Gillieston Heights' newest school has just nine students

It's a unique way to learn, with their teacher able to spend far more time with each student than if it were a class of 30.

With such a small school size, the students get to take on a lot more responsibility such as speaking at assemblies, and they also are there to celebrate each other's classroom wins.

The Heights Learning Community is on Cessnock Road, Gillieston Heights and currently has students from kindergarten to year two.

The staff is made up of principal John Venegas, a classroom teacher and a teacher's aid.

Mr Venegas said he has big plans for the school, and hopes to have about 30 to 40 students enrolled in 2025.

His first goal for the school is to work up to a full primary school cohort, and the master plan long-term goal is to have students from K-12.

"We've opened it with kinder to year two, with a plan to expand each year with year three next year, year four, year five and year six, and then consolidate and see what a primary school feels like on this site," Mr Venegas said.

"It's a three hectare site so it's large enough, our master plan is to cater to K to 12 it, but for the next few years we're building it slowly."

Mr Venegas said the school will help to meet the needs of Maitland's growing population.

"Gillieston Heights particularly, but Maitland needs more schools. The place is blowing up population-wise but services aren't there, so we were very excited about that, very excited to see the housing estates popping up around the place," he said.

"It was a no-brainer, this is a great growth corridor and opportunity for our system."

Students started learning at the school in January, and the school was officially opened at a grand opening event on May 2.

While the students follow the standards of a NSW school, things are done a little differently at The Heights.

"We are child-centred because we believe they should be taking the lead on their learning," Mr Venegas said.

"Yes, we have content and outcomes, and we follow all the standards but that child won't learn like this child, so we need to honour that. We need to understand that's an audible, or a visual, or a kinesthetic, or a hands-on child, so we need to give them that opportunity."

Another way things are done differently at The Heights is Mr Venegas is known to his students at Mr John.

"That would rattle the cages of some of my colleague from previous school, the fact these children call me by my first name, but we want to encourage a sense of equity in the learning journey," he said.

"The fact that yes, the child might be six or seven-years-old, but he's no less a human because he's in the classroom sitting under my teaching.

"I don't rule with power here, I'm learning from them, I'm understanding what they bring to the table and we've got children from different ethnic backgrounds that offer me a whole lot of perspective on things that I didn't know and they do that for each other."

The Heights is an independent school owned by Seventh-day Adventist Schools (NNSW), but Mr Venegas said students of all beliefs are welcome to enrol at the school.

"We're a faith-based school, so we're Christian in philosophy, owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church, but we kind of want to be an innovative future-focused school as well that asks the questions 'do we have to do what we've always done?', 'is school really about me standing up the front and delivering content, or is it that everyone in the room brings knowledge and wisdom into that space?'," he said.

There was previously an Adventist school on the site called Valley View which opened in 1985, but closed in 1994.