Half a year late, but here we are. Sky Explorers ran in April 2026 — and between Inspire Education’s write-up and my own workshop Reel resurfacing this week, I’m finally writing it up.
Across two partner schools, I helped guide free drone workshops for SEN students with the EdUHK Robotics Team — interactive Tello EDU sessions built for digital inclusion and a first real taste of STEM flight.
Two schools, two sessions
- 17 April 2026 — Lions Clubs International Tseung Chui King College, organised with Inspire Education Association
- 24 April 2026 — Kowloon City Baptist Church Hay Nien (Yan Ping) Primary School (“Sky Explorers: Drone Workshop”)
Students started with the basics: drone structure, how the parts fit together, then — under instructor guidance — takeoff, hover, landing and simple manoeuvres. The rooms stayed lively; hands-on beats slides every time.
- Interactive drone activities for SEN students
- Tello EDU as the main platform
- Safety rules and basic legal regs woven in (no-fly zones, correct procedures)
The goal was practical: build concentration and reaction skills, grow confidence through a successful flight, and leave a door open toward STEM interest — not a one-off demo.
The wider Sky Explorers frame
Sky Explorers is about inspiring, educating and empowering SEN students from mainstream primary schools and under-resourced communities in STEM and AI. Across the programme: about 40 students, two partner schools, two structured sessions — shaped with UDL and executive-function scaffolds so participation barriers drop before the drones even fly.
Curriculum highlights from the project site:
- Tello EDU intro — structure, DroneBlocks, flight basics (yaw / pitch / roll)
- Hong Kong CAD small UAS rules for craft under 448 g, plus the eSUA map
- DroneBlocks programming — takeoff, land, forward, turn; route planning
- Flight challenges — square path, flips, precision landing
Why I’m posting now
April feels far when October school season fills the calendar. The Inspire Education piece and the school event video brought the days back — and I didn’t want them to stay only in someone else’s archive. Free workshops for SEN students are worth documenting while the detail is still clear: what we taught, how we taught it, and why the safety layer mattered as much as the “whoa” of the first lift-off.
If you’re building SEN-friendly STEM sessions in Hong Kong, the Sky Explorers page is a useful public snapshot of the approach. Happy to compare notes with educators running similar workshops.
— Cloof Siu · robotics educator
