General News
12 September, 2025
Stepping back in time
FLURO colours and denim popped up at Camperdown College recently as past students of the school reunited and visited their old stomping ground 40 years after graduation.
Graduates from 1980-1985 returned to the school – which was then known as Camperdown High School – and toured the facilities available to students today.
Senior Campus Teacher Peter Rock said he watched the group, which had been brought together by Andrea Bell, and found very few of them had changed since graduation.
“The ‘student’ group, along with former teachers of the college Sue Pollock and Richard Meier then began a tour of the wonderful facilities to which our young people now have access, and impressed they certainly were,” he said.
“There were many surprises – the instrumental music centre (which was, in their time, a laundry area), the Doctors in Schools rooms, formerly the senior secretarial studies area, the drama centre (the old home economics rooms), the new home economics centre and Corangamite Trade Training Centre hair and beauty facility.
“We had the chance to check out the maths and English/humanities facilities (previously typing, commerce and graphics), the art/textiles areas (once was metalwork) and the language Centre (wasn’t that textiles?), along with the science and wood (technology) rooms, still in the same place, but beautifully updated and fit-for-purpose for the 2020s.
“The new technology and metal ‘shed’, along with the delightful outside grounds, were appreciated, as was the access to the Frederick Street Stadium.”
Mr Rock said the group were all pleased with how the school had evolved but retained the skeleton of the old days.
“As Andrea Bell communicated with me later, it was great to see the changes and new additions but ‘we loved how the skeleton of the school has not changed’,” he said.
“There certainly was lots of excited chatter as we toured the school, talk of wonderful times gone by, the school and memories of some fantastic times, events and people, as well as some serious catching-up for some who had not seen each other for a long time.
“When we finished the tour of the school, the group headed on to other establishments in Camperdown for the afternoon/evening and a lot more reminiscing about those years 1980-1985, and the ‘brief’ 40-year intervening period.
“More of the former students who couldn’t be there for the tour joined the group for the afternoon celebrations.
“The facilities are wonderful and were appreciated and admired by our former students and teachers, but – as was clearly on show on this day – a school is people.”
Read More: Camperdown