2023
In their 7th consecutive year, Hills Grammar have made a S.E.A.T Project record!! It’s been a bumpy few years throughout the pandemic, making it challenging to involve the community participation and outreach that a SEAT presence would normally acquire. But this year, we were back on track as students got their parents involved!
Year 5 participated with sincere enthusiasm to connect with the S.E.A.T Project and fulfill their sustainable goals for 2023 raising funds for YATRA foundation. Here’s a comment from one of their teachers:
We connected our S.E.A.T Project education program journey to our United Nations Sustainable Development goals.
It was such an amazing experience for the children this year. We held a gallery where we invited our parents in to share our S.E.A.T Project journey.
We organised a visual presentation of what SEAT and the YATRA Foundation (our chosen cause), meant to year 5, and then parents were asked to move around and experience the SEATs with the students. They stayed for over an hour and enjoyed talking to all of the children, genuinely loving the whole opportunity to share in their learning! We even asked parents to build and paint a SEAT in teams as a way to engage them and have them appreciate the challenges of the task.
Parents got such a thrill out of this experience and commended the students on how challenging it was. Overall, both students and their parents had a great time and left the event smiling.
Katey Mills
Year 5 Coordinator
2022
After research, debate, consideration and team-work as a result of lesson plans of the S.E.A.T Project education program, Year 5 students generously supported Orange Sky with a $7,352 donation. This donation will support 26 shifts and provide friends with access to free laundry, warm showers and genuine conversation; 306 washes, 306 showers and 204 conversation hours. That’s a total of 460 supported!
I wanted to thank you all for giving so generously in support of our friends on the street via the S.E.A.T Project.
Your support enables us to provide our friends with clean laundry, warm showers and genuine connection. We couldn’t be more grateful! I have attached an impact report so you can see exactly how the funds raised will assist Orange Sky and our friends on the street. Please feel free to share this with everyone who contributed and donated.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me should you have any questions about our services or the impact your kind gifts make.
Thanks again to everyone who was involved, all the very best.
Kind regards,
Kelsie Martin
Funding & Growth Support Officer
Orange Sky
2021
In Hills Grammar tradition, Year 5 explored the S.E.A.T Project through lessons on wise action, philanthropic giving and community engagement. They researched, questioned, debated and connected with each other to initiate discussions around humanitarian action to develop an understanding of life beyond their immediate community.
2020
For a record 4 years in a row our experienced partners, the teachers of Hills Grammar School, will once again take their Year 5 students on a SEAT journey of self-discovery, collaboration, problem solving, global awareness and community contribution.
2019
Year 5 students at Hills Grammar took on the S.E.A.T Project for the 3rd year this year! As a part of SEAT’s education program students researched global organisations that make a difference. The Year 5 students presented their findings back to their peers, then voted for their preferred organisation that could benefit from the S.E.A.T Project.
And the winner is…..Orange Sky!
S.E.A.T Project attended an afternoon showcase of the Year 5 students SEATs. The display was incredible! Excited students professionally and proudly spoke about their S.E.A.T Project and a guest from Orange Sky Showers accepted the love. Following this event, parents and the greater Hills Grammar community bid on the SEATs to raise funds for Orange Sky Showers, an organisation that ensures that anyone living rough in Australia has access to a shower and clothes washing facilities through the use of their signature orange vans. We are incredibly proud of our students and their commitment to giving back to the community.To further contribute to the project, the Year 5’s were drivers of a school Market Day held later in the year.
The students raised a total of $7351.65 from the entire project and handed a heavy cheque to Orange Sky Showers!
Here are a few of their SEATs and artists statements:
Ryan Tifandy & Malia
Our SEAT design for this year was inspired by abstract artist Piet Mondrian, an abstract painter who was regarded as being the best in the 20th century. He was renowned all over the world for his unique painting style, only using primary colours for his art. We named our SEAT ‘Ryb’ after the primary colours red, yellow and blue. The best phase of this project was going over the faded lines with permanent marker. The process of doing this was crucial, fun and very satisfying. The results made our SEAT’s design really pop! We are all really satisfied and proud of the overall product that we have created. We hope that our SEAT can sell for a lot, raising lots of money for Orange Sky Laundry. As a result we can help to raise awareness for homeless people and lead them closer to becoming successful in life.
Hannah, Mya, Grant & Lachlan
We chose the colours red, yellow and blue because Piet Mondrian used these colours the most and they pop around the SEAT. We chose the name Tieng Keu because the materials for our SEAT came originally from Vietnam. Tieng Keu means rattle in Vietnamese and when we were constructing the SEAT we left some parts inside so that the SEAT rattles. We enjoyed painting the different shapes and then outlining with black pens. We hope we raise a lot of money for Orange Sky Laundry so that more homeless people will have the opportunity to have a shower and wash their clothes.
Abigail, Sienna & Rhys
The colours we chose are green, orange, blue and red. We were inspired by the natural environment around Hills Grammar which is full of trees. The trees can be green…..in Autumn, the trees can be orange or red, the blue because the sky is blue and red for our uniform. We chose to name our SEAT ‘Kaze’ which means breeze in Japanese; it reminds us of being outside and the wind blowing in our Hills Grammar environment. Creating, designing, drawing and painting with our friends was the biggest reason why we all love being in the S.E.A.T Project.
2018
The new group of Year 5 students 
of Hills Grammar this year have continued on the butterfly effect of the S.E.A.T Project that their peers began last year. The students have researched and discovered ways in which they can contribute and make a difference to their world, and with the input from ShelterBox Australia, they are planning to assist those in crisis. Their SEATs this year have been decorated with a Picasso inspired theme and sold at an online auction to the highest bidder for their cause.
The SEATs were certainly in high demand and our students raised an outstanding $3780 from their auction! Together with the proceeds of Year 5 Market Day they have managed to raise in excess of $9000 through our S.E.A.T Project for Shelterbox Australia.
Johanna from Shelterbox v
isited our school and listened to the students as they proudly told her all about this years S.E.A.T Project and how they came to select Shelterbox to assist as part of their student driven action. She gave a presentation where the students got to see a Shelterbox first-hand and they were engaged, interested and enthusiastic for over an hour! We would certainly love to stay connected with Shelterbox next year and keep our students involved.”
Deborah Wightley – Centre for Innovation and Creativity Co-ordinator, Hills Grammar School
2017
Year 5 Students of Hills Grammar embarked on a mammoth joint venture S.E.A.T Project in 2017. With an introduction to Gilbert Camp Honiara, Solomon Islands, from the Lions Club of Parramatta, the students of Hills Grammar began their butterfly effect to become powerful contributors to the Global Harvest Christian Academy community.
This long term Project has followed them into Year 6, where they have continued to develop a relationship with, and become ‘change makers’ for the Global Harvest Christian school.
We have been very excited to follow them along on their global journey!
To read more about the 2017/2018 S.E.A.T/Solomon Islands Project click here:
If you are a school, business, or ethic individual interested in joining their Project, we would love to hear from you. Contact:
Today I met with the Year 5 students, their teachers, Pastor John (who is visiting Australia from the Solomon Islands) and Leeanne Hurren, president of Parramatta Lions Club. We heard from various speakers who gave their thoughts and ideas about how they can best assist the school community of Gilbert Camp in the Solomon Islands. We witnessed wise, well-thought-out, positive, philanthropic action in motion. These 2 students talked about providing the Gilbert Camp community with their needs and not their wants….
Through their own fundraising channels, the students have already raised $22,000 Solomon Islands dollars before even considering the sale of their SEATs!! The students intended this money to perhaps pay for the glass in the windows of the Kindergarten classrooms, but they discovered today, it’s probably enough money for glass windows in every classroom in the school!
Inspired by the artwork of Joanne Hooke, they plan to decorate their SEATs for silent auction at the Spring Fair in October. Congratulations Year 5, the work you’re doing is wonderful!”
Christa Silvia – National Project Manager, S.E.A.T Project
Every Tuesday afternoon, we have met in the Centre for Innovation and Creativity to work on this exciting project which aims to raise a sense of global awareness and community engagement.
The program centres on the story of ‘The Little Stool that Could’ which the students investigated over a few weeks. This story demonstrates the values and actions achievable by students participating in this project. Working in collaborative teams of two or three, each group eagerly commenced construction of their SEAT.
Students were immediately engaged in solving problems, negotiating solutions, collaborating as a team and interpreting the instruction sheet contained with their SEAT Kit. The Centre for Innovation and Creativity quickly became a hive of engineering activity, hands-on problem solving and lessons in the importance of co-operation.
Our students will have the opportunity to decide on the actions that occur as a result of this project. We are working closely The S.E.A.T Project team and the Lions Club of Parramatta to contribute to their Solomon Island’s Project, which aims to connect Australian schools directly to Solomon Islands’ primary-aged school children and their broader community. Less than 60% of school-age children in the Solomon Islands have access to primary education and this project is helping to build a community school and other facilities. The stools that we are constructing will form part of the campaign to raise funds and awareness for this project. As our students make decisions on how this will unfold, we look forward to your involvement and support.
Our first step in building a relationship with our new friends in Honiara commenced with the donation of our excess library books and shelving from the Junior School library. As we relocated the library, any old and out of date books were culled from the collection and these have now found a new home in the Solomon Islands. Our sincere thanks go to Leeanne Hurren, President of the Lions Club of Parramatta for picking up the many boxes of books and organising for them to be transported to Honiara.”
Deborah Wightley – Centre for Innovation and Creativity Co-ordinator, Hills Grammar School
Student’s first round of enquiry to the Gilbert Camp community….
- Where do you get fresh water from for the school?
- What school supplies and resources do you need the most? Do you have desks?
- Does the school have a natural disaster plan with supplies in case of emergencies?
- How do students get to school? Are there adequate services for students’ transport to attend school
- Is there adequate fencing around the school?
- Do you have sunscreen and insect repellent for students?
- Do you have adequate shelter to protect students?
- Do you have access to power such as gas, electricity, generators?
- Do you have trained educators?
Second round of critical questions….
- Does the school have an adequate supply of medical resources such as first aid kits?
- Do the families have access to medical facilities?
- Is sunscreen and insect repellent a need for the students?
- Do the students at the school need hats?
- Would the school like to receive push bikes from us as means to get to school?
- Does the school provide meals for the students?
- Do you require desks for the students to work at?
- How long do the students spend at school per day?
- What type of equipment could we provide for the students to play with at break time?
- Does the school require musical instruments for the students to play?
- Would you benefit from having electricity in the classroom?
- Do you require stationery and art/craft supplies for the teachers and students.
- Does the school have access to flushing toilets?
- Could you benefit from renewable sources of energy such as solar panels?
- Would you benefit from having a teacher/student exchange with our school?
- Do you require shade for the students?
- Could we provide you with plants which can provide the students with food?
March 2017 Newsletter Hills Grammar:
June 2017 Newsletter Hills Grammar: 
