About us:

St Joseph’s is a small primary school located in the very diverse and vibrant suburb of Collingwood. One of two schools in the parish of Our Lady of the Southern Cross Collingwood / Clifton Hill, it has a long history dating back to the early 1860s.

Our school is rich in cultural diversity. It has a current enrolment of 111 students from a variety of cultural and religious backgrounds. This includes children from 13 different language backgrounds.

We believe that schools, along with families, play an important role in educating children while also promoting their social and emotional health. This is essential in improving their learning outcomes. Staff members at our school are highly committed to a holistic approach to schooling and therefore all school programs must be dynamic and responsive to need. We cater for a range of needs through support and extension. Many of the needs which emerge, are catered for through partnership and collaboration. Successful partnerships have been forged with other schools, business and community groups and agencies to support the educational, cultural, artistic, social and wellbeing programs we offer.


Our School Aims:

  • To strengthen and promote the Catholic culture and identity of the school.

  • To be enriched by the cultural and spiritual diversity of our community.

  • To create a vision for contemporary, personalised learning and to engage staff and students in a highly effective learning environment.

  • To build the capacity of our community to take responsibility for the individual and collective wellbeing of the community.

  • To provide conditions to that the social-emotional learning levels of students, teachers and families will improve.

  • To provide the conditions in which the ongoing safety of our children is prioritised in all areas using the newly created Child Safety Standards.

  • To nurture a professional culture characterised by a shared vision, inspirational and distributed leadership, collaborative work practices, strong commitment to teacher development, open communication and trust.

  • To share a sense of optimism and collective responsibility for the ongoing renewal of this community.

  • To work alongside parents as active partners in their child’s learning.