Head of Campus
2019 (almost) a wrap
Transition Day - our 2020 Year 7s
The Transition Day last Wednesday was a joyful experience. Our whole school community came together to ensure that the students entering in 2020 had a warm and effervescent welcome, showcasing the best that Preshil has to offer. They had a day of kinesthetic chemistry encounters, daring dodgeball dalliances and community connectedness.
Phuong and Chris, our Year 7 & 8 Coordinators, journeyed through the day with the new Year 7s, ensuring students will know a friendly adult face in their new beginnings in 2020. Personally, I had a lovely time meeting parents at the Family BBQ at the end of the day.
PIFF
This year, our Preshil In-House Film Festival has been given two separate showings in light of the flourishing interest in film throughout the school in both subject-based and personal interest opportunities for engagement.
MYP Film teachers Matt Barker and Anthony Cavagna hosted a viewing of films students have been working on throughout the year, including the culmination of a three-year project, titled Serpents of the School III: The Final Slither. The showcasing of student talent from a range of film genres and styles was outstanding; we look forward to seeing their skills and achievements continue to develop in years to come.
Finishing well, 2019
The Year 12s have now erupted through the finishing line with their last exam concluding on Friday 22 November. After the culmination of thirteen years of education, they are having a well-earned rest as they consider the next step in pursuing their aspirations.
Year 11s are finishing their final Year 1 Diploma Programme exams before starting their Group 4 Projects at the end of this week. The whole team of Science teachers is ready to guide them in designing their own experiments in Chemistry, Biology, Environmental Systems and Societies, Physics and Computer Science. These will be conducted on Friday 29 November in the lush greenery of the Dandenongs as they chug along on the back of Puffing Billy.
Year 10s conclude their year after having completed their DP Early Commencement programme and attending the Wollangarra camp; we imagine them as happy campers at this very moment, sitting among the eucalypts atop a mountain, connecting with nature, each other and themselves, reading lines from The Man from Snowy River, around a campfire.
In the final weeks of the school year, Year 7, 8 & 9 students strive to articulate their learning through the final assessments, inspired and supported by teachers. On Monday 9 December, all BK students and staff are off for the 'Big Day Out' to 'Funfields' for a day of waterslides, toboggans and gorgeous weather. This is a celebrated Preshil tradition that highlights the unique relational dynamic of the school, where teachers and students see each other as authentic human beings, rather than defined by roles, authority and power imbalances.
The following day, Tuesday 10 December, at our 'Big Day In' students can choose from an offering of a series of half-day electives ranging from making bath bombs to knitting to making films to cooking to chess to piloting an anti-drone machine. It’s going to be amazing.
It is with great pleasure that I begin to reflect on my first year at Preshil. It has been a year of incredible growth, stimulating challenges and precious relationship-building. I am so grateful for the support of the community, from students to colleagues to families. Our ways of being at Preshil are what makes us unique; when we get things right (and we often do) we shine a hue of gold unlike any other school in the world. I am so proud of us.
Dan Symons
Head of Campus