Commercial Cookery Port Macquarie

   Once again TAFE has been involved with this anual event. As usual there was great interest with visitors doing hands on with pasta making and making profiteroles. Anything with chocolate is always popular. i have been involved with community food & wine events for over thirty years in the local area and every year it gets better and better.  Local interest in regional produce and cuisine has grown significantly over the years with people becoming more discerning.

My background:

I started my training in the UK in the late sixties and gained City & Guild Citificates in both cookery and Waiting. After a couple of years in Hotels in the centre of England I then Joined P & O as a stewart for a couple of years and saw much of the world (and met my future wife). I emigrated to Australia in the early seventies and worked as a sous chef with Travelodge in the cross Sydney and later spent some time at the Benelong Operhouse. In the seventies I move

Hi Everyone

I’d just like to introduce myself and say thanks for allowing me to be a part of your blog.

In 2009 we would like to offer the usual library orientations and information literacy sessions for your students.  I hope we can work with you and your students to provide access to the best information for your needs.

Please bring your students in in the first couple of weeks and we will give them an introduction to library services.  Then later on, when you have provided them with their first assignments, we would encourgae you to bring them back to the library and we will work with them on their assignment to find the best quality information.  Hopefully they will be able to present a good quality assessment task and also learn how to search for good information in the process.

I’d also love to get your feedback on library services – what do you like about the library? What can we do better? let me know!

Andrew Blundell

porttafelibrarian

Employers

Do you employ a mature aged person that may have completed some TAFE, or may have partially completed their apprenticeship then they may be eligible to be indentured as a mature aged apprentice and enrolled in the “Fast-Track” Apprentice Program.

Australia needs a skilled and knowledgeable workforce, capable of meeting the current and future demands of industry.  One way to achieve this is to encourage greater participation in apprenticeships by removing time-based restrictions on qualifications.

The Fast-Track Apprenticeships Program provides opportunities for apprentices to achieve their qualifications earlier by becoming competent in a shorter time. Employers and apprentices will benefit from this initiative – employers because they will have a more highly skilled workforce, and apprentices, who will be able to complete their apprenticeships when they are competent, rather than when they have served the time deemed necessary to complete the qualification.

Apprentices and employers involved in Fast-Track Apprenticeships activities can apply for Australian Apprenticeships incentives for which they are eligible. For more information go to: http://www.australianapprenticeships.gov.au/Australian_Apprentice/

Why should I employ an Australian Apprentice?

Australian Apprenticeships provide a range of benefits for your business.

• People trained to your business requirements.
• Flexible choice of Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) who can provide off-the-job training to your Australian Apprentice, with negotiations around timing, location and nature of the training to suit your business needs.
• A range of financial incentives for eligible employers.
• Can be full-time, part-time or school-based, depending on what suits your business.
• Nationally recognised qualifications and competencies.

Fast-Track Apprentices is an Australian Government initiative funded by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations

Contact Dean Groth for information

65816257

dean.groth@tafensw.edu.au

Recently we hosted a collective new industry forum group, at Port Macquarie Panthers.  Our aim was to provide the opportunity for representatives of the local hospitality industry to have their say.  We had restaurant managers, supervisors, Chefs and TAFE teachers who all had the opportunity to speak about our future direction for the industry locally.

Our forum group uncovered many motivating and innovative ideas that will provide  an impetus for new directions within our industry.  See attached lists of ideas that were raised in just one 2 hour afternoon meeting.  The forum gave us the opportunity to get to know each other on a social level and also provided an opportunity to express how we would like our industry to make change for the better.  Ideas were expressed such as (sharing apprentices across different cookery disciplines).  Our guest speaker Jackie Martinson from State Training Services, North Coast was able to provide information on how establishments are able to go about this.  She also spoke about all of the incentives that are currently now available to support low income apprentices.  You can contact Jackie on 65849158 if you would like to make further enquiries.

Please take some time to read over the points that were expressed and discussed at our first industry forum group. If you would like to be involved in making collective differences that will benefit staffing issues, retention and creating a stronger skills base then please make contact with either Wendy McKinlay (65816191) or Matthew Armstrong (65816218) at Port Macquarie TAFE.

On a final note I would like to congratulate Michelle Picker  from Bago Tavern who was the lucky door prize winner of a dinner for 4 at the Graduates Restaurant at Port Macquarie TAFE campus.

We will be holding another of these informative forum sessions early next year so if you would like to contribute your ideas please come along, spread the word, and let’s create a dynamic profession that provides ongoing first class hospitality to our local community and those visiting our great Hastings community.

The call went out and was answered, when thirteen students from the Port Macquaire High School recently attended a practical information session at the Port Macquaire Campus of TAFE. The class was held in the Hospitality sections Commercial Kitchen. The invitation was sent out to students in years eight, nine and ten who are considering a career as a chef.

The idea behind the morning was to involve the students in a working classroom situation, actively interacting with a groups of first year apprentices.  As the morning progressed the high school students gained a valuable insight into what it takes to work in a busy kitchen. The class was conducted by Wendy McKinley and by all accounts was a tremendous success.  The students enjoyed a hands on experience and were in fact reluctant to leave when the morning drew to an end. Mathew Armstrong Head Teacher Commercial Cookery would like to see these sessions run on a regular basis involving other high schools in the area.

Hello all cookery enthusiasts…

welcome to our Commercial Cookery Blog!

Welcome to your brand new blog at Edublogs.

To get started, simply log in, edit or delete this post and check out all the other options available to you.

There’s stacks of great supporting material too! Take time to view our some helpful introductory videos, read through our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) or stop by The Edublogs Forums to chat with other edubloggers.

You can also subscribe to our brilliant free publication, The Edublogger, which is jammed with helpful tips, ideas and more.

And finally, if you like Edublogs but want to be able to simply create, administer, control and manage hundreds of student and teacher blogs at your school or college, check out Edublogs Campus… it’s like Edublogs in a box, all for you.

Thanks again for signing up with Edublogs!