Technologies News
Digital Technologies
Computer Science
This year, I have had the privilege of teaching Digital Technologies to our Year Six students. Throughout the year, we have explored key concepts such as effective use of apps like Teams and OneNote, cyber safety, and how digital systems work. To bring these ideas to life, students are now working in groups on an exciting micro:bit project focused on AgTech. They’re tackling “How might we…” questions to design innovative solutions to real-world agricultural challenges. Projects include creating devices to monitor soil health, track livestock, manage water usage, and observe tree growth - just to name a few!
Mr Kieran Bailey | Head of IT and Innovation
Year Seven Digital Technologies
Students have been busy completing their Inquiry Projects, we are at the final stages of prototyping solutions to cyber safety problems. To get here, we have explored many of the cyber safety issues that students at our school experience, and we are innovating how we can understand more about our habits to lower the impact of these issues. It has been thrilling to see the prototypes developed throughout the week, including campaigns for positing positively online, mock chat logs that demonstrate strategies to disarm keyboard warriors, how-to-videos that show the different ways to report content, and podcasts and puppet plays that aim to strike a balance in a digital life. Mr Bailey and I look forward to finalising these projects in the coming week.
Year Nine Ethical Innovators
Year Nine students are now deep into the design phase of their ethical social media platforms, building out their ideas in Figma (a digital prototyping platform). What began as simple wireframes has rapidly evolved into interactive, clickable prototypes. Students have been applying UX/UI foundations to elevate their designs, thinking carefully about layout, flow, and accessible user experience.
While backend systems are not part of our scope in this course, students have been challenged to creatively represent how content and social algorithms influence what users experience. Many have found clever ways to simulate their ideas of ethical and innovative interactions with these systems within their prototypes, showcasing their understanding of how our digital experiences can be shaped.
Some of the functionality they have built is very impressive. As we head toward the end of term, each group will embed a shared theme into their platform, which is a common user persona and context so we can compare how different teams interpret the same brief. This will give us a unique lens to explore the diversity of design thinking across the class.
We will be sharing these projects publicly next term in Week Five.
Mr Kyal Rose | Design and Technology Teacher
Hospitality
Year Seven
Our Camfield class explored using leftover food from the fridge, freezer, and pantry, along with fresh produce from our kitchen garden, to create dishes like Hummingbird muffins, a collaborative frittata, apple and berry crumble, and nasi goreng. Students learned to halve recipes and creatively use leftovers in their cooking.
Year Eight
Students used fresh produce grown in our kitchen garden to make quick pickles and choko chips, perfect accompaniments to a burger. They designed healthy burgers based on Australian dietary guidelines, presented them for food photography, and created a food blog to promote their creations—so much fun!
Year Nine
The students have been busy in the kitchen, learning to make homemade pasta, ragu, and béchamel, which they turned into a delicious lasagna for lunch. They then chose to make their own fettuccine or ravioli with a suitable sauce and enjoyed a sensory analysis of local and commercial bush tucker spices. From this, they designed their own dukkha, highlighting their favorite bush tucker flavours, and paired it with homemade focaccia, complete with focaccia art, for dipping in olive oil and dukkha.
Year Ten
Our creative Year Ten students have spent the last few weeks learning about, tasting, and using a variety of spices. They enjoyed a session with guest Indian cook Riddhi, who helped them create typical Indian dishes. Considering the main spices used in Chinese cuisine, students made steamed wontons, savoury sticky rice steamed in banana leaves, and deep-fried ice cream with butterscotch sauce, and are now designing sweet and savory dishes for a dim sum meal to present to invited guests next week.
Certificate II Hospitality
Year Eleven
This term, students have continued to prepare and present a variety of appetiser-style dishes, including homemade samosas with tamarind chutney, baba ganoush, and handcrafted vol-au-vents with savoury fillings. These activities reinforce precision knife skills and cooking methods while showcasing their creativity in plating for service. They also enjoyed a visit from two guest chefs from Hospitality Group Training in Perth, who shared their career journeys and demonstrated a delicious dish using fresh produce grown by our Sustainable Production students in the kitchen garden.
Year Twelve
During the term, our students have been learning about various salad types, ingredients, and how to store and present them, enjoying the opportunity to select fresh produce from our garden for their dishes. They prepared salads like Waldorf, Greek, tossed, and Nicoise, and watched visiting chefs from Hospitality Group Training in Perth demonstrate a warm salad while discussing their careers and opportunities in the hospitality industry. Additionally, students represented themselves and the school professionally at the Harvey Beef Gate2Plate Awards Dinner held at Retravision Stadium, serving appetisers and a three-course meal to 200 guests, and showcased their barista skills at the VET Show by making espresso coffees and hot chocolates.
Mrs Teresa McAllister | Head of Technologies/Teacher
Sustainable Production
Year Seven Chilli Challenge
Some of the Year Seven Wilson students chose to take the chilli challenge in Week Four. Many were content with the mild banana chillis, others tried the warmer jalapenos and some braved the fiery bird’s eye chillis. The students learned that I do not keep milk in the Market Garden.
Year Nine Seed Bank Project
The Year Nine students have been diligently cleaning, sieving, sorting and packaging dry seeds to donate to the Albany Public Library seed bank.
Year Ten Beekeeping Experience
In Week Four, Dan from Ripple Farm Beekeeping brought a unique beekeeping frame for the Year Ten students to process. This special frame features circular templates, enabling bees to create honey rounds, perfect for grazing boards. Dan guided the students in removing and packaging these honey rounds, explaining how they add value to his business.
Ms Diane Thomas | Teacher
Woodwork
Hello everyone, Peter Colgate here!
I have come out of retirement to teach the Years Seven, Eight and Nine Wood Technology classes for this term and I have really enjoyed my experience. The students in these classes are terrific and a pleasure to teach.
Year Seven Wood Technology
This has been the first real taste of working with wood for this group, in a workshop environment. Students have learned about design aspects, timber properties, workshop safety, gluing/clamping and using applicable tools and machinery to construct/shape their projects. Much of the work done by this class was excellent.
Year Eight Wood Technology
This class has worked hard to complete a small box design with a fitted lid. The project required students to demonstrate skill levels in accuracy, trenching, assembly and finishing techniques. All students have now completed this task, and I have been impressed by the overall quality of their designs and construction skills, along with their respect for safe work habits.
Year Nine Wood Technology
Toolbox construction has been the theme for the bulk of this term. This task requires a greater skill set as there are multiple processes to undertake to successfully complete the finished product, to a high standard. I have been pleased with the students’ work ethic and commend them for their application throughout the term.
Mr Peter Colgate | Materials Design and Technology Teacher
Wood Technologies with Mr Brodie Sarre
The term continues to progress rapidly, with the Wood Technologies classes producing some outstanding work.
The Year Nine group has now completed their toolboxes, crafted using Merbau timber this year. The use of this timber has noticeably lifted the quality of the final product, and once oiled, the finish truly stands out.
The Year Ten students have been working diligently on their step ladders. This project requires a range of skills including wood joining, butt joints, and angled cuts, demanding greater patience and technical ability than previous tasks. They have all made excellent progress and gained valuable learning along the way.
Meanwhile, the Year Twelve group is putting the final touches on their penultimate project for the year. There hass been a pleasing variety of products created, with some impressive craftsmanship on display.
Mr Brodie Sarre | Materials Design and Technology Teacher