Harkaway Hills College

Harkaway Hills College is the latest school to open with the support of the PARED Foundation who have started four schools across NSW over the past 30 years. What makes Harkaway Hills exceptional is our unique system of personalised education that assists parents as the primary educators of their children and supports each student to be the best person he or she can be. Our motto says a great deal about our ethos: Veritas et Virtus. “Truth and Virtue.”

Harkaway Hills has commenced with children in their first years of schooling in order that their parents and the school can begin to work on character development from the outset. They can commence their schooling with the understanding that their family’s mentor is working closely with their parents to help them be the best person they can be.

The intimate environment in the first years of Harkaway Hills’ foundation can also give us a wonderful opportunity to give each child the academic focus that they deserve. We are working with tried and true methods to ensure that crucial steps in early literacy are made by every child. Harkaway Hills College is an independent school teaching the Catholic faith. In 2018 we offer co-educational Foundation, Year 1, 2 and 3 classes, and in each coming year we will be opening a new year level, through to Year 12.

The College is a project of the Parents for Education (PARED) Victoria Foundation, and is founded on the principles that parents are the primary educators and that schools exist to give parents every support. This support is found in the quality of the academic curriculum, in the way that staff work with students and parents in a unique mentoring program, in the emphasis on character development and virtues in the curriculum, and in the concern that staff and peer example be fully positive and supportive of parents. Home and school are united. There is ongoing support for parents also through a variety of programs designed to assist parents to be more effective.

We place great emphasis on the development of virtues seen as good habits, the building blocks of character. By developing strengths of character such as sound judgment, self control, courage and respect for others, students are better able to use their freedom to make the right choices in life. Human and civic virtues are fostered.

As with the other PARED schools, the education we offer is highly personalised. Selected from the teaching staff of the school each student receives a personal mentor, who is a constant source of support with example, advice and friendship. The mentor meets regularly with the student during term and with the child’s parents at least once each term, reviewing progress, helping with goal setting, and coordinating the services of the College on the parents’ behalf.

We are implementing the highly successful model that is operating in the Sydney PARED schools, which commenced in 1982. Boys and girls schools operate in close proximity. Foundation to Year 2 classes are coeducational and thereafter boys and girls are placed in single sex classes.

We are developing a beautiful seven hectare campus for Harkaway Hills College in semi rural Narre Warren North, seven minutes from the Monash. We receive capital grants from the Commonwealth government to assist with permanent buildings. In 2018 we complete our first permanent classroom block, and commence stage 1 of our final chapel. A second permanent classroom block will commence in 2019.

Religious education aims to give the students a deep knowledge of the Catholic faith as the basis for love of God and service to others. Students are encouraged to practise their faith with freedom and conviction. In the youngest classes we are utilising the SALT approach. The chaplain of the College who is a priest of Opus Dei, Fr Tom Gibson, celebrates Holy Mass at the College each fortnight in 2018, and offers the Sacrament of Reconciliation weekly. Parents are most welcome.