Secondary Insights
As we reach the midpoint of Term 1, our secondary students are transitioning from the 'settling-in' phase to the peak of their first academic cycle. Week 4 is a critical juncture where the initial excitement of the new school year meets the reality of sustained academic rigor. To support this transition, we are placing a strong emphasis on assessment checkpoints and proactive parental notifications to ensure every student remains on track for success.
In Secondary at Hills College, major assessment tasks can often feel overwhelming. To mitigate this, our teaching teams utilise regular 'checkpoints'; formative opportunities for students to submit drafts or complete checks for understanding before a final submission. These points of contact allow teachers to identify students who may be falling behind or those who require additional challenge, ensuring no learner stagnates due to a lack of guidance. By breaking major products into manageable chunks, we help students build the self-regulation and time-management skills essential for senior schooling.
We believe that student success is a partnership between home and school. Consequently, our systems provide an opportunity for you to receive parental notifications. You should expect to receive communication if your child has not met a critical draft or checkpoint deadline. These notifications are not punitive; rather, they serve as a real-time indicator of student progress, negating the need to wait until end-of-term reports to address concerns.
Finally, please remember that my door is always open should you wish to discuss your child’s progress or any aspect of their secondary academic journey. Whether you have a quick question or a more complex matter to address regarding your child's academic progress, you can contact me by arranging a meeting together, emailing or phoning.
Mrs Julie-Anne Skelton
Head of Secondary
LAWS Awardees
At Hills International College, the LAWS are the central pillars of the school's culture. These values are referenced in assemblies, daily learning and connection time to guide student behaviour and character development.
The four LAWS are:
- Living with Compassion: Encouraging students to support others and show kindness within the community.
- Acting with Integrity: Emphasising honesty, particularly in academic work and personal interactions.
- Working with Diligence: Highlighting the importance of hard work and persistence in studies.
- Striving for success: Motivating students to achieve their personal potential in academic, sporting, and social areas.
The following students have been nominated an award whereby a certificate will be presented at the next Assembly.
Noah Hardy - HPE - working with Diligence to achieve his learning goals and submit his learning outcomes before the due date
Tristan Gavilio - HPE - making responsible decisions to ensure he achieves his learning goals with Diligence
Chevy Kite - HPE- Acting With Integrity
Raphael Olany - HPE - Striving for Success - working very hard to achieve his Bronze Medallion competencies during the swimming sessions provided
Amy Black, Kiahna Manning, Mason Symes and Reid McManus - English - working with Diligence - working hard to master the skills of identifying and analysing poetry and figurative language.
Mrs Leah Stone
Head of Faculty- HPE and English Teacher
LAWS awardees for positive behaviours and consistent diligence in Mathematics
Year 7
Lucas McKlaren
Levi Whaley
Jack Healey
Dhruveer Singh
Fletcher Cheek
Year 9
Gursakhi Kaur
Charlotte Brunning
Khloe Vang
Delilah Vang
Year 10
Aanya Patel
Armaan Dayal
Shaanpreet Gill
Ryan Sidhu
Mrs Grace Ogoti
Head of Year / Mathematics Teacher
During a supervision lesson, Himmat Singh (7B) was noticed for demonstrating compassion and helping his peers with Mathematics learning outcomes. He demonstrated patience and understanding when helping three students.
Mrs Caroline Barnard
Visual Arts Teacher (supervising Mathematics Learners)
Teaching and Learning- Active Minds, Active Bodies: HPE Launches a Dynamic Term 1
The Hills HPE Faculty has launched 2026 with energy, purpose, and a strong commitment to engaging every learner. This year, all programs from Year 7 to Year 10 are shaped by Australian Curriculum V9.0 and underpinned by the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), ensuring accessible, challenging and meaningful learning experiences for all students.
Across the term, students are engaging in hands‑on skill development, leadership challenges, and real‑world learning opportunities that build confidence, capability, and a lifelong love of physical activity.
Year 7 – Swimming Skills and Exploring Identity and Diversity. Year 7 students are developing strong aquatic foundations through targeted swimming stroke correction. Alongside this, they are exploring Identity and Diversity—examining what shapes who they are, celebrating differences, and building a positive sense of belonging within our school community.
Year 8 – Bronze Star Development
Year 8 are working towards the Bronze Star Award, developing advanced water safety knowledge, rescue skills, and teamwork. This program strengthens students’ confidence and prepares them for real‑life aquatic situations.
Year 9 – Leading Through Water Polo and Lifelong Physical Activity
Year 9 are diving into leadership development through Water Polo, a sport that requires communication, tactical thinking, and collaboration. They are also examining what it means to stay active across the lifespan, unpacking the benefits of lifelong physical activity and the habits that support long‑term wellbeing.
Year 10 – Fitness Training or Bronze Medallion Pathways. Year 10 students have chosen between two enriching pathways: Fitness Module – focusing on personalised fitness programming, training principles, and performance improvement. Bronze Medallion – a respected and challenging qualification that develops advanced rescue capability and CPR proficiency. Both options encourage students to set goals, build resilience, and take ownership of their learning.
Sport and Recreation – Exploring Emerging Sports & Event Management in Action. Our senior Sport and Recreation students are investigating Emerging Trends in Sport, including the rise of fast‑growing activities such as Pickleball. They are analysing how social change, technology, and participation trends shape modern sport.
Year 11 students are simultaneously applying their Event Management knowledge in real time by unpacking how school carnivals are planned and delivered. From risk management to logistics and scheduling, students are gaining authentic insight into what it takes to run successful sporting events.
Looking ahead, the HPE Faculty remains dedicated to creating inclusive, engaging, and future‑focused learning opportunities. With strong student participation and a broad range of practical and theoretical experiences, Term 1 is shaping up to be an exciting and rewarding start to the year.
Interpreting safe diving guidelines to school carnivals | Royal Life Saving Society - Australia
Mrs Leah Stone
Head of Faculty- Health and Physical Education
English Ambassadors
The English Ambassadors are proud to present the Hills College Spelling Bee Competition which will be open to students in Years 7–12. Running during Term 2 across Friday lunchtimes in Weeks 4–7, the competition will be held in the Resource Centre and will see students test their vocabulary, focus and confidence in a supportive and engaging environment. With year‑level rounds leading to an overall winner, the Spelling Bee continues to be a highlight of our literacy initiatives and a wonderful celebration of student participation and achievement.
Watch this space for more information in the upcoming Hills Times Editions.
Steven Rose
Savannah Swami
English Ambassadors
Arts Ambassadors Report
Steven Gurney, Abby-Rose Cox and Olivia Retallack are the Arts Captains for 2026. We will regularly bring you news of everything happening with the Arts at Hills. The Arts subjects we study in Secondary at Hills are Drama, Media Arts, Music, and Visual Arts.
Dance is offered as a Wednesday afternoon activity. It is important to study Arts subjects because they help students develop creativity, critical thinking, resilience, and problem-solving strategies. The Arts classes have started strongly this year with a huge range of engaging and creative activities being undertaken by students.
The lunchtime concert series continues this year with the first concert scheduled for Thursday 19 March. The concerts are organised by us together with Dr Pope and Mr Gratton. The concerts feature a range of high school students playing instruments such as piano and guitar and singing. This is the fourth year of lunchtime concerts, and they are always a great success. If you would like to perform at a lunchtime concert, please talk to or email Dr Pope.
The Music rooms at the top of the Resource Centre are open every lunchtime except Wednesdays. Come and practice guitar, keyboard or drumkit.
Dr Pope runs three ensembles every week. They are open to all Secondary students.
There is the Hills Drum Circle which uses djembe drums and other percussion instruments, the Senior Gamelan Group, and the Junior Gamelan Group. Please see Dr Pope if you would like to join any of the ensembles.
There is also a choir run by Mr Gratton on Thursdays after school open to all Secondary students. Please see Mr Gratton is you would like to join the choir.
Dr Julia Pope
Head of Faculty- The Arts
Teaching and Learning- Sport and Recreation
Pickleball is a rapidly growing, low-impact, social paddle sport played on a small court with a plastic ball, emphasising quick reflexes, strategic "dinking," and doubles. Tennis is a traditional, high-intensity, full-court racquet sport requiring significant athleticism, power, and cardio, typically with higher injury risk.
A pickleball court is roughly one-third the size of a tennis court and pickleball uses solid paddles and a perforated plastic ball played underhand.
Our Year 12 Sport and Recreation are learning the skills of Pickleball for their upcoming learning outcomes.
Mrs Leah Stone
Head of Faculty- Health and Physical Education
STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics - STEM Sparks Fly in Year 7 Engineering!
Our Year 7 students took on the challenge of becoming mini‑engineers over the past few weeks in our brand‑new STEM activity class—and the results were spectacular! Using only wooden sticks, rubber bands, masking tape and a plastic spoon, students worked in teams to design and construct their very own working catapults.
Guided by real engineering principles, students explored stability, tension, force, and launch angles as they experimented with different designs. After testing and refining their builds, the firing range came alive with flying soft‑rubber projectiles and plenty of cheering as teams competed to see whose catapult could launch the farthest and most accurately.
This hands-on challenge not only encouraged creativity and problem‑solving but also gave students a taste of what real-world engineering looks like—planning, testing, improving and, of course, celebrating their successes.
Accompanying these photos, you’ll see the pride and innovation in every build. We can’t wait to see what these budding engineers tackle next!
Miss Danielle Sim
Mathematics and STEM Teacher
Media Report
One of the new buildings that are coming to Hills are the S.T.E.A.M. building. With the S.T.E.A.M. building there’ll be a lot more opportunities. The S.T.E.A.M. building will bring more hands-on opportunities for students, and there will also be able to use more equipment during classes because there will be more space. Teachers will also have some opportunities to explore more with their teaching which can help them discover new curriculum ideas. The building will be a lot more practical, and the buildings footprint and its storage will also be extremely helpful with teaching and learning. There are a lot of power sources throughout all the classrooms, and the tables can be moved if needed. Later, there will also be some more technologies buildings. The S.T.E.A.M. building must be opened by the government to be able to fully use, and the expected time that it will be opened to use for class will be around Term 2 or Term 3.
Written by Hallie Thomas, Jacob E-Parkinson, Shanaya Mishra, Molly Weidman and Zoe Moffitt
Under the direction of Hope Frawley