As you take your first step into Margaret Hendry School's 'classroom' you might feel disoriented — there are no rows of desks, and there is no board at the front to point yourself towards.

Instead, before you is a space with high chairs, low round tables, beanbags and benches, with students sitting alone reading, in groups talking and sharing, at benches on computers and at workshop tables making Christmas cards.

Around the edges are private booths set up variously as a green screen studio, a reading nook, a chillout space and a dedicated study room with soothing classical music playing through the speakers.

And there is not a 'teacher' in sight.

The students love it.

Rooms have been designed specifically to suit the needs of the current students, and are adaptable as the cohort changes. ( Jake Evans )

Jiya, who wants to be an Olympian, said the range of options meant if something was too easy, you could seek out a challenge elsewhere, or the opposite if something was too tricky.

Sanchi, a future space scientist, said it was fun to work with different people and not be in a set group with a single teacher giving instructions.

And Gus, who was elected by his class as Minister for Play, said not sitting at his desk all the time and being able to get up and talk to friends meant he was able to give himself a "brain break".

'Learning coaches' are Margaret Hendry's new teachers

Margaret Hendry School in Taylor is Canberra's newest school, which opened in the first term of 2019.

It is a model school for the ACT Government's 10-year 'future of education' strategy, and its principal Kate Woods said the goal was to bust apart the traditional approach to teaching.

"We're moving away from the old factory model of education, where we taught children based on age and curriculum content for a particular cohort," Ms Woods said.

Principal Kate Woods says Margaret Hendry school is built on four values: connection, growth, collaboration and love.

Instead, its teachers call themselves "learning coaches", who, rather than teach a single grade, work alongside several other coaches in a "neighbourhood" of students who are different ages, but are at similar stages in their learning.

"With the learning coaches operating in the way they do, there could be 75 children in a neighbourhood with three members of staff, and children have the opportunity to link in and connect with the member of staff they feel most connected to and most comfortable with throughout the course of the day," Ms Woods said.

Learning coach Maxine Galante said the approach meant students were not bound by their age.

"You can't actually tell what lesson is happening at what time of the day — you might be in a maths workshop while some children are out developing their gross motor skills, meanwhile another child is working on their writing goals," Ms Galante said.

"[It's] really trying to work out what a child needs, and provide them with that personalised timetable so they can grow in a way that's really meaningful to them."

The 'reading nook' is one of many breakaway rooms students can use to achieve their own learning goals. ( ABC News: Jake Evans )

The Margaret Hendry approach is not just about designing a school that works better for its children — its goal is to also prepare children for a world that is unpredictable.

"We really do want to create informed citizens who are actively engaging in their community and thinking about the impact they can have."

"It's not just reading, writing and maths, there is far more involved ... leadership, self-management, being an effective collaborator and communicator."

Designing a school children want to attend

Several learning coaches work with a group of students to enable a more flexible class that can tackle a variety of tasks at once. ( ABC News: Jake Evans )

University of Canberra's Associate Professor in Education Kerrie Heath said the traditional classroom no longer prepared children for the modern workplace.

"If it's always teacher telling you what to do and you're never having to make decisions, that's not producing the kind of innovative and entrepreneurial young people we want," Professor Heath said.

"[And] if you think about that traditional model in its most traditional form it implies that every child is learning at the same rate with the same depth every single day. That actually isn't the case."

Professor Heath said changing approaches to learning were not about allowing kids to "choose their own adventure", rather that more personalised learning reduced the chances of children slipping through the cracks.

"This isn't stepping away from teacher-led learning into just children directing all of their own learning, this is about personalising learning to meet the needs of every child," Professor Heath said.

Ms Woods said that has helped to make school a place children look forward to.

"Taking away some of those barriers around the learning neighbourhood being so constrictive, they've got choice, they've got opportunity," she said.