summer holidays

School is out for summer, and the Creativity Club is taking a break. We plan to continue the art from scrap competition when students return to school late January. In a recent meeting with the principal, we have been allocated a new space, a smaller room directly opposite the canteen area, across the courtyard. This will require better management of space and equipment, and the moving of all resources to the new space, but will help to raise our exposure as the room is highly visible to all. Hopefully, we can rally the team to help with the move.

Other news. We are waiting upon the results of a grant application that will assist us to improve the space, purchase equipment, provide more access to the creativity club and assist the teachers at Collingwood to implement the digital literacies curriculum. Hopefully, we will know the results within the next few week. Fingers crossed. In the event that the application is not successful, we will be looking at other avenues for funding the Creativity Club. Suggestions thus far include, applying for a Spring Fair Fund, and bringing in external, paying children, parents and teachers for set activities and professional learning.

A parent has alerted me to the great work at the Super Science club at Westgarth Primary school. The organiser also runs workshops for kids over the summer break. https://www.facebook.com/goldengearrobotics/ If anyone is interested in any of the activities being offered there but is unable to attend please let me know as we may be able to organise something through collaboration or otherwise.

I have also stumbled across this great resource for primary school art teachers and students. https://www.facebook.com/Art-Teacher-Life-404151036453828/

The great creative work accomplished by many students in the Creativity Club may be included in a publication. I will keep you posted. The work has been acknowledged as being exceptional and has caught the attention of international experts in the field. Well done everyone.

Our 3D printer has arrived. Hopefully I will get the opportunity and time to test it and have it ready before the school year commences.

Enjoy the break and stay safe.

 

2 thoughts on “summer holidays”

  1. As part of the MAKEY project, Hans Christian Arnseth (University of Olso) and I visited two Makerspaces in schools in Melbourne at the end of March 2017.

    At the first school, Collingwood College, we were welcomed by the campus principal Dale Perichon, the principal of the secondary school, Craig Bradley along with makers Greg Giannis and Craig van der Valk. We were both highly impressed by the set up in the school and the commitment of all those above.

    The makerspace at Collingwood espouses a bottom up model with the emphasis on engagement and creativity. Attendance is voluntary and the children decide their own pathways through the makerspace. Dismantling is a part of the process as well as creating but this is tempered by a caution against mere destruction – dismantling is seen as a positive activity. The makerspace is seen as a respite from government mandated performative agendas. There are discussions happening about the potential for a mobile makerspace. Two interesting emphases were firstly on the social element of the work, emphasising collaboration with the locality rather than just geographical co-existence. Secondly there was an emphasis on the creative and artistic as well as the technological, leading to a preference for the acronym STEAM over STEM.

    Key issues that the makerspace in the school faced centred around logistics – as with many makerspaces, there are key driving figures in Greg and Craig. There was concern over sustainability if these key figures left. Other issues here included teacher involvement in extra-curricular activity given their already hectic schedule and other demands on their good will, issues of safety and risk, parental buy-in to the makerspace, funding, though there are some avenues opening up here, and teacher confidence with technology.

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