A GUIDE FOR ALL
Let’s design learning better
Simple ways to improve outcomes using your space
PLANNINGLEARNING
SPACES in Practice
What do we do?
Support Bringing together the learning community to develop and enhance curriculum delivery.
PLANNINGLEARNING
SPACES in Practice DESIGNING SPACES FOR A RELEVANT AND AUTHENTIC 21ST CENTURY CURRICULUM
EMPOWER Giving staff and learners the opportunity and tools to create effective learning environments.
RESEARCH
Using applied research and post-occupancy reviews to promote and sustain change.
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Traditional learning spaces no longer meet the needs for 21st century learning.
COLLABORATE
A catalyst to share international good practice in the design of effective learning environments.
PROTOTYPE
Working with education practitioners to design and prototype innovative kit ideas.
We understand the demands on you and your teaching space. Using our proprietary tools we guide schools – in the UK and overseas – through a reflective process, building the link between curriculum and design via a structured framework. Focusing on your school’s vision, values and ethos, the process helps translate learning behaviours and activities into learning space design principles, enabling you to create new spaces – or refurbish existing ones – that actively support your learning goals.
DESIGN THINKING
Create a multi-disciplinary approach to look at school design from the perspectives of all key stakeholders.
Visit www.plsinpractice.com to find out more about our process.
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Why do we do it?
We believe that the spaces and places where children learn and teachers teach, should be designed to suit all needs and be areas that inspire the future generation. To give learners the best possible opportunity to achieve their goals, they need spaces where they can choose how and where they learn best.
Our Mission OUR MISSION IS... is... to empower education professionals to create optimum learning environments that support them and their students to achieve their very best.
to act as an international catalyst for change to share best practice in the design of environments for learning.
to enhance the designs of learning spaces across the globe to positively impact the delivery of a 21st century curriculum.
to demonstrate the effectiveness of a multi-disciplinary approach in the design of innovative learning environments.
Visit www.plsinpractice.com to find out more about our process.
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Why is the learning environment so important in the delivery of a 21st century curriculum? In order to move away from the ‘one size fits all’ approach, we guide schools through a vigorous design process that ensures staff are seen as the ‘creators not consumers’ of their spaces.
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Visit www.plsinpractice.com to find out more about our process.
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Developing the spaces in Schools: Staff empowerment Our experience demonstrates that the successful design of education spaces requires a full understanding of the learning and teaching practices they need to support. With this in mind, we have created a robust and well-defined process, underpinned by the school’s vision, values, learning behaviours and activities they want their students to be able to do. Each step within the process has a set of tools that allow schools to work through at their own pace in order to effectively design their new learning spaces.
Staff become creators not consumers of the new relationships between pedagogy and the spaces and places in which they learn. 08
Visit www.plsinpractice.com to find out more about our process.
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Working with key stakeholders
The PLS in Practice process builds consensus throughout the teaching staff and the wider school community to support sustained change, empowering schools to be creators of a new, ongoing relationship between pedagogy and space. Our process is ideal for schools wanting to refurbish existing learning environments or design new spaces that actively support their learning goals. Depending on your location, we can support you through the PLS in Practice Design Framework either in-person or online. We strongly believe that this should be a collaborative approach where all voices are heard and ideas are shared openly.
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Visit www.plsinpractice.com to find out more about our process.
Photos: Wesley Primary School (NZ), Design Sprint, October 2022
The process has enabled us to gather systems, work collaboratively and think about how to move strategically ahead with everyone’s perspectives, buy in and ownership – it helped to make things more real and gives us a bit more power in decision making. Shelley Saunders, Tumuaki Tuarua/Deputy Principal Wesley Primary School (NZ) 11
OUR PROCESS Research, evidence, and good practice demonstrated the need to create a PLSiP Design Framework to develop effective spaces and places in schools.
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Our design framework: • Engages and values the professionalism of all staff and learners in designing effective environments for learning. • Recognises that innovation in educational practice requires a consistent “fit” between the vision, ethos and values of a school when designing new spaces. • Promotes the need for schools to be designed from the inside out, not just the outside in. • Establishes an approach where all staff, learners and communities become the creators not just consumers of their spaces in schools.
CREATE A STRATEGY FOR CHANGE
5 DESIGN IMPLEMENTATION AND TESTING
• Develops a learning and teaching led approach to the internal design and zoning of spaces in schools. • Enables a practitioner-led design of spaces and adjacencies across the whole school estate. • Supports the effective transition of all staff and learners into new spaces. • Creates opportunities for multi-disciplinary design thinking and prototyping from a better-defined learning brief.
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4 TRANSFORM LEARNING ACTIVITIES INTO DESIGN PRINCIPLES
1 IDENTIFY PROJECT FOCUS
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PLANNINGLEARNING
SPACES in Practice
YOUR SCHOOL VISION IN PRACTICE
OUR 6 STEP FRAMEWORK
3 ANALYSE CURRENT AND FUTURE PRACTICE
Visit www.plsinpractice.com to find out more about our process.
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Visit www.plsinpractice.com to find out more about our process.
In 2020 our ground-breaking global pilot study enabled staff at a Cambridge primary school to remodel their classrooms around their educational vision. Staff at Trumpington Park Primary worked through a six-stage design framework with experts behind Planning Learning Spaces, the seminal guide to optimising school design for learners. Trumpington Park Primary staff worked through a six-stage design framework with experts behind Planning Learning Spaces, the seminal guide to optimising school design for learners. The results? Better engagement, independence, collaboration – and double the academic progress. • Greater pupil independence • Greater flexibility around pupil groupings • More effective collaboration and team work • Higher engagement levels • Inclusion for SEND pupils
From the children’s perspective this project has brought ownership and a sense of value to their own learning. It has impacted on their engagement, enjoyment and long-term memory. Mel Shute, Trumpington Park Primary School
Case StudY
TRUMPINGTON PARK PRIMARY SCHOOL
Scan to read the full case study.
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Visit www.plsinpractice.com to find out more about our process.
Wesley Primary School in New Zealand is planning a brand new school building. We are working with the leadership team to help the school to identify what activities are working well in their current environment. They will then be able to visualise how these activities may need to adapt to a larger more collaborative space in the new ILE build. They will be able to visualize these activities becoming a reality in the new learning zones in the within the new build. • Collaboration between whole team enhanced through shared teaching and planning. • Students have more choice, not just on the projects they pursue, but also more staff at their disposal. • Hands on, integrated, contextual and culturally sustaining learning experiences. • A growing awareness of how learning experiences are resourced and who has access to them. • Students having an opportunity to lead their learning through their passions and interests.
Our Kura-School has embraced the PLS framework in order to prepare for transitioning to our new school later this year. The process has allowed for our staff to authentically share their ideas about their current learning challenges and how might we plan for next steps/ solutions. Lou Reddy, Headteacher, Wesley Primary School
Case StudY
WESLEY PRIMARY SCHOOL
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The PLS in Practice Team
Bhavini Pandya Co-Director
Terry White Co-Director
Murray Hudson Managing Director (Gratnells)
Cheryl Hill-Cottingham Administrator
Find out more about our team; https://plsinpractice.com/about-us/ In support of our work internationally, we have regional co-ordinators in each of the countries we work in.
Who we work with
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What OUR CLIENTS SAY... It has been an absolute pleasure working with Bhavini and Terry. They have taken the time to listen to the school’s needs through conversations with governors, staff and the ever-important student voice. Their drive to create innovative and exciting learning spaces for all is evident, from conception through the design process. We are very excited to continue this journey with them to develop the school learning spaces further. Tamaryn Yartu Headteacher, Gesher School, UK This has been a fantastic experience. The framework allowed us to strip back everything we had thought about the learning environment, and made us think what our main goals and intent were. From there, we built up a plan to achieve this and what we wanted the children to gain from the experience. Overall my way of teaching has adapted and I now think of my learning space as different zones that allow learning to happen in various ways. Emma Norman Year 4 Teacher, Trumpington Park Primary School, UK The PLS in Practice Design Framework has allowed teachers to shine at different times and it increases opportunities for more passion lead projects with teachers. By working collaboratively, we can all learn from one another. Andy Crowe Tumuaki Tuarua/Assistant Principal, Wesley Primary School, NZ
Visit www.plsinpractice.com to find out more about our process.
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PLANNING LEARNING
SPACES in Practice
Planning Learning Spaces in Practice Newnham Mill, Newnham Road Cambridge CB3 9EY www.plsinpractice.com