Message from the Principal

Congratulations Cohort 2025 and Welcome Cohort 2031

A hearty congratulations to all our wonderful graduates of Preston High School's Cohort 2025. We are immensely proud of you and your efforts, not just over this year but during your entire learning journey with us. 

Congratulations to the Guest sisters for representing our graduating Cohort in the media during the exam period with such aplomb. Please keep on scrolling to read my speech from this year's graduation evening at Melbourne Town Hall. 

In 2026 we will welcome a flock of 250 new kingfishers! You can read more about our Kingfisher story on our website: Preston High School - A Kingfisher Story

233 Gower St + other school improvement projects

The State Government has acquired the block of land at 233 Gower St, which is surrounded on all sides by the school. We can now redevelop this into space for our growing student population to socialise and play. 

In addition to this, the School Council has funded a number of amenity improvements including a new playing field (projected late 2026), resurfacing the hard courts (in progress now), new social play spaces for 2026, and various classroom improvements. 

All this with thanks to tax deductible donations families have made to the school's building fund (See tax-deductible information here).

2026 uniform reminders

A few reminders for 2026. The updated 2026 Dress Code is available to families on Compass under the School Documentation folders. 

Black leather school shoes are required with the academic uniform. Sports shoes only on days a student has a PE class on their timetable. 

Preston School Bags are required - you wouldn't believe how many bags get returned to the school by kind members of the public.

Black (or Charcoal as provided by the uniform shop) loose fitting bottoms (as listed in the Dress Code) with no branding of any kind are permitted as generic items in 2026.

2025 Principal's Graduation address

Good evening to our graduates, families, staff and our broader Preston High community. Before beginning I’d like to add my acknowledgement of the Wurundjeri people and their elders past and present, and any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people with us today to celebrate the graduation of these wonderful young people who leave us empowered to be the leaders of tomorrow. 

Thank you to Ged Kearney and Nathan Lambert. It makes a real difference to have local members at the Federal and State level who are deeply committed to public education and to their communities. Ged and I started our jobs at around the same time, and it’s been wonderful to grow together in our work, not least through the Ged Kearney Scholars program. Nathan has bought so much energy and passion to his work with our community and it has been a pleasure to get to know you over the last few years and we all appreciate your support for Preston High School and for all the schools in our community. 

Thank you to our wonderful teachers and education support staff. There’s over 130 people who turn up every day to make our school a safe and academically challenging place for young people, and without them and their unrelentingly positive work, their diligence and care, we would not have a school where today’s graduates have been able to thrive. 

I want to take a moment to acknowledge Nicola, who had the extra burden of being my daughter, making it harder to be a regular kid than it might have otherwise been. I’m very proud of you. 

And, I want to thank all of you here today. Our parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, families and community members. I sometimes get people thanking me for setting up a great local school for local kids, but really the credit lies with you, the people who took a risk with this school that lived in your imagination before it lived in real buildings and people and programs. I think these young people we are celebrating today show that your risk paid off and you, and our community, created this great school together. 

Cohort 2025, tonight we gather not only to mark the end of your high school years, but to celebrate the opening of a new chapter, one that is entirely yours to write.

I began today by acknowledging that every school is the result of many hands: our dedicated teachers, support staff, parents and carers, community, and the leadership team here at Preston High School. But make no mistake, all of their efforts matter only because of you. You are the core. Your curiosity, your questions, your ideas, your drive. You made our school. 

Over your years you have become stronger, wiser, more confident. You have learned more than subjects; you have learned resilience, empathy, how to fail and how to rise, how to collaborate, how to stand up for what matters. These are gifts that no exam can fully measure, yet they will carry you. With that in mind, and at this moment of graduation, I want to speak of belonging.

Belonging is not a destination. It is not fixed or final. It is much more than a vibe, but it is hard to define. Belonging is the essence of community. It’s what makes you part of something bigger than yourself, but wholly yourself at the same time. You belong because you will always be Cohort 2025. You belong because you are part of a vibrant community that loves you. So, my challenge to you is this. What will you do tomorrow and next year and throughout your lives to give others the gift of belonging?

As you step beyond our school gates, you enter a wider world - one that doesn’t offer final answers but invites exploration. You will become university students, apprentices, innovators, creators and community builders. You’ll become citizens in a changing world. You’ll become someone’s partner, perhaps someone’s parent, someone who leads and someone who listens.

Do not settle for a life of caution or compromise. Let your voice and actions matter. Bite into challenges that make your heart race. Build relationships that stretch you. Dare to be kind when it is hard. Dare to be honest when it costs. Dare to pursue what you believe in, even if the path is uncertain.

Be proud of yourselves. Be proud of this community you’ve built together: the culture, the care, the debates, the laughter, the late nights, the work, the missteps. Be proud of your school, because you have shaped it. Know that you leave Preston High not only as graduates, but as legacy-builders.

Your school was always meant to be more than a physical place. It was built to nurture tomorrow’s leaders. And I assure you, as you step into this next phase, you carry that mantle. You are empowered. You are capable. You are ready.

Class of 2025, it has been an honour to walk with you through these years. I remember your first nervous steps into Year 7 as twelve and thirteen-year-olds. I have watched you wrestle with complexity, celebrate triumphs, carry losses and rise through challenges. Tonight, you walk onward, but never alone. You carry this community with you, and we will carry you. Go with courage, go with curiosity, go with kindness. Be bold, be brave, be fully you. Know that you belong.

I am so very proud of you all.

Sean Butler

Principal