Where ideas become a reality / Hei whakaea ngā whakaaro

As we head towards the end of the year for our senior students, I would like to thank the staff of this faculty, for the innovative methods they came up with to keep many of the practical components of this subject running during the Term 3 lockdown period; the students, for their perseverance; and parents for their forbearance as models and prototypes were being made and tested at home in kitchens, garages, and lounge floors. Photos of these endeavours provided good evidence of their product development work and were added to their folio documentation on return to school.

The more recent approach taken to the Covid vaccination rollout is another good example for us of how important early input by client groups and the community is, leading to more ‘fit for purpose’ solutions. No matter which of the technology contexts students within our faculty study, community and client input and feedback is embedded in their practice and reflected in their outcomes.

The images below show cases student work, industry and community connections across the courses offered in this faculty

Ngā mihi, nāku noa, nā Karen Kennedy HOF

Architectural and Product Design Department / Hoahoanga me Hoahoatanga hua

Our focus on community projects that have a cultural narrative focus, as well as working with individual clients, resulted in an exciting mix of design projects being undertaken this year at all levels.

Community consultation and proposal documents for both the Whale Trail (a proposed biking and walking trail along the Kaikōura coastline) and the Flaxbourne Heritage Centre for Ward, provided excellent research material and design considerations for several community designs and accommodation units on private land.

Closer to home ‘Community Housing’ concepts were prepared using site information on the currently occupied Princess Margaret Hospital site and a proposed storage area for scooters, skateboards, and e-bikes here at Cashmere High School was designed.

Product designs included tablet dispenser designs (for the more senior member of this department), transformable furniture designs, as well as small purpose designed products for a range of clients.

We are looking forward to the Y13 Exhibition evening on Monday 1st November. This is an important evening for these students to showcase their Spatial Design (multi-generational kāinga) and gain their L3 Exhibition Design Achievement Standard.

We would like to thank the students from previous years who came back to Cashmere High during this year to talk to our current students about their tertiary courses and their experiences and for the valuable feedback they provide on our own course content.

DigiTech 

We have been lucky to have had Mr Ben Gibson join the DigiTech team this year. He had been teaching in the Mathematics and Statistics Faculty at Cashmere High School since 2019. With a triple major in computer science, mathematics and philosophy, and a master’s degree in computer science, sharing him between both faculties has been a win for us all. His master’s thesis researched educational games that teach computer science.

With game development being identified as an effective platform for students to engage and understand many of the core computer science and programming concepts, Mr Thomson has spent time this year undertaking study into game development using the Unity game engine. This is an immensely large field in its own right which is supported by a globally growing and affluent industry. The principal intention is to see how related skills could be incorporated into the material students’ study at the junior level, preparing them for a greater choice of technologies available at senior levels of study.

Although many of our annual inter-school and community events have been cancelled this year due to Covid restrictions, students have continued to connect with each other in our student-led weekly clubs of Python Programming and Robotics with Lego Mindstorms (both run by an enthusiastic team of student experts), and the Animation Club run by DigiTech Prefect Joel Graham. (Joel’s amazing collection of “Sketchy Squirrel” tutorial videos is available through his Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/SketchySquirrel). Another DigiTech Prefect Finn McMillan has taken on the busy task of managing the school’s eSports teams. One highlight event was the National NZESF High School League of Legends competition where they placed 4th.

In Term 2, Mrs Leanne Cropp’s Year 10 Electronics class received personal input from Mr Matt Brittan, a 123Tech mentor. Matt visited the class numerous times to offer his expertise with team projects, the technology process and his experiences in industry. This was a valuable experience for the students as they set about designing and building an electronic system to meet a need they identified within their community.

While learning online during lockdown our Year 10 DigiTech students started to learn how to use the Python programming language to create artwork using ‘Turtle’. This proved to be a fun activity that was accessible to all students and has been further developed as a topic for our Year 9 students to explore. And since returning to school, they have continued to enjoy learning about image manipulating using Photoshop, experimenting with product creation and exposing the tell-tale techniques used by some to mislead others.

Our senior DigiTech students have continued to impress us with their creativity, problem solving and development of skills relevant to industry, despite the recent unavoidable interruptions caused by the Covid19 lockdown. This has not only highlighted the dedication shown by all students involved but has also acted as a lesson in how Digital Technologies is having an increasing impact in providing solutions to real-world challenges.

Food & Textiles Department

Reaching out to our whanau iwi/community.

To ensure that our ākonga gain knowledge from specialist and experts, we reached out to a local Italian Chef, Clotilde Romano from dolcevita.com. Clotilde runs her own cooking school and business, open to the public and secondary schools. She is a brilliant Master Chef who engaged our L2 and L3 ākonga in learning the tikanga and techniques needed to make fresh pasta and gnocchi by hand.

We also approached the sister duo from Sweet Soul Patisserie who were more than willing to show our ākonga how they make their version of a Lemon Meringue Pie, using traditional French recipes with modern techniques, inspiring our ākonga to be creative with their designs.

Open Night was another huge success with all our year levels wanting to showcase their knowledge and present their prototype for feedback from our wider whānau. The Year 9 students, shy at first, were happy to show their work and share their experiences with the in-coming Year 8 ākonga.

The Year 10 Food Technology programme involves students researching their stakeholder’s Whakapapa, then using this information to develop an appropriate design produced from fondant to top a cupcake. It was the idea of kaitiakitanga, that the appreciation of this as a gift was sweet, literally.

The Level 1 classes learnt about the discipline of sustainability by incorporating preservation techniques into their apple-based prototype. The apples were sourced from the school orchard, which is tended by the Level 1 Agricultural Science ākonga. Products ranged from apple leather used in granola, to spiced apple pastes to be served with lavosh and blue cheese. You could just about rename the Unit ‘101 ways with Apples’.

Not only have our ākonga reached out to our local iwi, but our Food Technology teacher Karen McNicholl is attending Te Reo classes and is keeping the rest of the department on their feet with weekly whakatauki and greetings. Rebecca Abbot has also foraged some local Māori herbs and vegetables, as she was inspired by a New Zealand Samoan-Māori chef Monique Fiso (of Hiakai fame in Wellington). Students watched super-chef Gordon Ramsay as he and Monique navigated their way in the New Zealand bush and prepared for a traditional hangī. Monique Fiso’s dedication to the exploration and development of Maori cooking techniques and ingredients has led the Hospitality 201 class to adapt her contemporary version of a boil up as part of their programme.

It is fabulous to be able to refer our students to successful New Zealand chefs who cook with local produce. I am currently following Naomi Toilalo, founder of ‘Whānaukai’ on Instagram. Her incorporation of te reo Māori in her recipes and videos has inspired me to develop 2022 projects for our senior ākonga. It is also wonderful to hear the chatter in the Junior classes and observe the interaction and the laughter shared with them, like Mrs Atkins has with her 9TECF. Here is a video clip of Joseph Daniels and Oliver Chinn in action. 

We would also like to introduce our newest member to the department, Annie Davies. Ms Davies is our Fashion and Textiles Technology teacher, who brings us her experience as an ARA Textiles tutor along with her experience as an intern at NZ Fashion label ‘Kowtow’. It has been a busy start for her, and she has invested in a white lab coat to avoid any mishaps from students and their dyeing/screen printing. Her expertise has led the students to produce brilliant outcomes and outfits across all year levels. 

Multi Materials – 2021 in summary

We have made it through to Term 4 having experienced some ups and downs.

Our Technician Steve Entwistle left us in March due to ill health and Ross Ashworth returned to help us. Thanks Ross! Kevin Roughton joined us in Term 2 while Rob Capaldi was absent and his experience with fixed machinery was a big asset to us. Rob Capaldi returned in Term 3 and then of course the COVID lockdown sent everyone home 3 weeks in. When we returned it meant students were under pressure to get the construction of their projects completed by the end of the year, but we have ‘kept it real’ and have managed pretty well. As of writing this newsletter, there have been a couple of catch-up days run over the Term 3 holidays and it’s been good to see students attending these sessions.

Here are some students hard at it!

Students projects this year have included -

• A Driving simulator for computer gaming
• Disability/injury assist equipment
• Home gym equipment – see the pictures below
• Automatic chicken feeding system
• Greenhouse
• Electric monkey bike
• Cargo bike
• Surfboard with internal storage
• Electric guitars 

We’d like to have more pictures of finished designs but many are still being worked on as of writing this! 

We are getting ready for the new curriculum implementation next year which will require students to be much more materials and testing focussed. The pace of technology is moving so quickly that it really keeps us on our toes. There are SMART or ‘intelligent’ materials being developed all the time and we are always looking at how we can use an existing invention in a different way to solve a problem, or to create an opportunity. The new curriculum is also focussed more on ethics and sustainability, so we are asking more questions like ‘should this be designed’ or ‘is it really of benefit to society or just another thing that will go into landfill’. Getting students to ask these questions of their designs and ideas now, is laying a solid foundation to produce the ‘ethical designers’ of tomorrow.

Multi Materials “Special Ops” this year has moved up a notch – with the gift to the team from a deceased estate (parent of an ex-student of the school) of a 1949 Austin A40. 

It’s been outside for 30 years and started its life at 5 Marine Parade, North New Brighton – we know this as it is written inside the hubcaps! It has what could be called ‘patina’ and once we’d cleared out the rat’s nest’s we discussed what to do next. While thinking about this we were curious to see if it would run so we spent a few weeks working through some suspect DIY work from way back. It was good to see the students doing some problem solving and critical thinking – and yes, it then ran – but with the amount of smoke it produced the team decided to convert it into an electric vehicle (EV). This presents some engineering challenges as the battery pack takes up a lot of space and is heavy so will need to be mounted centrally and low down. Behind the back seats is our plan, so the surgery has begun. There is a lot to do, and we have limited space in the workshop (we can only work on it for part the year) so this will be an ongoing project. Helpers so far have been Alex King (Yr 10, now at Rolleston School), Charlie Hubac, Yr 10, Rae Erueti, Yr 10, Ryan Yetman-Healey, Yr 10, Callum McGrail, Yr 10, Hamish Coughlan, Yr 10, Bryn Pearson, Yr 11 and there have been other helpers that come and go.

Hopefully 2022 will be a bit more settled and we can do more of what we enjoy doing – which is designing stuff, making stuff and figuring out how things work! 😊