Technologies News

Agriculture

On Monday, the Year Nine Agriculture students presented their exhibition on the enterprise they have worked on this semester. Each small group has been involved in growing an agricultural product and the exhibition was the culmination of this project where they have invited special guests to share their products and how their enterprise worked. Over the semester all groups had to select the inputs required and the product they want to sell within the enterprise, but they first had some pre-existing problems that they had to identify, they had to work out how they were going to overcome the issue and then go out and fix the problem. They all studied the most up-to-date thinking on ethics and welfare and sustainability and tried to ensure the criteria set by governing bodies for farmers were exceeded. Each group also prepared a snack for their guests to hero the product of their enterprise.  

Oliver, Josh and Eilidh presented their marron and aquaponics system. They were challenged with a number of difficult issues to resolve. They chose to just grow Italian parsley and marron in the tanks. It required getting a number of balances just right. The various nitrogen levels, temperature, feed and oxygen. As well as space and shelter for the marron. On Monday they served up some grilled marron in lemon juice with a parsley garnish.  

Alex and Thomas presented their honey and bees enterprise. Alex and Thomas were challenged with the lack of food in a long-drawn-out winter. They fed sugar solution with some feed additives for quite a while. They hoped to get enough growth to split the hive, but the numbers didn’t develop sufficiently. Sadly, Thomas was unwell on Monday, so Alex served up some very moreish chocolate-covered honeycomb crunch.  

Jacinta, Maddy and Abbey presented their beef project. Jacinta, Maddy and Abbey are already experienced cattle wranglers and went about their project with great autonomy. They decided on a ration that would ensure a growth rate of over 1kg per day. For Dexters this is quite good. They just about achieved this to send the three steers off to be processed and a lot of beef was returned for the boarders. On Monday they served up some gravy beef in a roll, our thanks to Chef Nick for providing this. They also brought up Sanders the bull who was a highlight of the exhibition.  

Chelsea and Isabel presented their tomato-growing project. Chelsea and Isabel worked hard to grow many tomato plants through the winter. Unfortunately, the automated irrigation system in the greenhouse broke halfway through and they had to hand water. At times the plants looked really stressed and they learned the importance of feeding such nutrient-hungry plants. Just a few more weeks and the harvest will be very large. Sadly, Chelsea was away on Monday, but Issy provided everyone with some tomato chutney on rice biscuits.  

Tom, Ryan, Gus and Hayden presented their potato and carrot project. These four boys got really stuck in growing a large area of the market garden with potatoes of three varieties and some carrots. Preparing the soil was crucial for both plants and they succeeded well with the potatoes, but the carrots needed greater freedom to grow in a looser tilth. The boarders have a lot of potatoes and carrots to enjoy now. Tom, Ryan, Gus and Hayden cooked up some glazed roast vegetables for everyone to try.  

Sarah, Georgia and Chevy presented their chicken and egg enterprise. Sarah, Georgia and Chevy worked hard to improve the quality of life for the chickens in the coop by the market garden. One problem they fixed was to ensure a reliable and continuous water supply and that in such a wet spring the conditions outside were good. The students cooked up some lovely mini quiches that were gone very quickly.  

During the exhibition they also all showed their guests the work they have been doing on the vineyard in preparation for the 2023 vintage. 

Mr Julian Gugenheim | Teacher and Farm Manager

Digital Technologies

The end of the year is almost here for students in Years Seven and Eight Digital Technologies. With quite a few interruptions this term to our learning program, we are finishing off the last of the very hands-on projects. Year Sevens are busy coding their Heath Tech innovations, which range from heart rate wearables to apps that can analyse data to inform you of changes in your body linked to disease and cancer. Students have done a fantastic job in the short amount of time to understand more about the process of designing, and the process of using technologies (both existing and innovative) to solve solutions to real-world problems. In Year Eight, the final touches are on their “FlipToks”, a spin-off from social media app TikTok in creating engaging video content to demonstrate their learning about the terms work on Game Design. This week we share our games between classes, and students have the opportunity to play the games and enjoy each other’s hard work. 

Both Mr Bailey and I are incredibly pleased with the learning achievement of all students across the year in Digital Technologies. We look forward to seeing students begin the next stage of their Technologies learning journey in the new year. 

Mr Kyal Rose | Teacher

Hospitality

Year Seven

Discretionary foods are foods that are not essential for our health. They are characterised by being high in saturated fat, added sugars, and salt. Our Year Sevens analysed and made sausage rolls and a pear cake, coming to terms with the fact both recipes were tasty but certainly are a ‘sometimes’ or ‘discretionary’ food.

Year Eight

Students analysed takeaway and homemade burgers, added nutrition to a basic cheeseburger, then designed their own healthy burger that was high in fibre and low in fat, salt, and sugar.  They visited the kitchen garden and selected produce in season to use in recipes suitable for picnic foods.  The highlight of Term Four was producing a recipe to enter into the Junior Cookery section at the Albany Show.  Congratulations to our first prize winners - Matilda Cook for her delicious chocolate tartlets, Scott Ericsson for his awesome chocolate brownies, and Stanley Cooper for his huge savoury muffins.  Here’s what some of the students said they learnt from the experience:

• I had to make sure the biscuits were formed to be exactly the same size.  Next time I’d make them a bit thinner. Amelia
• My brownie portions must be even, and I will work on better mise en place next time! Livi 
• Cookie dough can be shaped and refrigerated before baking to get a better shape.  Charlie 
• The warmer the pastry dough is, the more likely it won’t perform well during baking. Matilda 
• Oops, regular sugar doesn’t make great icing! Henry 
• Cookies cool and harden when they are place on a wire rack after baking. Time management is important in the kitchen! Zach 
• A whole slice needs to be sliced so each one is symmetrical. Slices colour up well when baked on the top shelf in the oven. Harrison 
• Measuring every ingredient accurately produces a good end product. I’ll add white chocolate chips to my brownie next time for a point of difference.  Scott 
• Muffins should be big with a muffin top when baked. Working in a tidy kitchen makes me work quicker.  Stanley 

Year Nine

Our enthusiastic group of Year Nines has been looking at sustainable foods and packaging.  They made beeswax wraps to replace the use of cling wrap, ziplock bags, and throw-away containers.  Some creative nude food lunches were designed using homemade focaccia rolls and ensuring foods from all the five foods groups were included.  Interesting food blogs were written promoting nude food lunches at our school.

How much fun are gingerbread houses?  If you ask the Year Nine Hospitality students, they will say it’s a lot of fun – and some disappointment!  They designed various models, made templates, produced gingerbread dough, baked shapes, assembled then decorated their own gingerbread models that were entered into the Albany Show.  Several students learnt that if the dough is too thick or too thin, or the model design is too large or not baked correctly, the construction will collapse! Congratulations to Jocelyn Cybula for winning first prize with her very well-baked and neatly decorated gingerbread house with sugar glass windows, and to Kate Carlson for her Aussie ute and animals entry winning equal second prize with Chelsea Pearson for her creative sleigh filled with lollies.

Year Ten

Huge congratulations to this year’s students who were announced as the 2022 Western Australian winners of the McCormick Foods Flavour Forecast Recipe Challenge.  Students collaborated in three groups, choosing different design briefs from the Challenge to work on during Term Three. The recipes they developed were:  Charred Kangaroo Rump with Linseed and Buckwheat Spätzle; Sweet Dukkha Flat Bread, Charred Pineapple and Dragon Fruit Skewers with Tropical Sauce; and Deep-Fried Crumpet Goodness with Berry Sherbet Pearls.  This was a fantastic opportunity for the students who worked incredibly hard to produce creative and tasty dishes.

The student's class finished the year with a design brief utilising mince, an inexpensive meat product. They paired this with homemade ravioli. Students saved the potato skins to make seasoned, oven-baked chips during the production of homemade gnocchi. The gnocchi were then cooked as a lunch meal with a range of traditional Italian-style sauces and simple, fresh salads. Soon, some beautifully iced Christmas cakes will be completed.

VET

The Year Eleven students started the Prepare and serve non-alcoholic drinks unit of competency learning about how mocktails are structured and presented.  Using this knowledge, each student designed their own mocktail using a different technique of preparation.  Adelaide Boetel designed a striking pink dragon fruit and elderflower mocktail called Tame the Dragon.  Sienna Ugle’s Pink Fever, based on guava, raspberry, and pineapple, was topped with fairy floss.  The muddled combination of lychee, mint, and strawberries called Smashed Mojito, was designed by Jorja Moore.  Jocelyn Meade utilised fresh lemons and used hints of orange and elderflower to create the Lemon Drop, served on top of butterfly flower sugar syrup.  Brianna Harris combined her espresso coffee skills with salted caramel, producing the delicious SC Espresso Martini. All these mocktails were served at the annual Mocktail Party to the Year Eleven cohort.

To finish the term, our students worked on the Great Southern Grammar stand at the Albany Show, producing and serving hundreds of complementary affogatos to showgoers. 

Mrs Teresa McAllister | Hospitality Teacher and Head of Technologies

STEAM

After a busy term learning about molecular gastronomy, astronomy and artificial intelligence, the STEAM class is finishing with an entertaining unit of work, trying to break world records. We began the unit by looking at the psychology behind why people are motivated to meet such feats. We then attempted to break some of the simpler records; how many post-it notes can you stick on your face in 30 seconds and how long to set a chess board one-handed. 

Students have now begun to research what records they want to attempt to break, most seem to involve food, and they will spend the next few lessons attempting to break them. Considering most people train for months, if not years, to break these records, it will be interesting to see how much repetition they need to do to reach their targets. 

Ms Angelina Ross | STEAM Teacher

Woodwork

As we move closer to the final days of the year, there has been a real sense of urgency among the Years Ten and Eleven classes scurrying to complete their final projects on time. It has been very enjoyable to witness the growth in skills and perseverance shown by the students as they have worked on producing some incredible final products. 

The Year Ten class has been working hard to produce coffee tables with a vast range of designs and techniques used to produce their products. 

The Year Eleven class has been working on producing their hall tables and again it has been a great pleasure to see the creativity on display and the different designs the students have gone with. 

 Mr Brodie Sarre | Material Design and Technology Teacher