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Vocational Education

2007


Armidale High School VET students excel at Worldskills once again!
This year Armidale High School entered seven students in the regional finals of the Worldskills competition in Tamworth on Friday 26th October. The students were chosen to represent the school in their various fields because of the excellent results they achieved in the schools competition run during Terms 2 and 3. The students were:


Hospitality: Kate Frizell and Jessica Rowe


Primary Industries: Tom Yeomans and Renae Fry-Welsh


Metals and Engineering: Jason Pringle


Construction: Luke Austin


Tourism (TAFE):Mitchell Faint.


All students excelled in their performances at the Regional Finals with three students receiving outstanding results.

Tom and Mitchell will now have the opportunity to compete in the State competition next year.

Congratulations go to all the students who competed and were wonderful ambassadors for Armidale High School.

June 2004

Congratulations to Tim Rowbottom who was placed 5th in the National Worldskills Championships in Brisbane. Tim qualified for the competition by winning both Regional and State competitions last year. Tim worked with two fourth year apprentices and they constructed a garden shed over three days.

A booklet has been produced covering all the information you need about Vocational Education courses at AHS. Ask your teachers for a copy.

May 2004

Alpaca Felting Workshop

During May the Armidale High School Textiles& Design teachers and Year 11 textiles students were fortunate enough to attend a felting workshop run by Judy Craig and organised on behalf of the Armidale branch of the Alpaca association. Teachers and students had a most enjoyable day learning the techniques involved in felting Alpaca wool and created beautiful alpaca wool hats in a variety of colours shapes and designs.The students honed their designing skills as well as learning first hand how wool can be felted using water and friction.

The students said afterwards that it was good to experience a wider range of textile art and that Alpaca wool is really unusual and it makes beautiful pieces. The finished products were really outstanding. felted scarves and hats are in fashion at the moment and the technique is not difficult. For readers wanting to try their hand at felting (making a beautiful scarf, here are some simple instructions contributed by the textiles students at Armidale High.

Equipment:

Alpaca wool (can use a variety of colours to blend together)

Precut foam pattern piece

Plastic bottle for warm/hot water

Detergent

Sheer fabric

Bubble wrap

Vinegar

Water in a bucket

1. Place pattern on a hard surface, begin evenly distributing the wool, until all the pattern is covered. Make sure there are no gaps by overlapping the pattern by approximately 4 cm.

2. Use the sheer fabric to cover the entire pattern, forming three layers of foam, wool and sheer fabric. Lightly soak the wool with hot water and press firmly on the pattern to compress the wool fibres, keeping the sheer fabric straight and not gathered over the wool.

3. Once the wool is completely flat, use hot water and detergent to bind the fibres. Do a pinch test to check that the fibres are firmly bound together.

4. Turn the pattern over and place the wool on a vertical and horizontal axis making sure you do not overlap the pattern, keeping close to the edge, making sure there are no gaps. Repeat Steps 2 and 3.

5. Wrap with bubble wrap and squeeze out excess moisture and detergent. Roll 50 times from each angle.

6. Soak in a bucket of vinegar to cleanse.

7. Rinse out water and vinegar and remove the pattern.

8. Lightly drop the piece on a hard surface, slowly increase pressure. This helps dry the piece and shrink the fibres.

9. Allow time to dry, then shape or design for desired effect.

Gold medal in World Skills Competition

Congratulations to Tim Rowbottom who has gained a Gold medal in the statewide Worldskills Competition. He constructed a Gazebo as part of a group of students from throughout NSW. This is the fourth year in a row that an AHS student has gained a Gold medal at State level. Tim now goes on to represent NSW in the national competition. Congratulations also to our outstanding Industrial Arts teachers who worked with Tim and the previous years' winners to achieve such a consistently high standard.

Here's how the Department of Education reported the event on their website.

11 November 2003 Strength reflected in NSW team for Workskills nationals

There will be no mistaking the strength of vocational education and training in NSW public schools when the state Worldskills team hit Brisbane for the national titles next year. Public school students took the lion's-share of places in the NSW team announced at the conclusion of the state Worldskills finals in Tamworth. Worldskills challenges school and TAFE vocational students to demonstrate their practical skills through a series of work-related tasks which are assessed by experts.


School students were tested in the fields of automotive services, business administration, commercial cookery, construction, electrotechnology, food and beverage, horticulture, information technology, metals and engineering, primary industries, retail, tourism and viticulture. TAFE contestants, who had each qualified for state representation, undertook development competitions in beauty care, bricklaying, business services, cabinetmaking, construction steelwork, cookery, electrical installation, garment production, hairdressing, heavy vehicle mechanics, painting and decorating, plumbing, refrigeration, restaurant service, signcraft, sheetmetal, turning, vehicle painting, web design and welding. Judges complimented competitors on the outstanding level of skills demonstrated during the gruelling two-day event.

Their praise was echoed by Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Training, Dr Andrew Refshauge, who said competitors had performed exceptionally well. "They have shown great talent and flair during the NSW Worldskills competition in Tamworth," Dr Refshauge said. "It's young people like these who'll be at the leading edge of their industries in the future. "Each competitor deserves congratulations and admiration, as do the dedicated teachers, employers and mentors who have fostered the development of such outstanding skills."

Students from public schools who will go on to represent NSW in the nationals are:

* Automotive Servicing - Nicholas Kenny, Mudgee High
* Business Administration - Jared Welch, Warialda High
* Commercial Cookery - Tenille Atkins, Cheltenham Girls High
* Construction - Tim Rowbottom, Armidale High
* Electrotechnology - Ian Askell, Dubbo College, Senior Campus
* Food and Beverage - Sarah Roswell, Carlingford High
* Horticulture - Daniel Findlay, East Hills Boys High
* Information Technology - Bryce Robinson, Tamworth High
* Metals and Engineering - Daniel Standing, Casino High
* Viticulture - Harry Levick, Rutherford Technology High


Retail students gain experience at David Jones

Students from Armidale High school, Guyra central School and Uralla Central School
Recently traveled to Sydney to participate in a work placement at David Jones in Chatswood.

The students who are all studying Retail Operations as part of their Higher School Certificate gained invaluable experience during the excursion. The HSC course teaches the students all aspects of working in retail and requires each student to complete 70 hours of work placement. At the end of the course the students qualify for a Certificate 1 in retail and some even gain Certificate 2.

The compulsory hours of work placement have been completed by working in retail outlets in their local community. However the teachers thought that it would be an excellent experience for them to experience working in a large store in Sydney with a reputation for service such as David Jones.

While at the Chatswood store the students were able to experience working in at least six different areas; such as mens wear, audio, ladies accessories, home office, toys, the receiving dock, visual merchandising, gift wrap and human resources.

At the completion of the three days of work placement the students were presented with certificates acknowledging their participation by the manager of human resources for the Chatswood and Brookvale store, Judith Hannah.

The experience of working in Sydney was made more realistic by the fact that they had to travel from Chatswood from their accommodation in Haymarket and return by train during peak hour.

Outside of working hours they were able to visit China Town and do some shopping in the City and at Paddys Market.

All students enjoyed the trip and found the experience very worthwhile. They commented that they would recommend this excursion to any student who is considering a career in the retail industry. However not all of them are now sure whether they would like to be living and working in Sydney.