Systems Technology ___________________________Page

Systems Technology

In a year that has been a challenge for everyone, students across the school have demonstrated an amazing level of resilience. With Systems Engineering being a practical subject, it was a huge challenge to get the Unit 3-4 projects and folios completed to a high standard. I would like to congratulate all students on their work ethic and keeping their standards high. Due to our hard work and dedication we are in a strong position to do well. Students have tackled a range of projects this year ranging from pinball machines to seed planting drones.

Although there was a change to the study design, whereby students only had to complete an aspect of their original design, many students completed their projects. It was really pleasing to see students really challenge themselves from a design and production point of view, considering the reduced time in class projects demonstrated little impact of these constraints. Our student population in Systems has increased from Year 10 through to Units 3 and 4, demonstrating an increased demand for skills in the area of Systems Engineering, this is an exciting trend for the subject, school and wider community. Students in Units 1 and 2 had the opportunity to produce some interesting and challenging products that challenged their thinking skills. It was great to see students from Sacred Heart join our team for the first time, hopefully creating a trend in the subject area and seeing more girls getting involved in Engineering. It’ll also be great to see the boys being challenged by the girl’s high level of skills and knowledge. Mr Davies should be commended for his work throughout the year, they will certainly be in a good position to do well in 2021, students have been lucky to be able to draw from his extensive level of experience. After seeing images on social media of the damage masks are doing to the ears of front-line workers, students and staff at St Joseph’s College came up with an idea to help. Students at the College worked hard to solve this problem by designing and producing ear savers for nurses on the front line. The new form of personal protective equipment is used to extend the bands on the back of the face masks, alleviating the pressure of the elastics on the wearer’s ears. The ear savers have been precision cut on their laser cutter. School leaders William Baum and Lachlan Demasi teamed up to laser cut 180 ear savers. St Joseph’s College Director of Community Development Kristen Gleeson has also been working with Cotton On to help distribute the ear savers to our sister school in Mannya Africa, where there is a significant need for these in their medical community. I would like to thank everyone involved in what has been a challenging but successful year, although this has been the case, the hard work and dedication of everyone involved has made our year both enjoyable and satisfying. I wish all our exiting students’ success in their future education and careers, and all the best in the upcoming exams.

Brendan Fairfield, Systems Technology Teacher