St John’s is delighted to announce that it has been invited as an industry partner to participate in The GrandSchools research project. The GrandSchools Project is a nationally-funded collaboration between Australian Catholic University, QUT, Deakin University, Fulton Trotter Architects, and now, St John’s Anglican College as an industry partner. The aim is to develop a solution that integrates research into intergenerational campus planning and healthy living and learning programs.
One of the greatest challenges for Australian society is the separation of generations which affects the quality of life for our seniors (social isolation) and the engagement of our youth. Historically, aged care and the education of young people have existed at two ends of the social policy spectrum. This federally funded project will investigate the concept of an intergenerational model for senior living within school campuses.
Recently, invited St John’s staff and secondary students were joined by seniors from the local community in the first of three exploratory workshops hosted by Dr Suzanne Kuys from the Australian Catholic University (ACU), a number of PhD students, and Fulton Trotter Architects. The combined groups explored what students and staff could teach seniors or grandparents and vice versa; what are the skills and attributes or knowledge and resources that could help achieve intergenerational activities within St John’s together with the difficulties and challenges and what activities could be done together to make the most of their skills.
The outcome of this series of workshops is to design a hypothetical model for an intergenerational living and learning campus creating intentional space for co-learning, co-care, co-fitness and co-creation benefiting health, well-being, and continued engagement of residents and students.
This exciting project has the potential to transform our current approach to both schooling and senior living, fostering a deeper sense of intergenerational connection and collaboration. It is a wonderful opportunity for our staff and students to participate, and we look forward to continuing to share with our community St John’s journey on this research project.
Research shows that people can benefit from skill building, being connected to the community, and improve wellbeing by being a part of an intergenerational program!
Source: ACU (Australian Catholic University)
