Beatrice Elementary College Case Examine

A contemporary new elementary faculty helps Beatrice, Nebraska, put college students on the middle of studying.

Should you ask college students to explain what their faculty is like, likelihood is you wouldn’t hear the phrase “enjoyable” used fairly often. Most faculty services have a really institutional appear and feel, designed to maintain college students compliant whereas academics are main instruction.

The brand new preK-5 Beatrice Elementary College in Beatrice, Nebraska, breaks this mould. For proof, you don’t must look any additional than the large, two-story twister slide that college students see in the course of the commons space.

The message to the kids is obvious: We’re right here to study, however we’re additionally right here to have enjoyable and be engaged.

A long time of analysis reveals that college students don’t study in the identical methods or on the similar tempo, and their wants aren’t being met by the “one dimension suits all” method of the outdated factory-era faculty mannequin. The brand new Beatrice Elementary College acknowledges this actuality with a extremely versatile design aimed toward assembly all college students’ wants.

“We wished a constructing the place our children may study in trendy methods,” mentioned Principal Missy Timmerman.
“Our youngsters aren’t simply sitting at desks; they’re creating and collaborating. This constructing is a software for us to take training to the following degree.”

Placing College students First

The brand new 143,000-square-foot facility consolidates three elementary faculties and a preschool into one state-of-the-art, two-story constructing that’s FEMA-rated as a storm shelter for the security of scholars, employees, and most of the people. It incorporates a safe entry, a geothermal HVAC system, 10 preschool lecture rooms, 36 grade-level lecture rooms, an Innovation Heart, and a full-size health club with seating for 500.

Safety was a key consideration in designing the brand new facility. The entire doorways have magnetic locks that may be managed from a central location with the push of a button, permitting directors to lock down the constructing immediately. As well as, a sliding gate closes off the inside of the constructing from the principle foyer.

One other necessary consideration was flexibility. District leaders wished an area that would help many various kinds of studying modalities and pupil necessities, understanding that not everybody’s wants are the identical.

For assist in designing and equipping the brand new Beatrice Elementary College, district officers turned to College Specialty.

College Specialty Strategic Account Supervisor Heather Smith and Senior Studying Surroundings Specialist Belinda Engles labored with district leaders to determine their wants and design extremely versatile studying environments that will help efficient, future-ready instruction.

The college’s lecture rooms function desks with varied geometric shapes that may match collectively in some ways to help completely different group sizes. College students even have a selection of a number of seating types, together with delicate seating choices and swivel stools that enable them to tilt, rock, and transfer whereas they study.

A lot of the furnishings is on wheels, permitting college students and academics to reconfigure the classroom setup at
a second’s discover to accommodate a brand new hands-on studying exercise. “We’re placing studying within the arms of our college students,” Timmerman famous.

The frequent areas function “exercise zones” the place studying can proceed exterior of sophistication—or the place small teams of scholars can work on initiatives or obtain supplemental instruction. The Innovation Heart is one giant, open studying setting that can be utilized in some ways, with bookshelves on wheels that can be utilized to outline the area as wanted. College students can retreat to quiet studying nooks within the Innovation Heart to work individually or in pairs. Academics can even reserve one among two “flex” lecture rooms for initiatives which might be messy in nature, utilizing them as fab labs or makerspaces as wanted.

“The aim is to place our children’ wants first. It’s for our children to have a spot the place they wish to come and study,” Timmerman mentioned. “It’s a spot for them to have the sort of training they deserve, in an area that’s protected and energetic.”

A “Present to Our Neighborhood”

Change is tough, and a few dad and mom have been skeptical of the brand new facility at first. Consolidating 4
faculty buildings into one meant closing the older neighborhood faculties, which didn’t sit effectively with many individuals initially.

However when dad and mom have been capable of tour the brand new constructing for the primary time, all of their issues disappeared.

“We now have not heard one adverse remark after they arrive right here,” Timmerman mentioned. “I had one guardian say, ‘I didn’t get it earlier than, however now I perceive. That is such a present to our neighborhood.’”

Academics and different employees members are excited concerning the prospects the brand new constructing permits. To assist them take full benefit of the brand new area for studying, district leaders have been providing skilled studying alternatives for the previous couple of years, constructing the capability of employees to make use of energetic studying methods and differentiate instruction. What’s extra, academics now obtain frequent planning time to collaborate with their colleagues and plan future-ready classes.

“It’s such a terrific reset for our district to present academics an area the place they achieve success,” Timmerman mentioned.

Smith and Engles went the additional mile to make sure the success of the venture, even putting in blackout shades on all the inside home windows that academics can deploy immediately within the occasion of a lockdown.

“To suppose they’ve this superb, revolutionary area in tiny Beatrice, Nebraska, is implausible,” Engles concluded.