Page 23 - School Planning & Management, January/February 2019

Sponsored Content
PRODUCTS
that w
rk
VS AMERICA
Achieving Flexibility
in a 439-Square-Foot Classroom
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019 / SCHOOL PLANNING & MANAGEMENT 23
LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW AQUEST DESIGN, utilizing VS America furniture, helped trans- form a small space to allow for big ideas.
The School
Miss Edgar’s and Miss Cramp’s School (ECS) is a private girl’s school in Westmount, Quebec in Canada, and it serves grades K-11.
The Challenge
ECS has been experimenting with 21st- century learning for a number of years in their junior school and wanted to progress this approach to the middle school level. The hurdle with creating a flexible learning environment in the middle school was the small classroom sizes: these classrooms are just 439 square feet and need to support 22 students. ECS reached out to Aquest Design, which specializ- es in forward-thinking educational spaces, for help in designing a space that would continue the learning methods that the lower-grade students have become used to, but within the confined spaces they have available.
Building the Solution with Agile Furniture
It was clear that ECS was ready for classrooms and furniture that would allow for multiple learning styles while offering the utmost flexibility to rearrange the room de- pending on the lesson plan of the day. Aquest Design knew from previous projects that VS America furniture would be able to transform the classrooms into agile environments. VS America’s ergonomic furniture inspires mo-
tion, and has the flexibility to adapt to every changing need, giving educators the freedom to easily create spaces for every type of learning style.
Going Away From Individual Desks
Due to the classroom sizes, it was ap- parent that ECS needed to go beyond the 1:1 student to desk ratio—stepping away from this model really opens up learning spaces and increases the classroom possibilities.
Creating Compact Storage
To manage the storage need, wall storage was implemented along one wall. This storage allowed the actual learning area to be free
of clutter and for ECS to really benefit from ergonomic, agile furniture, while still having plenty of storage space available.
Removing the Teacher’s Desk
To free up as much space as possible, there is no designated teacher area in the classroom in the new design. To engage with the students in a one-on-one setting or in
groups, the teacher can use the mobile, height-adjustable Shift+ Interact to maneu- ver throughout the room as needed.
The Outcome
Now the students enter their classrooms and can sit anywhere—it’s quite amazing to see them in action. The space can quickly be rearranged to be used as a Socratic learning space; the soft seating is a more relaxed area; and window sills are a favorite.
Since the teacher space is not defined, teachers will sometimes sit at the back be- hind the Shift+ Transfer shelving units, other times amidst the students.
Working creatively to design and furnish the small space resulted in classrooms that are truly agile learning environments that meet the needs of each student and educator. SPM
Learn more about:
• Miss Edgar’s and Miss Cramp’s School at
https://www.ecs.qc.ca/
• Aquest Design at www.aquestdesign.ca • VS America at www.vsamerica.com