Tag Archives: The Harbour School
G7 mix Sustainability and Concrete
THS G8 Seaweed Farm Design, Build & Deploy
Tech Know Wise @ THS – rocked Grease Jr
The Harbour School musical Grease Jr was the first musical production run by a newly created Tech Know Wise [TKW] student tech crew.
I am very proud that the Tech Know Wise crew dedicated themselves to designing, setting up, tuning, operating and derigging all Sound, Light & Projection systems.
Weekly after-school training sessions fueled the team’s knowledge, skill and experience growth.
The team worked tirelessly after school and on weekends for three weeks to be ready to control the entertainment technology systems as required.
And they did so very well.
In recognition of their accomplishment, The Harbour School leadership have complimented the TKW crew for their creative and quality work.
With their first production behind them, the TKW crew are ready for more.
From the skip to upcycled furniture – THS Gr 8
The Harbour School’s grade eight students were required to design and build rooftop furniture from an eclectic collection of wooden pallets.
The Foundry ‘Intensive’ project focused on developing leadership, design, engineering, social knowledge and skill.
Two students represented the grade level meeting with teachers to clarify project details.
Four teams crafted two seats and a table whilst the fifth team created the cushions for the seats.
Teams had to communicate their individualised product dimensions to the cushion team on time to allow enough time to cut, sew, zipper and finish all seat covers.
Teams designed, selected, measured, cut, secured, drilled, hammered, nailed, screwed, recut, glued an eclectic collection of pallets into usable seats and tables.
All furniture had to be sanded, varnished, left to dry, resanded and revarnished. Teams pushed to apply at least two coats of Marine Varnish to all surfaces.
Friday afternoon saw the last brush of varnish applied and the teams celebrated with a feast of snacks and drinks.
The group spoke proudly of their teamwork, effort and experience.
Their work lives on.
A shout out to the Grade 7/8 and Foundry Teachers plus TCI support at The Harbour School.
Brilliantly supported all.
Enjoy a collection of shots below.
Servo hands in THS Foundry
The Harbour School’s grade 6 students furthered their awareness of the human hand functions through crafting a team built servo-driven robotic hand.
Aiming toward solidifying a human body system knowledge of the hand, a paper-based version of a moving hand was crafted in paper.
Next step – Scaled and Robotic.
The six-day project boosted their engineering design awareness, constructional technique knowledge & skill, collaborative approach and resilience. All essential to steam towards a successful build.
Students ideated how to replicate a scaled hand, knuckles, tendons and finger sections.
With larger-than-life fingers crafted, the challenge became to connect the fingers to the electronic servos to cause motion. Mr Wouter’s designed Arduino-based multi servo control board activated the servo units.
An extension was available for students to program Microbits to control the Servo units.
Students reacted to the project with smiles on their faces and enthusiasm in their words:
“It was really hard to connect the fingers section together”
“I am pleased that we got all the fingers built”
“There were a lot of challenges but we overcame them”
“It was great fun”
“The measuring and scaling took us a long time”
“The cutting of the fingers was hard”
“I used a lot of hot glue”
It was great to see the students collaboratively focused on developing the finer details of their projects and working together to get the job done.
It’s also refreshing to see the variety of approaches to how one might craft a hand.
Well done to the grade six.
Ukuleles in the Foundry
The Harbour School grade one classes joined The Foundry to venture into the world of constructing a wooden Ukulele.
Each student measured, cut, nailed, attached and decorated the acoustic soundbox before enthusiastically nailing the acoustic soundbox to the rear of the Laser-cut outer body.
It is reassuring to witness grade one students safely use 20-inch wood saw to craft their instrument parts.
This project encouraged connection between constructional tools and techniques, musical instruments & the art of decoration.
The addition of a strap led to parades through the Foundry of the latest rising band – maybe.
We look forward to more.
The Harbour School Foundry – a new adventure
I am excited to have begun a new adventure: working at The Harbour School – Foundry in Hong Kong.
The Harbour School’s Foundry is a purpose-built maker-space – a learning environment designed to encourage students to build, experiment and prototype inventions as they engage deeply in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics.
The facility is available for all grades to develop their interests, passions and skills.
The Foundry materials and tools include; wood, acrylic, cardboard, fabric, metals, 3D printers, robotics, electronics, sewing machines, laser cutter, bench saws, routers (including CNCs, drill press, sanding stations, all hand tools imaginable, and more.
I am thankful to work within such a well-resourced workspace.
I have now been at THS for three weeks and have already supported week-long ‘Intensive’ projects with grades one, three, five, plus the recess visitors from all grades. All grades are scheduled to visit throughout the year.
I am excited to see how I can help establish and support even more opportunities for creativity in The Harbour School.
I look forward to it.
Dean Lea 