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This article was published 4/9/2017 (1110 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Back-to-school time won’t be business as usual for students at an innovative new school in Winnipeg.

When the inaugural bell rings this morning, kids won’t cluster in narrow hallways, drop their books on uniform desks or study inside all day.

École Sage Creek School was built with an understanding of "what we now know is good for kids," principal Marc Poirier said.

"In the olden days, everyone had an identical desk. The chair was connected to the desk and there was no flexibility. It didn’t matter if you were six feet tall or four feet tall in Grade 5— everyone had the same size desk."

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Grade 3-4 teacher Leslie Girling in new Ecole Sage Creek school classroom.

Instead of desks, the K-8 school has flexible furniture for fidgety students, meaning the age-old reminder to "sit still" will be thrown to the wind.

"We know now — kids need to move, (so) let them move," Poirier said, in reference to the rocking chairs and standing desks.

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The flexible furniture including new Zuma rockers and Hokki stools that are available for students.

Other schools in the Louis Riel School Division (LRSD) have flexible furniture, but there are some features in this school that are being tried for the first time.

"It’s not a typical school with narrow hallways with classrooms on both sides," the principal continued. "The school is divided into four wings for classrooms and — instead of narrow hallways — we’re having what we’re calling a neighbourhood commons, which is a larger area in between the classes. Our hope is that this will facilitate and encourage more collaboration between students."

The building design came from Number TEN, a local architecture firm with a portfolio including the Canada Games Sport for Life Centre and Bell MTS Place.

The physical layout plays into teaching methods, too, Poirier said. Collaborative spaces mean less "old-school" teaching methods such as memorization, in favour of more hands-on learning.

"We have what we’re calling a ‘makers’ space,’ which could have been known in the old days as an industrial arts lab. But industrial arts won’t just be (for) the older kids, it will be all of our kids going to the makers’ space to build and create a variety of things and work hands-on."

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The exterior showing the design’s emphasis on natural light.

Learning spaces also extend outside the 77,000-square-foot facility.

"Kids are typically more engaged when they are outdoors," Poirier said.

"There’s various areas outside that are designed to have groups of kids outside — working together, learning together, doing a variety of activities. But even if you’re in our main learning commons, you’ll see there’s a lot of windows to see the outdoors and (take in) as much sunlight as possible," Poirier said, noting details including grass-inspired green carpets.

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS An interior view of the school's light-filled gym.

Spending more time outdoors is an easy sell to parents, compared with touchy topics such as the school’s gender-neutral washrooms.

Those who are concerned about what gender-neutral washrooms look like should know it’s not just new signage slapped onto a traditional layout. The washrooms have floor-to-ceiling walled individual stalls, meaning the sinks are the only shared area.

The school also is trying to be energy efficient. It’s heated and cooled by geothermal energy, eliminating its greenhouse gas emissions.

The geothermal system will reduce energy costs from 50 to 70 per cent annually, according to TruEnergy Source, the company that installed it.

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Poirier, right, looks at a geothermal heating system in the crawl space with construction worker Max Hrechkosy.

LRSD Superintendent Dwayne Brothers believes it’s the first geothermal system in the division, joining the likes of South Point School and Amber Trails Community School.

Sage Creek School is the first school LRSD has built in more than 15 years and it’s opening over its 600-student capacity.

Brothers hopes that signals to the provincial government the Sage Creek community needs another one.

"We expect by 2020 there will be about 900 kids (in grades) K-8 in our community, so we really need a second school," Brothers projected.