Message from the Principal

A reminder from our last newsletter: Please click this link to drop pins on a map and add your feedback to the Darebin Council's survey on improving roads for our students. Help us get some action!

https://yoursay.darebin.vic.gov.au/YSYSgroupC

Congratulations Cohort 2024!

Cohort 2024s results are in, and we can celebrate their achievements in:

12% of ATARs over 90.
50% of ATARs in the top 25% of the State
6 VCE Baccalaureates
13 completed Vocational Majors

Our Dux this year is Harriet McNicol. Congratulations, Harriet! At the time of writing this newsletter, Harriet doesn't know her scores (she is at the beach with Cohort 2024 friends and wants to open the scores with her family) - so I won't share the scores here. Harriet was one of our foundation students. She appeared in our first ever newspaper photo (in the Preston Leader with her colleague Scarlett) when she was in grade 6 at Preston West PS. In the photo we were talking about how our new school would open in 2019!

Harriet's subjects were English, French, Revolutions, Literature and Philosophy.

Quirky, fun and celebratory stories from Cohort 2024's results:

Three close friends, who scored over 95 for their ATAR, were separated by only 0.05!
A student with a passion for Design has been offered elite scholarships for Design Courses she initially doubted she would get into.
Some of our students with disabilities and/or significant health needs have gone on to have early entry into Diploma courses or achieved ATARs that set them on a pathway to amazing future opportunities.
The cohort of students who joined us late into VCE from East Preston Islamic College (which went through some challenges in recent times) have all successfully completed their VCE after some difficult circumstances leading up to changing schools.
Six students were awarded the special VCE Baccalaureate for the combination of high achievement in a Language, in English and one of Methods or Specialist Maths.
Two early-start (Year 11) VCE students (close mates with a friendly rivalry) had seesawing results in SACs in Year 12 History. All year they kept swapping who was in the lead. They ended up with an identical +40 study score.
Scarlett and Sienna have started full-time apprenticeships, in Automotive and Hairdressing respectively. As young, full-time apprentices, they are well on the way to realising their dream careers and pursuing excellence in their vocational pathways

We are super proud of all the students whose stories are represented here and of all 89 students in the VCE-ATAR program and the 13 students in the VCE-VM program. Their resilience, determination, and effort are truly commendable. Each student should feel incredibly proud of their achievements and the strength they’ve shown

As we farewell the 102 students of Cohort 2024 - the first and smallest Cohort in our school - we look forward to seeing how the 165 students of Cohort 2025 excel and strive hard next year.

Welcome Cohort 2030

Next year we welcome 270 new Year 7s who all had a fabulous Grade 6 Orientation Day. All of these students are drawn exclusively from our designated neighbourhood area. Our student population will grow as this big cohort replaces the smallest cohort leaving, bringing us toward 1,300 students.

New Staff in 2025

Next year we will be welcoming 21 new teachers. Follow us on Facebook or Instagram to meet some of them in the new year.

2025 Clubs and Enhancements in 2025

To open our popular Enhancement program to more students, in 2025 we will be changing the shape of the programs and opening to students in the Bandler Parks and Ada programs for the first time.

To facilitate this, we will be more flexible in the timing of offerings and making a wider range of opportunities available. This means that there will no longer be a timetabled Learning Session 6 enhancement for Da Vinci students, but rather, Clubs, Activities, Sports and Enhancements will be offered before school, at lunchtime and after school. Depending what students elect into, they can access more things at more times.

All the new opportunities and times will be publicised at the start of Term 1, to start in week 3 (after the Year 9 camp, Swimming carnival and new student orientations that kick-off the year). Families should anticipate that students will finish at 3pm until they advise you what commitments they have signed up for.

2025 Year 10 Ada Study - end of the day.

In 2025, study sessions will no longer appear on Year 10 timetables. The sessions will still be run and will be available to students on-demand or when they are assigned to them by a teacher. Cohort 2027 will finish a normal day at 3pm unless they are accessing these sessions.

On behalf of all the Staff at Preston High School, I wish you a very happy festive season.

Sean Butler

Principal