2024: A year at Hills in review
Every year will have its ups and downs. While there were goodbyes and very strong highlight moments, this year celebrates the college’s largest growth in community. Throughout the year, the college has welcomed not only the incorporation of more events, such as the increased number of Volleyball Cups and Staff vs Student events, new traditions, but also the return of longstanding college events. The immensely popular Colour Fun Run returned after a four-year hiatus due to COVID-19 outbreaks, and the opening of the HPE Centre saw a return to college-wide Awards Days, as well as an enthusiastic game of Student versus Staff basketball.
Congratulations to all students and members of staff throughout the year, with countless events for students to participate in to bring the best opportunities. We wish all of you a restful holiday: See you all in late January for Term 1 2025!
While there were countless high points throughout the year, all good things must come to an end. On behalf of all students, we’d like to thank our Principal, Mr. Lynch and our math and science teacher, Ms. Stojanovic for their support of students and the college’s aspirations for almost two decades. We will miss you, we wish you all the very best in your retirement, and we hope that you will reflect back on your time at Hills with fondness and pride.
Finally, we wish all of our Hills community a joyful and restorative break, and look forward to welcoming you back in 2025!
Jaxson Lees
Hills Reporting Team
House Star Weaving Competition – Latest News
As I write this article we are heading towards the deadline for the House Star Weaving Competition. This is the first year that we have run the competition, and I want to say a big 'thank you' to staff and secondary students for becoming so actively involved and embracing the competition with such enthusiasm! You will have had three weeks to weave as many stars as possible in your House colour to contribute towards the global ‘One Billion Stars to end violence’ project. The current number of stars woven by our school community so far is 2,981. A remarkable effort!
It has been wonderful to see so many people weaving in the Resource Centre at lunchtimes and in the mornings during Connection time. With weaving comes conversation, a sense of belonging to a community, and the feeling of compassion as students and staff teach each other how to weave a star. We are also reminded of the reason we are participating in this project as we, as a community, collectively take a stand against all forms of violence.
"For the One Billion Stars project, the 8-pointed star is a symbol of light, courage, hope and solidarity to end all forms of violence, including violence against women, bullying and racism" - Maryann Talia Pau.
By the end of the second week of the competition, over 500 stars were woven by the four Houses. Rolls of ribbon ‘flew’ out of the Art room this week as we struggled to keep up with the demand and something tells me that it’ll be close to another 500 stars from this week alone.
Uluru is currently in the lead with an amazing 251 stars woven by the end of the second week! Having said that, anything could happen during the last few days of the competition. The winning House will be announced during next week’s secondary assembly.
Caroline Barnard
Art Teacher
Headspace Online Parent Seminar - Supporting Young People impacted by grief and loss
In response to recent events in and around the Brisbane bayside area, Headspace National is facilitating an online webinar for parents/ carers titled Supporting young people impacted by grief & loss on Wednesday, 20th November 2024.
Registration link: Wednesday 20 November 2024 – Parent/Carer webinar: Supporting young people impacted by grief & loss
This free online webinar will aim to:
- Provide information regarding children and young people's mental health
- Explore the conversational approach to talking to your young person about grief, loss, and their own mental health
- Build awareness of local, state, and national support services available to children, young people, and carers
- Grow skills and strategies to encourage help-seeking and self-care
Please note: This session is for adults who are parents and carers of children and young people. This is an online event and will not be recorded. All participants must register to be able to attend and receive follow up help seeking information post session. All cameras and audio of participants will be disabled.
Does your child feel overly fearful, anxious, or worried in certain situations?
Many children can feel anxious, fearful, or worried in certain situations. In most situations this is a normal emotion when faced with something threatening. Everyone can feel anxious from time to time. However, some children experience anxiety more intensely or more often than others and it stops them from having fun, going to school, or getting the most out of their life.
Take Action is an evidence-based program for 7- to 12-year-olds experiencing anxiety. Each child session takes approximately 1 hour, and the program runs over 10-12 weeks (either in-person or online). The program also includes six x 1-hour sessions for parents/carers to provide additional education and support on managing children’s anxiety.
All children receive a comprehensive assessment before and after the program, and all child and parent/carer workbooks and materials to practice Take Action skills at home are provided. The project has full ethics approval from the Griffith University Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC: 2023/381).
To find out more information and register to complete an initial assessment over the phone, please email us at cadrp@griffith.edu.au.
NFL Come and Try Day
