Following a successful pilot program last year with ten primary schools from the Adelaide Hills, Port Lincoln, and metropolitan Adelaide, Makers Empire teamed up again with community organisation, Bushfire Kids Connect, in 2022 to deliver Bushfire Brave to a further six schools.
Bushfire Kids Connect is a child-led organisation founded by nine-year-old Sebastian Ascott and his mother Carly after their home was impacted by the 2019 Cudlee Creek bushfires in South Australia. After identifying a gap in the mental health support for children after the fires, Bushfire Kids Connect focuses on injecting fun back into the lives of children impacted by fires through events building community connection and resilience.
Bushfire Brave aims to help students feel well informed about bushfires and to build emotional wellbeing and empathy for managing fears and supporting recovery for bushfire impacted families. The program aims to support teachers to empower their students as problem-solvers, and design-thinkers using 3D design and printing to develop innovative designs to help families in bushfire affected areas.
Over terms two and three in 2022, six primary schools from the southeast regions of South Australia completed the Bushfire Brave program, which includes Makers Empire’s Learning by Design course and professional development days for teachers and students completing the Bushfire Brave Challenge Course. Participating schools were Kalangadoo Primary School, Kongorong Primary School, Naracoorte Primary School, Richmond Primary School, Suttontown Primary School, and Tenison Woods College.
Participants engaged in a modified version of the Makers Empire’s Learning by Design course. Based on effective professional learning models, the professional learning program was offered as a blend of three types of learning, experiential, social and formal. The program was tailored to meet the learning needs of participants.
The face-to-face session were well received by participants with strong attendance and participation. The face-to-face professional learning day was held at the Commodore Function Centre in Mount Gambier.
In November 2022, the schools came together for a showcase event at Tenison Woods College in Mount Gambier to celebrate their learning and share their projects with each other. The showcase event was attended by over 50 students, teachers, representatives from Bushfire Kids Connect, Australian Red Cross, and Makers Empire team members.
The showcase day was opened by Makers Empire’s Director of Learning, Mandi Dimitriadis, who introduced Boandik Elder, Aunty Michelle Jacquelin Furr. She provided a Welcome to Country and shared insights into traditional knowledge, history and relationships with fire.
Here are the founders of Bushfire Kids Connect, Carly and Sebastian Ascott, with Anthony Chhoy, co-CEO and co-founder of Makers Empire.