Andrew is the co-founder of Portable, a purpose led digital innovation and design company founded in Melbourne. Portable uses design and technology to help organisations transform the way in which they deliver services, particularly in the areas of justice, healthcare, education and government. His specific areas of expertise are in strategy, finance and technology.

Andrew has been a council member of Preshil for the past four years, where he's acted as Secretary as well as Vice President for the past two years. He also chaired the School's strategy committee in 2018 and 2019. Andrew has a long history in secondary education. In early 2020 he worked with his team on reviewing and providing recommendations for the roll out of digital learning across secondary schools in Papua New Guinea. In 2019 he co-authored a report entitled Design for Education, which outlines how schools should use design practices to improve their systems and the user experience of teachers and students. In 2018 he worked with the NSW Department of Education to help design a future hub across the State for students, parents and teachers. In his early career he worked across Victoria and Tasmania connecting secondary school curriculum to digital media at over 150 schools.

Outside of education, Andrew’s main areas of focus are in justice, government and retail and he works actively in these areas through his various roles. He is the author of a range of publications, including Taking Back Retail (2012), which looks at how brands can move into the digital age; Hacking the Bureaucracy (2016), a guide to government innovation; Redesigning Work (2017), a report into how design can respond to the changing workforce; and Data Driven Design (2017) which outlines the case for merging design and data analytics into the same discipline. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from RMIT and a Postgraduate Diploma in English Literature from Melbourne University and is currently enrolled at Melbourne University's Senior Executive MBA program.

I have been a Preshil parent since 2016 and my children are in the 11s at Arlington and Year 9 at Blackhall. We chose Preshil for its commitment to progressive education, and the way in which courage is ingrained in the School’s culture and its approach to students. I joined the School Council in 2017 and I think it is important that the School’s governance is characterised by the same culture of Ccurage that we want to see for our children.

I am employed by the University of Melbourne Student Union as its Chief Executive Officer andhave worked there since 2006. UMSU represents all students at the university as well as providing a range of student support services and student engagement programs.We are a student-led organisation that has a particular focuson student welfare and engagement. Prior to working for UMSU I worked in the higher education sector in roles related to student advocacy and welfare.

Since joining the Preshil School Council I have been a member of the Strategy committee in 2018 and 2019, and I have been the Treasurer since July 2020. I currently sit on the Audit and Risk committee and the Remuneration and Nominations committee.

I have a Bachelor of Arts from Monash University and a Masters of Tertiary Education Management from the University of Melbourne.

Toby is an alumni of Preshil, having attended as a student in secondary years at Yallambie and Blackhall in the1980s. He is a parent of teenagers who attend his local state high school. Toby is a lawyer who was previously a partner at a national law firm working in Melbourne and in Perth. Toby currently practises as a barrister and is a member of the Victorian Bar specialising in commercial, employment and industrial relations law.

In the late 1970s I moved into Preshil Year 9, from a local high school to the then newly acquired Blackhall campus. I loved Preshil from day one - the respect for the individual, the beautiful and relaxed school environment and teachers who truly loved teaching. My experience as a student at Preshil has profoundly influenced how I have lived my life since.

My two boys have attended Preshil in their secondary years – Felix successfully completed the IB Diploma in 2019 and Otto is currently in Year 11.

I recently joined the Council to contribute my experience and skills gained in a career in business and design, and my experience and understanding of the unique nature of Preshil, to actively support the continued success of the School into the future.

Between 1988 and 2021 I was an educational researcher at the Australian Council for Educational Research specialising in testing and assessment. As a researcher my main interests are: concepts of and the assessment of generic and work-related skills; the assessment of socio-cultural and interpersonal reasoning; and the assessment of writing as reasoning. I have a PhD concerned with collective teacher judgement of generic skills.

I have always been interested in progressive education. I taught for two years in the late 1970s at ERA, the school formed by Preshil parents because there was then no secondary Preshil. I taught for three years at Blackhall before being offered a job at ACER in 1988. I have been in contact with various Preshil staff, and have been aware of developments at the School over past thirty years.

When I resigned from Preshil at the end of 1987 Margaret Lyttle called me at home and said her curse would pursue me down the generations. On the day of my last Preshil staff meeting I was for the first and only time quite incapacitated by a migraine headache. Margaret sent me a parting gift of one of her favourite books and wrote on the inside cover that I would return. I have been very happy to do so, even if in a small way, as a member of the School Council.

Since retiring from ACER in 2021 I have joined my partner’s educational publishing company and am producing curriculum and assessment materials for the VCE Englishes.

Chris is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Social Impact - an applied social research centre at Swinburne University of Technology. Chris is recognised as a thought-leader in the social enterprise space. His work explores the connections between ideas and social enterprise practices across individual, organisational and policy levels. This work often takes him from the grassroots to the boardroom. Indeed, he specialises in ethnographies of boards – unravelling the complex cultures and dynamics surrounding boards and how they confront major social, economic, and environmental challenges.

Chris’s involvement in Preshil began in 2020, when his eldest daughter commenced as a Prep. Since that moment, it is fair to say that Chris has found his natural home at a
community of like-minded progressive educators. As such, he is passionate about the values underpinning the Courage document and enjoys playing a role in helping to sustain and grow the impact of Preshil’s approach to progressive education.
Outside of work and education, Chris is a very busy Dad with three growing children, and when time allows is a keen musician and lover of indigenous gardening.

Graham joined the Council in 2020 as a Preshil parent and an educator with four decades’ experience in schools and universities. When systems across the world are forgetting the crucial importance of diversity, creativity, and positive relationships in education, Preshil stands as a beacon of hope.
Graham looks forward to working with his fellow councillors and the rest of the Preshil community in this exciting period of renewal and consolidation.

I have been a parent of a Preshil student since 2018. I am currently an Associate Professor and the Head of Criminology at the University of Melbourne, where I specialise in working with trauma in post-conflict communities.

I was previously a trauma therapist in the sexual assault field, a youth worker and manager of a community service. I have 20 years experience in designing curriculum and engaging with creative pedagogical practices at a tertiary level. I bring to Council my expertise in trauma, restorative justice practices, management skills, my knowledge of some of the challenges of being a teacher and, as a same-sex parent, I have lived experience of some of the complexities of being queer.