Another eventful term is passing us by, faster than many of us would like.

Over the last number of weeks, the Technologies faculty has started the lengthy process of developing our Year 11 program while refining our offerings for both our Year 9 and Year 10 courses. Our writers for Year 11 have been allocated a range of subjects including Design, Engineering, Food and Nutrition, and Digital Solutions from the General subjects and Hospitality and Industrial Graphics Skills from the applied subjects.

Our Year 9 courses have been reviewed and modified to provide students with a wider range of opportunities within each discipline of the Technologies curriculum. This will allow our students to develop skills with freehand and digital illustration to communicate design ideas, safely working to hand tools and machinery to understand how products are manufactured, combining circuits with programs to make machine do work and develop kitchen-based skills to better understand the finer points to cookery. By reversing and pulling apart the design and manufacturing processes, students will have a greater opportunity to solve digital and design problems as they progress into Year 10. Please note that some of these subject titles might be combined or tweaked based on student selection rates.

The Year 10 program has received some more conservative changes based on the feedback from students and faculty staff. The streamlining of these subjects will account for faculty staffing but also allow students to explore the design and problem-solving process on an individual level within their chosen discipline. The Year 10 Technologies PECs will include Information Management and Web Design, Coding Games and Programs, Junior Chefs, Design Solutions, and Circuits and Mechanisms.

Staffing within the Technologies faculty is again set for some changes as we head towards the end of the year. We would like to extend our warmest congratulations to Mr Lindsay Newton-Smith, who upon returning to us from his acting Head of Department position with Glenala State Secondary College became a father of a healthy little boy. On a related note, we will soon see Ms Heidi Rankine on maternity leave in preparation of the delivery of her second child. We wish Heidi and her family all the very best. Both Mr Newton-Smith and Ms Rankine will return to us during 2024. We continue our endeavour to source additional staff in preparation of 2024.

As we approach the final reporting period for 2023, we encourage families to have ongoing and open conversations with students about their effort, positive engagement, and achievement. Many of our Technologies subjects will have a mixture of coursework and folio-based assessment to complete in the coming weeks. Students should be utilising time in class and requesting any assistance necessary from their teachers. Upon request, teachers can make time for students during the before and after school What I Need (WIN) sessions for any additional support or guidance.