Shaping a holistic environment to encourage a love for learning

Student wellbeing and connectivity are at the heart of Broughton’s curriculum and educational experiences. The state-of-the-art Junior School is built on the core principle that education is no longer a ‘one size fits all’ model and children are unique, each with their own talents. This motto is well reflected in their spatial goals - to design flexible spaces, ignite curiosity among learners and support innovative pedagogy.

It was an intricate 18-month project from start to finish as each building was meticulously planned and constructed. It was vital that Furnware understood the school’s vision from the get-go. Ensuring the spatial planning vision and insights from Project Manager Gai Lewis and the Acting Head of College Cath Halloran along with execution input from the Acting Head of Junior School Kate Bradley were embodied in the flexible learning spaces with furniture solutions to support the school’s pedagogy, was critical.

With 16 classrooms designed to foster different learning styles, three large open learning spaces to ignite curiosity with STEM activities, and a professional development area for staff to collaborate across teams, the project required extreme attention to detail from Furnware to reinforce the school’s spatial goals.

To help the school deliver learning experiences that are flexible, modern, and relevant to current and future learning opportunities, Furnware developed a pilot space on a smaller scale to assess the efficacy of the spatial approach and furniture selection. As the 30-day pilot experience drew to a close, feedback from the teaching staff was overwhelmingly positive – teachers and students embraced the variety and freedom of flexible furniture solutions offered, neutral tones with pops of colour, and the ease of reconfiguring the space as required.

“Within one room there are multiple areas of learning and new areas are created just by the rearrangement of the furniture. Student voices can be heard when walking into any classroom, the art of learning through discussion is greatly valued in the collaboration process and the spaces allow this to occur,” says Kate.

As the school continues to explore the ‘experience mixed with innovation’ approach to learning with the other parts of the school, Furnware will be its trusted partner and support its spatial goals.