Forest Hill College

Public school in Burwood East, Victoria, Australia

Websitewww.fhc.vic.edu.au

Forest Hill College is a co-educational state secondary college in Burwood East, Victoria, Australia.

The College

Up until 2010, Forest Hill College was divided into 2 sub-schools, Junior (Year 7-9), and Senior (Year 10-12), with a courtyard for Year 7–9, a courtyard for Year 10, and another courtyard for VCE Year 11–12.

New developmental plans for the school were implemented in 2010 which has since changed the way in which the college is divided. No longer are there separate courtyards based on year level. Instead, students are free to roam the entire college and interact with peers of all ages. This is part of the college's focus on community, in an attempt to build friendships throughout the college, making students feel welcome. This change is only one aspect of the ongoing development within the College.

Year levels are assisted in their welfare rolls by Junior and Senior Student Wellbeing Coordinators, a part-time Adolescent Health Nurse, a College Chaplain and Home Group Teachers.^{[citation needed]}

State funding

In 2022, Forest Hill College received 10.9-million-dollar funding,^[1] from the state Government, to refurbish the Science, Arts, iT, and Food Technology blocks, which also include the canteen and toilet blocks. Construction is estimated to start mid 2024.^{[citation needed]}

Subjects on offer in VCE

In addition to a standard list of subjects on offer, the school also offers the VCAL (Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning), with students spending a few days at Forest Hill College, other days at TAFEs in the area and for some, a few days at work.

Specialist programs

Deaf Facility
International Student Program
STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics)

Student Leadership

Student Parliament, Forest Hill College has a student representative council (SRC) called the student parliament. The student parliament runs the same way as the normal Australian parliament system. They have a leading party and an opposition party, both parties campaign for one day to get student votes. The winner (Leading Party) becomes the prime minister. A vote is then taken by the members of parliament on which party to join. In each party there are different roles for students, consisting of different ministers, Minister of Facilities, Minister of Arts, Minister of Diversity, Minister of Connections and more, there is also the role of the minute taker who takes minutes and puts up agenda for each meeting. Their vote does not count in any poll. The student parliament strives to make the school better by putting out regular surveys and asking students for suggestions or about any issues. Members of parliament also do connect visits, which is basically where they visit their homegroup and ask for suggestions and talk about any issues. They also address points talked about in the meeting. They also put on different events like the basketball marathon, assemblies.
Leos Club, The Forest Hill College Leos Club is a subsidiary of the Lions Club Nunawading and puts on many events for charity. All money is donated to charity. The Leos Club puts on many events like, bake sales, BBQ's, fun runs, trivia nights and many more. The Leos Club has a board of directors which consist of different roles, president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, activity director, fun director, fundraising director. Meetings are run every fortnight with board of directors being run in between. The Leos Club also does many volunteering projects like, clothing drives, food drives, book drives, tree planting, clean up Australia day, supporting sick children. The Leos Club is fully student run with around 2-3 teacher advisors.

Academies

Academies at Forest Hill College train every morning from around 8 to 10. Academies are run by professional coaches and even include some from the Hawks football club. All academy students have their own comfortable sports uniform and access to professional equipment. Forest Hill College is also one the first schools to have a 21st-century STEAM academy.