When students at Sydney's first high-rise high school leave for the day, there's no mass exodus of kids running out the gates and onto the streets of the Parramatta CBD.
Instead the $225 million public school staggers start and finish times to manage up to 2000 students' movements throughout the 17-floor building.
Timetabling is one of many quirks at Arthur Phillip High School, which opened its campus this month after cost blow-outs and delays. But the "one-of-a-kind" school is still dividing experts over its open-plan classrooms and approach to co-teaching.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian takes a tour of the state's first high-rise public high school.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
The day begins at 8.30am for years 7 and 8, but not until 8.50am for years 9 and 10, and includes four 80-minute periods. Recess and lunch are replaced by similarly staggered 20-minute breaks, where students eat at their own discretion.
The new high rise has colour-coded levels.Credit: Edwina Pickles
They know break time has arrived when they hear music over the speakers - years 9 and 10 hear Mozart; years 11 and 12 get Bach.
Also gone is the traditional classroom. Each year has a designated mezzanine floor, colour-coded by staircase much like a car park, and students wear matching coloured lanyards to remember their level.
An attached swipe card gives them access to facilities including a gym, industrial-style kitchen, a dance studio and science labs, but most learning takes place in an open-plan environment.
About 20 per cent of classes are "co-taught" in the year group's mezzanine, where two teachers supervise combined classes of up to 60 kids.
Portable screens are scattered across the floor, ready to be deployed for learning purposes, while an 'iHub' covered in bookshelves on each level replaces the traditional library.
Teachers Federation deputy president Henry Rajendra questioned the evidence behind the school's approach, saying reduced class sizes provide better one-to-one support for students.
"Open space learning classrooms have been a fad that has been tried on schools for over 40 years," he said. "Research has detailed the negative impacts on noise levels, students with speech and hearing issues and those that suffer from anxiety."
Education program director at the Centre for Independent Studies, Fiona Mueller, said schools needed to be "very cautious" in adopting co-teaching, and that the pedagogical design foundations of Arthur Phillip were unclear.
Students look at books outside an ‘iHub’ at Arthur Phillip High School in Parramatta.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
"Technology enables so much learning and gives so much flexibility, that we can never underestimate the value of those strategies. But it's a different way of delivering course material that is not necessarily a feature of teacher training or education. [Schools] need to be very confident that the teachers have the skills," she said.
Arthur Phillip principal Lauretta Claus said the vertical high-rise had come with communication challenges. "We’ve had to walk through some changes and tweaks to policy to make it efficient, seamless and safe," she said.
The staff room, where students could once reliably find their teachers, has been eliminated as staff are spread throughout levels. The school is experimenting with a technology program where students log in and see where their teachers are.
Arthur Phillip will not operate at full capacity until it settles into its new space. Just 1100 of 2000 possible students are enrolled this year.
"We've certainly had a lot of interest from the wider community about coming here, but we’re going to take our time slowly to grow into our own," Ms Claus said. "I can’t begin to describe what this new school means for my students in terms of the opportunities. I feel truly blessed."
Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the "world-class education facility" was designed for high density and population growth in Parramatta, and replicating the model would depend on community needs.