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Oakhill College
Oakhill College
Location
	Castle Hill, Sydney, New South Wales; Australia
Coordinates	33°43′25″S 151°1′12″E / 33.72361°S 151.02000°E
Information
Type	Independent comprehensive co-educational secondary day school Boys only Years 7–10 Co-educational Years 11–12
Motto	Latin: Deo Duce; (With God as our leader)
Religious affiliation(s)	De La Salle Brothers
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Established	1936; 88 years ago
Founder	De La Salle Brothers
Educational authority	New South Wales Department of Education
Chairman	John Puleo
Principal	Br Steve Hogan fsc
Employees	207
Years	7–12
Enrolment	c. 2,068 (2023)
Colour(s)	Maroon and gold
Affiliation	Independent Schools Association
Website	oakhill.nsw.edu.au

Oakhill College is a fee-paying independent Roman Catholic comprehensive co-educational secondary day school, located in Castle Hill, a suburb in the Hills District of the Greater Western region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Founded in 1936, the College is run by the De La Salle Brothers^[2] in the tradition of Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, and currently caters for 2,068 students from Years 7 to 12 in 2023.

Oakhill College is a member of the Independent Schools Association.^[3]

History

The De La Salle Brothers purchased the Oakhill property in 1932. The College commenced in August 1936 with four male students, increasing to 30 in 1937 when there were 10 day and 20 boarding students. The College served the then rural area of "The Hills",^[4] and grew slowly until in 1953, its enrolment reached 100.

In 1974 the decision was taken to phase out the boarding school and, in 1976 Oakhill College became a co-educational senior school.^[4] In the year 2006, the 100th year of the Brothers in Australia was celebrated with a mass at St Mary's Cathedral.

The property was initially used as a training college for brothers; the school came later. The training college for brothers evolved into a training college for Catholic lay teachers, which was then merged into the Australian Catholic University in the 1980s, which then became the Castle Hill campus of the ACU. ^{[citation needed]} Finally, in the 1990s, the ACU decided to consolidate their campuses in Sydney, and abandoned their Castle Hill facility, which then reverted to the De La Salle brothers. ^{[citation needed]} Since then, the original training college has been extensively renovated, named the De La Salle Building and forms part of the College. The College was owned and administered from 1936 until 2008 by the Trustees of the De La Salle Brother's Australia. Oakhill College is governed by a Board of Directors. In 2024 Oakhill college purchased the whole college property from the De La Salle Brothers.^[5]

Facilities

The Innovation Hub is the newest addition to the College campus, with a new addition of the Learning Commons to open in 2024.^[6] The Centenary Sports Centre was built during the course of 2006, and was opened in late November 2006. It has a 25-metre pool, classrooms, cemetery, Chapel, tennis courts, Drama Theatre, green room, agriculture centre, farm, hall, kitchen, canteen, Library, Uniform Shop and a gym. The main part of the centre is a double basketball court, which is also used for College assemblies and connects to the Benildus Hall.

Global Experiences

Oakhill College offers students across various faculties the chance to explore different countries globally, immersing themselves in real-world applications of their curriculum and service.^[7] Oakhill College has a tradition of conducting immersion trips in the school holidays to support the work of the Lasallian Foundation, named The Lasallians Without Boarders Trip (LWOB). These opportunities offer Oakhillians the chance to practice ‘Faith, Service and Community’ in the Lasallian tradition.^[7] The list of offered trips are:

LWOB India (Year 11)
LWOB Fiji (Year 11)
Cambodia/Vietnam Tour (Year 9/10)
Ruby Tours - Fiji/New Zealand (Years 9-11)
Girls Sport Tour - New Zealand (Years 11-12)
Performing Arts Tour - New York City USA (Year 12)
Science Tour - New Zealand (Years 11-12)
Basketball Tour - USA

Co-curricular

The College offers a large range of co-curricular activities, such as: Theatresports, Show Team, Debating, Public Speaking, Coding Club, Chess Club, Basketball, Rugby, Rugby 7s, Football, Tennis, Touch Football, Cricket, Hockey, Athletics, Netball, Swimming, Drama Club, Cheerleading, Choirs, Music Ensembles, Duke of Edinburgh, Art Club, Youth Group, Science Club and Mathematics Enrichment. Oakhill College conducts a major musical every two years, and a junior musical every alternate year, open to any student within the required year groups. However since 2023, years 7-12 participated in the college musical, Footloose 2023 being the inaugural junior and senior whole school musical, directed by Warren Flanangan. Additionally, Year 10 and 12 respectively stage plays in the later part of the school year, with the cast and crew composed entirely of drama students, whose performance is graded and forms part of their assessment mark. Past productions have included:

Senior Musicals (Open to whole College) Every ‘even’ year:

1996 – Chess
2002 – Les Misérables
2004 – Hooked
2006 – Jesus Christ Superstar
2008 – All Shook Up
2010 – Paris
2012 – Cats
2014 – Miss Saigon
2016 – Starlight Express
2018 – Strictly Ballroom
2020 – Urinetown: The Musical
2022 – Les Misérables
2023 - Footloose
2024 - Mamma Mia! (musical)

Junior Musicals (Years 7–9) – Every ‘odd’ year:

2011 – Smike
2013 – Tin Pan Ali
2015 – Bats
2017 – Boys Own McBeth
2019 – Oliver!
2021 – School of Rock
2023 - The Comedy of Errors

Year 10 Plays (October)

2008 – The Sting
2009 – Billy Budd
2010 – A Few Good Men
2011 – Rusty Bugles
2012 – Lord of the Flies
2013 – Twelve Angry Men
2014 – Alone it Stands
2015 – Animal Farm
2016 – Two Weeks With The Queen
2017 – The 39 Steps
2018 – Journey's End
2019 – The Changing Room
2020 – Chariots of Fire
2023 - Spamalot

Year 12 Plays (February)

2010 – Amadeus
2011 – The Government Inspector
2012 – The Imaginary Invalid
2013 – Rumours
2014 – Shakespeare in Hollywood
2015 – Black Comedy
2016 – And Then There Were None (play)
2017 – The Bourgeois Gentleman
2018 – Romanoff and Juliet
2019 – Servant of Two Masters
2020 – A Midsummer Night's Dream
2021 – Rehearsal For Murder
2022 – Cosi
2022 - The Crucible
2023 - Clue

Other – Notable Study Pieces:

Pastoral care

Pastoral care at Oakhill involves classroom based programs in Years 7 and 8 and a house system from Years 9–12. The houses include^[clarify]:

Benildus House – (gold). Named after Saint Brother Bénilde Romançon (1805–1862). Feast day: 13 August.
La Salle House – (red). Named after St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle (1651–1719), the founder of the De La Salle Brothers. Feast day: 15 May.
Miguel House – (purple). Named after St Brother Miguel Febres Cordero (1854–1910). Feast day: 9 February.
Mutien House – (green). Named after St Brother Mutien-Marie Wiaux (1841–1917). Feast day: 30 January.
Solomon House – (blue/light blue). Named after Blessed Brother Solomon LeClercq (1745–1792), martyr, France. Feast day: 2 September.
Turon House – (navy blue). Named after eight brothers martyred 8 October 1934 in Turón, Spain. Feast day: 9 October.

Notable alumni

Academia, business, public service and politics

Dominic Perrottet, 46th Premier of New South Wales (Finished studies at Redfield College Dural)
Greg Whitby, Executive Director of Schools, Catholic Education Office

Media, entertainment and the arts

Brian Castro, novelist and essayist (also attended St. Joseph's College, Hunters Hill)^[8]
Dan Ilic, Comedian, broadcaster, filmmaker, host of Hungry Beast^[9]
Steve Le Marquand, actor^[10]
Tim Rogers, vocalist/guitarist and primary songwriter of Australian alternative rock band You Am I
Ben Quilty, Australian painter^[11]
Tara Rushton, Fox Sports Football TV Host, model and actress (KateModern)
Doris Younane, actress (McLeod's Daughters)^[10]

Sport

Lachlan Anderson, rugby player and Rugby 7s Olympian
Katherine Bates, an Australian Olympic cyclist^[10]
Grant Brits, an Olympic swimmer, bronze medallist in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay at 2008 Beijing Olympics
Bart Bunting, a dual Gold Medallist at 2002 Winter Paralympic Games, Salt Lake City, USA^[12]
Catherine Cox, netball player and commentator^[13]^[14]
Nicholas Fitzgerald, a football player with the Melbourne City F.C.
Harrison Goddard, U20 Melbourne Rebels, U20 Wallabies
Kieren Jack, AFL player with the Sydney Swans
Brandon Jack, AFL player with the Sydney Swans
Luke Keary, rugby league footballer
Jason Baitieri, rugby league footballer
Julian Khazzouh, NBL basketball player
Andrew Ogilvy, basketball player
Ryan Papenhuyzen, rugby league footballer
Jordan Thompson, tennis player
Steven Ugarkovic, football player with the Newcastle Jets
Julia Wilson, Olympic rower^[10]
Kieren Briggs, AFL player with the GWS Giants

Source:^[15]

References

^ "Crest". College Information. Oakhill College. 2007. Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. Retrieved 24 February 2008.
^ ^a ^b "Oakhill College". New South Wales. School Choice. 2007. Archived from the original on 30 August 2007. Retrieved 24 February 2008.
^ "Oakhill College Sport". College Information. Oakhill College. 2007. Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. Retrieved 24 February 2008.
^ ^a ^b "Prospectus" (PDF). College Information. Oakhill College. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 24 February 2008.
^ Mr John Puleo. 2024
^ "Oakhill College Announces New Partnership for Groundbreaking Project "The Commons"".
^ ^a ^b "Global Experiences".
^ "Biographical details". Biographical and contact information. Brian Castro. Archived from the original on 21 July 2008. Retrieved 24 February 2008.
^ Ilic, Dan. "Great work from my old High School!". Twitter. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Oakhill College's most outstanding students". Hills Shire Times. www.dailytelegraph.com.au. 23 August 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
^ "Archibald Prize winning painter Ben Quilty gives advice on how to succeed as an artist". The Sydney Hills Focus. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
^ "Oakhill College alumni awarded". Hills Shire Times. 3 April 2012. Archived from the original on 5 April 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
^ "Queen Cox holding court". www.smh.com.au. 13 June 2010. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
^ "Oakhill College Volume Six, Friday 30th April 2021". www.oakhill.nsw.edu.au. 30 April 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
^ "Oakhill College's most outstanding students". Hills Shire Times. www.dailytelegraph.com.au. 23 August 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2021.