Peel is one of 16 schools to be taking part in the Schools of The Future 2.0 roll-out, following 14 other state schools being initially rolled out last year.

Principal Rod Jones is extremely “excited by the potential” of the program, which will be managed and monitored by newly announced Future Schools head teacher Helen Herdegen.

While smaller class room sizes have traditionally been linked to better outcomes, the Future Schools set up will see one teacher per 20 students on average, where Peel currently has average class sizes of 30 students to one teacher.

“The DV (selective) and S (low ability) classes will remain the same as they are. The students in the middle will be targeted by this program, which is partnered by Leadership and High Performance Innovation Australia,” Mrs Herdegen said.

“It is student focussed project-based learning, and one of the biggest benefits will be teacher collaboration.” 

The dynamic program, in a class room setup also opens up the potential for several other learning structures, with Hub, Pod and Huddle the key terms.

The hub will be all 60 students being taught by one teacher and the other two circulating around the students; a Pod will be a group of 10-20 students with one teacher; and a huddle will be 2-5 kids working independently and “moving through the curriculum as a group.”

“It is very exciting times for the school. We will be employing two new full time teachers to join, and already have 18 staff members, both young and experienced, excited to be doing something different – it is exactly what we have been looking for to push those students in the middle classes.” 

The program will commence only for year seven students in 2018, before incorporating year eight in 2019 and year nine in 2020, and will be used to teach English, maths, science, PE and HSIE (Human Science and its Environment).