The TAS/VET Faculty have been very busy and our Year 12 classes have been working on their major projects during Term 1. The 12 ITT class have been working with Mr Kessler on their projects. They have started their practical projects and the students have also started on their written folios.

The Year 12 Society and Culture class are in the process of conducting and finalising 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 some excellent work.

The 12SDD class and Mrs Hogan have completed the first part of their Major Project, the designing and planning to create a program based on a board game for a specific group in Python. The next stage will be the implementation of the code to create an executable file.

This term Year 12 Hospitality and Mrs Ofahengaue have been completing their Cluster F Assessment Task – The Business Proposal where they can create their own Café.

The students are enjoying the experience and have been very creative in designing the interior of their Café. In the practical environment, students are making a variety of delicious breakfast items suitable for being included on a Café menu. They have made Waffles with a Cinnamon Cream and these were served with ice cream and garnished with sliced strawberries!

Year 12 Hospitality

Mrs Kostalas and Year 12 Retail Services have been very busy this term with visual merchandising. The class are currently working on their second last Assessment Task for their Certificate III in Retail. Cluster F is focused on visual merchandising in the Retail store. Consequently, the students have created some excellent merchandising windows.

The Valentine's Day window display helped Year 12 advertise their fundraiser for the Year 12 Formal. Currently the students have created a window to advertise the Special Educations' Op Shop in Week 10.

Year 12 Retail Services

The Year 12 Primary Industries class and Mr Grant have been working on fencing. They have been learning to construct End Assemblies and practising their strainer knots, picket alignment, wire tensioning and netting attachment. Their fencing of a section of paddock 1 will be used to create a biodiversity corridor. The Year 12 class have begun tractor training and they are learning to assess animal welfare. This class has been closely monitoring the two newly arrived Jersey-Holstein heifers, both of which are requiring some serious TLC. We are looking forward to seeing their condition improve over the next few months.

A huge thank you to Shaynah, our Farm Assistant. The farm is producing some excellent food which is being sold to staff and used to supply the TAS kitchens for student use in their practical lessons. We now have over 50 free-ranging chickens producing approximately 10 dozen eggs each week. Our Paddock to Plate Program is now in full swing!

Our Hospitality and Food Technology students love the idea of using fresh organic farm produce and it is so wonderful for our students to be able to experience this for themselves. All the food scraps from the kitchens are collected and taken back to the farm for the chickens and pigs to eat. This allows the students to be part of the full cycle of the production of plants, herbs and eggs. The chickens must be very happy and contented as we often get a lot of double yolks!

Primary Industries

The Year 12 Engineering Studies class and Miss Reynen have been studying Civil Structures. Their focus this term was examining bridges; looking at the historical developments, materials and how they impact society. As part of their assessment task, students made a bridge out of balsa wood and then they complete a destructive test on the bridge to determine the forces the bridge contains.

Year 12 Engineering Studies

I must commend our Year 11 classes on the way they have approached their work in Term 1. Our Year 11 classes have settled into their senior years very well. The Year 11 Society and Culture class have produced outstanding assessment tasks I am so proud of their efforts.

Mr Kessler’s Year 11 ITT have also been working very well and they have just completed their first Assessment Task. They have been learning about safety in the workshop and learning how to use the equipment and tools in the workshop correctly.

The 11SDD class and Mrs Hogan have started the course learning about Hardware & Software, and Social & Ethical Issues. They have also been learning skills in writing Algorithms and coding in Python. They have completed their first assessment task, creating an interactive presentation on a computer system showing their design skills in designing a User Interface.

Miss Reynen’s Year 11 Engineering Studies class have had an excellent start to their Stage 6 course and have embraced the rigour of Engineering Studies focusing on fundamentals of Engineering.

Mrs Julia Kostalas and Year 11 Retail Services have recently completed their first Assessment Task, which focuses around Work Health and Safety (WHS). It has been an excellent start to the year. Well Done Year 11!

The Year 11 Primary Industries students have made an enthusiastic start to their Certificate II in Agriculture and are all working very well!

This term the Year 11 Hospitality students and Mrs Ofahengaue have been studying the basics and learning all about the kitchen environment, ingredients and the measurements used, using hospitality equipment, hygiene and WHS procedures and policies. The course they are completing is now online through Evidence Central and they are enjoying the course. In the practical environment, the Year 11 Hospitality students are starting a unit of preparing Sandwiches and making them to industry standard. Students who successfully completed their Cert I in Hospitality in 2022 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.

Year 11 Hospitality

My wonderful Stage 5 Hospitality class are really enjoying their course and they are all are working extremely well as a team in the kitchen. The Stage 5 Hospitality class are working on their first Cluster Task demonstrating their skills and knowledge in safe food handling and work safety. Hopefully they will finish this unit this term and move on to the much anticipated, coffee and sandwiches unit. The students are all embracing this VET course and they are particularly enjoying the practical component.

We started the course learning how to master precision cuts and a variety of different food preparation techniques. Each week the students have been building upon their skills and they are now making some delicious recipes!

These include: - Spring Rolls, Bacon & Cheese Potato Cases, Nachos, Tomato and Basil Bruschetta, Creamy Tuscan Chicken Pasta, Butter Chicken Pizza, Pies and Wedges, Chocolate Brownies for Easter and Anzac Cookies.

Stage 5 Hospitality

This term Year 9 Food Technology and Mrs Ofahengaue have been studying a unit of work called Food Selection and Health. In this unit of work they are studying health and nutrition and learning about the essential nutrients required at each stage of the lifecycle. In their practical lessons the students have been making healthy and nutritious meals that have now become a trend in many cafes and restaurants. An example of this is the Grasshopper slice, a raw slice which is made of avocado, coconut, coconut oil, honey and peppermint oil and chocolate. The students enjoyed this delicious slice.

The Stage 5 STEM class and Miss Reynen have been working extremely diligently on their STEM Olympiad activities. In teams of 2 or 3 students are to complete a number of different activities to collect 40 points. Each activity is worth a different number of points. They also need to complete a mini portfolio that goes through the design process for each activity.

10 IST and Mrs Hogan have been learning the importance of design in user interfaces, they will demonstrate this knowledge and skill in their first assessment task where they are designing prototypes of Apps that serve a specific audience and purpose. Next term combined with Mrs Reynen’s STEM class they will patriciate in the Day of AI.

Stage 5 Agriculture students have had a big impact on the farm with their enthusiastic creation of soil and many new garden beds in the market garden.

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 some delicious food products, wood projects, learning about coding and mastering Scratch in Digital Technology and in Engineering Systems. The classes are researching and producing working roller coasters! The Year 7 Digital Technologies classes have been learning about Software Design with Block Based Coding with Scratch and App Lab and they will be creating a game as part of their project.

This term Mrs Ofahengaue and her the Stage 4 students are studying a Food and Agricultural unit of work called Grow and Thrive. The design brief is to design and make a self-watering pot using recycled materials. Students can choose what herb or vegetable they would like to grow from a selection of seeds and watch their plant grow over 6 weeks. The herb or vegetable can then be used in a recipe of their choice at the end of the semester.

8TEC1 and Mrs Hogan are studying and learning the programming language Python. Using the skills, they have learnt during the Term, students are creating a game that would be suitable for a Smart Home Device or a Chat Bot for a website. It is fantastic to see students use text-based coding to create some great games and chatbots, and we are really looking forward to seeing the final products.

Mr Kessler and his Stage 4 classes have been very busy designing and making beautiful Mantle Clocks. The students have been learning how to work safely in the workshop and how to use the equipment and tools. Their clocks are nothing short of amazing and look very professional!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the teachers in the TAS/VET Faculty for their hard work and dedication this term and for providing our students with such wonderful learning experiences. This term we have welcomed a new member of staff, Mr Jarrod Kessler. 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

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