The Hospitality Academy Term 1 2024 - By Daniel Dennis.

Over the past three years the hospitably academy has been a very welcoming place that has offered me unique learning opportunities. I’ve been able to participate in the Wintec 2023 culinary fair in Hamilton where I got gold for my cold desert entry. This opportunity allowed me to express my own creative food ideas whilst also getting hands-on experiences in a timed competition environment.

 I also have been able to help with functions within the school. This involves cooking for a group of people where we provided a lunch or two course meal dinner. Recently I had the opportunity to cook for Philippa Boyens and 26 others where we prepared another two-course meal, which involved a double baked pork belly with a chili lemon sauce and a chocolate mousse dessert.

Opportunities like these that Massey High Schools hospitably academy provides have allowed me to not only developed my own personal culinary skills but also gain a better understanding on what my future hospitably career will look like. For anyone who is looking for a career in hospitably I would recommend this pathway.  

The academy goes from strength to strength with ever increasing student enrolments. So far this year the Automotive Academy has serviced many of the teacher’s vehicles as well as, various services on client vehicles. The students are upskilled in reconditioning brakes, doing a transmission service, and replacing lights and tyres, using one or two of the hoists that we have at MHS in our garage.

The Year 12 and 13 students also complete online unit standards from MITO, the Motor Industry Training Organisation. Mr Thompson the Automotive Tutor, reports that this year virtually all students have completed 80 percent of the required online work and are well on their way to gaining their MITO certification. The standards also supply credits towards the NCEA Levels 2 and 3.

The Year 13 students will also go once a week to Unitec. At Unitec they get further tutoring in using equipment that we do not have at MHS and get some more advanced training. During Term One they disassembled a motor then made improvements and reassembled it.

The Year 12 cohort meanwhile are developing their metal work skills and will be soon getting underway with building their own mini pit bikes.

Our Year 12 and Year 13 Carpentry and Building students at Massey High School have been working hard under the tuition of their tutors and getting three houses underway for completion later in the year. Together there are just over fifty full-time students involved in 2024.

Both the Carpentry and Building students are full time in construction at MHS. The Year 12 students have started the year with some health and safety training and safe tool use training in order to be able to go on to the building site. The Year 13 students have already completed one full year on the building site and this year we are using them to mentor and guide the Year 12 students. However, all our students are of course under the direct supervision of our building tutors who guide the small groups and instruct them in their tasks.

This term the students have prepared the foundations for the houses and over the last two weeks they have been laying down the joists, bearers, and flooring of the three houses that are under construction plus have been putting up the framing and scaffolding. During the current week two houses that were completed at the end of 2023 have been taken off site and trucked away by Craig Walker's house removal company, which has freed up some space here plus will be the new house for a lucky family.

Also, up and running this week we welcome the girls in the carpentry group, GIC, who have started on Mondays. They are a small group of dedicated females who are mainly Year 11 students who every Monday will be involved in building skills on our construction site. This will develop their confidence and skills, plus allow them to see if they wish to continue with this full-time next year when they get to Year 12.

Another group who are starting this week are the Multi Skills group and they will come out every Thursday for half the year to develop their own skills.

All these courses contribute to the NCEA plus allow our students to qualify for various other certificates, such as BCATS, Building Carpentry and Allied Trades training, First Aid, power tool use and also access to some free driving lessons once they have their learner’s driving license.

We wish them all the best for the rest of the year.