As the mother of a 20-something son, it has been some years since I entered a Year 7 classroom ... so the invitation from Nambucca Heads High School principal Simon McKinney to visit the new Year 7 'nest' at the school piqued my curiosity.
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What I walked into took me by surprise - 40 students ranged around a large open space, sitting on the floor or on chairs, working together on various tasks with two teachers plus a teacher's aide moving among them, helping where help was needed.
The environment was relaxed and also engaged ... no puzzled, stressed faces on these Year 7s as they find their feet among the melee of high school.
The idea of this project-based learning where students are based in hubs was brought to Mr McKinney's attention at a principal's conference last year where he heard Kurri Kurri High School principal Tracey Breese, talking about the success she was having at her school.
"This acknowledges that kids of today don't learn the same way as previous generations .... it made a lot of sense to me, so I asked if any of my staff were interested to come along on this new journey," Mr McKinney said.
"About eight put their hands up and a group of us attended a conference in the Hunter Valley in Term 4. Afterwards there was a lot of excitement in the room and we decided to see what we could do.
"Teachers Danielle Bowen and Mel Waters worked their hearts out getting it ready and here we are ... it's early days yet and the students are still in the 'boot camp' phase, which introduces them to the subject areas, but so far they all seem to be settling well.
"They are grouped into two hubs (45 students each) and teaching is project-based with English and History taught by the same teaching team, as is Maths and Science."
Hub teacher Danielle Bowen said in her 20-plus years of teaching this was one of the best things she'd done.
"I've always enjoyed team teaching and I also think there is a lot to be gained by teaching in the context of real life projects rather than stand-alone subjects," Ms Bowen said.
"For example creating a garden using everyday maths problems and practical science will be the Maths/Science project.
"In English/History we'll be exploring our community, doing interviews and making a film.
I like the way the teachers get around everyone and also meeting new people when we work in our pods. There is not so much rushing around.
- Savannah Duffy
"The way we work is very flexible - we can be in our hubs, or we divide the groups into 'pods' or even smaller 'huddles'.
"I'm loving it because the kids are in rows and forced to sit still. We still have our daily routine, which starts with hub reading every morning but it is more relaxed.
"Our program is guided by four points: creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking - the four 'Cs'."
And so I asked the students themselves what they thought so far:
Ryan Faulds said he was liking being in the larger group and being able to sit where he wanted. He also liked being able to get help easily.
For Dakota Cook the frisson of doing something new and different was enjoyable: "I like being together in one big classroom instead of being split up and I like being able to sit on the floor."
Savannah Duffy said so far it had been 'fun': "I like the way the teachers get around everyone and also meeting new people when we work in our pods. There is not so much rushing around."
As I took my leave the students were being given their first task of the year - to create some sort of visual or written representation of "the best thing about me" ... now that's what I call a positive beginning.