Jeff Davis is Principal at Hillcrest Christian College, a school which has grown by more than 1,000 students since his appointment. For nearly a decade his focus has been on fostering the school’s emphasis on relationships and wellbeing, and in turn both the school and students have flourished.
What is the School’s philosophy and how does it guide you and your staff?
I’ve been a principal for more than 20 years, and one of the challenges we face is that many people still think that the measure of success for a school is this concept of being an IQ incubator, and the person and school with the highest ATAR score ‘wins’.
A lot of evidence now shows that emotional intelligence is a far greater predictor of success in the future, and this is where more emphasis needs to be focused.
In our school, there are four main domains; wellbeing, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual, within the global domain context.
It is important we are not an IQ incubator as education has traditionally been. Wellbeing and emotional growth are the core of what we do. Spiritual intelligence – ensuring children have a strong value structure which enables them to make great decisions. These combined is our purpose and these differentiate us significantly from other schools.
What is the history of the school?
The initial vision for Hillcrest Christian College began in the late 1970s, when members of Palm Beach Baptist Church established a steering committee for the formation of a Christian school.
Hillcrest Christian College, originally named Southern Gold Coast Christian Community School, was formed through the collaboration of three Baptist churches in the area: Palm Beach, Tugan and Broadbeach, and enrolled its inaugural cohort of students in 1982, with 37 children from Years 1 – 7, with two teachers employed. The school initially operated on the Church grounds in Palm Beach, and moved to its current site in Reedy Creek in August 1986.
The Reedy Creek campus currently has just over 1,900 students, and we introduced the Virtual Learning Community in 2023 which has just over 160 students who study via Distance Education.
In 2023 we also created a specific Year 9 program called RISE, located on an offsite campus at the picturesque Coolangatta beachfront. This unique educational experience allows students to develop a sense of identity, entrepreneurial skills and a commitment to service within their local community. This program plays an important part in student development and growth as they choose their pathways in senior years.
How do you provide support and leadership to your staff?
There are over 400 staff at Hillcrest. Our Strategic Plan 2021-2025 drives the priorities across College and each staff member has opportunity to grow through an individual Growth and Development plan.
We utilise SECRET Skills, modelled on a program developed from Dan Buckley during research at Cambridge University. It is about becoming self-managers, being creative thinkers, and reflective learners. Our staff support students developing these SECRET skills to succeed, not only in knowledge. That is the distinguishing part which makes us different.
A team of staff had the opportunity to travel to the UK to attend a SECRET Skills Conference and meet with Dan Buckley, creator of the SECRET Skills. In addition to this Dan visited Hillcrest Christian College to review, support and extend the growth of staff’s skills in this program. This is just one of the many examples of the growth and development opportunities staff have both externally and internally.
How do you encourage wellbeing among your staff and students?
Wellbeing is not only one of our four domains – it’s the introductory domain and the position we lead from. Schools tend to be rules-based. You have rules; underneath the rules are consequences, and underneath the consequences are relationships. We’ve flipped it. Relationships are first, and we do everything to protect the relationship. Underneath that we have our values – which are integrity, respect, courage, service, humility, diligence and discernment – and aligned with that, we have our expectations.
The thing which is protected the most is relationships. We have ways in which we restore relationships through a program called PeaceWise, which gives us a language and framework where we can approach each other if we’ve experienced an everyday conflict. This program is outworked for both staff and for our students.
Twenty years ago, when I was a first-time principal, 90 per cent of students would come to school ready to learn. The world is changing and the complexities and uncertainties of life mean that this is no longer the case. This is why pastoral care for the wellbeing of all community members needs to be at the forefront of all we do.
Social media has a strong influence on this and creating safe spaces through our pastoral care model is designed to overcome some of these challenges.
The challenge is that the world has changed, but in many circumstances education hasn’t. We need to adjust to support what this looks like for our students not just for today but for the future.
We extend support to our parents and provide a range of programs on how to emotionally coach their children. Education is a partnership and supporting parents to raise their children in a challenging and changing world is a core priority for us.
One of our parent programs equips parents with the knowledge and skills in the emotional domain, so they can better relate and support their child and family in general. We also partner with a range of organisations and run in house workshops to provide practical support for families on a range of topics.
What has been your most memorable moment either as a teacher or principal?
Accompanying a group of students over to Yale University two years ago to compete in the global final of the World Scholars Cup was a highlight. There were 1,500 of the brightest students in the world there.
On day one of competition, we were ushered into a hall where the event organisers were setting up for the first exam while at the same time bumping out the previous event. Our students recognised there weren’t enough people to set up the 1,500 tables and chairs, and of their own accord started helping.
These students went on to do extremely well in the competition, so much so that two extra suitcases were bought to bring back all the trophies and prizes they had won. What left a truly indelible impression on me throughout this competition though wasn’t our students’ academic excellence but their willingness to help others in need at every opportunity.
What are your feelings about NAPLAN and its effectiveness?
It is a useful tool for schools in the sense that they can review their curriculum, but the concept that NAPLAN is used for league tables and to rank schools is an anomaly. Schools vary so much, and a student’s learning ability is so personal.
The object of assessment is to provide real time feedback so students can improve their performance. Feedback must be given within the first 72 hours to have any effectiveness and therefore any assessment that comes back months later does not allow students to use this as an effective reflective tool.
So as a learning tool, in terms of value, NAPLAN doesn’t meet this need.
What role do you play in the day-to-day activities of your students?
Students and families get to know me firstly during the enrolment process. I try to know the students personally so I can check in on them as I do walk-throughs of the campus. The best part for me is often students come up and give me high fives from all ages, Prep’s through to Year 12. That’s something I feel proud about, that the students know who I am and say hello. They need to know they are cared for.