16
TUESDAY 16 August 2016
Nelson Weekly
News/Feature
Locally Owned and Operated
School opens innovative Learning Centre
Simon Bloomberg Reporter
simon@waimeaweekly.co.nz
A new classroom opened at Westmount School near Richmond shows that education has "moved on from the lecture-style classes, wooden tables, hard chairs, blackboards and a 'sit up straight and face the front' approach, to a more flexible style of learning". The Exclusive Brethren School's new Learning Centre was officially opened by Nelson MP Nick Smith on Friday. The innovative classroom has a range of colour-coded learning spaces for collaborative, semicollaborative and focused work, and is designed to encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning. Head student Tina Lewis says they had been working in smaller areas without clearly defined zones, which often resulted in "conflicting conversations" between students in the quiet and collaborative learning areas. Tina says the new Learning Centre will eliminate that conflict and also provide an inspirational
Westmount Tasman campus regional principal Hugo Vaughan with students, from left, Lucinda Kemp, Victoria Brewerton, Brad Smith and Seddon Smith, in the school's new Learning Centre on Friday. Photo: Simon Bloomberg. space for self-directed learning from students. "In school today, it is important what we learn, but more importantly the way in which we learn. We have moved on from the lecture style classes, wooden tables, hard chairs, blackboards and the sit up straight and face the front approach to a more flexible style of learning. "
Tina says the versatile space will allow students to "prepare for when we leave school and enter the workplace". "We are able to use our own initiative, make our own choices and integrate positively with those around us, giving us, as students, a taste for what we will experience in the workplace. "We learn to time-manage, prior-
itise, and take action for our own learning which is passed down through the students as we move through the school. These are all skills that are essential in life and therefore the earlier we learn them, the more prepared we will be for the workplace. "As Benjamin Franklin said 'tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I
learn”, therefore, by being more adaptable in our way of learning we are able to teach, mentor and be involved, helping us to be high achievers." Westmount regional principal Hugo Vaughan says the Learning Centre will support a self-directed learning model and help build a community of learners. It will encourage life-long learning and work habits and promote a collegial working environment for teachers. However, Hugo says the Learning Centre is only one part of the learning equation for the school's 150, year three to year 13 students. He says the school also benefitted from having exceptional staff and students who helped create a good learning environment. Nick praised Westmount's decision to open an innovative new classroom saying "there is no better investment that society can make than the education of our young". He also welcomed the contribution that Westmount makes to the "diversity of schools in this country".
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