Technologies News 

Technologies Showcase

Last week subject teachers and students across the Technologies subjects created displays of works in the library at the annual Technologies Showcase.  We welcomed parents, teachers, and students who enjoyed interacting with student representatives on each display.  The Certificate II Hospitality students made and served espresso coffee and hot chocolates, then served a selection of appetisers.  Thank you to Keynote Speaker, George Knowlden (Baudin, 2010), who inspired us with his talk about his study and career journey in the technology space.

A copy of George's speech can be accessed here:

Year Seven Digital Technologies

Well done to Year Seven Digital Technologies students who have been working on their "Online Collaborative Spaces" assessment task. I look forward to reviewing your work about how data is represented in a digital system. In term four all students will be working on their final unit, programming (otherwise known as…coding). I'm really excited to have finally reached this point in our program, and as I have been saying all year 'we leave the best until last'. Throughout this unit, we will be putting all the content from the year together, and begin building out instructions that will be carried out using Minecraft Education Edition, using the block programming language MakeCode. This will set the foundations for early computer science concepts and future years ahead in digital technologies subjects. 

Year Eight Digital Technologies

Our fabulous Year Eight Digital Technologies students have been wrapping up their game design projects in Microsoft MakeCode Arcade. Throughout the term we have explored fundamentals of game design including story, intuitiveness and playability, challenge, and user choice. From there we explored flowcharts and decision trees, wrapping up with a deep dive into the Role Playing Game genre and creating our own ‘hero’s journey’. Within MakeCode Arcade, we have built immersive games that make use of sprites, events, iteration, variables, and logic statements. We look forward to sharing links to student games with you next term!

Year Eleven Computer Science

It was great for our Year Eleven Computer Science students to have the opportunity to display their work at the recent Technologies Showcase. Our students have been working hard on a range of projects all year. As we come to the end of Term 3, ATAR students have been consolidating their knowledge on relational databases and structured query language (SQL), jumping into designing our own databases to capture data and information around therapy dogs. General students have finalised their systems development projects – where they scoped out a range of gaming PCs for a small business. Now General students are exploring the use of Excel in business scenarios, before moving onto databases.

Year Seven Hospitality

The Wilson group of Year Seven Hospitality students have embarked on a flavourful journey, mastering the art of producing snack foods while honing their knife skills, production techniques, and food presentation.  From savoury muffins to homemade sausage rolls and mouthwatering chocolate chip cookies, their term in the kitchen has been both educational and delicious.

Year Eight Hospitality

In our Year Eight Hospitality class, the kitchen is filled with enthusiasm as students engage in active learning, supporting one another and inquisitively seeking culinary knowledge. Together, they’ve delved into the art of making healthy pancakes, mastering not only the preparation but also the art of presenting their creations, as well as following a design brief that included recipe development, workflow planning, food ordering, and the culmination of making, presenting, and photographing their Brilliant Breakfast meals.

Year Nine Hospitality

Year Nine Hospitality Students have embarked on a nutritious journey, gaining an understanding of three essential macronutrients – fat, protein, and both simple and complex carbohydrates.  They’ve put this knowledge into practice by creating a diverse array of dishes, from individual apple pies to high-fibre nacho bowls, and even wholesome, low-fat homemade fish and chips with tartare sauce, as well of high-protein butterbean tacos.  Each dish showcased a thoughtful blend of colours and textures, emphasising the importance of well-balanced and visually appealing meals in their daily diets.

Year Ten Hospitality

Throughout the term, our Year Ten Hospitality students have collaborated in groups to design innovative recipes that align with the Flavour Forecast Recipe Challenge design briefs.  Their culinary journey was further enriched by the expertise of Chef Silas Masih from Pepper and Salt Restaurant in Denmark, who shared ideas on flavour using spice and showed some plating techniques.  As we approach the end of term, students are diligently working on the final touches of their competition entry, including cost analysis, precise recipe writing, justifications, reflections, and selecting the finest photographs of their dishes.  Anticipation is building as we prepare to submit our class entry during the holidays, eagerly awaiting the winners’ announcement in mid-November.

Certificate II Hospitality - Year Eleven

Our Year Eleven Certificate II Hospitality students showcased their professionalism while serving attendees with scrumptious appetisers at the annual Art Exhibition following the Kingfisher Fair.  Currently, they’re delving into the world of non-alcoholic mocktails, exploring a spectrum of flavours, glassware, equipment, and garnishing techniques, as they prepare to design their own unique mocktails for the upcoming Year Eleven Mocktail Party next term.

Certificate II Hospitality - Year Twelve

Our accomplished Year Twelve Certificate II Hospitality students recently displayed their skills by serving a three-course meal for the 125th Anniversary celebration at the Albany Golf Club, where they had the privilege of working under Chef Silas Masih from Pepper and Salt Restaurant, and alongside former classmate, Chef Max Sounness who made the desserts our students were tasked with presenting as a grazing board. This was followed by appetiser service at the Technologies Showcase under the watchful eye of a Training Consultant from Hospitality Group Training in Perth.  This comprehensive assessment also featured a practical demonstration of their espresso coffee making skills. 

Congratulations are in order for all the students have successfully completed all units of competency for their Certificate II Hospitality qualification.

Year Nine STEAM

It was a rush to the finish line for Year Nine STEAM students to complete the Lego Robotics challenge table, but we did it, and it looks great! Thanks to Nana for her guidance on our colour direction of orange, purple, and black. I'm looking forward to beginning work designing robots using Lego Spike Prime kits that we will compete with other schools in the region later in Term Four. 

Year Seven Sustainable Production

In Week Nine the Year Seven Sustainable Production students had fun learning how to propagate cuttings, these will develop roots over the holidays ready for the students to take home at the start of Term Four. This week I said goodbye to the Mokare students as they spent their last session in the Market Garden. They can be super proud of their productive plots, some groups plots were so tidy they had a Japanese garden look to them. Being blessed with a perfect mixture of warm weather and rain has resulting in prolific growth. They spent the last session harvesting their lettuce, broccoli, parsley, ruby chard, kale and let’s not forget the delicious peas. I think most of these things made it home. The peas however were mostly eaten enroute. Well done Mokare, the chooks will miss your weeding skills!

Year Nine Sustainable Production

Year Nine Sustainable Production students have had a busy time in the last two weeks preparing for the Kingfisher Fair and the Technologies Showcase. The students grew 200 succulents in repurposed coffee cups to sell at the Kingfisher Fair these were very popular. They also harvested vegetables, herbs and collected eggs for our beautiful display at the Technologies Showcase.  At the end of the showcase attendees were able to take home all the produce which proved to be very popular.

They have planted about 50 strawberries which are now flowering and have immature fruit on them. Hopefully we will be enjoying fresh strawberries in Term Four. Today was a fun day as it was time to move the chickens onto the next garden area, we enjoyed watching them gobble up slugs and slaters. The chickens have done a great job of weeding, fertilizing and removing pests ready for the Wilson Year Sevens to plant in Term Four. 

The Year Nine students can be proud of what they have achieved in the Market Garden this term they have learned new skills whilst helping transform the area. 

Woodwork - Technologies Showcase and Year Twelve Design and Technology

The Technologies Showcase was held in the library last Wednesday and was a great opportunity for all the Technologies subjects to showcase some of the work their students had completed over the year. The timing could not have been more perfect with this coinciding with the Year Twelve Woodworking Class completing their final, major project which was to design and create a piece of flat pack furniture. Despite most of the cohort juggling absences due to uncontrollable circumstances such as Workplace Learning and other schooling commitments, they all managed to complete their projects, some with just minutes to spare and race them up to the library to be displayed for the Technologies Showcase. This was so pleasing from my point of view as it was such a pleasure to be there Wednesday night and see the joy on some of the teachers faces as they were able to see what this group had been able to produce. The projects ranged from dart boards and clocks, to collapsible tables, stools, and chairs, as well as shelving units and racks. Consistently this group has had a very strong ability to implement creativity and originality and produce a vast array of great projects. I am very excited to see this happen again with next year’s group and display the creativity they have on offer.

Brodie Sarre | Materials Design and Technology Teacher

Mrs Teresa McAllister | Head of Technologies