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.

State funding

In 2022, Forest Hill College received 10.9-million-dollar funding, 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.

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)

Facilities

Sporting Facilities

• Stadium, The College Sports Stadium features tiered seating surrounding two international-sized basketball courts that have recently been updated with a brand-new flooring and lighting. The courts can also be set up to accommodate eight volleyball or badminton courts or two futsal soccer courts. These combined with the large changing rooms and spacious foyer and café provide sporting clubs and other hirers with exemplary facilities. The stadium houses whole school assemblies, and other events like the annual basketball marathon and the end of year presentation evening event.

• Gym, the college has two gyms for all students to use, one located inside the stadium and one directly opposite the stadium. The gym includes all sorts of physical workout equipment and even some wall art to motivate students.

• Futsal Courts, located outside of the stadium and gym, the futsal courts are a place dedicated to the AFL and soccer academies. With synthetic grass the area is a perfect area for both sports.  

• Outdoor spaces, the college has many outdoor spaces including three courtyards, two ovals, a synthetic soccer field, three tennis courts and two outdoor basketball/netball courts. All three courtyards have shade areas and benches and grassy areas as well.

• Soccer Field, our beautifully-maintained multipurpose synthetic and grass fields are available for hire. Featuring 80m X 40m Synthetic Soccer Field, two lane running track, full sized grass FIFA soccer field and three multipurpose tennis courts; incorporating line markings for netball and hockey. Our facilities are ideal for sporting clubs and casual hire.

• Tennis Courts, the tennis courts are located at the front of the school on the main oval and are used by the tennis academy.

Performing and Visual Arts

• Kel Watson Theatre, The Kel Watson Theatre is well placed in the Eastern Suburbs and within the grounds of Forest Hill College. There are in excess of 150 parking spaces on the College grounds with additional free street parking close by.

Our spacious foyer area provides opportunities to meet and greet. We are able to provide up to six dressing rooms which may be accessed from both the foyer and the stage area. Also on offer are quality lighting and sound facilities, as well as closed-circuit TV to most areas (ie. foyer, change rooms, etc.). Our theatre is capable of seating 405 patrons in comfort. It is fitted with quality spacious plush woollen seats and provides wheelchair access to both the theatre and stage areas. The stage itself is approximately 9 metres wide by 9 metres deep, with three opening and closing curtains at the front, in the middle and in the rear of the stage. The middle curtain can be used to make the stage size smaller if required. An orchestra pit is located in front of the stage.

• Black Box Theatre, the black box theatre is another space for performing arts, this space includes a small portable stage and visual and audio equipment. This space is also used for the storage of props and costume items.

• Band Room, the band room is next to the William Barak centre and is the senior and junior band area. All of the band rehearsals and lessons happen in this building.

Academic

• Year 7 William Barak Centre, the William Barak centre is a dedicated 21st century learning space for all year 7's to use for their learning. The building was renovated quite recently and has top notch facilities. The Barak centre includes 6 spacious classrooms with a new technology TV program which is a wireless connection app to connect to TVs in the building, all classrooms include 2 TV's so all students can see the TV. The building also includes an open space classroom consisting of 3 TVs to support students in learning. This classroom is also used for small incursions.

• Middle Years Centre, the middle years centre is a building designed and dedicated for middle years students (Mainly Year 8 and 9 students) This building consists of 8 individual classrooms and one open space classroom. All classrooms are designed with colourful patterns.

• Aspire Centre, a centre dedicated to later year students (Year 10, 11 and 12 students). This building has multiple classrooms and offices to house both students and teachers. This building has a huge open spaces classroom which used for study purposes for all later year students. This also has a small kitchen area for students, which has a microwave, kettle, hot and cold water and general kitchen items. The aspire centre is highly used building and is heavily appreciated by students.

• Library, the college library is one of the most used spaces in the whole school. The library has a vast range of books and audio books. They are regularly taking suggestions to buy new books for students. The library also includes a separate room for students to play board games in, the room includes nearly three shelves full of boardgames for students. The library is regularly evolving for student enjoyment. The library consists of 4 or 5 seating areas for students including, couches, armchairs and desks. There is also a wellbeing section for all books related to those topics and it is also a general area to sit and relax. Printing facilities are also included for students, with a commercial printer located in the library the area also includes a small setup of tables to help organize and files for the printer. There are also two rooms for individual quiet study.

• STEAM Centre, the steam centre includes all aspects of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. The STEAM centre gives students access to numerous facilities including, 3D printers, heavy softwares, crafting, gaming, coding and many others. The centre includes three spacious open spaced classrooms with modern styles furniture including whiteboard tables to help students in learning. The centre includes a maker space area which is the area where all crafting/building aspects happen. The centre was only opened quite recently and has gone through some upgrades, so all facilities are top notch.

Others

• Canteen, the canteen is spacious area which has the ability to seat students so they can eat their lunch. The canteen also includes a TV for student entertainment purposes.

• International Student Program, the area for the ISP program located in the at far end of the school and also includes the uniform shop. The building is heavily decorated with cultural items and is an area for any IELP students to use.

• Mac Lab, located in the arts building the Mac lab is a spacious classroom which gives students access to iMac computers. Students can use them for any work or other reasons.

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 subsidary 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 whihc consist of different roles, president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, activity director, fun director, fundraising director. Meetings are run every fortnight with board of dirctors 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 including 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.

• Australian Football
• Basketball
• Netball
• Soccer
• Tennis
• Performing Arts
• STEAM (New 2024)

External links

• Forest Hill College