Preston Life

The Pearl in Preston's VCE art crown

What a night for Preston High alumna Pearl Stewart-Young as she attended the official opening of the prestigious Top Arts 2025 exhibition at NGV. 

Pearl, part of our Cohort 2024, was among 40 finalists showcasing 49 works that exemplify the innovative and imaginative spirit of young artists. The exhibition, part of the VCE Season of Excellence, is on at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Federation Square, until July 20, 2025. 

Principal Sean Butler and Head of Art Bonnie Brown, along with Pearl’s family, were invited by the NGV to the opening in honour of Pearl's achievement. As well as being chosen from more than 1200 entries to showcase her photographic artwork in the exhibit, Pearl's work was picked for the cover of the exhibition booklet. Impressive!

The Season of Excellence also features Top Designs 2025 at Melbourne Museum and Top Screen 2025 at ACMI, highlighting outstanding works across creative disciplines VCD and Media. 

For more information about the Exhibition and Pearl’s Creative Practice, visit the link below.

Luna goes for gold in chess

Congratulations to Year 7 student Luna Scenna for winning gold at the Secondary Open Zone chess competition. Luna's win catapults her into both the Secondary Open State Final and Secondary Girl's State Final.

Luna faced strong competition from students up to Year 12 level, and finished fifth overall from 79 competitors. A fantastic result for Luna's first secondary level competition!

At camp with Bandler Parks

Cohort 2028 kicked off the year with enthusiasm, heading straight to The Summit Leadership Camp in Traralgon during Week Two. Designed to build resilience, confidence, and connection, The Summit’s programs align with our Term One focus on developing personal leadership skills through experiential learning. 

Throughout the camp, students challenged themselves with a range of activities, including the giant swing, high ropes course, laser tag, leap of faith, and abseiling. They ended on a high note by completing the mud run—twice! With temperatures soaring to 38 degrees, a refreshing dip in the lake was a well-earned reward. 

Despite the heat, our students demonstrated incredible determination, making it a fantastic start to the year and a great opportunity to welcome the new Year 9 Bandler Parks Team. 

Inside Leadership Day 

Leadership Day was a resounding success. Students gained valuable insights into our Year 9 program while exploring the inspiring leadership of Faith Bandler and Rosa Parks. Through their stories, students reflected on the power of determination, resilience, and the courage to stand up for their beliefs. 

The cohort was divided into two groups: one participated in a leadership development session with YLead, where they built self-confidence and were motivated to become active leaders in their communities. The other group strengthened connections within their mentor classes through a series of team-building activities. It was a fantastic way to launch the term and set high expectations for our cohort.  

Cohort 2030 settle in to high school life

Cohort 2030 has had a fantastic start to their high schooling life at Preston High School. Students have participated in a range of collaborative and team building activities as they grow their friendships and explore new content across their subjects. 

Part of their first few weeks of high school involved the school Swimming Carnival! Cohort 2030 showed their house spirit by participating in a range of different events, and joining in on some fun ‘novelty games’ in order to earn house points. 

Students experienced their first ever Preston High excursion as they travelled to the Preston Market to interview members of the public for their Da Vinci and Humanities task. Students worked in groups and surveyed community members on how often they are at the market, and for what purpose. They used this information to build a profile of the Preston Community by working together with the other member of their class.  

One of the most heavily anticipated events was Camp! Students learnt how to work with their peers in activities including archery, giant swing, canoeing, and many more. Students said that their highlights were the leap of faith, sport activities, and getting to work with students outside of their mentor class! Congratulations to all who participated. 

We are looking forward to watching Cohort 2030 be part of many more activities and continue to contribute to our school community. 

Open Mic Night '25

Our first major performing arts event for 2025 went off with a bang in week 9. The theatre was packed with our biggest crowd for an Open Mic event yet. All performers did themselves proud showcasing the depth of talent at our school.

Also for the first time we had students running the tech with Marcus Babic (Cohort 2025) on sound and Lucien Carr (Cohort 2028) on lighting. Special thanks to Zac Lennane (Cohort 2025) our photographer for the evening and Hugh Heller our Head of Instrumental Music for organising the event.