Case Study: Preshil

Overview

Preshil is an independent co-educational school in Kew, Melbourne, occupying two heritage-listed campuses, that has sustained a progressive approach to education for nearly a century. The school emphasises student agency, democratic participation, creative and expressive forms of learning, and the integration of intellectual and emotional growth. Unlike most schools in these case studies, its significance is less about a recent turnaround and more about institutional longevity, maintaining a consistent educational stance across shifting policy, curriculum and accountability climates.

The school is currently undergoing significant transition. In recent years it has navigated declining enrolments, major financial restructuring through property sales and purchases, and a curriculum pathway shift back towards VCE alongside its long-standing IB offering (Preshil, 2024). These changes have been accompanied by an educational review and the articulation of a new strategic direction, including the introduction of additional senior pathways and the development of a set of “Preshil Educational Principles” that aim to clarify the school’s long-standing progressive philosophy (Preshil, 2024). This case study therefore explores both the durability of Preshil’s progressive philosophy and the organisational pressures influencing its future direction.

What Preshil Does Differently

As an independent school, Preshil has greater discretion over learning design, timetables, grouping structures and programs than government schools, while still meeting senior certification pathway requirements. Its distinctiveness is expressed through a long-held commitment to learner agency, creative practice, and learning as something constructed with students (Preshil, n.d.). These priorities align with the school’s recently articulated Preshil Educational Principles, which emphasise participatory democracy, inquiry-based learning, arts and self-expression, individualised learning and strong relational community as foundations for student growth (Preshil, 2024).

In the middle years, the school operates within the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program, with a strong emphasis on inquiry, interdisciplinary learning and project work. Multi-age electives and the prominence of creative and performing arts as core rather than peripheral are embedded cultural features rather than recent innovations. The middle years are also shaped through distinctive shared experiences such as the Year 9 Experience in the Northern Territory, which combines challenge, service and reflection.

From Year 9, the Senior Studio model enables students to shape personalised senior pathways that can include IB Diploma, VCE, VCE VM and VET options. This intentionally blurs the conventional divide between junior and senior schooling by treating pathway design as something that begins earlier and is co-authored with students.

Preshil supports small cohorts, high adult-to-student contact, and a curriculum that makes space for identity, creativity and voice. Students are known well within a small community, and learning experiences invite participation through making, performing, designing and sustained projects.

Evidence of Impact

Publicly available performance and engagement data for independent schools differs from that available for government schools. Independent schools are not required to publish Annual Implementation Plans or Attitudes to School Survey results, limiting direct comparison with other case study schools.

My School reports a current enrolment of around 200 students and a high ICSEA profile, indicating a socioeconomically advantaged catchment. Available outcome data indicates strong academic and post-school pathways. The 2024 graduating cohort recorded a mean ATAR of 83.99, with two students achieving perfect scores of 99.95. All students who applied through VTAC received first-round tertiary offers, with most receiving their first or second preference (Preshil, 2024).

These results suggest that Preshil’s emphasis on inquiry, creative practice and student agency does not preclude strong tertiary preparation, illustrating how progressive educational models can coexist with conventional measures of academic success.

Enablers

• A long-established progressive philosophy and identity sustained across nearly a century.
• Independent governance allowing flexibility in curriculum design, timetabling and program structure.
• Small school size enabling high relational density and individual attention.
• Authorisation across IB programmes, providing a coherent inquiry-based spine from Primary Years through Middle Years to Diploma.
• Strong creative and performing arts culture that functions as a core engagement mechanism.
• Resourcing capacity associated with a high-ICSEA, fee-paying community (with scholarships as a partial access mechanism).

Key considerations

Enrolment stability and financial sustainability remain ongoing pressures. The school’s 2024 Annual Report identifies declining enrolments, reduced grant income and rising operating costs as contributing factors to a significant financial deficit, prompting major organisational restructuring and property transactions intended to restore long-term viability (Preshil, 2024).

Pathway coherence also presents a strategic challenge. Offering the IB Diploma alongside VCE, VCE Vocational Major and VET expands choice but also increases complexity for staffing, timetabling and student counselling in a small school context.

Equity and accessibility represent structural limits to scalability. The model’s small classes, high staff contact and specialist programs are supported through fee income and philanthropy. While scholarships partially broaden access, replicating this model within government systems would likely require significant additional resourcing.

These tensions illustrate the broader challenge of sustaining progressive educational models within contemporary schooling systems that are also shaped by enrolment markets, accountability frameworks and financial viability.