Principal's Report

Farewell to our Year 6 students

As the 2025 school year draws to a close our grade 6 students have been very busy. 

Graduation Ceremony 

On Tuesday we celebrated the end of primary school for our Year 6 students. It was so lovely to see all of the children and their parents and siblings at the ceremony.  Each student was presented with a Graduation Certificate, photo and a PPS keyring. 

Seventeen students were presented with awards:

Two of the awards are named in honour of former Principals, William Prior Dawson who was the Head Teacher from 1918 to 1927 and Ken McLeod who was the Principal from 1980 to 1989. Both of these awards are “awarded to students for their pursuit of academic and personal excellence.” 

The Don and Maisie Baker Award which was presented “in recognition of outstanding service and contribution to school and community.” 

The Darebin RSL Award for students displaying exemplary community or school involvement, which was a $300 scholarship. 

The Betty Hales Community Award of a $500 bursary to support two students transitioning to secondary school. 

Our local Federal member Ged Kearney donated a book voucher.

School Sports Victoria presented two students with a medallion. 

Arts Award to the student who demonstrated consistent effort throughout their Preston PS years.

A Teacher Award was presented to a student from each year 6 class who has consistently displayed persistence and determination.

This year’s awards were presented to: 

Our two School Captains, Hayden V and Myrna D, spoke on behalf of the graduates. They made a very impressive speech about their time at Preston.

Disco

On Wednesday night the Grade 6 students had a disco at school. As always lots of fun and dancing occurred. It was lovely to see the children enjoying one of their last times together as a group. The DJ told us they were one of the best groups that he had DJ for.  

Bounce

One of the highlights of the final week is always the grade 6 end of year excursion and this year was no different. Even though they had been dancing the night away on Wednesday night they were up and ready to board the bus to Bounce on Thursday morning. Lots of bouncing and lots more fun. They ended the day with a gelato.  

Class of 2025 Year Book 

Each of the students was given a year book which celebrated their time at Preston PS. Each child contributed to the book by listing their hobbies, memories of Preston PS and where they will be in 15 years. It was very entertaining to read some of the things the children will be doing in 15 years, lots of sports stars, lawyers, business owners, the list goes on. 

They also included some of their favourite memories of their time at Preston which included:

• I hung like a monkey on basically everything.  

• When I would play mushroom tiggy.

• In Grade 1 when the pipes broke and there was no school for a day.

• Dancing to the music at the junior school at recess and lunch.

• Getting to read a book to Mrs Paterson when I was in Grade2. 

The book is a lovely memento for the children to look back at and reflect on their primary school years. 

Last day

Today ended with the children signing each other’s year books and t-shirt and sharing lunch together. What a bust week it has been. I’m sure we will have lots of very tired students by the end of the day. 

Farewell

All of the staff feel extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to be involved in the education of the Year 6 students. They have a tremendous work ethic and have taken on various challenges this year with enthusiasm. 

They have been a diverse and entertaining group of students who have worked well together throughout the year. As always there are many different emotions running through their heads. 

While some of them are looking forwarded to moving on to secondary school others are a bit nervous, however, all of them are well prepared and ready to move on to the next phase of their education. 

We wish all of our graduates the very best for their future success and hope they enjoy the journey. 

Regards,

Janet Paterson,

Principal.