International Seafood & Health Conference

Craig Waldon and Grayson Hart have been given a once in a life time opportunity to represent Djarragun College at the “International Seafood & Health Conference” and “Wonders and Opportunities of our Oceans Expo” at the Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre 6-9 November 2010. The boys were mentored by Mr Joe Coco and the 3 were sponsored by Agri-Food Skills Australia to set up a “Training and Careers” display and coordinate and present at the Expo. This all came about because of their outstanding performance at the Australasian Aquaculture Conference in Tasmania earlier this year.

Barramundi were supplied by a local farmer Mainstream Barramundi, Silver Perch from NMIT (North Melb Institute of TAFE), albino crayfish supplied by a Diploma student from NMIT and basil and lettuce supplied from VISC (Victorian Indigenous Seafood Council). The students had to put their skills on show and demonstrate how to acclimatise the fish before putting them in the tanks and maintain the water quality to keep them happy. Basil and lettuce were also transplanted into the shallow trays and had to be monitored.

The students had the opportunity to network with highly respected national and international Aquaculture and Medical experts as well as parliamentarians. The Parliamentary secretary for Fisheries Forestry and Agriculture “The Hon Dr Mike Kelly” was interested in talking to the boys on their future careers and commented that Aquaculture has a very important future to help balance the demand of seafood to feed the country and the world. The medical experts main message was that by eating 2 fish meals per week, minimised the risk of depression and also assisted the brain development of unborn children by the absorption of micronutrients that seafood have.

It is fair to say the boys learnt an awful lot and had a lot of fun to boot!
Well done to Mr Joe Coco for looking after the boys and taking your VET course to new levels.

Totally Fabulous - DC Haute Couture

Hi All

Below are some photos of formal production from our Clothing Department. Congratulations to Lane, Juniko, April and Maluka for making their own graduation gowns but you will have to wait until the formal to get the close up shots!

Cheers
Ms Leni

Congratulations Robbie

Robert Amber has successfully completed his Certificate I in Furnishing. It's been a great effort from Robert and he has completed some excellent projects along the way. From the start of term 1 where Robert was making cupboards for boarding and doing maintenance jobs on the school, he showed he had great enthusiasm for his job.

Robert then took a more senior role in the workshop, helping the year 10 students with their projects and assisting them with his knowledge of the workshop equipment and safety procedures.

Robert has gone on to make a lot of quality Furnishing items in the workshop, he carefully plans out his projects, sources the materials and quietly goes about assembling them in a professional manner.


Robert now has a Certificate I in General Construction and a Certificate I in Furnishing and is ready to take the next step towards employment, with the help of Miss Cate, Robert has applied for apprenticeships with Q Build and the Cairns City Council.

Health Services Assistance

Last Friday, the AIN girls completed their practical assessment for this semester. It involved them reading a scenario, then acting it out as if they were in a hospital ward. Carmille and Stella worked as a team and showed confidence and skill in handling a difficult, complaining patient!

Working co-operatively, they moved the patient safely to the bathroom for a shower then returned her to the bed for a meal, all the time communicating in a friendly, positive manner. Together with their written assessment of 50 questions, and an oral test last week, this puts them at 85% finished for their Certificate lll. A terrific effort! We are attending a 2 -day First Aid course on Dec 1st and 2nd to complete another competency.

Ms Rosemary

Children Services

Congratulations to Karen Noah, who this week finished all her theory for the Cert III Children Services Course. She is also half way through her practicals and now needs to go more often to practicals to get this side of the competencies marked off.

Students in Year 11 and 12 have started planning for the Childcare Room at the Year 10 Subject Selection evening. The first thing they have done is to find and assess spaces within the school for their appropriateness for children. Last year the parents that had children appreciated being able to leave them with the girls so that they could talk to the teachers/tutors on their own.

Ms Cate

Health Services Assistance

Both groups of students are working hard to finish assessments for the end of the year. We have been working as a group on a wiki about Culture and Health, and last Friday, the students presented this to the group. It is great to see how confident and well spoken the students are.

We have been doing practicals at TAFE for the last few weeks and on Friday,
were tested on bedmaking (with and without clients), and moving patients with a sling out of bed and into a shower chair. More able patients use an assisted walker. We also learnt how to give a client a “bed-bath”. Here is Stella practicing on “George”, our patient.

Ms Rosemary

Children Services

This week students in Year 12 and TAVE finished their theory unit on “Working Effectively With Families” in the one day! Well done Kernisha, Tiaella and Natalie! It was the Year 11 students' turn to perform observations on students in Ms. Sian's class. They wrote good observations for their first time and will complete the unit next week. Kernisha has been our star student, attending practical days and progressing very well through her theory. Well done Kernisha! Unfortunately, Aileen was absent.

Ms Cate

Clothing Production News 27/08/10

Since the beginning of this term April has shown a high level of motivation in Clothing Production. She has worked industriously and tirelessly. Her target was to produce her own graduation gown. She did everything possible to finish her gown in time. This includes staying behind after school, paying attention to detail, and of course, following all the teacher’s instructions. Today she is obviously proud of her production. She shows off to her friends about her talent in this course. She cannot wait until she wears it on the formal night. Lane Ingui has also produced a magnificent purple gown but you will have to wait and see both girls on the night!

Miss Leni

IT students have been given a crash course in creating audio podcasts using Garage Band and creating video Podcasts (VodCasts) using i-movie. Students have been recording audio and video around the school to create their project ‘Today at Djarragun’.

Star’s of the week are Jaharla and Fredson who have finished creating their songs. The students work will be uploaded to the Djarragun website and stored forever!





The Mighty Moges at work with his wonderful students

Cert III Children's Services

This week the students worked extremely hard on a unit which tests their understanding of monitoring children's development as well as their interests and needs. Ms. Sian was gracious enough to let us come down to her class and the Year 12 students did an anecdotal observation and a time sample observation. They got the hang of it very quickly! Aileen in particular did a great job and was very thorough.

Miss Cate

CISCO Work Experience in the Big Smoke

Koza Coburn, one of our Senior Students had the unique opportunity of traveling to Sydney to undertake work experience with Cisco. Cisco, a partner of Djarragun, is world leader in IT networking solutions. Koza had a very busy schedule working with IT Engineers and Technicians at the Cisco Technical Assistance Centre, Chatswood, the Cisco Proof of Concept Lab, St Leonards and Cisco’s Head Office, North Sydney. After work Koza explored the Sydney CBD, Darling Harbour, Circular Quay and the Opera House. He went to the top of the Sydney Tower and visited the Apple Store where he found the Genius Bar.

“The experience has changed my life. I have found a career path. Next year I plan to go to TAFE to complete the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) certification training course.” Koza Coburn





Here is a link to KC & the sunshine band hard at work http://wiki.djarragun.qld.edu.au/groups/seniormovies/wiki/ca15c/KOZA_COBURN__CISCO.html/

Salute to Excellence Award

A Djarragun College Hospitality student has won the Salute to Excellence Award for the first time. Eima Messa won the award and is putting herself and Djarragun College on the map in the Hospitality Industry. Eima won the award after her applications had been recognized as a High Achiever in Tourism and Hospitality. During the interview and skills test in Brisbane Eima spoke brilliantly and was one of the reasons she was chosen. It is great to see students like Eima rise to the occasion and develop new found confidence and skills that are taking her to new levels. Super work and a super result from a super student!

Farewell Harry

We say a fond farewell to Mr Harry who leaves D.C. this week after five years in the job. Harry seems to have had a finger in every pie and his job description would take some time to read - a man of many talents indeed. Harry was in charge of OH&S, licensing and getting students through a host of work related programs like Chainsawing which he is completing this week. Harry moves into another OH&S position with Cape York Enterprises on Monday and we wish him all the best.

Harry picked up the staff shield for the senior school staff member of the week and it's pleasing to see him collect overdue recognition and thanks for his good work in the school. They don't make Harry's like they used to.

Good luck in the future and we hope to see you again somewhere down the track. All we have to do is check Harry's bag to make sure he doesn't take the shield with him or we'll just have to make another one and find another Harry to go with it!

Hairdressing News

We have had an exciting time in hairdressing and it is only week 2. James Patterson has begun his training with Djarragun`s Training Salon. He is our first registered paying client , nominating us as the preferred training organisation for his apprenticeship training. He is doing really well in his full time employment at The Atherton Hairdressers.

Abigail Hobson has completed her Certificate II course . Congratulations go to her from us all. Abigail has now begun her Certificate III course and is showing signs of being a fantastic cutter. I am proud of Abigail`s progress this year and excited to see another dedicated stylist from Djarragun`s students stepping into a leadership role. Abigail is the new head girl for hairdressing years 10, 11 and 12.

Tonya Ludwick will be finalised by the end of term 4 this year. Tonya is the first qualified hairdresser to be trained with us as a Cert III student . This is our fist entire year delivering this course and Tonya will be a great ambassador for our college. We Congratulate Tonya for her dedication and commitment. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that Tonya passed her QCE last year as well as dedicating herself to hairdressing.

On Thursday 13th October Tonya had a photo shoot , Thanks Mr Arron .Mr. Ludo and Mr, Campbell, using one of our students Kayleen Yeatman.

Tonya coloured ,cut ,styled KK`s hair ,we took her down to the Cybary lab and used the green screen. What a beauty we have hiding in our midst. We will be looking to do more of this work and will encourage your students to participate.

News from the shed

Term 4 has started well with the students, in the week back two of the grade 10 students have completed another competency toward their certificates.Patricia Tom and Joseph Geas made light work of their written assessment and patricia also completed the best CD rack to date.

Art and Furnishing
Leana Dejersey also has been involved in a fusion of art and woodwork, she took one of her favorite art drawing and transferred it to timber by burning it and painting the image, the result was awesome.

Jordal Bana has made a good return from Back on track to normal classes with a good attendance record and has completed a small coffee table and draw unit, completing 3 of his competencies in the process.

Year 11 student Daniel Gibuma has started a Billy Cart project for the 4th Term, producing some quality hand work and showing good skills with the workshop equipment , he has also completed 3 of his competencies. The early attendance rate has been good and looks to be a good term.

Music News term 4

Reggae Town Report

At the end of last term the Djarragun Band performed at the internationally acclaimed Reggae Town festival. The band performed admirably and received many praises from industry professionals. Congratulations to Jamie, Jason, Fredson, Patricia, Elisa, and Nikki.

Mr Gracie

Bernadine Mau nominated

Djarragun College has nominated Bernadine Mau for the Tropical North Queensland TAFE Award for Vocational Student of the Year for a student studying in a VET program. Bernadine has been studying the Cert III Business Administration and has been working all year for theDept of Resources and Management in Business Admin. She also has been doing part time work at KFC in Earlville and has been there for the past year and half showing a great deal of consistency and success.

We wish Bernadine good luck and would like to thank the Hospitality team and Miss Peggy for the guidance and support over the years for Bernadine.

Lane finishes her Cert II

Congratulations to Lane Ingui in Grade 12 as she has successfully completed her Certificate II in Clothing Production on the 5th of October 2010. Well done for all your hard work.

Potentially other students like Juniko and Tala may complete before the end of year through a crash program, if they attend regularly.

Regards
Miss Leni

Engineering News

Congratulation Koza Coburn for successfully completed his Certificate 1 in Engineering. He has worked hard and the reward is all his. Not only has Koza completed all the tasks required, but was instrumental in other school projects including the new grand stands that can be seen on the school oval. See pictures below.

Other students, including Henley Woosup & James Gaiden have not missed a day this term, and new students Rosie Stafford & Jimmy Baira are focused on their current jobs and set their own high standards, which as a tutor is rewarding to see.

Some of the furnishing students also engage themselves in making artistic steelwork to complement their beautiful work.

Mr Joe

Back on Track with Rob McBride

Back on Track boys have made great improvement with their attitude towards work, with a result of harmony and bonding within the group. The attendance still has its up and downs at times with Titus Tamwoy being the big improver, his attendance has kept improving all term to the stage where he is a regular attendee, Jordal Bana takes the prize with a 100% record on BOT. Jordal and Gibson Joe have been studying hard and have passed their learners drivers and are now chipping away at the required 100 driving hours to obtain their P's. This is so important for these boys to be able to drive as it is a requirement for most employers in the building and service industries. We had a new student Daniel Pookamelya age 13 from up on the cape join the group 3 weeks ago. He has settled in well and has had to learn quickly about the respect for other students work and their feelings, he is so keen to be a part of this group that he is over at the shed before 8 every morning, he is such a likeable student. This has also been an important lesson for the other boys as they are now seen as a roll model for young Daniel, so they must stand tall. As all of these students will be returning back into the class room next term I feel sure they all have a positive belief in themselves, respect for others and a defined direction for their future. 

Mr Rob