A consistent pastoral teacher leads Life Group and sees them regularly, so no adolescent disappears into a crowd at the age it matters most.
Design-Centred Learning hands students real projects and real choices, exactly when they are forming their identity and want their work to mean something.
Real-world learning and live specialist subjects keep the spark alive through the years many students quietly disengage.
Daily Life Group, wellbeing support from a dedicated team, and our seven Values are woven through every day.
The middle years are a bridge. The Middle VLC gives a young person more agency and ownership of their learning while keeping the structure and the known adult they still need, so independence grows at a pace that suits them, rather than all at once. It is built on relationships and engagement, with a Christian worldview woven through the week.
By the time they reach the senior years, they carry the habits, the confidence and the self-direction to drive their own pathway.
A distinctive feature of the Middle VLC is its strong emphasis on student welfare, and the close relationship between home and school in pursuing the best outcome for each student. In the years a child can quietly slip through the cracks, no one is left to get there on their own.
Hillcrest has educated Gold Coast families from Pre-Kindy to Year 12, with a Biblical worldview and wellbeing at its heart. The Middle VLC brings that same care and teaching to families right across Queensland, taking the distance out of distance education, as an online learning community where children are known and supported at every step.
Three situations bring families to the Middle VLC most often: a child whose sport or performance is taking off, a regional family weighing up the years past primary school, and a young person who needs a change of pace through the adolescent years.
Through the middle years, a serious sport or a place in a performing arts pathway moves from a few afternoons a week to most of them. Squad sessions, representative teams, eisteddfods, and academy selection.
Around Year 7 and 8, a standard timetable starts to pull against the training calendar. The Middle VLC allows students to pursue their passions, with education remaining flexible but still a priority.
For many regional families, the question arises at the end of primary. The local school may not carry on through the years ahead, the nearest secondary may be a long drive or a boarding decision, and none of the options quite fit. The Middle VLC brings an accredited Queensland secondary education home, from Birdsville to Brisbane.
The middle years can bring the ordinary turbulence of growing up. Sometimes a young person needs a change of pace, or a season away from a difficult situation. Learning from home in the Middle VLC gives them the space to work through life's challenges. When they are ready, many students step back into on-campus learning, including at the Hillcrest Gold Coast campus.
The Middle VLC also suits gifted and extension learners ready for more depth, defence families posted across Queensland, and faith-led families who want a Christian education at home.
Early adolescence is when a child starts asking what they are good at and what they care about. Design-Centred Learning answers that with real-world, integrated projects that bring:
Through these projects, students explore real-world issues, innovate, and build the problem-solving skills they carry beyond school, discovering the impact they can personally have on the world around them, locally and globally.
Across every project, students develop their SECRET Skills, the six capabilities of a Self-Manager, Effective Participator, Creative Thinker, Reflective Learner, Enquirer and Team Worker, building a portfolio of real-world capabilities.
The Middle VLC supports each student across five domains, so the whole child is engaged, not just the academic part. These are:
The Posma family share their journey with Hillcrest’s Virtual Learning Community (VLC), outlining how the flexible, online-supported program has enabled them to balance family life, extracurricular commitments and a high-quality Christ-centred education. They highlight the live interactive lessons, personal connection with teachers, and the continuity of Hillcrest’s school culture despite being remote. Through their testimony, they emphasise how VLC allows students to thrive academically and socially, wherever they are.
Because the enrolment holds, your child moves through the whole of school in one place, and each stage hands on to the next. Here is what the learning actually looks like, in plain terms.
EDUCATED EQUIPPED EMPOWERED ENERGISED
Please find additional information and frequently asked questions.
Yes, Hillcrest Christian College is an evolution of more traditional Distance education.
Distance education programs have traditionally catered to students with limited access to mainstream schooling, such as students living in regional or remote locations. Our VLC has adapted the benefits of distance education to offer all families a world-class, independent school education that can be completed at home.
Unlike homeschooling, where parents need to source, plan and assess student lessons, your family will have access to dedicated and trained staff to engage them in daily online classes, working through an innovative and future-focused curriculum.
The VLC mirrors our on-campus communities with stages of age-appropriate learning.
Junior VLC (Prep – Year 4): Focuses on foundational literacy and numeracy through our I Love Reading program, integrated projects, and core Australian Curriculum subjects. Students also participate in Life Groups, Christian Living, online Gathering (Chapel), and Assemblies.
Middle VLC (Years 5 – 8): Supports students through Design-Centred Learning (DCL) projects, SECRET Skills development, and micro-credentialing, integrating core subjects and elective learning. Yearly camps foster personal growth.
Senior VLC (Years 9 – 12): Prepares students for post-school pathways with QCE, ATAR and non-ATAR options, plus access to VET courses. Core subjects and electives align with career and tertiary goals, complemented by leadership development, camps, and faith-based engagement.
Junior VLC (Prep – Year 4): Focuses on foundational literacy and numeracy through our I Love Reading program, integrated projects, and core Australian Curriculum subjects. Students also participate in Life Groups, Christian Living, online Gathering (Chapel), and Assemblies.
Middle VLC (Years 5 – 8): Supports students through Design-Centred Learning (DCL) projects, SECRET Skills development, and micro-credentialing, integrating core subjects and elective learning. Yearly camps foster personal growth.
Senior VLC (Years 9 – 12): Prepares students for post-school pathways with QCE, ATAR and non-ATAR options, plus access to VET courses. Core subjects and electives align with career and tertiary goals, complemented by leadership development, camps, and faith-based engagement.
Students in Years 11-12: choose five subjects from the following: English OR Essential English (compulsory); General Mathematics, Essential Mathematics OR Mathematical Methods (compulsory); Modern History; Legal Studies; Biology; Psychology; and Business. VET and other courses are also available in ATAR and non-ATAR pathways. As the VLC continues to grow, further options will become available. Please contact our enrolments team if you have any questions.
Students in the VLC also build a portfolio of SECRET Skills (Self-Manager, Effective Participator, Creative Thinker, Reflective Learner, Enquirer, Team Worker) as a key component of Hillcrest’s mission to develop the whole child. As a Christian College, units are taught from a biblical world view.
Students participate in live, daily online sessions with their teacher between 1-2 hours in total, depending on the year level. If they can’t attend the online sessions, students will be expected to watch these back in their own time throughout the week.
They will also have individual learning activities to complete each week in their own time. Students and families can structure the learning week to suit their circumstances. In general, students can expect their weekly workload to be a lot faster compared to a mainstream schooling setting.
NAPLAN testing is compulsory for all Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students across Australia, whether in a mainstream or Distance Education setting. However, parents may withdraw their child because of philosophical or religious reasons.
NAPLAN testing takes place in Term 1 each year. More information will be sent to parents about the testing (and process for withdrawals, if applicable) at the beginning of each school year. If you cannot arrange for your child to attend the Hillcrest Christian College Home Campus (Reedy Creek), arrangements can be made with your local school to complete the testing.
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