Built by a TAS teacher, for TAS classrooms
Alastair Pilley
Founder. Design and Technology teacher in Sydney, former school technical assistant, and maker who runs a small woodwork and CNC workshop.
For six years I was a school technical assistant. The thing I saw most in CAD lessons wasn't students failing. It was students waiting.
Waiting for the teacher to come back. Waiting for someone to show them which button. Waiting while the rest of the class moved on. The students who needed the most help were the ones who spent the most time without it.
Now I teach full-time, and SchoolCAD is the tool I wished we'd had. It walks students through their actual school project one checked step at a time, using the same terms as Onshape and Fusion so the skills carry forward. When a student is ready, the support steps back.
I also make things for a living, so SchoolCAD is built to finish in the workshop: true-size templates, laser files, cutting lists and drawings that a technical assistant would recognise.
Students first
Every student should be able to design on their own. Scaffolding and accessibility are free, always.
Real CAD, not a toy
The same words and workflow as industry tools, so nothing has to be unlearned later.
Private by default
The free version needs no account and sends no student work anywhere.
Evidence before claims
We say what SchoolCAD is designed to do. We'll say what it achieves once our school pilots show it.
The company
SchoolCAD is operated by Sine Surf Pty Ltd, an Australian company.
Contact: hello@schoolcad.com
Open-source credits
SchoolCAD's own code is written in-house. It also uses these open-source projects, with thanks.
- OpenCascade Technology, the exact geometry engine, under the LGPL 2.1, kept as a separate, replaceable WebAssembly file
- replicad, the bridge to OpenCascade, under the MIT licence
- Lexend and Atkinson Hyperlegible typefaces, under the SIL Open Font License