Steph Nash
The NSW Department of Education is working with leading education scholar, Stephen Heppell, to develop a new and innovative school in the North Shore area.
Lindfield Learning Village will be constructed on the UTS Ku-ring-gai campus site, and is expected to be open by 2017. Development of the school has been open for public consultation since July 9, and closed recently on August 18.
The forums on Twitter and Facebook allowed residents to choose a preference from three educational models proposed for the school. These include: a global education model, focusing on language studies and global projects; a community model, aiming to get students involved in volunteering and local projects; and an entrepreneurial model, which would target ”real life” learning and encourage students to develop their own start-up companies.
The project’s website describes the learning style of the school as flexible and innovative, announcing that the pre-school to tertiary institution will focus on studying by stage, not age.
Higher School students will also be given the option to complete their HSC over three years to allow “flexibility [for them] to achieve their full potential”.
Describing the school as “experimental”, educational expert Heppell told Fairfax the new facility at the UTS Ku-ring-gai campus will build on the “most successful and appropriate directions transforming education, making it better for learners; for teachers, for wellbeing and for results, too”.
