Welcome to Wesley

Wesley Primary School’s (WPS) logo is inspired by its location, ethos and culture. The school in Mount Roskill, a suburban area in Auckland, New Zealand, sits between two maunga (mountains): Owairaka and Puketapapa.

Collaborative and supportive leadership

Wesley opened its doors in 1951. Catering for students aged from year 1 to 6, it’s a school that is hugely diverse. There are currently 162 children on the roll, and they comprise of mainly Tongan, Samoan, Cook Island and Māori learners, and smaller numbers of refugees and other children from diverse cultures.

The school is committed to providing a supportive and inclusive learning environment, in which every student is valued and respected. Its leaders feel strongly that any change needs to fit with the vision, ethos and values of the school – and when it comes to new spaces, it’s no different.

Initially the focus of the school design was not lead through a PLSiP framework as there was a hand over period from the previous Principal – Brenda Martin to Lou Reddy who is the current principal of the school. Since 2019, Brenda had worked hard to create an education brief and validated the need for a new school. This incorporated the values and pedagogy of the school which was used by RTA Studio architects to create the first preliminary design for the Ministry of Education (MoE).

Reddy conducted a survey in November 2020 to help better understand the values and ethos of the school. This led him to identify the following areas of focus to help give feedback to designers, staff, community, Ministry of Education (MoE), and his school board –

It was noted that the feedback highlighted the importance of strong community and learning focused relationships.

In the survey, staff and members of the community identified the supportive ways the school was connected to the families and students from a lower decile background.

The embracing of the local native culture, language and curriculum, shown through the use of community groups, specialist areas and extra-curricular activities, featured heavily in stage one of the design. Wesley Primary School and the local community place great importance on the ‘garden to table’ experience, where specially designed external spaces for growing produce are made available for lunchtime sessions and are used directly within the Food Technology zones within the learning hubs.

The Planning Learning Spaces in Practice (PLSiP) Design Framework was shared with the school, in July 2021. Terry White (PLSiP Co-Director) worked closely with Reddy to share various case studies and examples of contemporary design in MLEs (modern learning environments), that would help him visualise the design of the school’s new learning hubs.

The PLSiP framework was shared with the school, in a scaffolded manner. Reddy worked with White and Doug Crutch (PLSiP NZ Project Co-ordinator) for 6 months with online sessions between 2020 to beginning of 2021 and then this was opened to key leaders and staff in July 2021. Reddy found it helpful to be mentored by White to examine, regarding what a theory of change could look like at the school, through various case studies and examples of contemporary design in Modern Learning Environments (MLEs).

In 2021, Reddy and his SLT team worked with the PLSiP Team to better understand how the school could involve the PLSiP Design Framework to have a shared agreement to communicate with architects, MoE and other designers, in order to meet the needs of their learners. Reddy also identified the need for a learning coach and Samantha Prendergast was a team leader who showed interest and a passion for what Reddy and White had shared.

Reddy had highlighted that by distributing the focus of control to the wider team through Prendergast’s ability to walk alongside staff using the PLSiP tools online, really helped with staff engagement.
During the 2021 Covid lockdowns, Reddy and White shared with senior leadership about the ways in which the PLSiP framework could be useful and unpacked the “Why” for creating a theory of change which was then embedded in their strategic plan for the school.

Reddy reflected on the PLSiP Journey in his September 2021 blog.

Principal’s Blog September 2021 – https://wesleyprimaryprincipal.blogspot.com/2021/09/current-and-next-practice-feedback.html

Engaging with the PLSiP Process

The PLSiP approach addresses a fundamental flaw in education systems around the world: many learning spaces simply are not fit for purpose. The framework supports school leaders who want to refurbish existing learning environments or design new spaces that actively support their learning goals.
The first stage was to establish what those goals would look like in practice through a process of review.

To achieve this, Prendergast (Learning Coach) had to co-ordinate this process. Prendergast was the point of contact between the school and the PLSiP team in the UK, collecting thoughts and feedback from school staff, and then feeding back to White and Pandya. This was especially helpful during the Covid 19 lockdowns as the constant communication between everyone, ensured the progress continued through.

Teacher-led transformation

At the classroom level, engaging with the PLSiP Design Framework encouraged teachers to think outside the box, take risks and try new things. It gave them the confidence to know that experimentation is a necessary part of developing innovative teaching practices to support twenty-first century learners.

One of the major benefits of the framework was that it helped teachers to recognise and acknowledge the journey they had been on.

By working through the key themes of; Pedagogy, Curriculum Experience, Organisation of Learning, Leadership of Learning, Community Participation and Research and Data, the staff were developing a holistic and integrated new model for their school design.

All the staff were able to visualise and define their next practice and to build on their existing strengths. They could also identify areas for improvement.

The framework also enabled teachers to develop a systemic approach through exploring everyone’s perspectives and creating buy-in and ownership. This approach was critical in ensuring that teachers were able to work together effectively and to make informed decisions that would benefit their students.

The build: a design with community at its heart

Once the leadership and teaching staff had worked their way through the PLSiP Design Framework and developed an approach to teaching and learning, the work moved on to thinking about what forms of design and build of the new school structures would best facilitate this.

Using the PLSiP Design Framework as a guide, Wesley staff connected with up to 15 different businesses, Ministry of Education staff, the indigenous mana whenua (local people), architects, community organisations, builders and contractors, and brought them all together in one room for a “Design Sprint Day”.

The day was led by assistant principal Andy Crowe, and the schedule was as follows:

Opening and morning session

Middle session

Afternoon session

Outcomes and impact

The day was an excellent way to establish groups within the community who were keen to support the school, and many were invited to continue their partnership with Wesley school. The insights from the day were then translated into design concepts, which in turn were fed back to the user groups.

A hub building with a clear purpose

The first building opened in 2022, and so far, it has had an immense impact on the entire school community. So, what does the new school building look like, and how does it differ from what was there before?

Perhaps the most notable change is the introduction of collaborative learning spaces in place of single-cell classrooms. Staff recognised that the traditional teaching model, which sees teachers be solely responsible for their own classrooms, was no longer effective for twenty-first century learning. Today, the school operates as a hub model, in which several classrooms are grouped together to form a larger learning community. This encourages collaborative teaching and learning, and provides more opportunities for peer-to-peer support and problem-solving. The hub model allows for greater flexibility and adaptability in the use of space, which is crucial in promoting a more student-centred approach to learning.

To support the new learning spaces, the school has also made changes to the way in which it plans and delivers its curriculum. In the new building, teachers work more collaboratively to plan and deliver lessons, which are tailored to meet the needs of all students, regardless of their abilities or interests.

This approach not only helps to engage students in their learning but also encourages them to take ownership of their learning journey. Specialist spaces were built in from the outset, rather than being an afterthought: there are dedicated spaces on both floors for students to have access to the outside area for outdoor learners, and also dedicated food tech areas, makerspace studios and breakout rooms.

Finally, throughout the transition, staff recognised that some students may require additional support in these new collaborative learning spaces. As a result, they have been working on implementing a range of learning-support services that will allow every student to pursue excellence as defined by themselves and their whānau (families).

Settling into new spaces

Since staff and students have moved into the new learning spaces, they have observed many different positive outcomes and learning gains;

Defining the next steps

Now that staff and pupils are working in the new build, they have identified further ways to enhance stage 2 of the design. This includes how staff can support students with learning needs that span an increasingly wide spectrum, how they can improve the attention span of the students among a hive of activities, and how they can organise learning within the space.

As the school moves into this next stage and considers how to implement the next areas for development, it will be supported by the PLSiP team, architects and project managers.