This season we're highlighting careers in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (or HVAC) and beverage manufacturing industries; and, as viewers will learn, the underpinning on-job training meets both the needs of industry and the particular needs for different businesses.

We've also partnered with brewing giant DB to case-study a career as a brewery worker in both their brewing and packaging areas of the business, with the National Certificate in Food and Related Products Processing (Level 2 - 4) qualification as the training pathway.

Finally, we've partnered with Frucor, the company behind a number of well-known beverage brands including Pepsi and Just Juice, to showcase the production worker role as an entry point to a multi-faceted career within this manufacturing enterprise.  The training pathway they'll focus on will be the National Certificate in Competitive Manufacturing (Level 2 - 4), which forms a strategic part of Frucor's employee training at every level.

To date we've covered a wide cross-section of our industries on the Just the Job TV show, including baking (with Heavens Bakery in Napier), rail operations (KiwiRail), maritime hospitality (The Interislander), engineering technician (Automac Engineering) and refrigeration and air conditioning (Arneg NZ), just to name a few.

This new series of Just the Job will run for 10 weeks.

For information about the Just the Job TV show click here.

Under Ben's guidance the students rebuilt the car to the National Speedway Association's stringent safety specifications, allowing them to race the car competitively. Now they've got a string of great results under their belt having raced the car in their local speedway, and they are planning to compete at other venues around the top half of the South Island.

"We race on a fortnightly basis, mostly at our local speedway here in Nelson, and we've developed a dedicated ‘team' who pit crew, maintain and drive the car at each race meet," explains Ben.

The crew includes 17-year-old Golden Bay High School student Patrick Ward, now the team's most experienced and reliable driver. There's a $400 fee required to register a driver for the year, so the team have chosen wisely.

"Patrick's been involved with this project almost from the start; over the past few months he's improved our track times at Nelson speedway track by over three seconds.

"We've had no major incidents to date; only minor damage and bends to repair on the car, plus the odd modification to assure our continued compliance with national rules and regulations," says Ben.

Plus they've had a lot of local support to help them get the car up to specification, and to ensure the team are prepared for each fortnightly race meet.

"The community support has been fantastic; local companies have given us parts and loaned us equipment to work on the car and transport it to and from the speedway - it's made things a lot easier for us."

But it's the results off the track that have given further credence to Ben's approach in the school workshop with his students.

"I tend to work with the students rather than ‘teach' per se - particularly with those who worked on the production car project; the students began to capitalise on and learn from each other's strengths over time.

"They have developed a natural peer-tutoring style of learning that I simply facilitate and guide them through, using the Tools4Work unit standard resources," says Ben.

He's also noticed the project has evolved into a real family affair, bringing students and their families closer together to share in a new and exciting common interest.

"Parents and siblings of the students turn out regularly to our race meets to support and mentor the students - it's been really neat to see."

Furthermore, two of Ben's senior students who worked on this project last year have now moved into mechanical engineering apprenticeships, and another is a motor mechanic apprentice employed at the local BP garage.

Both engineering apprentices are also employed locally; one for a company that maintains and builds trailer units and components for large transportation trucks, and the other at Waitapu Engineering in Takaka.

And the future's looking bright, too. Ben's current Year 12 and Year 13 technology students - nine in total - are all ‘budding engineers of the future', he believes.

"They all seem to be inclined toward mechanical engineering - it's where their interests and capabilities lie, and we definitely want to foster that."

Because the project was ‘new territory' for students and teacher alike, Ben concedes there was a lot of time sacrificed and effort put into moving the project from a standing-start in late 2008 to where they find themselves today.

"It's been 18 months of hard but fun work, and we've all had to learn a lot about the rules and regulations of national-level speedway racing along the way, but it's been hugely rewarding too.

"We've had lots of help from the Nelson Speedway club. They have been very encouraging and supportive."

Ben believes a project like this can be beneficial for even more students, and the wider community.

"I'd issue a friendly challenge to other schools in this region to follow our lead and take on a project like this," says Ben.

"My dream would be to see other schools turning out their own production cars, and come to race them regularly at the speedway in a regional inter-school competition."

If you'd like to discuss the project, glean advice to start your own production car project at your school, and if you are interested in taking part in a possible inter-school speedway competition, please contact:

Ben Knoef
Technology Department
Golden Bay High School, Nelson
Phone: 03 525 9914
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

As a compulsory part of the registration process, every participating high school's students will be required to pay a $20 membership fee direct to the NZMMRC. This fee will ensure all participants are covered by the association for indemnity insurance - an absolute 'must' to ensure all parties are safe to take part in the event.

"This year we've taken this complete safety-first approach to ensure every student from any school can take part in the event," explains event organiser and Feilding High School technology teacher, Roger Emmerson.

"We know this was an issue for some schools in 2009 and many keen students missed out on racing their bikes against other schools as a result - we've created an easy and doubly beneficial means around this by partnering with the NZMMRC."

The full benefits of NZMMRC membership that apply to students and schools will include:

• Indemnity insurance cover of up to $1M (at NZMMRC sanctioned-events - including the NZ Secondary Schools Mini Moto GP event at Manfeild Raceway)
• Membership to the NZ Mini Moto Racing Club for the year, and access to their race events nationwide.
• Access to test events at the Taumarunui Track prior to the Mini Moto GP.
• Access to technical, expert advice via the NZMMRC website, phone or email.

Schools can organise and make the payment direct to the NZMMRC, via their club secretary:

Adrienne Norris
c/- NZMMRC
190 Totara Drive
Hamilton 3200

Another safety initiative for this year's event is a ruling by organisers that no modifications can be made to bikes with water-cooled engines.

"We felt that the 38cc engines found on the kitset water-cooled bikes are quite fast enough for our school competition - bikes in this class cannot be modified to include a 50cc engine, nor any other enhancement that can put competitors at unnecessary risk," explains Roger.

Interest in this event is at an all-time high at this stage of the year, with more schools likely to register as more students get involved in the minibike building project at school.

"I keep our school website up to date with all manner of information and advice specific to those undertaking the minibike build project at school, and taking part in the Mini Moto GP," says Roger.

If you have any queries about the new partnership with NZMMRC, the minibike building project, or on how to register your school for the 2010 Mini Moto GP event, please contact:

Roger Emmerson - Feilding High School
Ph: 06 323 4029 (between 9am & 3pm, Monday - Friday)

Click here to view the Minibikes advice section on the Feilding High School website >>

Click here to visit the NZMMRC website >>

Under the expert tutelage of technology teacher John Luzac the students used Tools4Work resources to complete unit standards toward achieving their Level 1 National Certificate in Mechanical Engineering Technology (NCMET).

Students were free to choose the materials they wanted to make their crucifixes out of - with some opting for wood, steel, metal, tin and bronze. By the time they completed their projects the students covered all occupational safety and health units and are competent in using lathes, engineering workshop tools and fixed machine tools.

Of the students in his 2009 Year 10 class four were girls who, says John, ‘seem to produce the best work.'

As a former fitter and turner with the New Zealand Army, John was instrumental in developing the Howick Campus when it opened six years ago. He introduced crucifixes to the curriculum two years ago and says each new year's technology students look forward to the course.

Outside of his teaching hours at Sancta Maria College John keeps his hand in the engineering sector by working part time for CYPS, teaching youth in prisons two nights a week; he teaches outdoor sculpture and welding at night classes at two local high schools, and on weekends he does maintenance work at the Tegel factory in Takanini.

He says he still has the same passion towards engineering now, as he did when he first started work, and this comes through in his teaching style and commitment to his students, despite teaching in cramped classroom conditions, a small workshop and with limited equipment.

To celebrate the successful completion of each student's work, the crucifixes and their creators are then blessed in the school's chapel.

Above:  Sancta Maria technology students are blessed along with their crucifixes at the college's chapel.