TAS/VET News

Term 4 has been an incredibly busy term for the TAS/VET faculty since our return to school. Our classrooms have been an absolute hive of activity and the learning experiences that have been provided to our students by their teachers has been nothing short of amazing.  I must thank all the TAS/VET and STEM teachers for their hard work, dedication and support throughout the year and for the wonderful and meaningful lessons that they deliver each and every day. Since returning to school we have been endeavouring to give the students as many practical experiences as possible to make up for the time spent in lockdown.

The HSC Society and Culture class are now in the process of refining their PIP topics ready to start their research journey early next year. I must congratulate the students on their diligence and the way they have embraced their PIP journey so far.   The Year 12 IT Timber class have now started the planning for their major projects for their HSC next year and they will also be ready to start these projects in earnest early next year. 

The Year 12 SDD class have just completed their first assessment task. This term they have studied the Social & Ethical Issues in Software Design and their first assessment was looking at different case studies related to the social & ethical issues they have studied in class. The class have also been learning to code in Python - Graphical User Interfaces (GUI).

Year 12 Software Design & Development Graphical User Interfaces (GUI)

The Year 12 Engineering Studies class have been working through The Civil Structures unit. During this unit the students have had to create a bridge pylon and conduct a destructive test to analyse the forces within the structure. Students had great fun building and destroying their pylons.!

Year 12 Engineering Studies class testing their pylons

All Year 12 students in courses in the TAS faculty that include a major project have a Major Work Certification Book or a time management plan in place. The books or plans are signed at regular intervals by the students and teachers. These booklets help students to stay on track with their projects and they can be a form of communication for parents if they wish to contact the teacher of that particular course. The courses that have Major Work Certification books are Society and Culture and ITT Timber. The Year 12 SDD class will need to complete a logbook throughout the process of their major project. The major project for SDD will be split into two assessments - Part 1 is the planning and defining for their software development and Part 2 is the design and creation of their software game. 

Our Year 12 students from the 2021 cohort will be celebrating the success of their HSC results in January and they should all be very proud of the efforts and their hard work, diligence and resilience during such a challenging and difficult year.  I am confident they will be rewarded with good results.

Most of the students in the two 2021 Year 12 Hospitality and the Retail Services classes have been successful in achieving their Certificate II in Hospitality Food and Beverage and their Certificate III in Retail Services.

The Year 11 Hospitality classes have been very busy working on making Non-Alcoholic Beverages and espresso coffees this term and both classes have had a lot of fun! We finished off the year by making Crazy Shakes!! 

Year 11 Primary Industries

Year 11 Primary Industries have been very active on the farm, they have mastered many new skills including how to ride a tractor!

Retail Services 

Retail Services and Mrs Julia Kostalas have had a great year completing their Cluster tasks. The students have created a visual merchandising and window display outside the library, they have been focused on a Christmas display to finish the year. The Retail students have learnt how to handle mannequins by setting them up and dressing them at school, which is a vital skill in today's retail environment. They have also been learning about placement of props to make windows aesthetically pleasing!!

Year 12 Retail Services 

Visual Merchandising in the Retail Showcase

  iSTEM 

Since returning to school this term the iSTEM classes have been having fun with the Water Bottle Rockets. A water rocket is a type of model rocket using water as its reaction mass. The water is forced out by a pressurised gas, typically compressed air. Like all rocket engines, it operates on the principle of Newton's third law of motion.

Year 10 iSTEM 

Busy making prosthetic hands

Year 10 students had a week of taster lessons where they were able to sample some of the work, they will learn in Year 11. The 2022 Society and Culture class had a lot of fun making models of the fundamental course concepts. The 2022 Hospitality students spent the week making mocktails, they will revisit this again next year when they are working on Cluster B.

Year 10 Taster Lessons 

Year 10 Taster Lesson for

Society & Culture

The Fundamental Concepts of persons, society, culture, environment, and time.

Year 10 Hospitality Taster Lessons

Mocktails Fauxblerones!

The Stage 4 students studied Technology Mandatory this year. They have experienced a range of activities and the classes have rotated around the various strands. These include: -  

• Digital Technologies 
• Agriculture and Food Technologies
• Engineered Systems
• Material Technologies

The classes have experienced the different strands of the new syllabus and have produced some great projects. The Year 7 classes will continue to rotate in 2022 so they are able to have as much exposure as possible to the different strands.  We have rotated the Stage 4 Technology Mandatory classes every three weeks since returning to school this term to allow the students to have as much variety as possible, the students have really enjoyed sampling each strand this term.

Mrs Ofahengaue’s Year 8 Marbling 

Stage 4 

Material Technology Timber 

Making Puzzles

Stage 4 

Digital Technologies 

Stop Motion Projects

On behalf of the TAS/VET faculty we wish all our students and their families a wonderful and a relaxing Christmas and New Year and we are really looking forward to working with you in 2022.

Mrs Caroline McTeigue

Head Teacher

TAS/VET