Department of Education - Victoria

The Coldstream area has been undergoing rapid change, partly due to the changing demographic of the area.  Originally built 48 years ago as a school to service a new estate in Coldstream, the original inhabitants are now moving on and a new wave of people with young families is entering the area. Our 4-hectare site is adjacent to Margaret Lewis Reserve and offers another learning and recreational space for our school.

The school currently has a school population of 91 and is set for growth with rising kinder enrolments. Teachers are FTE of 5.6, 1.2 principal class member and 7.0 Education Support.  This school's socio-economic band value has been consistently rising over the last years and is currently rated as Medium. Our children benefit from all the advantages of being in a small school but we maintain many programs and opportunities of much larger schools. Every child Is known to every staff member and we work collaboratively with families to ensure every child's emotional and social well-being and their academic success.

A very full curriculum is available and specialist areas include the Visual Arts, Performing Arts, School Production, Physical Education, AUSLAN, Reading Intervention, Library, Sensory Motor Program, STEAM and Robotics.  We place a high importance on Digital Technologies and ensuring that our students are well positioned to take their places in a technologically advanced global workplace.  Each child in 3-6 has a dedicated laptop and iPads  and chromebooks are basic tools in the P -2 area. Our students are very active in a range of sporting communities and we are able to offer students activities such as gymnastics, kayaking, golf, tennis, hockey, archery, cross country skiing and running, athletics, football, cricket, netball, basketball, volley stars, table tennis, badminton, interschool sports amongst other specialist sports.

Student Voice is very strong with children represented on School Council and we consult regularly with local community and the Shire of Yarra Ranges on local events. Our school is one of very few in the state that is a Junior Rotary School and we have community care focus.

 

During 20/21 we entered a period of community consultation in revisiting and reframing our school values and added COMPASSION and RESILIENCE to the student and staff selections of RESPECT and PERSONAL BEST.  These additions reflected community response to the events of the last two years and has set us up positively for the future. Our School Wide Positive Behaviour focus saw these values promoted in graphic installations around the school and in the development of the student co-constructed Expectations Posters accompanied by an acknowledgement system that allows for whole school achievement celebrations.

Over this period, the work we have invested in setting up the Education Precinct has borne fruit with new families entering the area, and has prompted the school to set up an Early Years Room to facilitate working families with no local access to long day care. This strategy supports families staying in the area for education Birth - Age 6 and offers continuity of care that has created unprecedented smooth transitions for children entering in Prep. Our Playgroup, which has been acknowledged as a 'best practice' playgroup in schools, has supported this process and earned us the 2021 VEYA award for Improving Access and Participation in Early Learning.

In 2025 CPS opened an onsite Kindergarten.

Together with our outstanding NAPLAN results - especially in Reading and Numeracy, there is no reason why anyone would need to leave the area for education B-6. The tone of the school is caring and gentle as evidenced by student demeanor and there is a real focus on high expectations and excellence.

 

Program Benefits