Case Study: Custom fit-out for Modbury High School Innovation Hub

Modbury High School, South Australia. Images courtesy of Resource Furniture

Custom fit-out

for Modbury High School Innovation Hub

By Shannon Meyerkort

Industry Reporter

Creating an innovative and customised hub for Year 7 students transitioning from primary school was the motivation behind a new building project at Modbury High School in South Australia.

“We undertook a building project to develop a new hub for our Year 7s transitioning from primary. We wanted to create an open, flexible space that facilitated new and innovative pedagogies,” said Assistant Principal Hannah Downes. The transition from primary to high school can be a challenging one for any student, especially when combined with a huge increase in fellow students, teachers and subjects and expectations of an entirely new way of learning. For this reason, Modbury wanted to provide students with a bridge between the primary school environment students were used to and the new high school setting they were entering into, with its different requirements and demands. Resource Furniture Business Development Manager, Emma Gillings worked on the project to “come up with furniture suitable for the students’ needs that provided flexibility, function and aesthetics”. She said: “The whole process was very collaborative as we worked with the school and architect concurrently, which meant that all parties were engaged and understood the process, and this made project managing the order and installation fairly smooth, even during a time of great uncertainty over the last couple of years.”

Assistant Principal Downes added: “The furniture choices had to reflect these decisions… and we selected Resource Furniture for the quality of the product they supply and the range of options they had for us to select from within our budgetary constraints.”

“The process from selection through to installation was very smooth and they ensured their timelines fitted with ours. We have had tours and visitors to the site who have commented on the fresh environment and productive working space that our Year 7s are operating in,” she added.

The goal for the new hub was to create a collaborative space with furniture that could be transformed into different configurations: “Students have enjoyed the flexibility their new furniture offers, especially in the main collaborative area where they have been able to create seating and working areas that meet the needs of the tasks they are working on. “With new subjects, such as drama, entrepreneurship, and Spanish being introduced, the range of teaching strategies has increased [and] this would not have been possible with the older design furniture.” Resource Furniture offers schools the option of a trial period before committing to the final order, to ensure that the set-up meets the needs of the space and students. Hannah happily recommended other schools take up this offer and accept feedback from both staff and students to ensure the combinations chosen to provide the desired flexibility: “A mix of larger and smaller tables would increase the number of arrangements possible and give staff more control over student seating arrangements when explicitly teaching,” Assistant Principal Downes said.