Purpose: The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to explain the link between traditional same-age school structure and the impact this has on a school's capacity for individual and organisational learning; second, to explain why attempts to develop schools as learning organisations (LOs) invariably reify existing structures and practice, and finally, to provide an example of how and why schools that have adopted a multi-age form of organisation, a vertical tutoring (VT) system, have stumbled upon an embryonic form of LO. Design/methodology/approach: This conceptual paper draws on a critical review of the LO literature and its defining characteristics. The paper adopts a multi-disciplinary approach combining autopoiesis and complexity science to explore differences in learning capacity between traditional same-age schools (year or grade-based structure) and schools that have transitioned to multi-age organisation (vertical tutoring system). Findings: The traditional form of same-age organisational "grammar" used in secondary schools is highly resistant to change, and any attempts at reform that fail to focus on organisation only reify existing systemic behaviour. VT schools change their form of organisation enabling them to create the capacity needed to absorb the unheard voices of participant actors (staff, students, and parents) and promote individual and organisational learning (constituent features of the LO). Originality/value: This conceptual paper argues that for secondary schools to develop any semblance of an LO, they must abandon the restrictions on learning caused by their same-age form of organisation. The VT system provides the kind of organisational template needed.