Welcome to the New Year. We hope you had lovely time with your family over the recent break and that those of you who had storm interruptions are now recovering well. We look forward to sharing another year with you and your child at Hills International College. Our core business at Hills College is to provide your child with wonderful opportunities within the teaching and learning environments, as well as opportunities to extend this through various events, excursions and activities which include our Wellbeing learning experiences.
The following are the Secondary Teaching Staff and their roles for 2024:
Heads of Faculty
English Ms Jacinta Goyne
Mathematics Mrs Sharon Rummins
Science Mr Chris Schultz
Humanities & Languages Mr Scott Whaley
Health and Physical Education Mrs Leah Stone
Arts Dr Julia Pope
Technologies Mr Christopher Borg
Heads of Year
Years 7 – 8 Mrs Grace Ogoti
Years 9-10 Mrs Amy-Lee Perkins
Year 11-12 Mrs Joelle Parer
Other Staff
Head of Secondary Mrs Julie-Anne Skelton
Head of Wellbeing Mr Ben Pope
Head of International Programs Mrs Vanessa Newbery
Head of Inclusive Education Mrs Tracy Ashbridge
Head of Sport / Activities Mr Mark Robinson
Youth Support/Counselling Years 7 – 12 Mrs Mandy Comerford
Secondary Staff - English
Jacinta Goyne, Melanie Clifton, Julia Pope, Bianca Tyne, Grace Dwyer, Kerry Timmins
Mathematics
Sharon Rummins, Ljiljana Stojanovic, Rachael Wilson, Grace Ogoti, Valerie Spall
Science
Chris Schultz, Valerie Spall, Sharon Rummins, John Hallermann, Rachael Wilson, Kai Voigt
Humanities
Scott Whaley, Alexandria Salmon, Grace Dwyer, Kerry Timmins Joelle Parer
Health and Physical Education (HPE)
Leah Stone, Mark Robinson, Tomoki Kanaya, Kai Voigt
Languages
Scott Whaley, Tomoki Kanaya, Yuhua Li
The Arts
Julia Pope, Caroline Barnard, Melanie Clifton, Christopher Borg
Technologies
Amy Lee Perkins (Design), Christopher Borg (Digital), Kim Kulper (Digital), Kelly Smith (Digital), Julie-Anne Skelton (Design)
Inclusive Education
Tracy Ashbridge, Sarah Whaley, Kim Kulper, Ashleigh Johnston
Student Services/ Career Counsellor
Mandy Comerford
Just a gentle reminder that only students who have a double HPE learning environment should be m88 com live casino registerwearing sports uniform. All other students should be in full formal uniform. The follow are also reminders of our College processes for 2024.
IT Devices
It is important that students are aware of the expectations for using their device. Students have ongoing support throughout the day and can have any issue attended to, even during the teaching and learning time. This IT support will be available in the administration building under the direction of the learning environment teachers. Students understand fully the appropriate use of the device during the day. Only certain sites will be available for students as these sites will assist with the teaching and learning. Inappropriate use of IT will result in enacting our procedures which may mean blocking a student from the school system and asking them to pay a ‘return to the system’ fee. Further to this and very importantly, is to ensure their device is fully charged prior to the start of the day. If this does not happen, students will be charged a fee to borrow a power pack. Students this year will also be encouraged to remain off their devices during the two breaks throughout the day and to ensure that other activities remain a focus instead.
Student Central
Students are asked to leave their phones at home. However, if students need to bring their phones to the College, they must sign them in to Ms Nicole Schreurs in C Block upon arrival at the College. Students can collect their phones at the end of the day. If a student does not follow the procedure and is found with their phone in their possession or using their phone, the phone will be confiscated for the remainder of the school day and parents will receive a text or email to confirm that this has occurred. Subsequently, further breaches of the mobile phone policy will result in a confiscation of five (5) school days. Please refer to the Hills International College Policies and Procedures on our Hills College website for more information.
Uniforms
We are proud of our College uniform. Every student has a formal uniform and a sports uniform. The formal uniform (with hat) is worn every day except for the days the students have Health and Physical Education (HPE) and Activities (Wednesday for all Secondary students). Students are also permitted to wear their sports uniform on days where they have a double HPE or Drama teaching and learning is timetabled. Our Uniform Policy is available on the website for your perusal and is included in the student planner. Please ensure you have the correct uniform items ready for the start of the school year.
Teaching and Learning
Our staff are proud to work alongside our students. They are dedicated and have the students in their thoughts as they continue to plan the day-to-day teaching and learning. Our Year 7-10 learners will focus on the curriculum requirements set down by ACARA. You will be able to locate the learning outline using Parent Orbit. This will be available at the end of Week 2. Every Wednesday morning 10.25am – 11.10am a session is set aside for academic assemblies or wellbeing sessions.
Ambassadors
Our STEM Ambassador Program, our English Ambassador Program, our Arts Ambassador Program, and our newly formed 2024 Technologies Ambassador Program, continue to grow.
We look forward to a wonderful year ahead. We are excited about this year and look forward to meeting you at the College. If you have any questions or would like a further discussion with Head of Secondary, please contact me.
We are a College which reflects great communication and you are a wonderful recipient of ‘inclusivity and approachability’ in all that we do. We are certainly a College which accepts parents and guardians as part of our extended family, and you become an important part of Hills College; ‘A Place to Belong’. While we have an open-door approach, you may access Parent Orbit to locate staff details such as emails for direct communication. Administration at Reception and Student Central in C Block can also be approached for ensuring we are able to contact you in due course over matters which you may require clarification. Thank you for entrusting us with your child during 2024. We are privileged to be in the role we are in with your child.
Mrs Julie-Anne Skelton
Head of Secondary