Primary School News
Primary School News
Dear Families,
What a year! It’s been so lovely to come back and share 2026 with you. I would like to thank the Collingwood College teachers, Education Staff and the Admin team for all of their hard work and support. We are so lucky to have such passionate staff members who care deeply and play such a massive part in the running of the school.
With every year comes some changes; sadly, this year we will be saying goodbye to Callum Blackburn and Brenton O’Hoy. Both Callum and Brenton have been such an integral part of our Primary school teaching staff, and have touched the hearts of so many students and their families.
Brenton, with his passion for teaching the whole child, supporting the grade ¾ cohort with movement breaks, games, and a running ‘down ball’ club in his class, and Callum, with his soft, calm manner, always listens to and hears the voice of his students. They both will be extremely missed. We wish them an excellent 2026.
A huge thank you to the school council members and the volunteer families who have worked extremely hard this year in sharing our wonderful school with the outer community. Please continue to do so! A special thank you to Hannah Marshall, whose love and passion for Collingwood burn so intensely, who has given the school and the community many hours, from Thursday markets and community coffee to attending local weekend markets, always sharing her love for the school.
To our grade 6 2025 graduates, thank you for your friendship, your cheekiness, and for always making me smile. Have a wonderful break, and I wish you the best transition into secondary school. Always remember to come back and visit or come down to the Primary area and say hi.
To the families whom I may not see next year, thank you for your support. I wish your family a wonderful journey.
Last but not least, to the community, the students and the families, it’s been incredible to come back to the people who I see as family. Thank you for your continuous support. Collingwood College is what it is because we work together, we care about each other, and we have formed our Village.
School will begin for grade 1 to 6 students on Wednesday, January 28, and for our Preppies on Thursday, January 29.
Please have a great break, enjoy our family time, and I look forward to our journey together next year.
Take care.
Warmest regards,
Sormeh Afkari
Primary School Principal
Email: Sormeh.afkari@education.vic.gov.au
Phone: 03 9417 6681
Primary Art
Hip Hop Videos Primary Performing Arts
As part of the Performing- Arts program Year 5/6 students had the opportunity to explore Hip Hop. The class worked with Izzy Brown an acclaimed Hip Hop artist who is actively involved in community projects, including workshops on music, lyric writing, and filmmaking, particularly with youth at risk and in disadvantaged communities. The class wrote their own songs and had the opportunity to record them at a professional recording studio. The class made videos with Izzy which are now on YouTube.
Angela Dionysopoulos
Primary Art/Performing Arts
Class 6C Play ‘Roma Amor’
Last month Class 6 Steiner performed their Class Play, Roma Amor. An hilarious slapstick comedy set in Ancient Rome, the play was the culmination of their year-long study of Ancient Roman history, mythology, language, culture and politics. The Class 6 students worked hard on developing their speech and embodying their characters, and wove in elements of Eurythmy, music and singing, and plenty of slapstick comedy! Well done, Class 6!
Jo Windred
Class 6 Steiner Teacher
Class 6C Last day
Farewell photo booth fun on the last day of Primary School.
Class 4C Walkerville Camp & Blacksmithing
Walkerville Camp
This year, when our class went to Walkerville, we camped by the beach. There were lots of friendly birds (mainly crimson rosellas). We found sunflower seeds on the ground and the birds were climbing all over us (we loved it, though). When we went on our beach walk the tide was very high up on the sand, so we had to climb on the BIG rocks, but when the tide was out the beach was filled with rock pools – we saw lots of crabs when we lifted up th rocks. In one of the BIG ROCK POOLS we saw a REALLY BIG CRAB. We were watching it for ages!. Finally we moved on, and saw a bunch of star fish, they were so cute! On our last night were were supposed to have pasta, but we ran out of gas, so instead we got to have FISH AND CHIPS on the beach – like we did last year!
Orla Fernando, 4C
Walkerville
Waking up
To the sound of crashing waves
Looking for crabs –
The sun scorches my face
While the rock pools cool me down.
Cooking delicious meals
Sharing with all
THAT
Was Walkerville camp.
Marlow Sandle, 4C.
Blacksmithing
The forges blazed around me
Sparks darting to and fro
The sound of metal on metal
Rings in my ear
The hammer strickes – once – twice –
Three times!
The coals and cinders burning
Until they finally die.
Marlow Sandle, 4C
Alison Seabrook
Class 4 Steiner Teacher
Class 6C Dolls with Sue
Class 6C finished making their dolls this week. A year-long project utilisng the skills built up in the Craft program since Prep, the dolls a the perfect memento of their Steiner Craft program for these students finishing primary school this week. Enormous thanks to Sue our craft teacher.
Jo Windred
Class 6 Steiner Teacher
Outside Hours School Care (OHSC) - Bookings Now Open for TheirCare
Dear Parents/Guardians,
We are pleased to announce that the booking calendar for Collingwood College TheirCare is now open.
To manage your bookings, kindly log in to your parent portal and access your booking calendar located at the bottom of your dashboard. Please ensure that your account is complete for the calendar to appear.
Additionally, we would like to provide you with an update regarding your payments and childcare subsidy.
Typically, we charge your out-of-pocket fees at the end of each week (in arrears). However, as Collingwood College TheirCare is a new service with us, there is a transition period for Centrelink to process the subsidy transfer.
Centrelink is currently in the process of transferring the service, and until this transition is complete, we are unable to determine the exact amount of out-of-pocket charges. Therefore, we anticipate commencing charges once Centrelink has processed the Child Care Subsidy (CCS).
Once the transition is finalised, you will receive a system-generated email prompting you to log into your Centrelink account (via MyGov) to confirm your details for the service, ensuring that the subsidy is correctly applied to your account.
We wanted to inform you of this process in advance, should you be expecting a direct debit or enrolment notice.
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our Support Team during office hours at 1300 072 410.
Warm regards,
The Team at TheirCare
INSTRUMENTS FOR SALE (updated 4 May) - Contact Person - Marguerite Boland
Please click on the attachment below to see a list of Stringed instruments for sale. If you have an instrument for sale please email Margeurite at: marguerite.boland@education.vic.gov.au
COLLINGWOOD COLLEGE ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM
Collingwood College is online! Feel free to follow us on:
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/collingwood.college/ and like us on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/collingwood.vic.edu.au/ to keep up to date with everything that our school has to offer our students and the community.