Our Values

Collingwood is defined by its informality. No high table, gowns or titles. Ours is a community built on equality and respect where relationships between students, staff and alumni are open, direct and collaborative. Students are not on the margins of college life: they help to shape it, working closely with college staff and leading from the front. 

Our values are grounded in our motto Aime Le Meilleur (‘Love the Best’). For us, this is not about narrow ideas of success, but about enabling every member of our community to recognise and realise their potential: academically, socially and personally and in ways that are meaningful to them. 

Students are at the centre of everything we do. Through a community that includes staff, SCR members, alumni and visiting fellows, Collingwood creates an environment in which intellectual, creative, cultural and personal development can flourish. We expect our students not only to achieve, but to contribute and to support others, to take responsibility and to strengthen the community around them. Collingwood is foremost its people past, present and future.  

To be ‘the best’ at Collingwood is therefore not simply about individual success. It is about the standards we set, the way we work together and the impact we have on others.