Meriden Junior School has recently celebrated the opening of specialised classrooms. The colourful, architecturally-designed spaces are being enjoyed by students for Music and STEM projects that involve collaborative, creative and critical thinking.
The renovation has added to the Junior School Campus one high-tech STEM Lab, two classrooms, a Music Academy office, two Music classrooms, six Music tutorial rooms and three instrumental storage rooms.
The STEM Lab is equipped with a 3D printer and a range of robotics equipment. It has a large floor space and moveable furniture, which means the room can be easily re-arranged when girls are finished coding their robots and move on to the testing phase. The space has also been designed to host virtual reality and green screen activities as well as Science experiments.
The Music Academy rooms have been designed for instrumental, speech and drama lessons. The spacious areas allow for the free movement of students during group work and rehearsals. The rooms are equipped with new pianos which will be used by accompanists and students and the girls have access to a range of instruments and technologies that support their development in analytical listening, innovative composing and performing and promote deep understanding of musical works.
Dr Michele Benn, Head of Junior School, said the refurbishment will enhance the learning of Meriden girls who are already deeply engaged in Music curriculum and emerging as young scientists who are solving practical issues using STEM.
“The bright new classrooms inspire creativity and already the girls have used the flexible learning areas to practise their instruments with specialist teachers, compose their own music and program robots. The expertise of the Music Department, Music Academy staff and the Dean of Inquiry Learning will be put to good use in these spaces and I know they will help our Junior School students to continue to develop their interests in Music and STEM.”
“I would like to extend my thanks to Dr Greenhalgh and the School Council for their careful development of these important spaces. I am also grateful to the Junior School Auxiliary, for its generous contribution of $25,000 for equipment for the STEM Lab. These new facilities provide a beautiful environment in which we can develop creative innovation through creative teaching,” Dr Benn said.
