The Hartzer Program is a unique opportunity where our students spend four weeks in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, building their independence and completing their curriculum in a different setting and format.

The residential program provides our students with the opportunity to celebrate their giftedness, grow in faith, embrace their learning, build positive relationships and teamwork skills, venture beyond their comfort zones, develop confidence and connect with our OLSH history.

The program includes two days in Canberra visiting Parliament House, the Royal Australian Mint and the Australian War Memorial, and day trips to Sydney to explore the sites and complete the Bondi to Coogee walk.

The girls also make connection with our OLSH heritage, visiting the OLSH Sisters in Kensington, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church Randwick and St Bernards Primary School in Botany. There are day trips and hikes in the areas surrounding Bowral, such as Fitzroy Falls and Mount Gibraltar, and weekend visits to the Bowral township.

Onsite at Hartzer Park, the girls embrace the daily routines completing project work, personal training sessions, sharing meals and evening study time together, and making connections through the shared experience.

As the program draws to a close, there is a retreat day where the girls have the space and time to reflect on the experience, acknowledging the lifelong skills they have developed, before a welcome return to family and loved ones.

The Nous Sommes program allows for areas of the Victorian curriculum to be taught in creative and dynamic ways. It uses inquiry-based learning and encourages the girls to develop their creativity and design thinking, work collaboratively in teams and develop their independence.

Activities include a forensics day where the girls learn about blood typing and DNA, a cheerleading and ninja warrior day with internationally recognised trainers and the production of a mini musical-drama where the girls work together to script, rehearse and present a movie in a five-minute performance.

One of the major pieces of work in the Nous Sommes program is the Heart Project, where students spend 14 periods responding to the question What touches my heart? This inquiry-based learning presents an authentic task to students that requires complex thought and time for exploration. The students are involved in decision making about content and the breadth of the activity provides for individual approaches to research and presentation of the topic to the whole school in an expo-style format, reflecting their personal learning style and growth through the program.