Preston Life

Get ready for Mary Poppins the Musical!

IT'S FINALLY TIME! After eight months of rehearsals and so much work and effort poured in, you can now buy tickets to come watch our 2024 production of Mary Poppins the Musical. A special thanks goes out to all the Preston parents who gave up their weekend recently to help create our eye-catching Poppins sets, as shown in the pictures above. It is going to be an amazing show and we're all super excited for students, families and anyone else who wants to come along to enjoy our 'Practically Perfect' show.

The show dates are:

• Thursday, August 22 at 7PM
• Friday, August 23 at 7PM
• Saturday, August 24 at 1:30PM
• Saturday, August 24 at 7PM

All performances are at the Darebin Arts Centre, corner of Bell St and St Georges Rd, and you can purchase tickets through the link below BUT BE QUICK! Seats are selling very, very quickly and we don't want you to miss out!

Food donations needed

The Ged Kearny Scholars are holding a food drive from now until Week 7. Students would love any donations of non-perishable items from our school community to help families doing it tough.

Please drop off all items to the H4 drop off box. Donations will be sent to hunger relief charity Food Bank Victoria. Check the flyer to see what sort of items you can donate - and what you can't.

Donate your unwanted books to our Book Swap

It's time to clean out your book shelves because we're holding a Great Book Swap during Book Week to support the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF). The Great Book Swap is a fantastic way to celebrate reading and learn more about Indigenous languages and culture while raising funds for a great cause. 

This term families can donate unwanted books in good condition for our Book Swap event at drop off boxes in H3 or the Library. Books will be swapped for a gold coin on the day, with all money raised going to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, which provides books and learning resources to children living in remote communities across Australia.

You can also show your support by making a direct donation on our Great Book Swap page and sharing it with your friends, family and community via the button below.

Get ready for all the fun of Book Week

by Jackie Sinclair, Cohort 2027, Sugar Glider House

Book Week is about to hit at PHS! This year’s theme for the week is “Reading is Magic”, which Preston hopes to embrace! Keep your eyes and ears open for an amazing week of fun literature-related activities hosted in the library at lunchtime, starting Monday, 19 August.

Activities include bookmark making, blackout poetry, book-face photography, and many more fun activities, including an opt-in Manga Art workshop with real-life Manga artist Kenny Chan. 

The other event everyone’s waiting for is, of course, book dress up day, which will be held as part of the Book Week celebrations on the Tuesday! Finally, also as part of our literary celebrations, the Great Book Swap will take place on the Friday! As a fundraiser for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, our student-donated books will be sold in the library for a gold coin donation each, and many a bargain will be found! The Indigenous Literacy Foundation is a charity that works with Aboriginal and Torres-Strait Islander peoples to publish books in traditional languages and provide literary resources to remote communities. Overall, we’re in for an amazing week!

The great Houses debate series is coming

House debating is on!  Do you win arguments? Are you full of house pride and looking for a way to earn points? Your house needs you! 

Debating is a fun, exciting way to get involved with your house and compete in a light hearted environment. Two teams compete against each other in a 3-on-3 argument on a random assortment of topics.

You can sign up using the form found on Teams. Training starts in Week 5 and debates are in Week 7. Good luck Kingfishers! 

Students get sizzling for NAIDOC Week 

by Milloo Williams, Cohort 2029, Acacia House and Lavarah Karpany, Cohort 2029, Glider House

The first week of this term we celebrated NAIDOC Week. We ended the week with a BBQ hosted by the VCE-VM students and Preston Mob. The idea to have a BBQ was thought up by Preston Mob. The VM students did the cooking and Preston Mob did some face painting and helped serve the sausages.

The highlight was that kids made the effort to line up in the freezing cold to get a sausage. We managed to raise some money that we will donate to an Aboriginal organisation. We don't know which organisation we will donate it to yet, so make sure you read the next issue to find out!

Chess success

by Taj Gordon, Cohort 2026, Marbled Geckos

At the end of the last term, the PHS chess club competed in the Northern Star Secondary Open Zonal Chess tournament. We did exceptionally well, seizing a first-place finish with 24 points! A whole 4.5 points ahead of second place. 

Individually, PHS students had a 5-way tie for second place, each ending the competition with an excellent 6 out of 7 points, with an incredible nine students qualifying for state finals! With more to come! 

Many of the chess club’s members could not attend the Secondary Zonal tournament due to the immense popularity of the chess club and will instead participate in the Final Zonal tournament later this term. We are excited to compete in the State finals and look forward to the continued success of the PHS chess club.

Voices of Country

by Dina Al-Khafaji, Cohort 2025, Marbled Gecko House

For the first week back, the Year 11 Literature class and a wonderful group from Preston Mob was fortunate enough to have an incursion with passionate educator and researcher Dr Al Fricker to further explore what Unit 2 AOS 1 - Voices of Country has in store. Dr Fricker, a Dja Dja Wurrung academic, covered several integral points in his presentation such as how to be successful in the area of study, the interconnectedness of place, culture and identity, concepts of storytelling and reconciliation, and ongoing impacts of colonisation. Dr Fricker was thorough and always open to questions and a pleasure to meet.

Cohort reports

Cohort 2024

by Emily Findlow, Cohort 2024, Acacia House

Cohort 2024 are well into Unit 4 of our VCE subjects and almost halfway through our last full term of high school! So far this term we’ve had the Unit 3/4 Biology excursion to Melbourne University and our Whole Cohort Photo (above), which was very special. Very soon, the Year 12s will be able to enter their VTAC applications for university courses and further study if they choose. This marks a significant time, both emotional and exciting, which puts into perspective the time we have between now and the end of our high school journey. 

Cohort 2025

by Stellan Armstrong, Cohort 2025, Tawny House

Moving on to the second last term of the second last year, the mood is anticipatory before anything else. Many of our cohort's theatrical and musical projects are finalising their performances; the Mary Poppins musical is approaching completeness, and we have had multiple opportunities for our bands to perform on location and in venues. There are certainly difficulties for the students both participating in these productions and gearing up for their end of year assessments, but many students are taking the task in stride. Regardless of the challenges we continue to move forward as we look towards the end of this year.

Cohort 2026

by Otis Williamson, Cohort 2026, Glider House

Organised by the Cohort 2026 Ada Committee – a committee of student leaders – Year 10s had lots of fun competing in the Year 10 downball competition in Week 2. It was amazing to see all the cohort come together. Year 10s have a lot to look forward to this term. Firstly, we have our Real Industry Job Interviews (RIJI). These interviews are an opportunity for Year 10s to gain experience in what it’s like interviewing for a job. Over the following weeks, Year 10s will work on writing a cover letter for these interviews and further developing their resume. 

A sport/indoor activity program running in Ada next Thursday will give Year 10s a nice mid-week breakup. And finally, in the last few weeks of the term, Year 10s will tackle drug and alcohol education, study skills and inclusivity during Ada sessions. Overall Year 10s have lots to look forward to this term. 

Cohort 2027

by Ruby Stokes, Cohort 2027, Acacia House 

Although we are only a few weeks into Term 3, Cohort 2027 is already hard at work! The Year 9 students have not only been settling into their new elective classes for this semester, but also a new unit in Bandler Parks. This term, Bandler Parks classes revolve around the topic of ‘work skills.’ Students are learning about why we work and some of the main skills that employers look for. We also completed Morrisby interviews, which was a great opportunity to learn about our career interests and possibilities for the future. 

In Week 1 we also had our first cohort assembly of the semester in which we heard about the upcoming term and subject selections for Year 10 and also played ‘Face The Cookie’. In Week 3, students also participated in sessions about consent with the Northern Centre Against Sexual Assault. It has been a great start to the term already and we are looking forward to what lies ahead!

Cohort 2028 and Cohort 2029

by Ava O’brien, Cohort 2028, Tawny House and Anastasia Villella, Cohort 2028, Acacia House

Now that we have started Term 3, the Year 8s have started learning about creating algorithms with Microbit! Microbit is a software used to make your own algorithms and program it into a robot! Whereas the Tear 7s have been studying 'citizen science', where they work together to raise awareness about an animal that is endangered, and might become extinct. At the end of Da Vinci, they will present what they are doing, and some groups will get the chance to go to Melbourne Zoo and share their project. We can’t wait to see what the Year 7 and 8s continue to do this term!