Student Leadership News
Amanda GOMES
Student Leadership Coordinator
Classroom Teacher
On Wednesday 20th of August, Highvale hosted Highvale's Got Talent. This show aimed to highlight some of the amazing talents and skills that our students have. It included students who sang, danced or played music and was open for any student to participate in.
It was a wonderful event with many participants across all year levels within our Highvale community. It was great to see our performing arts program flourish as it gave an opportunity for people to share their talents. Along with this, we had 4 incredible judges who gave thoughtful and positive observations that reflected the incredible work and commitment shown by each act.
After tough deliberation by the judges, here are the results:
Betty W (12H), Chris P (9D)
Aiddy Z (10J) + Rowina G (10A), Ai Lin T (12G) + Maxwell K (11D)
Hanna G (10C)
All the winners and participants have earned House points for their incredible performances.
Thank you to our wonderful judges and an amazing job to all our performers and the winners of Highvale’s Got Talent.
Jadon T and Cheryl C- Senior Music Captains
Cross Schools Leadership Forum
Last month, our Junior School captains and prospective student leaders attended a Leadership forum at Brentwood Secondary College. This involved networking with students from other schools in Monash and discussing common challenges and sharing ideas.
Some of the key takeaway messages from our students included:
“That leaders don't always have to create their own ideas and activities. Being able to collaborate with other leaders from different schools was a powerful way to ensure all schools lead and operate effectively. We were able to discuss ideas that worked well for our respective schools and look towards incorporating some ideas that I have gained from other schools”. – Ahana (Year 9)
“My biggest takeaway would be learning that there is just so much healthy confidence that I can have. As I spoke to a range of people, and worked as a team with them, I realised that if you embody the confidence (even when you’re not too sure what you’re doing), the people around you feel motivated, guided, and reassures to them that they are following the right thing”. -Sruthika (Year 11)
“Connectedness between schools is extremely important as we can learn heaps from each other and make new friends in the community. It was overall an amazing experience; I would participate in it again and recommend it to others. I would also be interested in holding a leadership forum at Highvale next year as well.” – Dineth (Year 11)
Congratulations to Our New School Captains
We are thrilled to announce and congratulate our newly appointed School Captains for 2026:
Elliana Kong
Sruthika Arige
Dineth De Silva
Caleb Wright
Shuyu Lin (International Captain)
Ann Mariathas (SRC Captain)
Freya Huang (SRC Captain)
After a comprehensive selection process, including panel interviews, speeches, and voting by both staff and students, these outstanding individuals have risen to the occasion and earned this important leadership role.
We look forward to seeing them lead with dedication, passion, and integrity.
Leadership Opportunity for Year 9 Students in 2026
Year 9 students in 2026 have the opportunity to apply to attend the School for Student Leadership for a term of their regular schooling at the Snowy River Campus in Term 1, 2026.
This is Highvale Secondary College's first time to be accepted into the School for Student Leadership. We have places for 4 students (2 boys and 2 girls) in Year 9. Student participation in this program can be a stepping stone to further leadership opportunities such as House Captain, SRC Captain and College Captain.
The Snowy River Campus is located in Marlo. Students would attend the campus for the duration of eight weeks during Term 1, 2026 and would be completing their own leadership curriculum and lessons rather than schoolwork from Highvale. The curriculum is designed around 9 concepts of Learning Strategies, Emotional Management, Resilience, Identity, Empathy, Respectful Relationships, Collaboration, Health & Wellbeing and Environments. This experiential education supports the personal growth, aspirations and transformation of all students as global citizens.
While at the School for Student Leadership, students from Highvale will plan and create a Community Learning Project of their own design they will then implement in Term 2 when they return to Highvale. The approximate cost of the program for families is $450 (program is subsidised in part by Highvale).
You can read more about the Campus and program here: https://snowy.schoolforstudentleadership.vic.edu.au/place-snowy-river-campus/
Interested students need to complete the expression of interest form https://forms.office.com/r/F6mcCFvGci by October 13th.