At Southmoor Primary, a ‘Learnscape’ is a landscape designed for optimal learning. Student focused, the concept involves the whole school creating environments to learn in, about and through, based on the integration of grounds and curriculum developments. After many years of consultation, research and planning we developed a Master Plan which details many innovative concepts for the development of individual Learnscapes within our school grounds, designed specifically to take learning beyond the four walls of the traditional classroom.
Our core values and vision for sustaining the educational innovation at Southmoor, grounded firmly within our mission as a school, allows for flexible use and interchange of these plans as the future unfolds. Our potential to provide a focus for public education has been recognised by many quarters. Southmoor's inspiring environmental initiatives are more often planned, created and maintained by our children demonstrated by:
Access to an exciting variety of complementary habitats within our grounds
A safe and secure environment
A recognition that learning occurs in different ways and in different places
The development of natural intelligence
Our year 6 students are actively involved in the continual evolution of our grounds through the Leave Your Mark project, in which as part of their final year at Southmoor, students are given the opportunity to work with professionals to be part of a lasting legacy to beautify our school. This program has over the years been responsible for our wood-fired pizza oven, hydroponic herb and vegetable gardens, a modernized playground, a waterfall garden, an outdoor Tipi classroom, a Korean garden, a Butterfly Garden mosaic and a whole-school Mandala, to name a few!
Our school is also proud to have our very own chickens, fruit orchard, grapevines, gazebo garden, oval, cricket nets, new Friendship Bench and its own Canteen.
The Tipi in the garden eclipses all that surrounds it. Standing at 10 metres, it is the centrepiece of a carefully crafted learning environment that links several elements of the curriculum: the arts, history, respect for other cultures with environmental education, health and nutrition. It is used for weekly garden classes and at other times as an inspirational learning centre. There is also a purpose-built outdoor learning area overlooking our gardens, a windmill which provides irrigation from our water tanks, a potting shed, fruit orchard, hydroponic sheds and new wicking beds which produce an abundance of vegetables. Various murals, sculptures and artworks are scattered in and around our gardens, making learning inspiring and vibrant for our students.