Cornish College

Cornish College is an independent coeducational school in Melbourne, Australia. Located in Bangholme, the school caters for students in all year levels from three-year-olds, in the Early Learning Centre, to Year 12.

Cornish College (Melbourne)
Address
65 Riverend Road

Bangholme
,
Victoria
3175

Australia
Coordinates38°03′00″S 145°08′54″E
Information
TypeCoeducational
MottoMake a Difference
Denominationin association with the Uniting Church[1]
Established2012
ChairmanMax Verberne
PrincipalNicola Forrest
Staff150
GradesEarly Learning Centre-Year 12
GenderCoeducational
Enrolment700
Colour(s)   Navy and teal
School fees$11,788 to $20,724
Websitewww.cornishcollege.vic.edu.au

Location

Cornish College is located on the cusp of the Mornington Peninsula in Bangholme, Melbourne, Australia. The school is in close proximity to Port Phillip Bay and an hour’s drive south east of Melbourne’s CBD.

Curriculum

The Early Learning Centre is for children from 3 to 5 years of age and the curriculum centres on the Reggio Emilia approach to early learning, a benchmark for teaching young children. Cornish College has been an authorised International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP) school since its inception in 2012 and offers the PYP to 3 year olds through to Year 6.

This approach to teaching and learning is embraced in a multidisciplinary, concept-driven and inquiry-based program in the secondary years. Senior secondary students can select a number of pathways to attain Year 12 graduation, including Design Futures, Vocational Education and Training, Structured Workplace Learning, School-based Apprenticeship and the Victorian Certificate of Education.

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are key elements throughout the curriculum. Primary students explore STEM]] through a range of activities such as creating electronic storybooks, claymation projects, music and movie making, webpage design and robotics. Secondary students expand their STEM knowledge through Super Studies electives and VCE classes in music technology, media design, photography, website design, designing solar-powered boats, videogame design, building a bluetooth-powered amplifier, investigating DNA data encryption and 3D printing.

Students can also participate in Real Time Learning programs and the NCSS GROK competition.

Talent development

In addition to the opportunities outlined below, students undertake enrichment and extension within their classrooms with their class teachers and additional teachers who support students. Australian Mathematics Competition, Australasian Problem Solving Mathematical Olympiads, GATEWAYS, Science Talent Search, Big Science Competition, Aurecon Bridge Building Competition, Debating and Public Speaking, Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority Plain English Speaking Award, Da Vinci Decathlon, Tournament of Minds, Australian Geography Competition, National History Challenge, John Button School Prize, Parliament of Victoria – The Deakin Oration, United Nations Model Student and Conference, Australian Stock Exchange Sharemarket Game, Melbourne University’s Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholars Program, Girl Power in STEMM program and Monash University’s Year 8 ChallENGe Program.

Performing arts

Cornish College offers an extensive Performing Arts program with a range of performance opportunities.

Southern Independent Schools

Cornish College is part of the Southern Independent Schools network of fifteen schools offering regular interschool sporting and cultural competitions throughout the school year.

Sports include athletics, cross country, swimming, baseball, basketball, cricket, football, handball, lawn bowls netball, soccer, softball, table tennis, tennis, touch rugby and volleyball.

Cultural events include chess, debating, drama/TheatreSports, Teen Chef, Book in a Day and Public Speaking Championships.

Sport

All students in Years 3 – 6 compete in major House carnivals – swimming, athletics and cross country. In Years 5 and 6, Cornish students participate in the Coeducational Independent Primary Schools Sports Association competition, competing in a range of team sports against other coeducational independent primary schools. From Years 7 – 12 students participate in the Southern Independent Schools sporting competition in many different sports.

History

Cornish College officially opened in 2012, although it already had a history stemming from its roots as St Leonard’s, Patterson River campus, which had commenced in 1987. Genesis. In 1980, Richard Cornish, former Principal of St Leonard’s College, purchased 114 acres near the Patterson River for a new campus. The land was intended to be used for environmental, horticultural and agricultural studies; for sporting facilities; and as a feeder school for Prep – Year 8 students who would progress to St Leonard’s, Brighton for Years 9 – 12. St Leonard’s, Patterson River officially opened in February 1987.

Early years

When it opened, the school consisted of 67 students, five teachers, and eight classrooms. Key staff included the Head of Campus, Rev John Donnelly; Educational Director, Graeme Morgan; and Michael Davis, who later became the only staff member to have been part of the whole journey from St Leonard’s to the current day.

The early years saw important changes at the school. When Donnelly took long service leave, Wendy Adams became the Head of Campus and was key in developing and implementing thematic courses of study. The campus was renamed the Richard Cornish campus – Cornish for short.

In 1990, Kerry Bolger became the new Head of Campus. He further shaped the educational approach by re-emphasising environmental education and the farm ecosystem, adding a garden of indigenous plants and broadening subject choices for students. He also sought to establish the campus as its own, fostering connections between Cornish and the wider community.

Challenges

The college opened a new Early Learning Centre in 1995 in order to attract more families, with a music, drama and arts department, a multi-purpose centre (gymnasium, assembly hall, indoor sports centre) and new classrooms following suit. The Big Experience – now the Make A Difference Experience – became a curriculum highlight, focusing on social justice and personal development through service in disadvantaged communities.

Despite suburban development prompting an extension to Year 10 by 2000, financial pressures grew and in 2011, the College Council announced that the campus would close at the end of the year. A group of parents formed the Our New College Association to persuade the College Council to reverse its decision or, if not, to purchase the land and create a new school in its place. Following discussions, the Uniting Church in Australia provided funding for the purchase of the land and assets from St Leonard’s College, with an agreement reached on 30 June 2011, with a new school to open in 2012.

The birth of Cornish College

Kerry Bolger was appointed the first Principal of Cornish College, which officially opened on 2 February 2012.

By 2014, the college had expanded to Year 11, with its first cohort of Victorian Certificate of Education students.

Growth and consolidation

Vicki Steer became Cornish’s second Principal in January 2016 after Kerry Bolger retired in 2015. Steer was instrumental in continuing to grow firm foundations by developing strong, clear policies; revising the Constitution; incorporating the college as a separate legal entity; updating the five-year Strategic Plan; and developing a far-sighted master plan which included a new Senior Studies Centre that set the benchmark for future building projects. 2017 marked five years of Cornish College and enrolments reached 701. Steer continued the college’s commitment to sustainability, oversaw the growth of an emphasis on outdoor learning and was key in driving the college’s educational philosophy forward.

Today

Vicki Steer retired in July 2019, with Deputy Principal Nicola Forrest succeeding her as the third Principal of Cornish College.

References
  1. "Associated Schools" https://victas.uca.org.au/community-learning/uniting-church-schools/
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