TAS News

The TAS/VET faculty have been very busy during Term 1. Our Year 12 classes have been working on their major projects during Term 1.  The 12 ITT, 12 D&T classes have been working with Mr Peek and Miss Reynen on their projects; The Year 12 Society and Culture class are in the process of conducting their various primary research methods for their Personal Interest Projects and will be starting to write their central material for their Personal Interest Projects from the beginning of Term 2. There are some fantastic topics and I am confident that the students will continue to produce outstanding work.  There will be some workshops held at school in the holidays to work on major projects, please check with your teachers about the days and times they will be available to support their students in their HSC journeys.  All major projects need to be at the 90% completion stage by then end of Term 2.

Year 12 Hospitality have started on Cluster F and are busy designing a business plan. They also will be starting their holistic unit early next term. Our café in lower C block will be running again next term.   The two Year 12 Hospitality classes will be running the café. They will be required to organise and run the café to complete some of their competencies.  The students will serve their customers coffees, a range of other beverages, cakes and light meals, this will give them the opportunity to showcase their skills.

I must commend Year 11 on the way they have approached their work in Term 1.  Our Year 11 classes have settled into their senior years very well. The two Year 11 Society and Culture classes have produced outstanding presentations on either the Amish or the Maasai. I am so proud of their efforts.  Mr Peek’s Year 11 ITT have also been working very well and they have been designing and constructing their mirror frames.  They have been learning about safety in the workshop and learning how to use the power tools correctly. The IPT class have been working really well with Mrs Hogan and Miss Reynen’s Engineering Studies class have had an excellent start to their Stage 6 course.

Stage 5 Hospitality are enjoying their course and all are working extremely well  as a team in the kitchen, next term they will start learning how to make a variety of espresso coffees and will practise making many coffees for willing and interested staff and students.  The two Year 11 Hospitality classes are working so well. They are working very well as teams and they are producing some outstanding work. They have just completed their first Cluster Task and I must congratulate them on the level of diligence many of the students have displayed by submitting their tasks a week earlier than required.  Students who successfully completed their Cert I in Hospitality in 2018 have the opportunity to work on a variety of extension activities, this will really help the students to master the concepts in the course and will set them up for great HSC results next year.

Our junior classes are all buzzing!! Our Year 7 and 8 classes are also totally immersed in their learning and it is an absolute delight to visit the classes and see so much learning and fun being had by both the students and the teachers. The design briefs are varied and depend on what strand of Stage 4 Technology Mandatory is being studied. These range from delicious pies, Easter cookies, pizza’s, wood projects, learning about coding and mastering Scratch in Digital Technology and in Textiles the students are designing cases with secret pockets for their USB’s with lights and alarms!

This year we are building upon our STEM program in our Year 8 classes.  The STEM projects in Year 8  this year will include, coding using the new Sphero balls and for this semester we have use of the Virtual Reality kits.  The students will be learning about Roller Coasters and Earthquakes and we now have the full set of programs that accompany our Power Anchor. We are introducing some new units and programs later in the year. This year we introduced iSTEM as a 100-hour elective in Stage 5. Miss Reynen and the class are about to start using all of our new equipment that has arrived and is dedicated to STEM. These include a class set of drones, rocket launchers, a race track and CO2 cars, the classes are working in the STEM/Collaborative Learning Space in Lower C Block and the Collaborative Learning Space in Upper C block

The Stage 5 and Year 9 200-hour Food Technology classes are working extremely well. Presently they are working on a unit about Food in Australia. They have made some beautiful dishes in their practical lessons and are all working extremely well. It is an absolute pleasure to see how well they are working and see how their skill levels are steadily increasing. The Year 10 200-hour Food Technology have been working on the Food Trends unit. They have just completed their first assessment task where they were asked to make designer muffins and stage photos of their muffins using props and garnishes. Their final products were very impressive and the final photos looked very professional.  We are continuing on with food trends next term and we are embarking on a new design brief whereby the students are designing new ice-cream flavours and innovative and different styles of ice-cream cones. 

Mr Peek and his Stage 5 Timber class have been learning how to safely and correctly use tools in the workshop and how to use the lathe to produce their projects.  Their project this term has been to produce a paper towel holder using the lathe.

Mr Allen’s and Mrs Hogan’s Year 9 and 10 IST classes are enjoying so many different things from learning about databases to learning about digital media. Mr Allen and Mrs Hogan are introducing the Unity Coding Club next term and this will prove to be not only a lot of fun but the students will also be learning about coding and designing games.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the teachers in the TAS/VET faculty for their hard work and dedication this term. This year we welcomed

Mr Allen to the TAS faculty. Mr Allen was previously a TAS teacher at Lightning Ridge Central School.   He has been such an asset to our faculty and has already introduced some fantastic ideas and projects. Also, this year we welcomed Mrs Julia Kostalas to the VET faculty.

Mrs Kostalas is now delivering the Certificate III Retail course to her Year 11 class. She brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the VET faculty. We are all looking forward to a totally amazing Term 2 and on behalf of the TAS/VET faculty I would like to wish our students and their families a safe, peaceful Easter and a wonderfully relaxing holiday.

Mrs Caroline McTeigue

Head Teacher TAS/VET