SCOTCH OAKBURN COLLEGE MIDDLE SCHOOL

Scotch Oakburn College offers a dynamic and extensive range of learning opportunities for young
people from early learning to grade 12. SOC has become the first school in Australia to feature FNI's
signature ‘studios’, including the DaVinci Studio and the Einstein Studio. The new Health and Fitness
Centre and Middle School are located on a dramatically steep site across the road from the main
campus and offer magnificent vistas to the valley and hills beyond.

SCOTCH OAKBURN COLLEGE MIDDLE SCHOOL

This computer generated aerial perspective provides an overview of the entire Scotch Oakburn
College Penquite campus, with the Middle School at the top-left and the Robert Dean Centre at
the bottom-center of the perspective (new structures in white, existing structures in grey).

SCOTCH OAKBURN COLLEGE MIDDLE SCHOOL

In the Robert Dean Centre students have ample space available for formal and informal learning,
helping them to establish positive study habits prior to tertiary entry. The Robert Dean Centre is
a true indoor ‘public space’, as defined by Jan Gehl, with thoroughfare, meeting place, and
‘marketplace’ (such as Learning Studios, café, offices, gallery and Futures Centre) functions
operating continually to make the space lively and stimulating.

SCOTCH OAKBURN COLLEGE MIDDLE SCHOOL

The largest component of Scotch Oakburn College’s 2005-2010 Master Plan is a new Middle School
for years 6, 7 and 8. Middle-years education has been a focus for Scotch Oakburn College for several
years and this building is a physical representation of the school’s philosophy on education for
students in this age group (11-14). The building comprises three distinct areas, each of which forms a
Personalized Learning Community (PLC) in the Learning Studio model.

SCOTCH OAKBURN COLLEGE MIDDLE SCHOOL

All-pervasive wireless networking allows students and teachers continual access to powerful online
resources, and replicates the settings under which students will be expected to manage their work
in tertiary and career environments. Because SOC’s new learning environments are designed to
support personalized learning, they are inherently inclusive physical environments: accessible to all
regardless of ability or background.

SCOTCH OAKBURN COLLEGE MIDDLE SCHOOL

Color, texture, scale and light have all be carefully considered in the designs, considering ergonomic
function foremost, thus ensuring, for example, that all spaces in each building have access to views
and vistas, and that natural and artificial light sources enhance the particular qualities of each
designated workspace.

SCOTCH OAKBURN COLLEGE MIDDLE SCHOOL

While the current Timetables at SOC look quite similar to traditional Middle School and Secondary
School timetables, the spaces these Learning Communities are using can be easily used to support
a very different mode of school operation. Movable walls between all adjacent Learning Studios
can be taken away to reveal spaces ideal for a Community Centre or Advisory Small Learning
Community setting.

SCOTCH OAKBURN COLLEGE MIDDLE SCHOOL

Texture and color in all buildings has been carefully selected to give the buildings dramatic life without
being patronizing, as a bright color palette can often be in schools. The resulting effect is far less
institutional than is normally expected in a school, and is highly respectful of the students and teachers
working in the spaces. This aesthetic is also in sync with increasingly casual workspaces, reflecting
the ever more important virtual spaces we occupy.

SCOTCH OAKBURN COLLEGE MIDDLE SCHOOL

The buildings expertly support the school’s intended activities today, and are adaptable for changing
future needs. In the Middle School today, students at Scotch Oakburn College participate in project-
based learning activities within a traditionally timetabled framework. Teachers can determine whether
or not their classes will be combined with others and use the mobile walls to facilitate these kinds of
classes. Hands-on activities are catered for in the midst of the Middle School.

SCOTCH OAKBURN COLLEGE MIDDLE SCHOOL

Transparency is designed into the building, allowing teachers to passively monitor the flexible
commons areas.

SCOTCH OAKBURN COLLEGE MIDDLE SCHOOL

The amphitheater is the main component of the Welcoming Entry to the school. It is the center
of all-school gatherings as well as a place for casual social encounters.

SCOTCH OAKBURN COLLEGE MIDDLE SCHOOL

All of the SOC developments assume a personalized model of learning, and have at their heart the
assumption that different students will learn different things, in different ways, from different
people and resources. Evidence of this can be seen in the substantial indoor and outdoor informal
learning space available adjacent to all formal learning spaces, and the way it is under continual
passive supervision. The addition of smaller Studios for small group and individual work, allow
students to work independently or with an instructor.