St Francis de Sales Lynbrook

St Francis opened in 2010 purpose built with open Learning Spaces. It currently has 143 students, Prep to Grade 6. They have seven groups with approximately 20 students in each group. There are four groups of P-2 and three groups of 3-6. At the moment they only have one "Pod" functioning but will move into the second one shortly where they will still have a spread of students from P-6. The third one will open next year. They have found this spread of ages helps with targeted learning for their students and encourages cross age programs and pastoral care.
The curriculum has some non-negatiable tasks and other tasks where students negotiate the learning required from their set goals. Goal setting is a major component of student assessment and tracking. Their goals are revisited in small groups (two students and the AP) once or twice a week.
Students work across levels in workshops as posted at the start of each day so they are aware of their movements around the space across the day's activities. The workshops cover such things as reading, writing,speaking, numeracy and thinking skills. Teachers meet most afternoons to determine the needs of the students based on the goals they have set for themselves and teacher observation. While we were there the sessions changed with only one teacher instructing them to move to the next session over a microphone. This happened with minimum fuss and noise. The next session began promptly and seamlessly.
The students each have folder which contains their goal setting documents and progress towards achieving them. This includes samples of work chosen by the students as evidence of attaining a personal goal. These folders form the basis for assessment reporting. Each student also has a digital portfolio which will eventually contain all of the information currently in the folder.
Students are encouraged to approach any adult in the room for help or guidance instead of waiting for their teacher to be free. This was seen to be promoting independent learning.
Each "Pod" meets together at the start of the day at a base where students have their own space but this is not a desk or table.
In many of the schools we have visited previously there were many more adults than the normal requirements. This was not the case here and programs seemed to be functioning very well.All new staff and students are required to spend at least a full day at the school before making the decision on whether this school was right for them.