At our core remains an unshakeable commitment to encouraging all children to set and achieve their own goals and to be respected as individuals in their own right. This is a commitment to our children to be nurtured and challenged in an atmosphere that inspires creativity and independent thinking in all areas of life and does not, overtly or subtly, use competition or punishment to motivate through the fear of failure.

As global citizens we encourage an awareness of world issues and encourage effort to make a positive difference.  We believe that education should prepare students to be thoughtful, peace-loving and active citizens of the world.  Preshil will remain a school that puts kindness, compassion and social relationships at the centre of its operations.

Based on these principles, our task was to articulate the strategy to carry us into this future.

• be the leading progressive school in Australia;
• continue to protect children’s rights: their right to play, to choose and to express themselves;
• continue to foster learning and intellectual effort, supporting every student to challenge themselves and take pride in their academic achievements;
• continue to foster accountability, self-reliance and the independence to think critically, to question deeply and the courage to speak out;
• continue to build awareness of the world and a commitment to socially responsible action; and
• actively support our staff of exceptional educators.

Preshil is committed to remaining a small school with an ideal enrolment capped at 550 students on two sites, Arlington Primary School and Blackhall Kalimna Secondary School; a small school with the emphasis on community and the nurturing of strong social relationships. This is a deliberate strategy to maintain a low student/teacher ratio, that allows for team teaching, collaborative learning, multi-aged groupings and strong support for individual students.

Preshil will introduce a secondary school program based on the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program (MYP) for Years Seven to Ten from 2014. This program is a perfect fit for Preshil to continue its progressive approach in a dynamic and internationally supported network of schools.

Building on our unique curriculum style at Arlington, which is a developmental program underpinned by a child-centred inquiry and project-based approach, the International Baccalaureate MYP allows for a more structured and challenging curriculum as we support all our students who are currently in the senior school to explore their own pathway to studies in the IB’s Diploma Programme (2019 onwards).

A central part of Preshil’s Strategic Plan is to comprehensively and sensitively improve and conserve the significant buildings for which we are responsible.

We will complete such refurbishment and remodelling necessary to safeguard their sustainability and ensure our students can enjoy truly fit-for-purpose facilities. Planning will focus on flexibility and thoughtful repurposing, respecting the values represented by the modesty and inclusiveness of spaces across the school and providing purpose-built spaces to accommodate an active student voice, performances and exhibitions.

The Arlington Conservation Management Plan is integrated into our strategy to ensure the longevity of its heritage significance and the architectural integrity of the Kevin Borland buildings.

Wholly integrated and enabled IT resources are a fundamental part of our plan, as are the upgrading and maintenance of our gardens and grounds.

Preshil’s active Foundation, the school’s Building Fund and a fully developed fundraising strategy will all focus on the completion of this capital works plan.

Preshil will build and refine our operational structures and processes, including our human resources, governance and financial management, to ensure that our vision is secure, sustainable and focused on achieving our long-term goals.