Activities included:
• Wooden Crafts: Students learned colour theory to create aesthetically pleasing layers on laser-cut door
hangers, alongside mixing paint to the correct consistency for flat, even gluing.
• Ceramics: Learned to roll an even slab of stoneware clay, add texture, and cut out weight-appropriate
Christmas tree shapes. Pieces were kiln-fired, decorated with matte nano underglaze, wiped back to
reveal texture, and finished with a glossy transparent glaze.
• Macramé: Crafted three specific Christmas tree hanging decorations (a wreath, a male gonk, and a
female gonk), improving dexterity, mindfulness, and distinct knotting techniques.
• Marbling: Worked with a marble bath, inks, and a sizing water solution to generate decorative papers.
Built core skills in pattern generation, focus, adaptability, and hand-eye coordination.
• Valentine's Day Projects: Created paper-pieced and stamped Valentine’s cards requiring high precision.
Using their custom marbled paper, students built decorative Valentine’s gift bags containing a
handmade "shaker wand" (using a heart-shaped wooden template, hollow plastic casing, beads, and
sequins), a glittered foam heart stick, and a bar of chocolate.
Photography Course, Southern Regional College (SRC) (April to June)
Funded by The Beeches, collaboration running a dedicated photography pathway for 10 different clients across a total of 20 instruction hours.
Schedule Breakdown:
- April 21st & April 28th: 10:00–12:00 & 13:00–14:00 (3 hours per session)
- May 5th, 12th, & 26th: 10:00–12:00 (6 hours total)
- June 2nd, 9th, & 16th: 10:00–12:00 (6 hours total)
- Final Session (June 23rd): 10:00–12:00 (2 hours)
Digital Photography Core Skills:
- Camera Operations: Students used a Canon EOS 2000D to learn basic operations including setting up the device, focusing, zooming, and navigating the camera LCD to view and delete images.
- Health and Safety: Covered standard safety protocols for a working photographer during indoor and outdoor shoots. Camera Modes & Outdoors: Explored 3 basic shooting modes—Landscape, Portrait, and Macro—with several practical sessions taking place outdoors.
- Composition: Developed an understanding of visual layout and photo composition rules.
- File Transfer & Print: Learned how to view photographs, transfer image files from a digital camera to a computer and use a basic printer setup.
Course Outcomes:
- Students planned and executed an independent, structured photo shoot.
- Following course completion, each student selected one final photograph to be professionally printed.
- The photography course successfully boosted client confidence and fine motor skills through hands-on camera operation and creative outdoor shoots. Clients developed independent decision-making by planning their own compositions, while the editing sessions built essential digital literacy and teamwork as peers supported one another in the computer suite.