Media Students Steer Software Startup

Year 9 Media students have been the first in the world to use a new creative logistics software product. SpaceDraft is an online learning tool designed to help students develop skills in scenario building and collaborative strategy.
As an easy-to-use, cloud-based web application, it helps users to map out ideas for a virtual or physical space over time.

SpaceDraft started out as a pilot project in Hale’s Media Department in 2019.
The boys started using the software to plan out re-enactments of famous movie scenes, which they then reproduced and acted out in groups.

The Hale pilot helped to spark the interest of Curtin University, which was excited by the idea of students using SpaceDraft to design video games. When COVID-19 hit, Curtin staff and students began using it to virtually communicate ideas, from how to navigate around a submarine to designing hospital evacuation plans. SpaceDraft won Startup of the Year at the 2020 WA Incite Innovation Awards and second at the National iAwards. It is set to launch globally later this year.

The Hale boys got a front row seat at seeing how a software company could evolve from scratch. They met professional software engineers and had fun getting hands-on experience finding bugs and breaking features, which taught them about the patience required to design and build software from the ground up.

Founder and CEO, Lucy Cooke, is the daughter and granddaughter of Old Haleians, Henry Cooke (1972-76) and Frank Cooke (1940-46). She began inventing SpaceDraft in 2016 as a planning tool after working on Hollywood film sets.

Lucy and her team look forward to working with our Year 12s to help them plan and prepare for their practical exams.
The partnership between Hale School and SpaceDraft was facilitated and supported through the Hale Institute of Innovation and Research.