Bellerin
A PLACE TO SHINE
As a school, we value the rich cultural heritage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and respect their deep and abiding connection with the Land. We acknowledge, in particular, the Wadawurrung People as the Traditional Owners of the Land upon which this school is built and with their guidance, we seek to further our appreciation of their custodianship of the Land so that we may share this responsibility with them.
Bellerin means shine in the Wadawurrung language, and our Sports and Wellbeing Centre will be just that, a place for the College community to shine like the stars we seek through our values of integrity with compassion, community with diversity, aspiration with humility, respect with grace and endeavour with courage.
The Bellerin symbol was created by local Indigenous artist Tarryn Couzens, with the permission of Wadawurrung Traditional Owners, and symbolises The Geelong College community shining together.
The 1934 First VIII
‘The path of life is one of ups and downs, one in which the odds are great, and defeat has to be encountered. Sport trains us for life, since it teaches us to take our defeats with a smile, and to say, “We live to fight another day.” To set the cause above renown, to love the game beyond the prize. Surely this is the essence of the sporting spirit which does so much to help us along the road of life.’
- Vautin H Andrews Pegasus June 1934
Why a Sports + Wellbeing Hub?
In the Wadawurrung language Bellerin means shine and this outstanding facility will be a place for Geelong College students to shine, in sport, and in life.
Our vision is to define a sporting precinct at the Western edge of the campus. Bellerin will be a state-ofthe-art learning and sports space that comprises a double court gymnasium, elite training facility and event space overlooking Mackie Oval. It will host sports training, APS and other competition, school events and additional learning spaces. Bellerin will be used by the broader College community, and become another extraordinary place for school gatherings.
Car parking and storage facilities will be underground, and the gradient of the slope allows a significant footprint that
sits in concert with the campus among landscaped gardens.
The project also encompasses the formalisation of the streetscape on Claremont Avenue, moving two heritage houses to open the entrance to Mackie House. Both houses will be relocated on College grounds and will be used for a new medical centre and as an expansion of Mossgiel House.
By positioning the new facility at the edge of the campus we allow for long-term growth at its centre for a new library and learning centre. It also enables the existing gym to continue operation during the construction phase.
Physical+healthactivity
The benefits of regular physical activity are well known, particularly for young people forming lifelong habits. In those with an active lifestyle strong joints, bones and muscles, as well as mental and social wellbeing, and protection against chronic disease is evident. There is also evidence to suggest that students who are physically active perform better in their studies.
The College is committed to delivering, not only a strong sporting program, but to provide substantial opportunities each day for students to be physically active and enjoy a range of fitness activities.
Bellerin, our new Sports and Wellbeing Centre, will be a place for students, staff and community members to be active, and to experience the range of benefits an active lifestyle brings.
The Australian Department of Health recommends that young people undertake moderate to vigorous physical activity for 60 minutes each day, and that three days per week they do muscle-strengthening activities. Across our Physical Education program, sports training, APS competition and House Sports programs, on average, a Senior School student would be active for at least 95 minutes per day. Many students who play club sport, do extra training for APS sport, attend the gym or pool, or choose to study VCE Physical Education and Health, would do far more.
From the Chair of Council
The Bellerin Campaign is a generational opportunity to build a legacy for the students and families of The Geelong College. This will enable not only stateof-the-art sporting facilities that are integral to the health and wellbeing of our school community, but allow us to develop the next phase of a rich learning environment for our school.
Prof. Richard Page
The time is now
With rapid growth in the Geelong region, the College is experiencing unprecedented demand on enrolments, and therefore on our sports and learning facilities.
As Melbourne expands to the West, we are truly a regional school in a metropolitan context, and it is time that our sporting facilities reflected this position.
We now enjoy one of the most outstanding and awarded Junior Schools in the country. It is time to turn our focus to the heart of the College, the Senior School, and to ensure the quality of the learning
Unprecedented increase in enrolment demand
From the Principal
The College is an incredibly special place that has developed so many wonderful contributors to our community over its 160 years, and our sports program is at the heart of that development. Bellerin will be an amazing and iconic space for our students and our community to gather, and to prioritise fitness and health.
Dr Peter Miller
When you walk into most APS schools in Melbourne, they have big gyms, and you take a step back and look at how good it is. It would be really good to have that at Geelong College, something schools arriving would be impressed by. It would really improve our sports program”
- Harrison, Year 9
Sport at TheCollegeGeelong
For 160 years we have run onto fields and courts, stepped into boats and dived into pools with the Pegasus on our chests. Ready to represent the College with courage, endeavour and pride.
Today, 940 secondary students represent the College across 20 team sports each weekend.
While we have wonderful outdoor spaces and ovals envied by many, our indoor court spaces are noncompliant for basketball and netball competition and there simply isn’t room to train, for our growing numbers, in these sports.
As the focus on cross functional training for all sports grows, we also need more space for strength training and studio spaces for ergos and spin bikes. Our change room facilities, adapted in the mid 1980’s to allow for girls as well as boys, are no longer fit for purpose. But perhaps most importantly, as our region goes from strength to strength, we need more classrooms.
This Sports and Wellbeing Centre will become the epicentre of sport learning at The Geelong College. It will be a space that encourages
participation simply by offering a place for students to find something they enjoy.
Sport and physical health and wellbeing is in our DNA. Since it opened in 1861, the College has believed in the importance of sport and physical activity. To develop strength of body, is also to develop strength of character and of mind, this is the strength to keep trying, the resilience to pick yourself up again and the ability to focus. It is being a good sport, a gracious winner and loser, and being fair and respectful to your opponents, coaches and referees. It is also about leadership, teamwork, encouraging others, and great friendship and comradery.
At College, sport – including Physical Education, training and team competitions – is one cornerstone of developing happy and healthy children and teenagers.
Football Match on the Main Oval, circa 1964
We need...
Indoor courts Room to train Strength training spaces
Adequate change rooms More classrooms A new medical centre
Bellerin will provide:
Strength training spaces
The new weights room will be an elite strength and conditioning facility with a focus on free weights training. The importance of strength training is well recognised in sport at all levels. Developing a base level of fitness and core strength, as well as sport specific training, helps players to have better skills and reduces the chance of injuries. While our current strength training area is well used, it is too small and under resourced for a school of this size.
Classrooms
With considerable growth in the Geelong region, and the new Geelong College Junior School opening in 2020, enrolments have grown by approximately 30% in the past 10 years. We now need more classrooms to accommodate growing numbers at Senior School. The inclusion of four classrooms will allow theorybased learning to occur within the new facility. The additional classrooms will also relieve pressure for teaching space across the campus.
Room to train
With just one court it is difficult to have more than two teams of netball or basketball, or six badminton pairs training at one time, hence the need for staggered training times or the use of alternate venues. We need to be able to have two training sessions running concurrently, so that the programs have more of a sense of a team, and first and second teams can be role models for upcoming players.
Basement & Car Park
Adequate change rooms
Changeroom facilities should be comfortable, safe, well planned, linked to the playing courts and be grouped to allow multiple class groupings in lieu of a single space.
The Rolland Centre opened in 1969. The change rooms were adapted in the 1980s for female students but have, for many years, been inadequate in size and offering. Larger and more modern change facilities that are gender inclusive are an imperative for the College into the future.
Indoor courts
The new gymnasium will become the central competition and training space within the new facility. It will host APS basketball, netball, badminton, as well as general training. Seating and vantage of the playing courts will be maximised throughout the facility and across different levels. The current court space in the Rolland Centre is not compliant for competition netball or basketball, so courts at Middle School or alternate venues are hired to host our APS fixtures.
A new Medical centre
Our current Medical centre is located over Noble Street, within the grounds of Mossgiel House. It is a small and dilapidated space.
A new Medical centre at the centre of the campus and adjacent to our sporting facilities will make medical care more accessible and visible for students, staff and visitors.
The new centre will be housed in a heritage house relocated from Claremont Street which will be refurbished to a best-practice, modern medical treatment facility.
Sustainability
A number of strategies have been integrated to allow the most sustainable outcome for this project, including:
• Passive orientation with active design measures
• Materials with low embodied carbon (brick and weathering steel)
• Lean structure and tight footprint
• Interior materials carefully selected for their material properties
• All Electric with no reliance on fossil fuel (ie gas)
• Mixed mode ventilation with night purge and ability to cross ventilate the hall
• Water harvesting
• Performance double glazing and facade systems
• Heritage houses are being relocated rather than demolished
• LED lighting
• PV cells to offset energy usage
“I enjoy gaining strength in the gym. Lifting weights is not commonly something women do, but I really like the empowerment that comes with it.”
- Sophie W, Year 10
Bellerin: The location
The Bellerin project will create a sports precinct between Mackie Oval and Rankin Field, completing the Western edge of the campus and reinvigorating unattractive and little used spaces. The building and landscaping will be a place of distinction in this section of the school, and onto Claremont Avenue, with its vertical colonnade brick design, sitting within the slope and natural planting.
The Rolland Centre will remain in use as a gym, training facility and change room area while the Bellerin project is underway, with longer term plans to create a library and learning centre.
Aphrasia St
Talbot St
Noble St
Keith Humble Centre Austin Gray Centre
The Rolland Centre
Morrison Hall
Cloister George Morrison Building
Dining Hall
Garnet Fielding Wing
Davey House
Bellerin
New Medical centre
Mackie House
Mackie Oval
Warrinn
Chapel
Main Oval
Rankin Field
“What I love about sport is getting out, having a go and spending time with friends. I love trying lots of different opportunities and mixing with students in different year levels. Sport at College is a great experience.”
- Sophie R, Year 9
Bellerin
The new gym will greatly benefit the College’s netball program by allowing our girls to train and play on regulation size courts and surrounds instead of travelling to other campuses and schools.
We will be able to have games and trainings run concurrently with the basketball program, in place of staggered game times and using alternate venues due to the current space.
Immersing our players in state-of-the-art facilities for all facets of their training, including strength and conditioning, will bolster each girls development and progress our program further than ever before.
Sarah Langley Teacher In Charge – Netball
A home for courtsports
Ambassadors The Bellerin Campaign
Tom Hawkins AFL Footballer
All the girls in my family have thrived at The Geelong College and sport is a big part of our family life. One of the reasons I love the College are the great pathways in sport for all students.
Image: The Geelong Advertiser
Stewart McArthur (OGC 1951)
Former Federal Politician
Staying fit and well has been a lifelong habit for me, no doubt, formed while at College. As I age, I value the health benefits of an active lifestyle even more highly than a spirited competition.
Image: The Geelong Advertiser
Rebecca Maddern (OGC 1995)
Sports Journalist and Television Presenter
I have been fortunate to see so many wonderful and inspiring sporting moments throughout my career. For me, sport is a great equaliser, connector, and motivator. My love of sport began at College and the memories and friends I made will last a lifetime.
Richard Colman AM (OGC 2003)
Paralympic & World Championship Gold Medallist
I did every single sport I could growing up. I think that’s why I’ve become an athlete, because the College was so inclusive and supportive of me being involved. It really did show me that even though I’m in a wheelchair I can still be involved in nearly any sport or opportunity.
Steph Williams (OGC 2020)
AFL Footballer, Geelong Cats
As a young Indigenous woman, I am really grateful for the opportunities sport has given me. Through sport I have been able to explore leadership and become a role model for my community, as well as develop my own abilities to a professional level. I really loved sport and PE at College, I made lots of friends, started to really train, and had the privilege of becoming the school’s first Girls’ Football captain!
Image: AFL
The Bellerin Campaign
Committee
Dr Hugh Seward AM (OGC 1966) – Chair
Mr Paul Sheahan AM (OGC 1959) – Deputy Chair
Ms Kathryn Alexander (Past Parent)
Mrs Fiona Balaam (OGC 1983)
Mrs Sally Bishop (OGC 1981)
Mr Hugh Bromell (OGC 1955)
Mr Scott Chirnside (OGC 1970)
Mr Cameron Hamilton (OGC 1998)
Mr Frank Herd (OGC 1969)
Mr Andrew Lawson OAM (OGC 1956)
Dr Sarah Leach (OGC 1973)
Ms Anna Webb (Current parent)
This extraordinary facility gives the school the opportunity to enable our students to find great enjoyment in their exercise and make this a habit for life.
Awardwinning design
The College is thrilled, once again to partner with John Wardle Architects to bring our vision for the new sports and wellness hub to life. Founder and Old Collegian, John Wardle (OGC 1971) is a renowned architect having won the Architect Institute of Australia’s highest honour, the Gold Medal in 2020.
John is as much a navigator as an architect and enjoys drawing many threads together to create something far greater than first imagined. This is something we have witnessed since beginning work with John and the team on our two-campus masterplan which was designed to bring the College’s facilities into the 21st century for student learning and well-being.
Our first project to stem from this 30-year strategic study was the new Junior SchoolCampbell House which won both the Henry Bastow Award for Educational Architecture and the Regional Prize in the Victorian Architecture Awards in 2021. John’s long association with the school gives him unique insight and a sympathetic understanding of the college’s learning space requirements, the
team also draw upon the school’s approach to the Reggio Emilia philosophy.
With Bellerin, John brings his understanding of the Senior School campus where the heritage buildings and more modern interpretations create learning precincts across the campus. His vision for Bellerin is for it to be functional and outstanding in design, and for it to sit in concert with its beautiful surrounds.
“Bellerin will become a new campus anchor for sport, training and wellness. With extraordinary engagement from the College, we have reimagined this precinct to create a distinct exercise and learning precinct, taken cars off campus which allows this double court facility to pronounce itself powerfully at the edge of campus.”
John Wardle - Architect
The cost of the project
For the first time since the appeal for the Keith Humble Centre for Music and the Performing Arts in 2007 the College needs help from the community to realise our vision.
Bellerin will be built at a cost of $28 million and we are seeking support from our community to ensure it can be built to the highest standards, and will be a legacy for the future.
The objective of our fundraising campaign is to secure gifts and pledges of $8m by the end of 2023.
$28 million total cost
$20 million will be funded by the College and The Geelong College Foundation $8 million community support sought
Ways of giving
Gifts can be made as a single donation or can be made in instalments over three years, and may be paid annually, half yearly, quarterly or monthly.
All gifts are tax deductible.
All gifts will be officially acknowledged - unless you wish your gift to remain anonymous, but details of the level of your gift will be confidential.
Direct gift of the full amount A gift pledged over three years
Be part of our team!
Remember the pride you felt when you pulled on your Pegasus jumper and strode onto the field, the elation of winning and the humbling defeats?
Remember the feeling of competing with your teammates or training until it hurt?
Does that school spirit still shine within you?
To achieve our ambitious fundraising target, we need significant philanthropic support from The Geelong College community. Philanthropic support is not about keeping the lights on; it is about transforming the College into its next era of educational excellence.
Will you join with fellow members of the College community and invest in current and future students, and the long-term success of our school? This is your opportunity to show your support in a very practical way through a gift to the Bellerin Campaign. Bellerin will help the next generation of the green and blue shine, through the lessons they learn in sport. They need you on their team.
We ask that you consider a gift, large or small, to help our College.
To discuss the Bellerin Project further, please contact:
Dr Hugh Seward AM Campaign Chair
hugh@hughseward.com.au
+61 417 325 515
Dr Peter Miller, Principal peter.miller@geelongcollege.vic.edu.au
+61 3 5226 3107
Peter Moran, Associate Director for Advancement peter.moran@geelongcollege.vic.edu.au
+61 3 5226 3194
