A Future-Focused Learning Experience
In 2026, Queen Margaret College launched an exciting new Year 6 Innovation & Future Cities Programme, giving younger learners access to specialist teachers, innovative learning spaces and real-world technology experiences while helping prepare them for the Middle Years Programme (MYP).
Built around the question,”How can technology help create better communities for the future?”, the programme challenges students to think like innovators, engineers and problemsolvers.
Students explore sustainability, renewable energy, coding, electronics and robotics while investigating the opportunities and challenges facing future cities.
Learning from Senior School Technology Specialists
Working alongside specialist Senior School Technology teachers Richard Knuckey (Head of Learning Area – Technology) and Suriya Srinivasan (Technology Teacher), students learn how electricity powers our communities, how programmable technologies work, and how technology can be used to solve everyday problems. They gain hands-on experience with circuitry, coding, micro:bits and robotics in ways that go well beyond traditional learning in a primary school classroom.
Bringing Future Cities to Life
The learning culminates in the creation of a solar-powered model community. Each student designs and builds an energy-efficient home, while teams collaborate to create public buildings, transport systems, lighting networks and smart technologies, bringing their community to life through programmable devices and robotics.
Building Skills for the Future
This programme reflects QMC’s commitment to future-focused education, developing the creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and adaptability that young people will need in an increasingly complex world. It also brings the International Baccalaureate philosophy to life, encouraging students to inquire, experiment, reflect and apply their learning across disciplines.
Preparing for the Middle Years Programme (MYP)
Most importantly, the programme helps students see themselves not simply as users of technology, but as creators of solutions. By imagining and building sustainable communities of the future, Year 6 students are developing the skills, confidence and mindset to shape the world around them.
Through working with specialist teachers, moving between different learning spaces and managing subject-specific classes, students become familiar with the routines and expectations of Middle School, building independence and readiness for the transition to the MYP. The programme also encourages transdisciplinary thinking, challenging students to draw connections across science, technology, mathematics, design and social studies as they explore complex real-world issues. By integrating knowledge, skills and perspectives from multiple disciplines, students develop a deeper understanding of how innovation can be used to create more sustainable, connected and resilient communities.