Greetings from the Trades Academy, we hope you are all looking forward to a well deserved break when summer finally arrives.

This year has been a real rollercoaster as we scheduled a lot more projects than in previous years. The boys and girls have really stepped up to show that they can do a wide range of “contract” work, for example the basketball hoops were concreted into place to go with the new seats that were placed against the gym.

The Technology Department was impressed with the new “room” we created in the garage so that we could have a specially designed space for the 3D printer to work its magic. And for future Passion Projects and woodworking classes.

Adrian and a few of our Level 2 students were able to recycle a few bits and pieces from the Whare and the SSC building which we will be repurposing into projects next year.This year we have been able to repurpose the old railings from E Block skywalk (for those of you who went to school here back in the day) into a awesome fence in the compound. This was one of the units we completed this year.

With current building regulations changing, we are now able to make Cabins up to 18m2. We have dubbed these “community cabins” as they could possibly be the answer to the community's housing issues. This particular cabin has insulation from the Whare roof and walls. We have used some of the weather battens from the outside of the Whare on some of our smaller cabins.

We are proposing to use the iron off the Whare roof for a large timber storage area at the back of our workshop. We have made our own enclosed verandah to house some of the donated timber from a local sawmill. Thank you once again for your kindness.

This year we have managed to finish off a number of cabins, one of which we are donating to Kiwi North. The internal sarking, ceiling and floor were made from donated timber from previous years which makes it possible for us to do this community project.

The SSC roof, some window and doors have been salvaged to

1. Build a boundary fence on the eastern end of our field

2. The windows and doors will be repurposed into next year's cabins to keep the materials cost low.

We are looking forward to being able to assist and watch the CANAM team as they will be working on our new build over the next two years.

We would like to take this opportunity to encourage our Year 9 and 10 students to think about using the Trades Academy as a springboard into the wider building industry which has many varied opportunities. Feel free to make an appointment and come and see what we do!!

The Trades Team