From the Principal

 

And the caravan moves on….

Last week students, teachers, support staff and parents came together to create our fourth Spring Dinner – a Middle Eastern feast which loosely referenced the food journey along the ancient Silk Road.

This event exceeded all expectations. Once again, the evening was sold out and I was delighted to feel the excitement in the atmosphere of diners returning from previous years with such confident expectations of having a great night.

We all realise that the Spring Dinner is an ambitious undertaking for a small school. I think it captures the joyful intersection of courageous and crazy! 

It is such a lot of work, drawing on the goodwill, the talent and the generosity of so many members of the community; it also represents many key characteristics of Preshil.

It arises, organically, from the Electives program; it is a multi-age project from 12 years of age to 68! Our Year 7 students work side-by-side with the ‘old hands’ from Year 12, together with staff, parents and volunteer professionals. Every one pitches in on an equal footing and contributes according to their capacities.

I do need to single out John Collins. It is one thing to be an executive chef with a team of professionals serving up 6-7 courses of sophisticated food in a properly equipped restaurant kitchen. It is quite another thing to bring together a menu and produce such a meal with a small team of Secondary School students, albeit talented, dedicated and committed young foodies, in a limited kitchen with an outside pizza oven as backup. John is the essence of the cool, calm role model and he is, without doubt, the reason so many students and staff are prepared to walk over hot coals for him. Awesome!

Similarly, each year Nerel Ezra is the magician in charge of a team of volunteers, comprising our Art students, facilities team and parents, who transforms the Library into a beautiful setting for the dinner and inspires the generosity of donors and auction bidders alike.

The Blackhall Kalimna Library has proved itself to be a marvellous space; flexible and robust, it morphs from a workaday centre of study and intense learning and presentations to a stylish venue for exhibitions, performances and the dinner. This building was designed by O’Connor and Houle back in 2010, the same company which has worked with us to design the remodelling and refurbishment of the Kalimna building.

Money raised from this year’s dinner will go to the final fit-out and equipment for the newly restored upstairs area of Kalimna and this will become the home for our IB Diploma Programme students from the start of 2019. With a larger group starting this course next year, Kalimna will provide a spacious and well-resourced centre for classes, individual and group study for Years 11 and 12.

Plans are under way for an official opening of this stunning new facility and I am looking forward to finalising the date and the details for what will be another great event later this year.

Marilyn Smith

Principal

marilyn.smith@preshil.vic.edu.au