Design and Technology

from Annual: Trinity 2004

Student Roll Call

Academic

The Treacy Technology Centre has now been in operation for the past four years. During this time it has progressively grown within the school as more students select subjects within the Design and Technology area.

This year we have had a dramatic rise in the number of students studying in the areas of Materials, Systems and Graphical Communication. This resulted in a new member of staff, Mr. Toby Trewin, commencing at the College at the beginning of the school year. Although Mr Trewin can teach in all the Design and Technology areas, his main area of expertise is in the Design and Graphics field and this has been evident in the excellent work produced by his students in the Design and Communication and Graphics classes. Using new 3D CAD software called ‘Ironcad’, students have been able to produce individual solutions to design problems. In Year 8, students have been given ‘a taste’ of all the areas in order to select their elective subjects in Year 9. Year 10 IGCSE students have studied a Design and Technology course which is both set and assessed in the UK and has worldwide recognition. The Year 11 and 12 Applied Technology courses have been more popular with students this year. In this course they have designed and manufactured interesting projects ranging from fun go-karts to bedroom and lounge furniture, using wood, metal and plastics. Systems Technology classes in Years 9 and 10 have designed electronic games, musical instruments and wind powered vehicles. In senior school, systems students have completed projects such as an automated pneumatic can crusher and a boxing pneumatic puppet game, operated by electro pneumatics. Our Year 11 students again built solar cars to enter the Western Power Model Solar Car Challenge. They also exhibited the solar cars at the Catholic Schools Carnivale in Forest place in September. With new Courses of Study beginning in the near future, we are very fortunate to have excellent technology facilities at Trinity which should make the transition as smooth as possible. Engineering Studies will commence in 2006 for Year 11 students in that year (our present Year 9 students) and Trinity will be one of the first schools in the State to offer this course.

We are in a time of change for Technology Education in Western Australia, but we can be assured that Trinity will always be at the forefront. This is due to the vision and planning of former Principal Tony Curtis, the School Board and school community who were responsible for the design and construction of the Treacy Technology Centre. It is our challenge as present educators to ensure that Trinity students use this excellent facility to reach their full potential.

Mr Ray Archibald Head of Design and Technology