City Cluster Mini-Festivals

The 2025 City Cluster Mini-Festivals have come to a close after two exciting weeks of exploration, innovation and high engagement. This initiative brought together selected Year 3 and 4 students from our City Collective schools, including Newmarket SS, Brisbane Central SS, Milton SS, Windsor SS, Wooloowin SS, Wilston SS, Kelvin Grove SS, New Farm SS, West End SS, Eagle Junction SS, Petrie Terrace SS, Hendra, and Hamilton SS.

Across various festival locations, students had the opportunity to take part in workshops such as investigating polymers in science, exploring CAD design and 3D printing, crafting creative pieces with a published author, tackling challenging maths problems, coding arcade-style games, and producing green screen documentaries in media arts.

Mr Manning and Ms Baker were proud to host the STEAM Design Thinkers Festival at Ascot State School—an engaging program designed for students who enjoy exploring creative possibilities.

During this festival, students investigated the real-world challenge, ‘How can we keep our oceans clean and healthy?’, inspired by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. As part of their learning, they developed skills in Tinkercad, a 3D design tool, to create innovative digital prototypes. These designs will be brought to life as 3D-printed models.

I had the privilege of visiting all the Mini-Festivals held across our City Collective schools. The level of student engagement, enthusiasm and the quality of work on display were truly outstanding. It has been a pleasure to receive such positive feedback from both students and families.

Marley Wickham (Year 4/5) shares her reflection below after attending the Mini-Writers Festival:

Over the past two Wednesdays, some very lucky Ascot students were chosen to participate in the City Collective Mini-Festivals Writers program at Milton State School. On the first day, we met with author Dr. Cameron Stelzer who showed us fun and creative ways to make our writing even better. One of the things we loved was learning how to use ‘Super Similes', like this one: ‘I am as hungry as an elephant who had a pea for lunch!’ We also explored how to show meaning in our writing by using words with pictures.

I personally LOVED being involved in Mini-festivals. Not only because we got to write, but also because we made new friends and learnt alongside students from other schools.

Kristine Atkins

Head of Department - Curriculum