From Cressida
Farewell to Marilyn
I have had the pleasure of working with Marilyn Smith for nearly 8 years. In that time she has made an incredible impact on our school, and as she says her farewells and steps into retirement, it is timely that we celebrate her many achievements and the battles she fought for our beautiful Arlington.
Marilyn has often said that she is more comfortable sharing her knowledge of secondary education, as she spent her teaching career supporting the correct use of the semicolon for her many English students. But many of us have had the pleasure of listening to her articulate just what it is that is so special about Arlington on tours and in her articles for this publication. Marilyn has long understood that Preshil existed first as a Nursery School and that much of what we value and believe has its roots in thinking about, and caring for, our youngest children.
Marilyn has been pivotal in the embracing and development of Conceptual PlayWorlds Pedagogy at Preshil. Aided and abetted by Dr Rebecca Lewis, both during and beyond the initial partnership with Monash University, she understood the natural alignment that this method of teaching deep conceptual understandings through play had to the long history of play at Preshil, and to the newly adopted Primary Years Programme. Her commitment to this teaching method has provided for ongoing professional development for our teachers with Rebecca, and helped position Preshil at the forefront of this methodology, not only in our kindergarten, but into our primary years too.
Marilyn’s vision and achievement in repositioning Preshil as an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School, offering the Primary Years (PYP), Middle Years (MYP) and Diploma Programmes (DP) has changed the way we view ourselves. While we proudly remain an outlier, a truly progressive alternative, we belong to a community within the field of education that provides us with support, ongoing professional development, and a way of viewing our similarities, and our important differences within the international educational landscape.
Marilyn has embraced the challenge of custodianship of the extraordinary architecture that exists here at Arlington. Like Mug, she understands and celebrates the aesthetic beauty of our classrooms, and how they inform our teaching and learning. Together with our Heritage Architect Gina Levenspiel, her sympathetic approach to ensuring that the heritage value of these buildings remains well into the future, led to the rebuilding or our beloved Lighthouse, and the subsequent UNESCO award this work attracted.
Marilyn’s passion for gardening and her intuitive understanding of the purpose of our landscape has provided for exceptionally beautiful gardens without losing the rambling overgrown spaces in which children can hide, or build a cubby, or bury treasure. Marilyn continues to champion our grounds as a place where children can take measured risks, as well as connect to, and feel ownership of, our natural environment. While at the moment our children can be found picking mulberries, more than once Marilyn has been discovered pruning here on a weekend. Woe betide the person who prunes too much. As Marilyn states, we can’t be too tidy!
Marilyn leaves us as a more self assured school. She leaves us with a plan for custodianship of our beautiful heritage listed grounds. She leaves us as members of an international educational community. She leaves us continuing to explore how play and learning can be reimagined and remain true to the Preshil way. And importantly, Marilyn leaves us in good hands.
Natalie Jensen has walked alongside Marilyn for 7 of Marilyn’s 10+ years with us. She has been instrumental in our IB transformation. It was Natalie who worked tirelessly to get us accredited for the MYP, the first of the Programmes we undertook. Natalie continues to be instrumental within the IB, as an IB Educator delivering workshops to teachers internationally. She works as a consultant for the IB and is a highly respected educator. We are lucky indeed to have her in our court. Natalie is wonderfully supportive of our teachers, passionate about Arlington and the history and philosophy that drives our funny little school, and if you ask the kids, she gives great cuddles.
Farewell Marilyn, and thank you for all that you have given to the Arlington community, and to Preshil as a whole. We were lucky indeed that you chose us when we chose you.
Cressida Batterham-Wilson
Acting Head of Arlington Campus