to display material, leaving walls uncluttered for the successive

classrooms of the 1980s no longer provide an ideal learning space. Students these days have different learning need they are likely to be more collaborative and social learners. In the fifteen newly designed classrooms, fluid and flexible seating arrangements

Classroom structure and facilities are critical elements in the learning environment

classes. Enhanced wireless and laptop facilities ensure superior connectivity through the complex.

Later in the year, Gehrmann Theatre which presently seats an audience of two hundred will also underg o a major up-grade including new seating, lighting and AV equipment. Teaching and learning is being transformed by the re-working of these buildings with optimal facilities, ergonomics and aesthetics all supporting the connectivity of students and a collaborative approach to teaching within a networked learning community.

encourage students to interact with each other, rather than being focused on the teacher at a central point. The ability to combine classrooms enabling two or more teachers to work collectively with alarge group of students is a key feature of the new facilities. The new configurations also allow easy transitions from small groups, interactive learning in class settings and lecture sffle presentations.

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