Watsonia North Primary School - New Senior Building
Take a behind-the-scenes look at the brand new Senior School Building at Watsonia North Primary School.
In this video, Principal Sarah Pollnitz shares her experience bringing this important project to life, while architect Audrey Whisker, Director of Whisker Architecture, discusses the vision, design process, and how the new spaces are designed to support contemporary learning.
Discover the key features of the new senior learning spaces
- Learn how collaboration between the school and architect shaped the project
- Explore how innovative architecture enhances student engagement and wellbeing
Whether you are passionate about education design, planning a school building project, or seeking inspiration for modern learning environments, this interview offers valuable insights into designing spaces that support student success.
Watsonia North Primary School, New Senior School Building - Whisker Architecture
Video Transcript
The project that we're here today at is Watsonia North Primary School. It's their new senior school building and we're really proud to hand that over to the school this week.
During the stakeholder engagement workshops we tweaked some of the layout of the building to make sure that every classroom had the opportunity to team teach as well as teach separately and that was really important to the teachers here.
In the two classrooms behind me there's a graduate teacher and a mentor next door. So that teacher isn't just team teaching with them but they're actually learning from their observations - sometimes formally, sometimes just as par for the course - but seeing something next to you that's being modelled well is actually a really good teaching experience for those graduate teachers as well.
The staff space that we have is mainly set out at the moment so that there's a great focus and emphasis on collaboration - there's a great big boardroom desk set up in there - so our teachers can work together when they're planning. They can set things up, they can set boards up with data, they can set resources up in that room. It can be a space that's a really good working space for them, rather than just finding a meeting room that's available once a week and hoping they can get some decent planning done in that time.
We've designed this space with a real variety of learning areas - including general learning areas, small group areas, and areas like this which are more of an informal learning space. There's a real connection between the indoor learning areas and the outdoor learning areas to make sure that students are getting the best out of their learning experience. Because we all know that natural light, natural ventilation, and movement are key to academic success.
Bringing the tree inside means that we remember that this whole building was created in a shape so that preserves the tree outside. And it just brings that bit of nature in and gives a bit of ownership to our community around us and our environment around us as well.
It's just lovely to see, I should say, people's reactions to the high ceilings. They all look up and say "Oh my goodness me! This is such a big building. It's so light!". I walked around with a parent earlier today and she commented on how calm this building feels and I think that's the colour pallet and the furnishings and she said "It just feels really calm in here".
Children are giving back this feeling that they appreciate the work that's gone into this building. They can see that people have loved this building and thought about what's gone into it. I think that's probably my favourite bit - that it's got a soul already, and it's only just a building at the moment!
We're really excited to hand over this building to Watsonia North Primary School and their community. The students and staff are really excited to move and we couldn't be prouder.
Whisker Architecture
Learn [in] Your Values
Featuring:
Audrey Whisker, Director, Whisker Architecture
Sarah Pollnitz, Principal, Watsonia North Primary School
Videography by PBloc
