Island Academy welcomes Young Learners to Mission Control

The Island Academy welcomed its third cohort of students who spent the day operating Mission Control from the Tai Wai campus, on Friday 18 October 2019. Students from Beacon Hill School, Glenealy School and Peak School were introduced to new skills – coding, robotics, laser cutting and the iterative design process.

Island Academy has been designed to support students’ learning journey. Island School teachers, in particular, Mark Roper and Tim Parker from the Design and Information Technology Faculty have piloted this programme. They designed the experiential learning course for students who show an aptitude or interest in STEM.

Head of Design & Technology, Tim Parker said, “It was a great day of team work, combining collaborative, creative and critical thinking skills to solve a series of challenges.”

Senior Head of House and Transition Coordinator, Kate Sommerville said, “Creating opportunities for our students and teachers to learn collaboratively is a great strength of the ESF and we are excited about developing the Academy into other curriculum areas.”

The Academy has worked with 50 students in the past twelve months. “The feedback has been extremely positive and the connections between primary and secondary colleagues greatly strengthened in curriculum areas,” said Mrs Sommerville.

The Academy is extending its reach this year, piloting the ARTS Academy. They plan to work with primary colleagues to develop Visual and Performance Arts programmes for primary school students.