Preston Life

The great trip to China 

by Blaise Kramer White, 11C

At the end of Term 1, Chinese students from across Cohorts 2027, 2026 and 2025 went to China, visiting three cities in total: Beijing (北京), Xi'an (西安) and Shanghai (上海). In Beijing we were able to experience amazing views and sites. We climbed the Great Wall, visited Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City as well as the Summer Palace and Temple of Heaven. Among these amazing sites, we also experienced Beijing culture with a Hu Tong Rickshaw tour, Peking Opera, Peking duck and hot pot dinners with our favourite tour guide 'Mr Blue'. 

Next up was a bullet train ride to the beautiful city of Xi'an where we took in the beauty of the Wild Goose Pagoda Temple and famous Terracotta Warriors. We experienced the flavours of Xi'an with a trip to the vibrant Muslim Market and a dumpling banquet. Despite only being in Xi'an two days we loved the experience and had some of our favourite places of the trip!

We ended our trip on a high note in Shanghai. Experiencing ancient culture in the new Shanghai Museum as well as the beauties of architecture in the Yu Yuan gardens before enjoying Shanghai cuisine from the 39th floor with spectacular views of Shanghai and scenic sunset cruise along Shanghai's famous waterfront, The Bund. We visited the Shanghai Tower to enjoy the nightlights of Shanghai from the second tallest building in the world, after exploring the beautiful French Concession District. Our third day in Shanghai was spent in the beautiful and ancient canal town of Zhujiajiao, where we enjoyed the views with boat rides as well as some souvenir shopping to top it off. Ending the night with a breathtaking circus performance. 

Our final day of the trip was bittersweet with a quick visit to Shanghai history museum before some last-minute shopping and a bus ride to the airport. We were all so sad to leave but grateful for the amazing opportunity to go and thankful to our teachers for making it possible!

Behind the scenes at the Year 12 Formal 

On Friday 9 May, the Year 12 students tore up the dance floor at the Year 12 Formal, held at The Sovereign in Thornbury. Everyone looked stunning in their formal attire and made the most of the photo booth and balloon arch to create lasting memories. After some award presentations, the dance floor became the most popular feature of the night. It was a wonderful night and a great way to celebrate the achievements of Cohort 2025 so far. 

Rainbows to celebrate IDAHOBIT

by Henry Goodman, Cohort 2029 Acacia House

On Monday 19 May, we celebrated IDAHOBIT (International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism, and Transphobia) by handing out rainbow pins outside H03 at the start of the day. During lunchtime, Rainbow Alliance Club handed out more pins and did face painting of any requested pride flag. (special thanks to Cassidy and Elsa and anyone else who did face painting). It was a really fun session to connect with our community. 

Year 9 students take the YLead

Our Year 9 student leaders recently had the opportunity to attend the YLead Altitude Leadership Day, where they joined peers from a wide range of schools across Victoria.

This dynamic event focused on developing the skills and mindset of young leaders through a series of interactive workshops and inspiring presentations.

Throughout the day, students explored key leadership qualities including effective communication, networking, inclusive practices, and the importance of empowering others. They also reflected on the dangers of perfectionism and how to lead with authenticity and pride. A major highlight of the day was hearing from two keynote speakers who shared powerful personal stories of overcoming adversity and emphasised the importance of resilience and inclusivity in leadership. 

Students also enjoyed connecting with like-minded individuals from both public and private schools and participating in energising team-building activities. Our Year 9 leaders returned with renewed motivation, clear goals, and a strong sense of purpose. They are excited to apply what they’ve learned as they continue to grow as leaders within our Class of 2028 community.

Chookas to our VCE Drama students

We were lucky to have the VCE Drama class present their ensemble performances last week. Students worked in groups over ten weeks to self-devise a performance that connected to the theme Fame vs Façade. 

We saw celebrities, actors, musicians, late night hosts, and family vloggers all represented onstage. Students also took charge on developing lighting design and sound design to further enhance the experience for their audiences.

Congratulations to our school's first VCE Drama class for putting on two evenings of stellar performances! We can't wait to see your solo performances later this year.

Senior play a smash hit

In Week 4 this term, our talented Senior Ensemble performed the inaugural Preston High Play – Exiles.  Combining stories from Greek Theatre, Shakespeare, Documentary Theatre, Euripides and Broadway, Exiles tells a reflected story of The Golden Age – Louis Nowra’s 1985 work exploring Australia’s colonial past and its present ripples. 

Exiles asked us to consider: what could we become if we looked for our similarities, rather than focusing on our differences? Exiles was received to rave reviews by our community, including one audience member who wrote:  

“The Preston High school senior theatre group follow the school motto so bravely by presenting a play that leads, explores and inspires the audience to somatically embody what it is to be exiled. Brilliant!!!!!!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️” 

Congratulations Senior Ensemble on all your hard work and dedication!    

Preston students talk the talk

by Zac Lennane, Year 12 

The Plain English Speaking Award (PESA) is a state-wide public speaking competition hosted by the VCAA. The competition has three stages: state heats, semi finals, and finals. I participated in the state heats at Overnewton Anglican College on Tuesday 20 May. The four participants including myself and another Preston Year 12 student Marwa Liban as well as two from Overnewton.

Each participant did a prepared speech lasting five or six minutes. I got to listen to speeches about medical misogyny, Palestine, and youth stress, before performing my speech on gambling and its influence on young people. You feel scared getting up and starting to speak, even though I had done this speech so many times, the real thing was still scary. 

As soon as I started speaking, fear left my body; my main focus was making my point clear. We had a morning tea, followed by an impromptu speech which we were given 4 minutes to prepare. As soon as I walked in the room for the impromptu, I was shaking. The prompt was “better safe than sorry”, so I wrote about how human evolution wouldn’t have happened if we kept being conservative and not taking risks. I performed my impromptu, which went ok, and then sat down and waited for the results. 

After a period of deliberation I was announced as the winner! I didn’t expect to win, but I was quite happy with it! Next up, semi finals on June 19 and 20.

Season of Excellence Excursions 

Our VCE Art: Creative Practice, Media, and Visual Communication Design (VCD) students explored the Season of Excellence exhibitions which contained selected works from previous Year 12 students who showed excellence in their subject (including our own Cohort 2024 student Pearl Stewart-Young!) 

Students completing Art: Creative Practice were able to explore ‘Top Arts’ where they were able to look at Year 12 folios from the selected students in the exhibition, and admire the diverse range of artworks selected. Media students attended Top Screens where they were able to watch student films, gaining insight into their creative thinking and gaining inspiration from the range of works. VCD Students attended Top Designs where they previewed Final Design Solutions from the four design fields, as well as looking at the folios of previous students who were able to produce high quality works.

Through exploring these exhibitions - which contain some of the strongest student works from 2024 - we hope our students are inspired to push themselves and challenge their thinking to produce amazing works of art, design, and film.