Creativity is a Muscle we Must Flex.

As we progress through the 2026 academic year, our Technology learners continue to impress us with their creativity, curiosity, and innovative thinking. A strong emphasis is placed on fostering creativity, encouraging students to think beyond conventional ideas and explore original solutions to real world problems and challenges. Through this approach, learners are supported to develop confidence in experimenting, refining their ideas, and taking risks in their design processes.

Technology education encompasses four key areas: Food Technology, 3D Design, Materials Technology, and Digital Technology. Each of these areas provides students with opportunities to build practical skills, apply critical thinking, and engage in hands-on learning experiences. As students move into Year 10, they are given the opportunity to select a specific area of interest to study. This allows them to deepen their knowledge and skills in a chosen technological field, while also gaining valuable insight into what to expect in senior Technology courses.

Overall, our programme aims to equip students with the tools, mindset, and adaptability needed to thrive in an ever-evolving technological world.

Year 10 3D Design is a particularly busy and engaging time for our students. At present, they are deeply involved in the design process, where they are developing and digitally modelling a concept for a tramping hut. While this may initially sound straightforward, the design briefs include a number of challenging specifications designed to push students’ thinking and problem solving skills. One key requirement is that the total floor area must not exceed 40 square metres, while still accommodating up to 10 trampers. This presents a significant challenge, one that would test even experienced designers yet many of the students rise to the occasion and produce thoughtful, well-considered solutions. Of course, not every design is successful, but this too is an important part of the learning journey, as students reflect, refine, and improve their ideas.

As part of the junior Digital Technology curriculum at John McGlashan College year 9 students have been introduced to and explored aspects of A.I. (Artificial Intelligence).

This technology is becoming more and more pervasive in our world and its impact on a wide range of aspects of our lives cannot be underestimated. This is especially true for our young people, for whom this technology will have perhaps an even greater impact on their lives in the future than it is for us now.

The technology, as of right now, is the worst it will ever be from this point moving forward. So understanding it has ever been more important.

As part of learning about A.I. systems students have been introduced to and had hands-on experiences with using a range of different A.I. tools. They have created text, images, videos (using Sora from OpenAI with a text prompt) and music (using Suno to create complete songs, including lyrics, backing tracks and vocals with a text prompt). Our learners explored and developed an understanding, at a basic level, how A.I. (in particular large language models, LLMs, like ChatGPT and Gemini) works. They have also examined effective use of A.I. by looking at effective prompt engineering strategies and how these can be used to produce better outputs from AI systems.

The final aspect that students will explore this week, and probably the most important, is the ethical use of A.I. When is it appropriate and when is it not. What are the kinds of things AI can be used for and what it should not be used for. Understanding and effectively using A.I. will be important for all our students in the future, so we are exploring it now in Digital Technology.

In Food Technology Dairy and venison were highlighted in Thursday’s Ichikawa Gakuen’s visit to the Food Room. The year 13 class took the lead and made three items with the visiting Japanese school. Seared wild venison served with savoury cranberry on bruschetta was Lachie C, Lachie M, Oliver K and Josh H. The upcoming hunting competition made for some interesting conversations as they ate this dish. Second on the menu: Southland Sushi. Daniel H, Henry C, and Hugo M took control of the cheese roll production.

On the espresso machine: Logan S, Rakai W and Toby H got the Ichikawa boys cranking out some quality iced lattes. Fletcher T kept the conversation moving by sharing Football knowledge.

After enjoying this lunch together Ichikawa headed off to ice skating having been fueled by southern hospitality and quality primary produce.

As the academic year continues to progress, we look forward to seeing our learners’ ideas evolve from initial concepts into fully realised, physical outcomes. It is always exciting to observe how our learners take their original thinking, develop it through the design process, and ultimately bring their ideas to life in meaningful and practical ways.

We anticipate with interest the wide range of innovative solutions that will emerge, and we look forward to our learners confidently showcasing how their final outcomes respond to the challenges they have set for themselves in their initial design briefs.

Photographs show examples of students work across the four different areas of Technology.