Hello Preshil community,

Welcome to another edition of the Weekly!

This week, I had the absolute privilege of attending the opening night of our school production, One Man, Two Guvnors—and what an extraordinary evening it was! It was such a joy to see our young people step into roles that demanded courage, creativity, and a great deal of comedic timing. They truly took a chance, got up on that stage, and brought the house down with laughter.

This production beautifully embodies the Preshil spirit. At the heart of our school is a deep belief in the power of creative expression—it’s not just something we value, it’s core to who we are. Our students brought that to life with such vibrancy, reminding us all why the arts are so vital to our shared humanity.

A heartfelt thank you to Laurence Page, our dedicated director, whose passion and vision guide this annual showcase, and to Michelle Berner for her wonderful work with the music performance and support. Thank you as well to the many staff who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make it all happen. Bravo to the entire cast and crew for creating a night to remember!

This week was also Book Week, and what a joyful celebration it has been! Thank you to all our staff and young people who embraced the fun—dressing up as their favourite characters and adding a special kind of magic to the week. We also marked the occasion celebrating Anthology Week, our cherished Arlington tradition. It’s always inspiring to see children create and share their own stories—yet another way we honour imagination and expression in all its forms.

Building Resilience in Our Young People

We are incredibly proud to be hosting Dr Justin Coulson, Australia’s leading parenting speaker, for a special community event focused on resilience: how to help our young people not just cope with adversity, but grow stronger because of it.

At Preshil, we understand that raising confident, capable young people involves more than academic success—it requires courage, connection, and the resilience to face life’s unpredictability.

Dr Coulson is a leading voice in parenting. He is the co-host and expert on Channel Nine’s Parental Guidance, host of Australia’s most downloaded parenting podcast (Happy Families), founder of happyfamilies.com.au, and the bestselling author of nine books—with his tenth, on raising boys, due for release soon. His work has reached more than 100 million people worldwide.

We warmly invite all members of our community to join us for what promises to be an inspiring and insightful evening. Booking is essential and can made here. This invitation has also been extended to other schools in our area.

Tuesday 9 September 2025
6:00pm – 8:30pm (AEST)
Kevin Borland Hall, Arlington

Enjoy reading!

Warmly,

Aaron Mackinnon
Principal

One Man, Two Guvnors – Limited Tickets Still Available
Night one of three down! And what a cracking success. There are still a few tickets left for tonight and tomorrow nights performances! Don’t miss out on a performance of chaos, courage and comedy. Get your ticket here. We’d love to see you at Chapel off Chapel.

Author Holly Cardamone Visits Preshil
This Wednesday morning as part of Book Week 2025, we had a wonderful visit from author Holly Cardamone for the Year 7 and 8 English classes.

Holly spoke passionately of the writing process for her novel Summer In Between and took questions from the students on the magical craft of writing. An engaging and entertaining visit on how to get your big ideas onto paper and nurture the creative in all of us!

Book Week
For Book week each year, the children are invited to dress up, should they want to. For some, they don’t need much encouragement, and so it is for the Preshil teaching team. This year the primary teachers dressed as Burglar Bill, from the Janet and Allan Alhberg book. (Some of the superheroes had a real job on their hands, but never fear, these robbers were out for fun.)

The staff at Blackhall also engaged in the activities dressing as their favourite book characters.

Thank you as well to the library team for decorating the library, championing “Book an Adventure” and hosting a book swap to support ROOP, an initiative to set up libraries in remote Australian communities in North Queensland (Yarrabah). Books and gold coins donated contribute to this cause.

Boroondara Young Leaders Day
On Tuesday this week, our Year 5 and 6 students took part in Boroondara Council’s Young Leaders Day. Our first session focused on our values and what shapes them. Our students mixed with students from other schools and shared their ideas, looking at the similarities and differences of their values and the forces which affect our values.

We then had a high energy session of African drumming. After lunch we had a consultation session where the students were invited to share what they want to see in their neighbourhood and how they would like to become involved in their community, again working with students from other schools.

Victorian Schools Downball Tournament
On Friday 15th August our Preshil Downball Teams from Years 3-6 competed against other schools at the Victorian Schools Downball Tournament run by Downball Australia. Also known as foursquare, this competition format is played between 2 teams of 5 on a court of six squares. After a period of free play to determine starting positions, the first player to be eliminated scores 1 point, the next 2 points and so on. The team with the most points wins the match.

One of our teams, consisting of Sinan, Sam, Frank, Angus and Martin, was runner-up in its division, winning all 5 of their preliminary matches to reach the final. The Preshil students were commendable in their effort, sportsmanship and skill, with plenty of practice taking place during PE sessions and break times in the weeks leading up to the event. Having also attended last year, the enthusiasm continues to build and is now a popular fixture on the Preshil calendar. Our teams also looked sharp, with the rebooted Preshil Eagle t-shirt making its competition debut.

IB & VCE Art exhibition and Performance evening
Join us for an evening celebrating the culmination of the Senior Studies student work in the Arts. The work and performances being presented are part of the student’s assessment tasks for that subject.

Visitors are welcome to visit one or all of the events and are welcome to pop in and out of the performances for music and theatre.

Quiz Night Hosted by Brian Nankervis (from RocKwiz fame)
Join us for a fun, relaxed evening just for parents on Wednesday the 17th September! Hosted by the always brilliant Brian Nankervis, this trivia quiz night promises laughs, friendly competition, and a great excuse to let your hair down. Costumes encouraged (but totally optional!), come as something starting with P.

More details and ticket booking link to come.

Calling All Creatives
Mornington Peninsula Shire’s Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) – a team of local young leaders – is inviting young people aged 10-25 to take part in the brand-new Create It: Youth Art Showcase this September.

Learn more here.

Wear It Purple Day
We’re gearing up to celebrate Wear it Purple Day next Friday the 29th of August. Wear it Purple Day is a day an annual LGBTQIA+ awareness day especially for young people, based in Australia. Supporters wear purple to celebrate diversity and young people from the LGBTQIA+ community. On the day a fashion parade will be held followed by a sausage sizzle.

Preshil Careers Hub
Discover everything you need to make a successful transition through high school and into the ‘real world’. Sign up to receive our Pathways & Careers Newsletters, access the latest guides on life and money management, work experience opportunities, and parent resources. You can also connect with the Careers and Pathways Team for personalised support. Click the link below for more information on Preshil’s Careers Hub.

Preshil Careers Hub

THE WEEK AHEAD

Monday 25 August
10:00am – 11:00am: Blackhall – Year 9 PPEP Talk – LIBPRES
Tuesday 26 August
9:00am – 10:00am: Blackhall – Year 11 DP Extended Essay Intro Session – ACA
9:15am – 10:45am: Arlington Open Morning
9:30am – 3:30pm: Gender & Sexuality Symposium – Carey Grammar School
1:30pm – 2:30pm: Let’s Go Lunchtime – CAGE
3:20pm – 3:50pm: Blackhall – Year 12 Mock Exam Briefing – Hades
Wednesday 27 August
9:15am – 10:15am: Blackhall Open Morning
Thursday 28 August
1:30pm – 2:30pm: Let’s Go Lunchtime – CAGE
1:45pm – 2:15pm: Blackhall – Student Leadership and Shark Tank Meeting – Hades
Friday 29 August
1:30pm – 1:45pm: Blackhall – Wear it Purple Fashion Parade – The CAGE
1:45pm – 2:15pm: Blackhall – Wear it Purple Day Sausage Sizzle