TAS News

News from the

TAS/VET Faculty 

Term 2, 2019

It has been such a busy term for the TAS/VET faculty. Year 12 are in the midst of their major works and their Personal Interest Projects. All Year 12 students in all of our courses will be starting to prepare for their upcoming trial exams and we wish them the very best of luck. Most of the students have been working diligently to have their projects at the 90% completion stage by the end of the term. There are a large variety of projects and I must congratulate those students who have been working solidly from the beginning of the process. I am confident the students that have been working continuously and abiding to course requirements and time frames will be rewarded with very good HSC results at the end of the year.

Year 12 Hospitality have been working very hard all term to complete their cluster tasks to satisfy the requirements of their Certificate II course. We are very proud of the way they have tackled these enormous and time consuming tasks.  The Year 11 Hospitality classes have been busy at the moment working through clusters B and C and they are learning to make a variety of espresso coffees, non-alcoholic beverages and sandwiches, including Tuscan Burgers, Tandoori Burgers and Steak Sandwiches. They have also been designing some excellent tour plans for their cluster C task.

The two Year 11 Hospitality classes are getting ready for their first Work Placement in Weeks 5 and 6 next term and we are confident that they will be very successful in their placements.

Year 11 Retail have been working very well in completing their cluster tasks. Mrs Kostalas was successful in being chosen to be part of a Retail Immersion Program run by our RTO which is Macquarie Park. The immersion programs are designed to allow teachers to experience being in the retail industry. The information and the experiences that Mrs Kostalas had during Week 9 will allow for some amazing learning experiences for her students.

Year 11 ITT with Mr Peek have designed and made their first project and are in the process of researching and designing their next project which will be a small side table with a drawer. Mrs Hogan’s and my Year 11 Society and Culture classes have just completed their second assessment task and I must congratulate the students on their fantastic achievement in this task. Their responses were conceptually rich with synthesised and sustained judgements and substantiated with consistent relevant strong examples throughout their writing.

Year 11 IPT with Mrs Hogan have just completed a group project on an information system on a simulated business which included a web page and data base. These web pages look very professional!

Miss Crystal Reynen has been working very hard with her classes. The Year 11 Engineering Studies class have been studying braking systems and next term they will be studying biomedical engineering. Year 12 Design & Technology are in the midst of completing their major projects.

Year 12 Food Technology with Mrs Pratt have been working on the unit Contemporary Nutrition Issues.  They are currently working on food product development and will design a food product to meet a specialised nutritional need. They will be required to deliver an oral presentation whereby they will pitch their product “Shark Tank” style.

Mr Peek’s Year 10 Food Technology class have just completed their unit of work on food trends and have produced a range of amazing and equally delicious ice creams! The students have completed their design process from the beginning with investigating different ingredients and combinations and then making their products, taking into consideration all aspects of a food product in production such as taste, texture and aesthetic qualities as well as extensive testing. The ice creams look so professional and I know they have had a lot of fun developing these. The written component is an electronic folio including a shop front, seating, a menu and an advertising flyer.

The Stage 5 Food Technology classes with Mr Allen have been thoroughly enjoying their lessons and they have been learning about Food in Australia, in this unit of work the students learn about multicultural and fusion foods. Their skill levels are developing very well and I can see some future chefs in the making!

Stage 5 Hospitality with Mrs Pratt have also been really enjoying their lessons and are producing some amazing food creations. At present they are working on the sandwich unit and have been making a variety of sandwiches. They are also learning how to prepare a range of espresso coffees. They are developing their skills very well and they are working extremely well as teams in the kitchen.

The Year 9 IST class and Mrs Hogan have completed work on their databases and they have started working with the Lego robotics. In this unit they will be designing and building working robots using the new Lego EV3 kits.  The Year 10 IST  class and Mr Allen are learning about artificial intelligence, simulation and modelling.

Mr Peek and his Stage 5 ITT Timber class have completed their paper towel holders and are starting on their step stools.  They are also totally engaged in their work and their products look fantastic!

Miss Reynen and her Stage 5 iSTEM class have been having a blast making their water bottle rockets and learning about aerodynamics!  They will be using our new rocket launchers!!!

The Stage 4 Technology Mandatory classes have been enjoying and embracing their lessons.  The technology mandatory food classes have been designing pies this term. This has involved the design process from the beginning to the end product through to the evaluation stage. The units of work and the final products have been outstanding and I must thank Mrs Pratt for her innovative and creative ideas when designing the programs. Mr Peek’s classes have been very busy making some great timber products including tool boxes and serving trays.

The Technology Mandatory Multimedia classes with Mrs Hogan, Mr Allen and Miss Reynen have just finished their stop motion animation using the Green Screen and Claymation and they have done a brilliant job with these. Miss Reynen’s, Mrs Hogan’s and my Year 7 class have just completed their unit on coding and the games that they produced are nothing short of amazing!

The Year 7/8 YAP class and Mr Allen are coding on Microbits. They have made a compass, a pedometer and a rock, paper, scissor game!  Mrs Pratt and Miss Reynen have been working on a Textiles unit with their YAP class and they have been making some fantastic tote bags!

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