Year 12 HSC Industrial Arts Showcase

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

The 2019 Showcase was a celebration of the incredible works produced by the young men of The King’s School studying in the field of Industrial Arts and Technology.

This year, the Industrial Arts Department offered students two different courses with a major project component. Industrial Technology has three strands: Metal, Timber and Design and Technology. Students were encouraged to create a project that will be of valuable use to them after King’s, while enabling them to display a wide variety of skills.

Twenty-nine students designed, created and constructed projects from their chosen material medium beginning at the start of Term 4, 2018. From this day they had just over 10 months to complete their major work and accompanying 80 page project documentation folio. These works ranged from a log splitter, boat, steam bent bench, elderly assistance mobility device, a variety of trailers and much more. All works required an immense amount of time to design, plan, construct and finish, with many boys spending all of their study periods, Clubs time and of course class time working to see fruition. Whilst work on these projects could not commence prior to HSC course work beginning in Term 4 2018, the planning process and journey for many of these boys began a number of years prior, with the majority honing their skills since they arrived at King’s in Year 7 in 2014.

Studying mandatory Technology in Years 7 and 8 introduced the boys to basic hand and machinery skills, as well as design skills in CAD drawing, in both 2 and 3 dimensions. These boys then progressed on to a variety of Industrial and Design electives in Years 9 and 10. Areas of Technology study for these students included Graphics, Industrial Technology, Design and Engineering.

Peter McLeod is a prime example of a student whose planning process began years before the start of his HSC course. Peter, who built a boat, turned his personal hobby into a HSC project to then an inspired future career path. Although the process was extremely rigorous and time consuming, even sometimes having

After leaving King’s I would love to own a boat building business.

Peter Mcleod

Peter feel he’d bitten off more than he could chew, he persevered with the end goal in mind. Peter believes this opportunity helped him on his journey towards finding his passion and future career.

As seen with Peter’s boat, each year the projects become more complex and on a grander scale, with each cohort seemingly wanting to ‘out do’ the previous. Completing projects of this magnitude and quality takes an enormous amount of time, dedication and cooperation between all stakeholders. Part of the culture that the Industrial Arts Department has endeavoured to foster is a transparent partnership between staff, boys and their parents. This is undoubtedly the key to a successful project.

All projects, whether, Timber, Metal or Design, have a high level of functionality. Many boys in Metalwork make projects that will be used on the family property. For example, this year the goat trailer, log splitter and mobile sheep feeder will go back to the property and be put straight into use on the farm. In Timber, all boys made functional pieces of furniture that will be immediately utilised in the family home, such as the New Guinea rosewood cabinet, walnut desk and river coffee table.

All students completing a Major Project in Industrial Technology or Design and Technology should be extremely proud of themselves, not only for what they have achieved in terms of a high quality, functional, finished product, but for the skills they have learnt along the way. The ability to communicate, collaborate and cooperate in a team environment with their peers and staff are valuable skills that they will use well into the future.

Congratulations to the cohort of 2019.

Simon McMahon Head of Industrial Arts