Built on the site of a brutalist old Telstra building, one primary school in Sydney's inner-west is helping to change the way school design is approached.

Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Primary School in North Strathfield won its category in the

2019 Learning Environments Australasia Awards for Excellence in Education Facility Design, three years after the first stage of their project claimed the same prize.

"A very different type of space": Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Primary School in North Strathfield. Credit:BVN

Knut Menden, of architecture firm BVN, led the project – and thinks that we don't need to look abroad for innovation while some of the most interesting and ambitious schools are being designed here.

"I think a lot of schools are progressive in Australia, in terms of learning environments. All the schools we’ve been involved in are moving away from traditional classrooms."