Whole School News

WHOLE SCHOOL NEWS - including WURUN CAMPUS

Collingwood College is a proud Respectful Relationships school

Respectful relationships education is provided by all Victorian government schools and supports students to develop the knowledge, attitudes and skills needed for respectful relationships and helps to build respect and equality across the entire school community. 

Research tells us that providing Respectful Relationships education at school can lead to positive impacts on students’ academic outcomes, their mental health, classroom behaviour and relationships. 

Our school uses the Department of Education’s evidence-based teaching and learning resources to teach our students about Respectful Relationships from Foundation to Year 10.  

The Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships resources have 8 topics that teach students about emotional literacy, personal and cultural strengths, resilience, problem-solving, stress-management, help-seeking, gender norms and stereotypes and positive gender relations. Please see below for summaries on each topic.

Each week/ fortnight in class we explore a different topic which helps students to develop key skills and understandings through, discussions, role-play and hands on learning.  Topic learning develops in complexity with each successive year level to meet the age and stage of student needs.

If you have any questions about Respectful Relationships education, you can contact Mary Utter for Secondary Mary.Utter@education.vic.gov.au and Bianca Maxwell for Primary Bianca.Maxwell@education.vic.gov.au  and Melanie Singleton for CAS Melanie.Singleton@education.vic.gov.au or visit the Victorian Government’s Respectful Relationships page: https://www.vic.gov.au/respectful-relationships  

Respectful Relationships topic summaries F-10 

Topic 1: Emotional Literacy helps students to learn how to be aware of, understand and use information about their own emotions and the emotions of others. 

Topic 2: Personal and Cultural Strengths helps students to learn how to recognise and understand their own and others’ strengths and positive qualities, and how to identify how the values and strengths they learn from their family and culture help them to treat others with respect. 

Topic 3: Positive Coping supports students to develop language around coping, reflect on their coping strategies and build a range of positive coping strategies. 

Topic 4:  Problem-solving helps students to learn a range of problem-solving techniques to manage personal, social and ethical dilemmas.  

Topic 5: Stress Management supports students to consider the causes of stress and develop a range of self-regulation and coping strategies they can draw on to manage stressful situations. 

Topic 6: Help-seeking helps students to develop skills and knowledge for peer support, peer referral and help-seeking. 

Topic 7: Gender norms and stereotypes helps students consider the influence of gender norms on attitudes, opportunities and behaviour, and to learn about gender equality, inclusion, human rights and the importance of relationships that respect people of all genders. 

Topic 8 Positive gender relationships helps students develop an age-appropriate understanding of gender-based violence, safe and unsafe behaviours and consent. Students also develop self-care, peer support and help-seeking skills they can use in response to situations involving gender-based violence. 

Mary Utter

Respectful Relationships Co-ordinator

Top Designs at Melbourne Museum

We are very proud to announce that Noah Stafford-Bell, current Year 12 Collingwood College student, has been selected to be part of Top Designs at Melbourne Museum. Noah completed Digital Animation at Northern College of the Arts and Technology in 2025 as a VET subject and created a showstopping, animated advertisement – Mars Space Exploration Program. 

Developed in Adobe Premiere and Adobe Animate, Noah’s animation promotes a fictional program that sends the first human colony to Mars. As viewers are guided through the Mars facility, the advertisement uses bright colour palettes, gradients, long takes, minimal cuts and grand atmospheric sounds, to enhance the space theme.

The exhibition continues until 26 July and features only the absolute top artists and designers from Victorian schools, a great testament to Noah’s creativity and digital design skills.

Have you considered doing a VET subject as part of your year 11 and 12 subject choices? 

MSEP- Mars Space Exploration Program by Noah Stafford-Bell. Top Designs 2026 / Source: Courtesy of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority.

Emily Jones

Arts and Design Learning Area Leader

Steiner Celebration Day 

On Thursday, May 14 Collingwood College warmly welcomed members of our community to tour our Steiner stream classrooms and observe key elements of the curriculum, such as morning circle and Eurythmy, which are taught by some of the most experienced Steiner teachers in the whole of Australia. 

That evening, Andrew Hill, the CEO of Steiner Education Australia, provided families with a brief overview of the ways in which Steiner curriculum meets the ongoing developmental needs of the growing human. While families listened, visiting children enjoyed wool fingercraft, an artistic activity led by our prep teacher, Maya. Andrew routinely referenced the joy of the children’s play as he described the importance of imitative play in the early years of learning. Children want to imitate what the adults do, Andrew said. You’re cooking? The child wants a pot and spoon to cook, too. You’re painting a wall? Your child wants that experience, as well. What looks like simple play is, in fact, the child experiencing the world as one with itself. 

When the child begins their Steiner primary experience at Collingwood College, typically joining Class 1 around age 7, their brain has developed enough to allow for active imagination. Steiner classroom teachers introduce learning to the child through storytelling, the oral tradition being the original method of learning. The day following the story, the child is able to artistically represent an image from the story. This image develops from an idea and feeling that lives within the child. On the third day of learning, the child is then ready to intellectually understand the concept. In this way, the lessons and learning from within the story is alive within them, rather than being taught as abstract ideas. 

Once the Steiner child enters high school, they begin to develop the capacities for reason. They are prepared to understand more complex ideas, to meet multiple teachers and learn from their expertise in specific subject areas, and to question the world around them. The artistic, intellectual and physical needs are developed in their core Main Lesson subject. Andrew explained that Steiner education tries to bring balance to the human being, and in Main Lesson the Steiner child will move, dance, imagine, draw, act, and experience the wonder of the world. Whether the child enters our Steiner program at prep, primary or high school, class teachers work in a holistic way to offer learning experiences for the whole being: head, heart and hands.

Sarah Powers

Secondary Steiner Leader

French Language

Melbourne’s Little Paris:

There are several French owned businesses around Degraves Street, where you might have chance to practice your French:

https://www.lemonandbutter.com.au/

https://www.roulegalette.com.au/

In addition, do not forget the Alliance Francaise Film Festival:

https://www.affrenchfilmfestival.org/

I would encourage all families to consider Franch as interest the family can share. I intend to run parent lessons through the Winter Terms to co-inside with the market, to help you support your kids. This opportunity to retrieve, expand and renew your own French not only provides your kids with an amazing example, but also provides motivation for this challenging but rewarding journey. 

https://www.afmelbourne.com.au/

This the only French language school in Melbourne to offer official French Government Certified Language Certifications (DELF and DALF) which supports working and student visas. These certifications allow undergraduate and post-graduate entry into French Universities all over the world (I did a course online through the University of Martinique) at prices WAY below Australian Universities…

Moana Kerr,

French Teacher

Camps, Sports and Excursion Funding- Applications closing soon!

Dear Parents, Carers and Guardians,

The cutoff date for 2026 CSEF applications is June 26th.  

If you are unsure if you’re eligible for CSEF, or you would like to check the status of your application, please contact Elizabeth at the office on 9417 6681 or Elizabeth.keily2@education.vic.gov.au

Kind regards,

Elizabeth Keily.

Parent Payment Arrangement 2026

Dear Parent/Guardian,

Collingwood College is looking forward to another great year of teaching and learning and would like to advise you of Collingwood College’s voluntary financial contributions for 2026.

Schools provide students with free instruction to fulfil the standard curriculum requirements, and we want to assure you that all contributions are voluntary. Nevertheless, the ongoing support of our families ensures that our school can offer the best possible education and support for our students. 

We want to thank you for all your support, whether that’s through fundraising or volunteering your time. This has made a huge difference to our school and the programs we can offer. Within our school, this support has allowed us to upgrade teaching and learning facilities in specific learning areas, for example, our general classrooms, media laboratories, camps program, and music department. 

Our subject offerings have been expanded and there is ongoing support for the work of the homework centre including information technology aid for all students.

PRIMARY MAINSTREAM

PRIMARY STEINER

SECONDARY MAINSTREAM

SECONDARY STEINER

Music Enrolment Forms

Music Enrolment Forms for 2026 are included in the enrolment package for each year level.

Forms must be handed to the office by 13 December to be offered a place in the music program.

For the Steiner Strings Program, 2026-classes 3 to 6 need to return this form to the office as soon as possible but no later than 13 December.

Any questions please contact - 

Non-Strings:Emily.Wearne@education.vic.gov.au

Strings: 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.