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If you find the standard classroom layout more of a hindrance than a help when it comes to creative learning you’re not alone,  I have long pondered the effectiveness of the ‘normal’ classroom.  I know for a fact that offering movement and choice to students in their learning environment, and giving them a sense of

Classroom teacher and Learniture co-founder, Juliette Heppell, shares her first-hand experience of the impact of creative learning spaces and explains why she got involved with designing furniture for next-generation learning spaces. If you’ve ever felt that traditional classrooms are a sub-optimal environment for learning, you’re not alone.  I have long wondered why ‘normal’ learning spaces

We’ve been invited to the British Standards Institute (BSI) on Tuesday: it feels a little like being invited to meet the Queen at Buckingham Palace! Their Education Furniture committee (which is responsible for the UK’s input into European standards for all types of educational furniture, as well as the preparation, revision and amendment of British

The Heppell Bench concept has been in development for nearly a decade. Designer James Clarke of Learniture wanted to design a multifunctional piece of furniture that created a range of different learning opportunities at a single, simple stroke. Professor Stephen Heppell, whose daughter, Juliette is one of Learniture’s co-founders, had the idea of a table

Stephen Heppell dropped by Learniture Towers earlier this week to see how the builders are getting on and how our little office is starting to take shape. Over a coffee in the fabulous Granary Deli below us, we chatted about this and that: the backlash that had been aimed at poor old St Catherine’s School

Returning from BETT, I’ve had some time to consider the landscape of the UK education system and I felt more positive than I have in a while. In an ever changing education landscape, the tough question has always been how can any school keep their eyes on the horizon whilst proactively working in the present.

Juliette and James on Friday, followed by Professor Stephen Heppell on Saturday … we had a fab time being interviewed at BETT by the inimitable Russell Prue. Listen to it here

One of the things I like most about BETT is it’s a chance for us to learn just as much as it’s an opportunity for us to show teachers our collection and explain how we believe it can impact on teaching and learning. And one such time was late last Thursday afternoon – chatting to

You say STEM? I say STEAM? Let’s call the whole thing… That’s the thing about language. You mean this but I mean that, yet we both use the same word. Or we use different words yet mean the same thing. And in the case of Stem/Steam where, in the midst of all that, does MakerSpace

A couple of instances yesterday brought home to me why we believe, what we’re doing with Learniture is so important. Firstly, I read an interview by Emma Dyer with Dutch architect Herman Hertzberger. At 85, he still runs his studio in Amsterdam and in this interview (well worth a read over a coffee) he spoke