Principal's Report

Principal's Report 

Principal’s Report - December

Dear Collingwood College community,

I hope this message finds you well as we head towards the summer holiday period.This is my final report as Acting Principal for 2025. I have thoroughly enjoyed in stepping into the role for Angela during her leave. It’s been an honour to lead Collingwood College and it’s been fantastic to become a bigger part of the wonderful community.

I am excited to stay on to share the Principal role with Angela in 2026.  There is much to be excited about in 2026 as we build on the wins in 2025. We will be embarking on the refurbishment of our Theatre alongside undertaking other key improvements to our building.  These environmental upgrades will provide the backdrop to continuous improvement efforts to improve our teaching and learning capabilities across the school. This will take place in light of the key department strategies including the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model 2.0. Disability and Inclusion, reading position and mathematics position. We will celebrate the final stage of the International Baccalaureate Middle Year Program (IB MYP) accreditation. We will be able to communicate our status as an accredited IB World School, early in Term 1.

There is much to reflect on and celebrate, including our fantastic NAPLAN growth results, excellent school production, and fabulous school events. And of course, we will have a brand new roof!  Our Year 12 students at Wurun Senior Campus received their VCE results last Thursday. We know that they have excelled and managed to achieve results that reflect their many achievements in their educational journey at Collingwood College and Wurun Senior Campus. As communicated earlier, we have maintained our median study score improvement from 2024 and achieved further improvement in our English results - a median of 31. 

I want to thank all families for their continued support of our staff at Collingwood College. Collingwood is a very special place, and this is due to the positive, supportive and inclusive culture that’s been built over many years by staff and families together. We are excited to keep our strength of community partnerships strong in 2026 to continue to thrive in 2026.

Please read below for the key leadership appointments across the school - Prep to Year 12.

Principal team

· Angela Watters — Principal (0.6), Monday/Wednesday/Thursday

· Chris Millard — Principal (0.6), Monday/Tuesday/Friday

· Lori Michael — Assistant Principal – Teaching & Learning / MYP Leader

· Rachel Wood — Assistant Principal – Operations and Wellbeing

· Sormeh Afkari - Assistant Principal - Primary

· Mel Singleton - Assistant Principal - CAS campus

· Lucy Marshall - Campus Principal - Wurun Senior Campus

Leading Teachers & Coordinators (Secondary)

· Felecia Peh — EAL and International Student Leading Teacher

· Rebecca Cooper — Inclusion and Reporting Leading Teacher

· Simon Negrelli - Year 7 & 8 Coordinator 

· Hugo Robertshawe - Year 9 Coordinator 

· Elena Mujkic - Year 10 Coordinator 

· MYP Assistant - Cameron McCowan

Leading Teacher & Positions of Responsibility (Primary)

· Bianca Maxwell - Leading teacher

· Alecia Cox - Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader

· Elly Louchart - Literacy Leader

· Meredith Blakeney - Prep Transition Leader

Learning Area Leaders (Secondary)

· Emily Jones — Year 7–12 Arts & Technology Learning Area Leader

· Xiaoming Li — Year 7–12 Languages Learning Area Leader

· Joseph Lorback — Year 7–12 Humanities Learning Area Leader

· Swati Singh — Year 7–12 Maths Learning Area Leader

· Dan Arnott — Year 7–12 English Learning Area Leader

· Aaron Jobe — Year 7–12 Health, PE & Outdoor Education Learning Area Leader

· Michelle Fyfe — Year 7–12 Science Learning Area Leader

Learning Community Leaders (Primary)

· Meredith Blakeney — Prep -2 Learning Community Leader

· Bernice Ryan Cruse - Grade 3/4 Learning Community Leader

· Claudia Pham - Grade 5/6 Learning Community Leader 

· Mel Keks - Specialist Learning Community Leader

School-wide support

· Joshua Whelan — Wellbeing Team Leader

· Lucy Wang and Phuong Doan — International Student Support

· Kate Schmieszl and Sarah Powers - Co-Steiner Leaders

· Desley Insall - Volunteer Co-ordinator

Congratulations to all staff in these leadership roles in 2026. We are all set up to continue with our plan for further development and achievement of long term goals.

Thank you to all and I wish you a safe and restful summer holiday period.

Kind regards,

Chris Millard

Acting Principal