Our Careers Objective
At The Hills Sports High School, our careers program aims to prepare students to direct and drive their own career pathways successfully throughout their lives. We approach career development holistically, recognising that life, learning and work are interconnected elements of a career. As such, we teach students to be adaptable, resilient and positive lifelong learners who can confidently navigate the challenges and complexities of the 21st century workplace.
Careers and Transition at The Hills Sports High School
Our Careers and Transition Team at The Hills Sports High School consists of the following staff members, some of whom work across local schools to support students through targeted programs and strategies:
Andrew O’Connor
Head Teacher Secondary Studies at The Hills Sports High School
As the Head Teacher of Secondary Studies at The Hills Sports High School, Andrew O'Connor leads the IT team, manages curriculum, oversees subject selection, ensures HSC compliance, engages with the community, and supports the careers adviser.
Joey Bernardo
Careers Adviser at The Hills Sports High School
Our Careers Adviser is the first point of contact for students, parents and carers to support with careers and transition. Supports can include individual career and transition plan meetings, coordinating students undertaking EVET (Externally Delivered Education and Training) or SBAT (School Based Apprenticeship or Traineeship) pathways, work experience, excursions and incursions which support the career-building process, resume writing, employment support and more dependent on students' needs and interests.
Kerrie Fitzpatrick
SBAT Engagement Officer, Educational Pathways Program (EPP) - supporting Blacktown East group of schools.
Kerrie supports Careers and Executive Team to assist students interested in undertaking a School Based Apprenticeship & Traineeship (SBAT) as part of their HSC journey. Kerrie provides insights into qualifications available and works closely with industry networks to help students source employment opportunities. Kerrie provides regular mentoring support for students while they are completing their qualification and nurturing relationships with their employer, parents and school community to ensure a successful SBAT completion.
Our Careers and Transition Team caters to the broad range of opportunities for our students. We build students skills in three key areas in alignment with the Australian Blueprint for Career Development:
1. Personal Management – Building and maintaining positive self-concept for career development to be able to interact positively and effectively with others, adapt and grow to career changes throughout life and manage wellbeing, mental and physical health as part of holistic career planning.
2. Learning and Work Exploration – Developing the skills to participate in lifelong learning supportive of career goals, be able to locate and use career information effectively, understand the relationship between work, society and the economy, understand the changing nature of life and work roles.
3. Career Building – Strengthen student capacity to be able to secure, create and maintain work, make career-enhancing decisions maintain balanced life and work roles, understand, engage in and manage the career building process.
The Hills Sports High School Careers
The Hills Sports High School holds a subscription to Job Jump, a website which can be used to access a range of careers information. Every student and their parents/carers can create a free account to Job Jump as part of this subscription to be able to access the latest careers information at their convenience. To register, simply go to https://www.jobjump.com.au/register then enter the following details:
School Name: The Hills Sports High School
School Password: cheetahs
Students are supported to engage in individualised career planning through meetings with our Careers Adviser via bookings. Students can book these meetings themselves via https://outlook.office365.com/book/TheHillsSportsHighSchoolCareers@schoolsnsw.onmicrosoft.com/ We request that parents and carers seeking to book a meeting with the Careers Adviser do so via the front office.
Students seeking employment support are encouraged to access our downloadable and editable resources for resume and cover letter writing via bit.ly/hshsresume and bit.ly/hshscv
Work Experience is a voluntary program offered to students which introduces the world of work. Students can observe and engage with a variety of workplaces and industries, usually in a field of their choice, and undertake supervised tasks appropriate to their knowledge and skill level. Further information about work experience can be found via the Department of Education’s Workplace Learning Page. Students at The Hills Sports High School can also access our Work Experience Readiness Packet via our Careers Adviser, which includes a checklist, required steps to organise work experience and resources to support students, parents, carers and employers. A digital copy of this packet can be emailed to students, parents or carers upon request, or physical copies can be collected via our Careers Hub.