Secondary Insights
What a great start to the year both students and staff have had. Even Mrs Skelton was a part of the Valentine's celebrations with students this week.
The focus for this edition of the Hills Times is to acknowledge our Hills College Ambassadors.
What is a Hills College Ambassador?
Our Hills College Ambassadors are students who serve as a representative, advocate, or liaison for our College. Ambassadors play a crucial role in promoting, supporting recruitment efforts and enhancing the overall student experiences.
Below are some common responsibilities and duties of our Ambassadors:
- Student engagement and outreach: Ambassadors engage with current students through various activities and programs designed to promote student involvement, as well as understanding the leadership opportunities with this role.
- Leadership and Development: Ambassadors develop leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills through their involvement in ambassador programs. They receive training, mentorship, and professional development opportunities to enhance their abilities as student leaders and representatives of the institution.
- Role Models and Mentors: Ambassadors serve as role models and mentors for their peers, demonstrating academic excellence, integrity, and engagement while undertaking this role at Hills College. They offer guidance, support, and encouragement to fellow students, helping them navigate challenges and maximise their skills at Hills College.
- Overall, ambassadors play a vital role in building connections, fostering engagement and enhancing the overall student experience at schools and colleges. Through their leadership, advocacy, and service, they contribute to the success and vibrancy within our Hills College Community.
If you have any questions pertaining to Secondary, please do not hesitate to phone the College or email me with the details. I will also be available for a meeting together.
Thank you again for your support for our College and our programs. Hills College is certainly that Place to Belong.
Mrs Julie-Anne Skelton
Head of Secondary
julie-anne.skelton@hills.qld.edu.au
Teaching and Learning- Health and Physical Education
11 PE - Learning about Motor Control - Cognitive Systems Approach to learning.
Students had to select a lolly from the bowl in front of them while blindfolded.
They were to indicate if the lolly was sweet, minty or sour by demonstrating from earlier memorised hand signals. Students quickly learned that this was more difficult than initially thought. The processing of external and internal stimuli and neural pathways is not always as clear cut as we think it will be when all processes work in conjunction.
Mrs Leah Stone
Head of Faculty HPE
Teaching and Learning - Mathematics
Learning Experiences that 7C undertook in Mathematics while practicing how to find the factors of numbers by playing ‘Factor-pillar’.
Mrs Grace Ogoti
Teaching and Learning-English Faculty Term 1 Welcome
The English Faculty team has been hard at work in the first weeks of Term 1, with teachers getting to know students, developing engaging lessons, and easing students back into familiar school routines. A big welcome to Ms Kerry Timmins (Year 7 English), and Ms Grace Dwyer (Year 11 Literature) who join the faculty in 2024.
Students are exploring a wide range of text types and narrative worlds this term:
- Year 7s are loving their first novel study of Louis Sachar’s ‘Holes’ under the tutelage of Mrs Melanie Clifton, Mrs Leah Stone, and Ms Timmins. They are focusing on dissecting the novel’s narrative elements in order to develop their own literary interpretations.
- Year 8s are being guided through their first poetry course by Ms Bianca Tyne and Mrs Stone. Students are learning how to interpret a range of poems in order to create their own.
- Year 9s are developing their abilities in the areas of persuasive text analysis and development, as well as speech and presentation skills. Mrs Clifton and Ms Goyne are introducing students to various youth issues that are currently being discussed in the media in order to challenge them to consider their own positions on matters that affect them.
- Year 10s are exploring the science fiction genre with Ms Tyne and Ms Goyne. They have been introduced to the worlds of ‘Star Wars’, ‘Star Trek’, and other sci-fi classics like ‘Galaxy Quest’ in order to reflect on how sci-fi pop culture often mirrors or undermines social norms in order to make social commentary. This week, students became experts on a certain modern era and made presentations to the class about how the mood of their era was reflected in the sci-fi texts of the time. Photo 1 shows Steven Rose and Riley Bate explaining how the 1897 novel ‘The War of the Worlds’ was infused with commentary about the ethics of European imperialism.
- The Year 11 General English class is examining the real-world relevance of issues explored in dystopian texts; Essential English students are undertaking a tourism unit that aims to develop their presentation skills, and Year 11 Literature students are studying the art of film language in the Australian Gothic classic ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’. This week, Ms Dwyer introduced students to the key concepts of the gothic, including the uncanny, the natural world, and the supernatural using a display table that featured symbolic props [see Photo 2]. The class had a great time trying to match the gothic elements to each of the items!
- Year 12 General and Essential English students are getting passionate about current affairs, creating calls-to-action about a range of social, economic, political, and cultural issues, while Year 12 Literature students are conducting a Marxist deconstruction of the representation of capitalism in Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning film ‘Parasite’.
Ms Jacinta Goyne
Head of English
English Ambassadors
The English Faculty would also like to extend a congratulations and a hearty welcome to our 2024 English Ambassadors: Tea Gligor (Head Ambassador), Shreya Ramdeo, Ella Molander, Hollie Zavattaro, Keely Moffitt, Matilda McBain, and Grace Newbery. The students are hard at work devising a vision and action plan for the year. These student leaders will each design an initiative that will become a legacy project for future Ambassadors. Stay tuned for more from this team of literary legends!
Arts Ambassadors
My name is India and I am one of the two Arts Captains for 2024. I love art and everything about it so becoming a leader and continuing the arts legacy at Hills was the obvious next step. As an Arts Captain, I hope to initiate opportunities for creative individuals to express themselves within the school environment and be celebrated for it.
With this position I look forward to being a role model for the younger grades, supporting the Visual Arts teacher, organising art related events and photographing for school events.
I hope this year will be a fantastic opportunity for Hills to celebrate all aspects of art and the talented people who create it.
My name is Summer, and I am a 2024 Arts Captain along with
India Caroll. I have always been enthusiastic within the Arts industry and particularly art and music. As an Arts Captain, my role is to be an encouraging and supportive figure for the younger students within the arts subjects at our school.
The role entails helping out the Arts teachers with events,
productions, and displays, be photographers at school sporting carnivals and events, and organising events such as the lunchtime concert series we are continuing this year which will commence on Monday11 March.
My intentions as an Arts Captain are to continue to be a role model for all students interesting in the arts subjects and to provided opportunities for performers at our school to showcase their talents.
STEM Ambassadors - STEM run-activity with Year 3-Igloos
On 14 February in the last two sessions, our STEM team came together once again to collaborate with the Year 3 cohort, devising an engaging experiment on food science and nutrition for their unit. The activity focused on ice and how by adding salt, the surface layer would melt allowing it to fuse to a variety of objects; in the case of this experiment, another bit of ice allowed igloos to be built. To make this activity more engaging, there was a competition between which group could make the best igloo with the prize to the winners in each class.
During the activity, the children were excited about the ability of ice to fuse to itself and were engaged during the construction of the igloos. Overall, the experiment taught science in an exciting way, promoting love for STEM in younger years.
Hollie Zavattaro
Hills STEM ambassador and reporter
STEM directed experiment with the Year 3s on changes of state.
On the afternoon of 7 February, our STEM team collaborated with the Year 3 teachers, Mrs McKenzie and Mrs MacPherson, to perform an interactive experiment on state changes with the students for their unit “How the World Works”. Lead by STEM Ambassador Connor McLachlan, the experiment focused on the changing state of chocolate when placed in hot water which was then used in a contest between groups to see who could make the tallest tower from gluing marshmallows together with the melted chocolate.
Throughout the lesson, the students were engaged in the experiment, actively answering questions and participating in the contest. Overall, this activity displayed science as an appealing and fun interest to the Year 3 cohort, promoting STEM in primary school.
Hollie Zavattaro
STEM Ambassador
Year 1 STEM – How the World Works – manipulating materials
Last week, all three Year 1 classes participated in three different STEM activities. These activities were focused on understanding how materials (in particular, paper) change. Students explored how rolling and scrunching strengthens newspapers. From these learned skills, they made newspaper bats and balls and proceeded to play newspaper cricket.
Another activity was origami; students practiced folding paper which allowed them to make different shapes and objects. For this activity, students made dogs.
Finally, students engaged in mosaics, students explored how even when paper is torn, images can be made. Students made love hearts from the torn paper in preparation for Valentine’s Day.
Service students Maddison Neiwand, Caitlyn Underdown, and Steven Rose assisted the STEM Ambassadors in this activity and all agreed it was a fun activity for the students. It is hoped that each week the STEM Ambassadors will assist primary teachers and students in lessons around STEM.
Alexandria Rose
STEM Ambassador
Digital Technologies Ambassadors- Learning with Robotics
In 2024, Secondary Students have been offered an additional option for Activities– Robotics, utilising Lego EV3. This activity is designed to be project-orientated, building not only STEM skills but also developing collaborative teamwork and problem-solving. The students are engaged in constructing a robotic vehicle, then coding it to perform specific tasks, such as follow a designated path, pick up and place items and to independently navigate around obstacles. The College STEM Ambassadors have assisted in preparing materials, developing tracks and supporting students when working with their robots. Interested Students will be provided with the opportunity to
compete against other schools at the RoboCup Junior event held in June. We also look forward to engaging students in further robotics competitions and co-curricular activities across 2024.
Joshua Chan worked with our Hills College students to encourage them with their used of Robotics. Great learning outcomes occurred.
Mrs Kellie Smith
Curriculum Coordinator - Primary
Activities Facilitator- Robotics
Events - HIA Swimming Carnival
On 7 February, Hills students travelled back to Beaudesert Pool to battle against our friends from Tamborine Mountain College and The Kooralbyn International School to see who would take out this years' HIA Swimming Carnival.
Students were competitive and demonstrated awesome sportsmanship for the whole carnival. Overall winners for the day Tambourine Mountain College held on to the trophy - and Hills was a close second.
Congratulations to Liana Wong achieving Junior Girls Age Champion. There were some great performances from Jourdain Lanoux, Sophia Davidson, Jake Davidson and Jessie McMillian. The relays were all convincingly won by Hills!
What a great way to finish the day.
Hills Media Report - Learn, Explore, Exchange
This week the Hills reporting team interviewed two short stay visitors about their experiences, and they m88 casino reviewhad some amazing answers. During the interview it was learnt that both students learnt multiple languages. The College is lucky to have Danny and Fred share their points of view, it is important for us as individuals to learn about different ways of life.
The Reporting Team thanks Danny and Fred for sharing along with Mrs Newbery for allowing us to understand what it is like to visit a new country. The College wishes the students all the best, and we hope they have a great time in the place we call home.
Owen Eggart
Hills Reporting Team