We have classes that give specialist knowledge in the areas of computing technologies, game design, programming and the use of the related technologies. The application of the boys to these units show that the opportunities are being greatly appreciated. I would really like to take this opportunity to thank the teachers in Information Software and Technologies, Mr Austin on Year 9 and Mr Brown and Ms Saxon on Year 10 who have created these learning opportunities for their classes.

In Year 9 the focus has been on the web, internet and programming with drones. The Web Design unit is a good way to introduce the boys to the challenges and opportunities of the web. From understanding the beginnings of the technology used to create the Internet to being able to create their own environment and develop in Dreamweaver and HTML5. The second half of the semester was dedicated to the use of the new Tello drones we purchased, this culminated with the boys flying a course using the controllers as well as the boys coding the drone to fly the course autonomously.

Year 10 have been working on 2 streams through the semester. Firstly on a Digital Media unit with Ms Saxon and developing their skills with the Adobe suite of products including Premiere, Animate and After Effects. The boys were creating movies for their assessment. With Mr Brown the boys have been working with Fusion in the areas of Modeling and Simulation. This has been finished off with boys printing their objects designed on the WASP 3D printers. Some great work being produced.

Information Processes and Technology have really been focusing on the game development and the Information Processes for their semester. These theoretical components have been aided by the use of Animate and Unity to develop a ‘choose your own’ adventure game. These elements start as a literacy task and go through the information processes and end in the final result, a playable game. Some of these projects utilize components from the web whilst others choose to design their own characters and use these in their game.

Year 12 have a very interesting Semester 1 with a huge range of content. In these terms the boys cover network design in their major projects and communication systems through to information systems and the databases that make them useful. This includes projects, practical examples and looks at the skills required in project management to make them desirable employees and flexible beyond those 21^st Century skills.

In Software Design the Year 11 students have spent this semester looking at different programming methodologies and specifically at the Agile approach, which most students do without realizing, and it’s use in the greater development industry. There are a huge number of tools and utilities on the net and the developers of today need to embrace them. They foster these CASE tools and work with them to create new and exciting opportunities. This semester they created text-based games using Python. The average project contained around 1400 lines of code and essentially had at least 3 rooms and adventures to work through.

The boys in Year 12 Software Design were completing our version of the One Laptop per Child Project. This project gives the boys a budget and they need to build a RaspberryPi based technology that meets the needs of a developing community and asks them to build the technology using the parts purchased, the 3D design software and 3D printers and laser cutter. Some of the work included weather stations, tablets with English learning tools and translation devices.