Search the Community

Harkaway Hills College is the latest school to open with the PARED Foundation's support, who have started four schools across NSW over the past 30 years. What makes Harkaway Hills exceptional is our unique personalized education system 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 begin their schooling to understand 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 an excellent opportunity to give each child the academic focus they deserve. We are working with tried and true methods to ensure that every child's crucial steps in early literacy are made. Harkaway Hills College is an independent school teaching the Catholic faith. In 2018 we offered coeducational 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. It 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 entirely positive and supportive of parents. Home and school are united. There is ongoing support for parents through various programs designed to assist parents in being more effective. We place great emphasis on developing 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 can better 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 personalized. Selected from the school's teaching staff, each student receives a personal mentor, a constant support source with an example, advice, and friendship. The mentor meets regularly with the student during the term and with the child's parents at least once each term, reviewing progress, helping with goal setting, and coordinating the College's services on the parents' behalf. We are implementing the highly successful model operating in the Sydney PARED schools, which commenced in 1982. Boys and girls' schools operate nearby. Foundation to Year 2 classes are coeducational, and after that, 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 completed our first permanent classroom block and commenced stage 1 of our final chapel. A second permanent classroom block will commence in 2019. Religious education aims to give the students an in-depth knowledge of the Catholic faith as the basis for God's love and service to others. Students are encouraged to practice their faith with freedom and conviction. In the youngest classes, we are utilizing the SALT approach. The chaplain of the College, 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. View full school