Student Leaders
A word from our School Captains
by Otis Williamson, Iris Thomson and Jesse Fesili
Term 3 has been an intense one, not least for us Year 12s who are prepping for our final SACs (assessments) and Exams, but the rest of the school has been just as busy. Some highlights we would like to mention are:
PHS’s Company 2026 held its production of Urinetown the Musical during Week 1. Taking on the American comedy musical, many students began rehearsing Urinetown back in Term 4 last year, meaning it was incredibly rewarding to see all the hard work pay off. Each show was full of smiles, cheers, laughter, and other things like that.
R U OK week was a huge success with our Year 12 VM students running a variety of fun activities running throughout the week. Activities such as webinars with Headspace, football tournaments, zine competitions with mentor classes, silent discos and many more ran over the week - all in relation to promoting mental health and asking the question, ‘are you ok?’.
Thirdly, as you may know, this year, our school has chosen to focus our annual fundraising campaign on the goal of supporting Bridge Darebin, a not-for-profit organisation based in Preston and Thornbury that runs a series of initiatives and programs aimed at supporting people in our community. This term, the school’s Casual Clothes Days for a Cause raised a whopping $3,340 for this amazing cause, which brings our campaign up to a total of $9,515, an outstanding achievement!
Additionally, PHS held its Spring Concert on Tuesday, 8 September. Every year, many of our school’s wonderful musicians flock to Darebin Arts Centre to showcase the talent in PHS’s many bands and ensembles. This year’s performance featured a concert band arrangement of a Kate Bush song and a team up between the school’s choir and percussion ensemble to play Africa by Toto, as well as Preston High’s first ever Symphony Orchestra.
On a more personal note, this will be Jesse, Iris and Otis’ last newsletter as School Captains. We would like to thank the school for this marvellous opportunity, and for all the fun we’ve had over the last six years at PHS.
Finally, we want to wish the incoming 2027 School Captains the absolute best as they step into their roles this term and for the year ahead. That’s all for this term but get excited for all the fabulous things we have planned for Term 4 as we end this year with a splash.
Sincerely,
Your 2026 School Captains
Preston House Captains report
by Gabe Prohasky, Cohort 2029, Tawny House
Over the course of Term 3, the house captains ran the first ever house chess, which was a huge success. Our inaugural house chess tournament had 42 people sign up to play, which is a great reflection of how much Preston High students love chess. There were some amazing games, and many students showed off some superb chess skills and met like-minded chess fans. After many games, we are down to the final four, with two Gliders and two Tawny still in the game.
House debating is also coming up next term and is an awesome way for students to practice their speaking skills and earn valuable house points. House Debating will involve students forming teams in their house, then creating arguments for their topic. The topics are "The voting age should be lowered to 16", and "International level sporting events should receive equal media coverage regardless of viewership". The topics give students an opportunity to explore real-life debate topics, and controversial topics that are happening in the world.
Next term, as we draw close to the end of the year, there will be more house competitions that students can participate in as the race for house points heats up!
Literary Leaders launch into Book Week
by Annalise Pingitore, Cohort 2026, Acacia House and Aadya Sood, Cohort 2030, Acacia House
Week 7 at Preston High oversaw one of the biggest national literary events of the year; Book Week! The week began with incredibly dressed students making their way to the library for a photo and a chance to be one of three to win a $30 book voucher prize!
Other activities included bracelet making (Tuesday), Bookmark making (Thursday), and the grand event of the Great Book Swap during Friday lunchtime.
We received several boxes of book donations and are so thankful to our school community for supporting the event, which allowed students (and teachers!) to buy a book for one gold coin. We were able to raise $228 for The Indigenous Literacy Foundation, who work to provide educational resources to remote First Nations Communities.
Thank you for all the enthusiasm and participation in the Book Week events!
STEM Leaders put the 'eggselence' into Science Week
by Luna Scenna, Cohort 2030, Acacia House
Week 6 at Preston High was filled with curiosity, discovery, and hands-on learning as we celebrated Science Week. Monday began with an investigation into the most reliable parachute for an egg. The goal was to not let the egg crack once dropped from one of the building's balconies. After planning, we developed our prototype and were excited for the competition to be held on Friday.
When Tuesday arrived, we were all buzzing with excitement to witness the Van de Graaff generator, a machine that allows us to actually see the effects of electricity in a pure form.
On Thursday, everybody was excited with our 'Ninja Warrior Snaps,' an event where we - with the power of science - broke a piece of wood using only our bare hands and a piece of paper. This was an event which truly made us embrace the warrior within ourselves.
Finally, Friday came and we all tested our parachutes on our eggs, and it was safe to say that the winner was Elsa! Thank you to everybody who participated in Science Week and contributed to the exciting atmosphere!