TAS News

Term 4 has been an incredibly busy term for the TAS/VET faculty. 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 of 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.

The 2019 HSC Society and Culture class recently attended the HSC day at the Wesley Centre in Pitt Street Sydney. This is a day organised by the Society & Culture Association to support HSC students with their Personal Interest Projects. The 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 HSC projects for 2019 include coffee tables, an outdoor table and an open Tasmanian Oak bookcase.

The Year 12 Design and Technology class have been busy working on the initial stages of their Major Projects, including designing plans for an environmentally friendly resort, a stadium that can be used for sports and also entertainment, portable hydroponic classrooms, a Syfy theme park, a guitar for disabled people, and a design for an open area classroom with a natural shelter. The students are developing skills for the management of their major project.

All year 12 students in courses in the TAS faculty that includes a major project have a Major Work Certification Books. These are signed at regular intervals by the students, teachers and the parents. All certification books should have been signed by parents/caregivers. These booklets help students to stay on track with their projects and they are also 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: -Design & Technology, IT Timber and Society and Culture.   

Our Year 12 students from the 2018 cohort will be celebrating the success of their HSC results, they should all be very proud of the efforts and their hard work during 2018, I am confident they will be rewarded with fantastic results and we all wish them the very best for their future endeavours.

The Stage 5 Hospitality class have all worked towards achieving their Cert I in Hospitality this year; this has proven to be a very successful and extremely popular course, with most of the students continuing into Stage 6 to complete their Cert II in Hospitality Food & Beverage. All of the students in the two Year 12 Hospitality classes have been successful in achieving their Certificate II in Hospitality Food and Beverage.

The two Year 11 Hospitality classes have now all finished their external Work Placement hours and congratulations must be given to the number of our Year 11 students who have been successful in gaining part time employment through their work placement experiences this year. A huge congratulations must be given to Connor Newton Kasteel for successfully gaining an apprenticeship as a Chef at Gosford Golf Club. We are very proud of this wonderful achievement.

Across all other areas of the faculty the students have been very busy, Year 8 Technology Mandatory Food have been working on a Design a Pie unit, this has been a fantastic unit which has been developed by Mrs Natalie Pratt. The students have undertaken completing a design brief which included testing, designing and evaluating various pies and culminating in a final design and end product. The Year 8 students have thoroughly enjoyed this unit

This year we have continued to embed STEM into the Year 8 classes. The classes have been buzzing with excitement and the students have been working on a variety of hands on projects. They have been working out of our collaborative learning spaces in C block and the students and teachers have been able to maximise their experiences in these rooms. I must take this opportunity to thank the team of teachers who have made this possible.

A huge thankyou to Mr Natalie Pratt, Mrs Jen Lill, Mr Steve Guyot, Ms Sarah Eslick and Mr Jake Osbourne for the work that they have done with their STEM classes and the enthusiasm that they have demonstrated for the program throughout the year. Next year we will see the introduction of our new iSTEM unit in Stage 5. Miss Crystal Reynen will be teaching he class and I know she has some exciting projects planned for her students including drones, CO2 cars and a rocket launcher!

We have also been successful in our application to join the Sydney University STEM Academy. Initial planning has already begun and Miss Crystal Reynen is the team leader. The team is comprised of six teachers, two from Science, two from Maths and two from TAS. The team of teachers will work on and present a project next year. By being a part of the STEM Academy, we will have access to a network of resources including both Sydney and Newcastle Universities and a range of other resources including specialised professionals in the field of STEM, tangible resources that can be used in the classroom and also the networking between other teachers and schools.

The Year 8 Technology Mandatory Multimedia Students have been learning about Australian Inventors and Inventions, they had to create a short documentary on a chosen inventor or invention. This documentary was created using Green Screen Technology and a variety of Multimedia programs.

Year 9 Food Technology have designed, prepared, organised a unit on celebrations, they were able to highlight their achievement and showcase their talent by celebrating with their Halloween parties. The Year 9 and Stage 5 Food Technology classes have been making some beautiful Christmas treats over the past few weeks I hope that some of these made it home for parents and caregivers to taste!

Stage 5 ITT have been very busy working on their foot stools and paper towel holder and turned wooden bowls.  The class have completed the construction and have applied a coat of polyurethane finish to them. I must say how professional these look and I am sure that they will make someone a great Christmas present!

Year 9 IST and Mrs Hogan have been having so much fun in their lessons, earlier in the year they built and programming the Lego EV3 kits into robots and they ended off the unit with a Robot War Challenge!!

In Semester 2 they have busy designing their own websites, these are so professional and are extremely innovative and informative. A huge congratulations must go to Year 9IST and Mrs Hogan                                                     on such fantastic results!

A huge congratulations must go to Mr Greg Peek who was successful at interview and is now a permanent member of the TAS staff. Next year we will running Retail Services in Year 11, Mrs Julia Koslatas has completed her training and will be joining the VET faculty in 2019.  On behalf of the TAS/VET faculty we wish all of our students and their families a wonderful Christmas and New Year and we look forward to working closely with you in 2019.

Mrs Caroline McTeigue

Head Teacher TAS