School: Southport State High School
Partner: MatCam
Southport State High School is situated in an urban community on the Gold Coast and has a student population of around 950 students. Established in 1916, the school is undergoing demographic and other changes that reflect the broader changes happening in the local community. The school has a mix of old and new facilities, and a practical approach to providing students in the area with clear career pathways and the opportunity to reach their academic, employment and community-related goals and potential.
In keeping with its desire to both modernise and be innovative, the school has established a partnership with MatCam, a manufacturing company that sells and installs CNC routers, laser, plasma, water jet and knife cutting machines, and which is committed to the use of CAD/CAM (computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing) in the manufacturing industry.
Research by Manufacturing Skills Queensland and the Queensland Department of State Development, Trade and Innovation found there was a skills shortage in the manufacturing industry and set about creating partnerships to fill this need; however, despite a need for recognised CAD/CAM trained people, none of the existing partnerships was providing training in CAD/CAM skill development.
Since striking up the partnership with Southport State High School, MatCam has provided the use of its facilities for project manufacture and has offered financial support for the purchase of raw materials during the initial stages of the program, in addition to technical support and advice. Funding obtained through the Schools First Awards will go towards enhancing these areas of the partnership.
The program developed by the partnership targets younger age students (Year 9 and 10) to build interest in the industry, develop school programs to increase the industry profile, and provide basic training and knowledge to interested students.
The program focuses on displaying to students the link between workshop CAD designs (designing and drawing projects using a range of CAD software) and the CAM production process. Furthermore, it is envisaged that students will gain valuable generic workplace skills through exposure to clients through MatCam, who they send project designs, and visiting of partnership workplaces to see CAD/CAM processes in operation firsthand.
The partnership was established to provide a niche market with an appropriately skilled workforce not being offered by any other partnership in the community, and provide students from Southport State High School with valuable employability skills essential for employment within the local, and global, manufacturing industry.
The program commenced in July 2009 with 28 year 9 students. Their first project was the design and manufacture of a ‘flat-packed’ timber toolbox. The students designed the toolbox using Inventor and Autocad and then sent their designs to Matcam for processing. They then visited Matcam to watch their projects being machined. From there they took their ‘flat-packed’ components back their workshop for completion.
This was a very successful enterprise with the students experiencing CAD/CAM processes first hand. The industry visit was a highlight for both the students and the guys from Matcam. This concept has shown great potential with the work covered to date.
The Schools First funds will pay for creating a new computer design laboratory and staff release time, enabling teachers to experience work within the partners’ organisations, develop strategic relationships with software providers, and strengthen relationships with other industry partners.
