At St John's Dapto, our air-conditioned, flexible, contemporary learning spaces accommodate students and more than one teacher and School Support Officers (SSO's). Unlike traditional classrooms, flexible spaces allow students to be working on individual activities at their own pace or in small groups all within the one space. Flexible spaces have been shown to be more conducive to collaborating, researching, communicating and experimenting. More importantly, teachers have the flexibility to use a wide range of resources and technology to make the learning personal for each student.

Without seeing the new spaces, understanding how they operate and talking to students and teachers who use the space, it is easy to assume they are the ‘open’ classrooms of the seventies. They are not. We understand that the learning space can be great enablers for contemporary learning. These spaces provide more opportunities for teachers and students to learn from each other and with each other.

While we recognise that learning can happen anywhere under the guidance of an expert teacher, we also know that flexible spaces allow schools to be able to respond to the needs of different learners, as well as practices, priorities and technologies.

Kindergarten Classroom

Classroom

Common area — K-3 MacKillop Building

Specialist Setting (Gunyah)

Playground Equipment

Astro Turf — Soccer and Volleyball Courts