McCallums Hill Public school win airport design competition
The creative talents of Years 5 and 6 from McCallums Hill Public School won them the Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport design prize.
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Creating an entertaining, easily accessible and sustainable airport has won a group of McCallums Hill Public School students from Roselands the top prize in the Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport design contest using Minecraft.
There were surprised and delighted high fives from five Year 5 and 6 students Henry Ta, Joshua Jeffrey, Star Mansour, Ben Cross and Alex when they announced as winners at Friday’s final at Western Sydney University campus, Liverpool.
The students had given up their lunch breaks over last term for this massive project, which was headed by STEM teacher Ben Spiteri.
But the effort was fully worth it, earning them a whopping $20,000 as first prize.
Students from 10 western Sydney schools pitched their ideas to a panel of judges on Friday as part of the Western Sydney Airport Minecraft competition, now in its second year.
The competition, organised by Liverpool Council and sponsored by Western Sydney Airport, challenged students in Years 5 and 6 to design Sydney’s new airport using the digital building blocks game Minecraft.
It was co-designed by the NSW Department of Education.
“This is amazing and the whole school is buzzing,” McCallums Hill Public School principal Georgia Constanti said.
“We are so happy for them and really surprised as this is easily the school’s biggest win in competitions.
“Our school has been focusing on STEM learning which is an important concept across the school.
“We are so proud of the students and teacher and will fete them at a special assembly.
“We have no plans yet what to do with the prize money because we will discuss it with the school community.”
Mr Spiteri said they worked long and hard to get the perfect design over several weeks.
A teacher at McCallums Hill Public School for more than seven years, Mr Spiteri said they first surveyed the people in the school about airports, finding out that many said it was boring and difficult to access.
“We looked at some of the best airports in the world and decided how we can take it to the next level,” Mr Spiteri said.
“We focused on entertainment and accessibility while also making our airport a sustainable one.
“We made our airport entertaining, added an aquarium while providing self-driving cars to make it more accessible.
“To make the airport sustainable, we have wind turbines and solar panels.”
Western Sydney Airport CEO Graham Millett said competition was strong among the 10 finalist teams from across Western Sydney.
“The competition saw students use Minecraft to tackle the same challenge that the Western Sydney Airport team is working on right now — considering passenger experience, sustainability and accessibility to design the best airport possible,” he said.
Liverpool Mayor Wendy Waller said she was proud of the high standard of the competition and the judges had a difficult decision.
“This competition grew out of Liverpool and is reaching all of Western Sydney. We have some of the brightest minds and their ideas for the future are mind blowing,” she said.
Winners: McCallums Hill Public School, Roselands. $20,000 for STEM learning
Runner-up: Christadelphian Heritage College Sydney, Kemps Creek — $10,000
Third: Ingleburn Public School, Ingleburn — $7,500 for STEM learning resources —
Encouragement Award: Merrylands East Public School, Merrylands East — $2500
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