School Updates
Greetings Preshil Alumni,
We are excited to be bringing you all our second edition and new format of the Alumni newsletter. We are still adding on to the alumni database, so my apologies if this is the first edition that you are receiving. We hope that with regular communication, we can work towar a strong and connected Alumni community to welcome each of our graduating years into as they move out into the broader community.
Below is an update on some of the comings and goings of this term across the various programs and campuses.
Yirrkala Community Visit:
Just today, we had the honour of hosting a group of educators from Melbourne University and the Northern Territory. The group came from a school in the community of Yirrkala, on Yolngu Country, in East Arnhem Land. Teachers from the school along with Professor of Aboriginal Studies at University of Melbourne, Marcia Langton AO FASSA FTSE, and Yalmay "The Bilingual Warrior" Yunipingu visited Preshil with an eye to observing general pedagogy and, more specifically, the approach to inclusive education and wellbeing.
As it turns out there is a long standing connection the Yolngu community has to Preshil and the family of Donald Thomson, the well-known Anthropologist who did much of his work in the north of Australia. Donald Thomson had family who attended Preshil and based on this connection, there was a trip to Yirrkala with Preshil students in the 1990s/2000s.
It was a privilege to host the Yolngu team of educators and we hope to have more meaningful exchange with them in the future.
Arlington End of Year Disco:
Our annual Arlington School Disco date is on Friday 24 November, from 5:00pm to 7:00pm. This year the parent reps have partnered with our Student Event Committee to plan this event. Tickets are $30 per child, which includes pizza, drinks, an ice cream and a special guest entertainer. Adult tickets are free. I'm looking forward to boogying down with you all!
For Bookings, please go to https://www.trybooking.com/CNHGK
Preshil Signet Ring:
Our Year 11 Business Management team have been working hard for the last half of this year on developing the perfect commemorative ring to provide a memory of the great experiences and friends that Preshil provides. Members of the Preshil community will soon be able to purchase a Preshil branded signet ring (photo below). Year 11 Student, Ajax Abrahams, will have a booth at Summer Sol Festival (Fri 8 Dec) selling the signet rings to all members of the wider Preshil community including our Alumni community.
Kindergarten:
An important part of Preshil's Kindergarten is creating space for students and families to share meaningful aspects of their cultural traditions.
Throughout last week the Kindergarten children learned about the Diwali festival of light. Celebrated by many of our families on the 12th of November, the kindergarten children shared stories of celebration, shared treats and created clay diyas decorating them with bioplastic jewels. On Wednesday the children listened to music and light a candle inside their diya.
We've also included photos from our Kindergarten children celebrating Onigiri Day. Onigiri day celebrates the ancient cuisine of onigiri, or rice balls. The name onigiri refers to the squeezing of the rice into a ball and the way we hold onto it when we eat it. The children were taught how to do this from scratch with special animal moulds. They enjoyed the experience of squeezing the rice and pushing it into the mould.
PYP Update:
Next year we have our five yearly PYP Evaluation. Evaluation is a wonderful opportunity to showcase what we do here at Arlington to the broader IB community. This will involve sharing our school's long history of student agency.
This year in our year long multi-age unit, How We Organise Ourselves, student agency has been a highlight. The children and teachers formed committees focused on areas of interest, allowing children from the Lighthouse to Peppercorns to become agents of change within their community. Together they researched their areas of interest, analysing the data collected, sought feedback from the wider community at whole school meetings and then actioned real change on the Preshil environment. You may have seen these changes appearing throughout the school this term - from raising funds for charities to the installation of our new pond.
As an IB continuum school, this unit was developed with intentionality and consideration of how students agency in the PYP progresses into their lives and alongside the ChangeMaker program in the MYP and DP.
Parents, children and community members are an integral part of our evaluation process. We look forward to engaging with families and community members about our upcoming evaluation in Term One.
MYP Update (A Snapshot Across the Year 7-10 MYP Classrooms):
Underpinned by a rich and engaging process of inquiry, research and questioning, the students across the MYP have continued to produce exemplary and purposeful learning outcomes, a reflection of the heartfelt teaching pedagogy, and a willingness from the students to embrace the opportunities to learn and grow.
Term 4 is also an opportunity for students to prepare themselves for the next academic year, ensuring that they have completed all of their formative and summative tasks, and finishing the year on a positive note.
The Year 7’s continued to build upon their mathematical knowledge, learning about directed numbers, and the process of balancing equations. In Individuals and Societies, the Year 7’s spent time addressing different migration stories, culminating in a research task that looked at their own family’s migration story.
In Science, the Year 8’s undertook an inquiry into a scientific topic of their choice, informed by an area of inquiry and a research question that they developed, and subsequently investigated, using an incremental scientific research process. Examples of the research questions students developed included, ‘How does the ripeness of strawberries affect how much DNA can be extracted?’ and ‘How the density of salty water affects the mass of onion skin cells.’ In Physical Health and Education, the Year 8’s focussed on ‘Healthy Relationships’, that included creating a role play scenario that exemplified three ways to deal with ‘a situation’ in three different ways - Passive, Aggressive and Assertive, culminating in a performance to their peers.
In Year 9 Japanese, students continued to develop their language and conversational skills, culminating in a summative task that required the students to have a conversation with their teacher about their school life, including which subjects they study, their favourite/least favourite subjects, what they are good at and what their school is like; all in Japanese. In the Year 9 Visual Arts class, students developed an applied understanding of the art elements, which are the basic visual building blocks that can be observed or experienced in an artwork. Students continued to refine their skills, through lino carvings, and completing a large collaborative oil pastel artwork piece, in Blackhall Kalimna.
The Year 10 Language and Literature classes studied three short stories from Maxine Beneba Clarke's anthology, ‘Foreign Soil’, developing an applied understanding of different narrative forms, including Narrative shape/structure: turning points, climax, denouement, chronology, foreshadowing, and use of memory. The Year 10 Drama students studied, devised, and acted in Epic Theatre, and the concepts of Bertolt Brecht, which culminated in a research presentation that exemplified their understanding of a convention of Brecht.
DP Update:
Term 4 is always a busy and exciting time of year for our senior cohort, with a good balance of hard work and celebration. The Year 12s finished their last day of classes with a day full of good-natured pranks - from having their teachers solve a series of riddles around the school to locate their missing coffee, to holding a “wedding” with the whole school invited. After a week of dedicated study, the exam period commenced - totalling 41 exam papers, over 15 days, it was time for them to put their skills to the test. On the final day of exams, students, teachers and families shared in celebration at the Valedictory Night, with students each being gifted an “ode”, and in turn taking the time to thank their teachers for all of their support over the last two years, and the time they have spent learning together at Preshil. We wish the Year 12s all the best as they enjoy their well-deserved time off, and we offer them our continual support as they eagerly await their release of results in early January.
While the Year 12s may have wrapped up the year, there is still plenty happening in the DP world - the Year 11s are currently participating in their end of year program which includes exams and the important Theory of Knowledge Exhibition, held at Thursday's celebration of learning. They will also be spending time at the State Library of Victoria, honing their research skills for their Extended Essay project. Finally, they will complete their Group 4 Project - a collaborative, interdisciplinary inquiry project which will draw on their learning in the sciences they each study.
While the Year 11s prepare to become Year 12 students, this is an important transition time for our Year 10 cohort as well, as they move into the DP with a 3 week Early Commencement program. This is a great opportunity to get a head start with their learning in each of their new DP subjects, and to spend time forming collaborative relationships with their teachers and peers.
Celebration of Learning:
Last Thursday was the Celebration of Learning at BK. The Celebration of Learning showcased our year 7-11 students' projects, presentations, exhibitions, and performances for all of the BK community to enjoy. The evening began with a performance from our Year 10 Band before I welcomed the students and families to the evening (following a brief Can-can dance lesson with Manny from Year 11), giving a special shout out to the fabulous Preshil teachers for all of their hard work. Students from each year level then spoke about their experiences and highlighted different elements of school life in their respective year levels. Our Head of Campus, Karoline, then officially opened the Celebration of Learning evening for all to enjoy. I've included some photos from the evening below (including the superb sausage sizzle!).
Key Term 4 Dates:
24 November (5pm-7pm)
- End of Year Disco (Arlington)
8 December (3.30pm-7pm)
- Summer Sol & 90th Anniversary Celebrations
I've included a video of Milena from Year 8 discussing her experiences at Preshil. We appreciate hearing the way our students speak about their school. To that end, we will be sharing more student voices in videos on social media and in future newsletters.
Josh Brody
Principal
josh.brody@preshil.vic.edu.au