Whole School

Contents

Ovindee Amarasiri wearing attire from PLC’s new transeasonal school uniform collection.

From the Principal 1

2

12

16 ELC

Staff Farewells

Community

Christian Ministries 20

21

24

26 Old Collegians’ Association 28

News of Old Collegians 36

From the Principal

As this school year draws to a close, I feel a deep sense of gratitude and delight that in 2022, PLC was truly back in action! For most of us, the isolation and anxiety of the previous two years of the pandemic were thankfully behind us.

While some members of the PLC community unfortunately still suffered from COVID and its impact, daily life at PLC returned with enormous energy to its busy, reassuring daily routines, and muchloved traditional celebrations. Together as staff, parents and students, we have worked to rebuild our community across the entire College. The recordbreaking attendances at events during the year have shown how much people wanted to connect with members of our wonderful PLC family. I sincerely thank all those volunteers on the various committees for the flair and hard work they put into running our flagship events. I also wish to thank the Audio-Visual staff, our Boarding House caterers and in particular, our Maintenance and Grounds staff, for their huge contributions to the success of all our events this year. One of the most exciting events was the recent whole-school assembly to launch our exciting new PLC uniform collection. This memorable event in our College history showcased a stylish, contemporary, transeasonal uniform which allows our girls to show greater individuality in the range and choice of items they wear. The much-loved school colours are echoed in the bold new tartan.

I am thrilled to share with you all the details of this very special aspect of our College identity in this edition of PLC in Print. By our 150th anniversary in 2025, all girls will be wearing this superb new uniform. I would like to thank all those involved in this huge consultative and collaborative process over the past few years. I think you will agree with me that the very talented designer, Jonathan Ward, has really captured the spirit and vitality of our College. We thank him sincerely for his sensitive and professional approach to this project.

We were thrilled to conclude the year by announcing another exciting development which will transform significant aspects of our PLC life, one of the most ambitious building projects ever undertaken by the College: the construction of a state-of-the-art Sports and Fitness Centre, due to open in 2025.

This outstanding Centre will provide new opportunities for all our students to balance the substantial academic offerings available to them at PLC with a range of sport and wellbeing opportunities, providing them with a more holistic education.

There will be more updates on this superb facility at the beginning of next year. As our rich College year closes, and we farewell our outstanding Year 12 cohort and their supportive parents, we also send our thanks and best wishes to staff who are moving on or retiring.

I thank everyone who has made their unique contribution to our College over the past year, in both small and large ways. Together we have created and shared another wonderful year in the school lives of our students.

Wishing you God’s blessings for Christmas and for the exciting year which awaits us all.

Cheryl Penberthy Principal

Whole School

PLC’s New School Uniform Collection

On Tuesday 29 November, at a historic whole-school assembly, the College proudly launched the new school uniform collection. This new transeasonal collection has been designed to offer students, from the Early Learning Centre to the Senior School, attire that is comfortable, stylish and offers personal choice in support of their individual daily requirements.

The new uniform items can be worn by students from 2023 with a two-year transition to full adoption in 2025, in time to celebrate the College’s 150th Anniversary. History and Heritage

The new collection reflects and honours PLC’s rich heritage and the legacy of its school uniforms. Our blue, black and gold school colours feature extensively and our Scottish heritage is celebrated through a natural modern evolution of the College tartan.

A Generation of New PLC Uniforms

One of the wonderful stories from the new uniform collection was discovering that Charlotte Renwick (Year 7), is following in the footsteps of her mother, Anne Salvas (School Captain, 1997) 25 years ago. As School Captain, Anne was involved in the official launch of our current school uniform. It was an amazing moment and a wonderful generational connection between the current and new uniform collections.

Charlotte Renwick (Year 7) with her mother, Anne Salvas (School Captain, 1997).

Creating the new Uniform

The journey towards the new uniform represents the culmination of years of careful planning and many hundreds of hours of engaged and thoughtful discussion.

The Uniform Committee, comprising students, parents, staff and alumnae, ensured voices from across our community would inform the design. Through extensive collaboration, their insights have shaped this new collection that will support the needs of future generations of PLC students.

A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

PLC’s new uniform has been designed in partnership with our manufacturer Noone, to use sustainable and ethically-sourced materials and incorporate recycled plastics into various items.

2019

Discussions are held to explore a new school uniform that meets the ‘fit for purpose’ needs of PLC’s students in a modern educational environment. 2020

February - May

The terms of reference for a new uniform are developed in the search begins for a uniform designer.

June

The College community is surveyed regarding future uniform requirements.

October

The JW Collective is appointed to design the new uniform.

December

Designer, Jonathan ward visits the PLC Archives to identify heritage items to inform the new uniform’s development. 2021

February

The first meeting of the Uniform Committee is held.

March

Jonathan Ward presents eight initial design concepts.

April - June

Further design concepts are presented. Junior and Senior School student representatives join the project.

July - December

Uniform samples are produced for student, staff and other stakeholder feedback.

THE PROCESS

1. RECYCLED PLASTICS ARE GATHERED

2. MELTED INTO FIBRES 3. SPUN INTO YARN

4. WOVEN INTO FABRIC

2022

February - March

Refined uniform samples are presented for feedback.

April - June

Final samples of the academic and sports uniforms are presented.

July - August

The academic and sports uniforms are formally approved for production.

November

The new uniform collection is officially launched at School Assembly. 2023

February - March

From Term 1, students can wear either the current or new uniform, but not a mixture of both. The period of transition is two years. 2025

February

All students will have transitioned to wearing the new school uniform.

The Designer

Leading Australian uniform designer, Jonathan Ward (pictured here), has worked tirelessly over the past three years to produce an impressive and contemporary new wardrobe for our students.

Jonathan immersed himself in the PLC Archive, researching the catalogue of uniforms and clothing items which informed the new checks, weaves and colours that are features of the new uniform.

New Uniform Launch Watch Online

The correct wearing of the school uniform has long been deemed a mirror of PLC’s teachings on obedience, tidiness, good manners and moral standing. Punctuality, excellent handwriting, courtesy and politeness were also part of this strict code. Teachers such as Emily Virtue (staff, 1896–1933 and Vice-Principal from 1920) led by example and were meticulous in their attention to girls’ appearance. She gave lessons on etiquette too, and her long tenure ensured that these attitudes became deeply embedded in PLC’s psyche.

Royal blue, a traditional Presbyterian colour, was worn as a ribbon by PLC girls at prize-giving days from 1879. By 1900, many girls had hatbands for daily wear in royal blue with a crest printed in gold. Black and gold were added to royal blue as the school’s official colours in 1904. New hatbands were made but it was still not compulsory to wear them.

A school uniform was adopted by Samuel McLaren. It was his last major initiative as Principal (1889–1911), although the idea is thought to have been James Bee’s (Headmaster, 1907–13). From 1911, all girls were expected to wear a navy-blue skirt with a matching blouse, or one in white, during summer. A blue cotton or white muslin dress was an acceptable alternative. In winter, the uniform was a skirt with a plain navy blue or white blouse and a navy-blue coat. A straw hat was to be worn all year, hair ribbons had to be black or dark blue, and stockings had to be black.

At Speech Night, all girls wore white long-sleeved dresses in silk or cotton. Boarders wore the same dress for other special occasions and always needed to bring a set list of clothing to school.

In 1938, Mary Neilson (Principal, 1938–56) replaced the navy day uniform with one in grey. A woollen fabric, designed with fine pinstripes in blue, black and gold on a grey base, was used for the V-necked tunic, blazer, overcoat and sports skirt. Stockings changed from black to tan in 1939 and then to grey in 1940. The school colours edged the V-neck of the grey jumper. Only a white shirt and royal blue tie striped with black and gold relieved the grey, and this is why PLC girls were named the ‘grey elephants’ by outsiders who saw them in the city or travelling to and from school in East Melbourne. A

B

C D

E F

Gloves were compulsory all year round, including in summer when girls wore a checked gingham dress. With the new uniform came strict rules to try to enforce its wearing, especially of gloves and hats. By 1939, general uniform inspections were conducted at the beginning of every term. At any time, staff could report girls for uniform breaches. After collecting a certain number of written slips issued to a girl for these breaches, she had to report to the Principal’s office and copy out each slip twice. Dark blue underpants had to be worn by girls in winter, and white or grey in summer. For several decades, prefects’ duties included gate duty at the end of each school day to remind girls to put on their hats, coats and gloves.

The sports attire of the late 1930s caused the greatest ruckus. From 1938, girls were allowed to take off their ties, blazers, stockings and tunics, leave them at the back of the gym, and do gymnastics in only underpants and blouses. Sports matches such as tennis, baseball and basketball were played in navy pleated tunics and black stockings until 1939 when PLC introduced a revolutionary sports uniform. A short-sleeved blouse and grey woollen shorts with four box pleats, lined with grey woollen pants that had elastic around the legs, gave the appearance of a short skirt but allowed greater freedom of athletic movement. Ankle socks completed the ensemble. Many parents were opposed to this radical change because the outfit was deemed to be unladylike. The uniform mirrored the clothing worn by Mollie ‘Beetle’ Alexander (sports teacher, 1936–63): a shirt, pleated shorts, thick ankle socks and golf shoes. In 1961, the Junior SRC wanted girls to be allowed to wear trousers. However, the idea did not come to fruition until 2022. In 1964, parents were surveyed by the school about their appetite for a change in the uniform, as there had been none since 1939. A uniform committee, which included several enthusiastic mothers, was formed to advise PLC on its choices. The new uniform, introduced in 1966, abandoned grey colouring and returned to blue with added yellow.

In 1968, the Senior SRC staged a fashion parade. It pointedly included everything about the uniform which was disallowed – concertina socks, makeup, nail polish, short skirts, witch’s britches, blazers undone, coloured ribbons and jewellery. The fashion parade illustrated the increasing difficulty, from the 1960s, in the enforcement of uniform rules.

Even up until the 1980s, form teachers had to check girls’ uniform in the last few minutes of each day, as well as mark the roll, before girls were dismissed. Teachers and Principals continued to lament the amount of time devoted to enforcing uniform rules, and so in 1981, Joan Montgomery (Principal, 1969–85) proposed a survey to see if parents still wanted their daughters to wear one at all. They did. By this time, the rules had relented to allow the wearing of ear studs as the only item of jewellery. All of the incarnations of PLC’s uniform since then have continued to be accompanied with similar sets of rules.

Helen Penrose Historian PLC’s Forth-coming 150th History A. Emily Virtue, (staff 1896–1933). B. Junior School uniform list, 1966. C. Baseball team, 1908, showing the blouses with PLC monogrammed pockets and school tie. D. Mollie ‘Beetle’ Alexander (sports teacher, 1936–63). E. Ida Chapple, (1919), wearing the navy-blue overcoat that was introduced in 1911. F. Sewing class, c. 1903, showing the wide variety of clothes allowed to be worn to school. G. Doll wearing winter uniform, 1966–97.

G

Senior School

2022 Theatre Awards

PLC was nominated for a record number of Lyrebird Awards for this year’s productions of ‘Seussical’ and ‘My Brilliant Career’.

PLC won Outstanding Technical Design in a Youth Musical Award for the Student Costume Team for Seussical as well as judges’ awards for Seussical for ‘entertaining the audience during the interval’ and My Brilliant Career for ‘the striking opening scene’ and another for ‘effective poster design’.

Phoenix van Twest in Year 12 also received a commendation for Best Female in a Supporting Role for her role as Gertrude McFuzz in Seussical. Congratulations to every girl and staff member involved! At PLC, boarding is more than just a place to live and walk to school. It’s a holistic experience that immerses our students into a warm, inclusive culture where they will live, play, learn and thrive.

PLC has provided boarding facilities for girls since its foundation in East Melbourne in 1875. The PLC Boarding House is home to up to 100 students from Years 7 to 12.

Tara Case, mother of Harriet Case in Year 12, provided a testimonial on her daughter’s PLC Boarding experience.

“Our daughter Harriet has had an amazing Boarding experience at PLC. From the day she started, becoming a boarder at PLC has helped her flourish and grow.

Not only has she developed into a confident, mature young woman with a strong sense of responsibility, she has made some wonderful friendships along the way. At PLC, we see that the Boarding House community helps girls to develop a healthy balance of lifestyle, learning and fun and Harriet has enjoyed many wonderful experiences. We have also found the standard of teaching to be exceptional, with a breadth of opportunities that suit Harriet so well. The broad co-curriculum of sport, music and performing arts has allowed her to thrive and explore many new possibilities.

Right from the first school tour, Harriet was impressed with the College’s facilities. “They were very modern and I couldn’t wait to experience it all,” Harriet said. They include a world-class Performing Arts Centre, Aquatic Centre and a new Year 12 Centre dedicated to the girl’s final year of learning. It’s a space that they can girls can truly enjoy and call their own.

We have always valued the interaction between the girls and staff. There’s a genuine sense of partnership that sees the girls nurtured in their learning and wellbeing. Harriet often shares how caring the Boarding House staff are and their willingness to support the needs of each girl and make them feel at home.

We could not be happier with PLC. Harriet is looking forward to her next steps as she begins university and enjoys the opportunities that PLC has helped give her”.

2022 Speech Night Gala Celebration

Speech Night Gala Celebration at Hamer Hall is always the pinnacle of musical performance for the College. Claire Huang on violin and Minwu Hu on flute were stunning in their solo performances, as was the Years 7, 8 and 9 combined choir, singing ‘Brand New You’. The evening also featured excellent performances from the Pipes and Drums Band, Wind Symphony, Senior Strings, String Orchestra and Melba Chorale and concluded with the uplifting Years 10, 11 and 12 ABBA medley, accompanied by the Symphony Orchestra.

Junior School

There was a great deal of excitement and anticipation in Junior School leading up to the launch of our new school uniform. The applause and cheers of approval as each item was revealed truly validated the collaborative efforts of the Uniform Committee who worked to incorporate elements of the past, celebrating our College’s rich history, to create a uniform for the future. The resulting product demonstrated the success of years’ worth of collaborative commitment from current students, staff, leadership, Old Collegians and parents, and points to how essential collaboration is for an outcome to take into account the perspectives and needs of the group.

Collaboration has been a theme in Junior School this year as we have continued to embed our Learning Framework into our teaching and learning programs. Education is enhanced as we learn together and take a collective approach as opposed to a solely individualistic one.

The ways in which work is changing as a result of automation, globalisation and flexibility is widely understood. These changes have implications for the world of work our graduates will enter. In today’s workplace, many projects are now more complex in nature. The number of moving parts - and players contributing to decisions - is considerable.

Effective collaboration is the art of solving problems together, the art of working together and the art of playing together, in order to see better outcomes than what might have been possible alone. Effective collaboration relies on the development of good character and communication and thinking skills. None of us are born with the innate ability to collaborate optimally – we have to learn how to do it, and learn how to do it well. Developing a truly collaborative mindset means understanding and valuing the fact that when we work well together we have more complete answers, richer ideas and broader perspectives that result in more inclusive solutions. I am proud of how our girls have begun to value, and indeed relish, collaborative efforts in their learning this year. Their learning journey has been made richer because of it.

Melissa Voce Head of Junior School French is an integral part of the Junior School curriculum and as we farewell our 2022 Year 6 girls, we wish to celebrate their outstanding achievements in learning this wonderful language.

Their journey began in Prep, learning colours, numbers and the alphabet, as well as songs and dances. In Year 1, they began exploring the classroom environment and by year’s end they had learned the names for classroom objects and could follow key classroom instructions in French.

Years 2 and 3 saw greater creativity. They learned how to form sentences, read stories and gain confidence in their speaking abilities. They created and presented weather reports, took an imaginary trip to a French market and engaged in everyday conversations with each other. In Year 4 they learned how to describe themselves in French and discuss their interests and passions, in particular the various sports they participated in.

Having acquired a strong foundation, Years 5 and 6 focused on using the language as a tool to immerse themselves in Francophone culture. In Year 5, the girls were transported to Paris to discover the history of key monuments including the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. In Year 6, they wrote letters to their pen pals in Quebec and discussed the key differences between their respective cultures. Finally, in a culmination of their French abilities, they participated in a French café experience, enriching their speaking skills and enjoying delicious croissants.

Our Year 6 graduates have come a long way since their start. Dressing up for French days, joining the French Club and overseeing the many girls participating in the Berthe Mouchette French Poetry competition has been a true joy. I hope to see them continue their French journey in Senior School and beyond.

Emmanuelle Brunet French Specialist Teacher

School Sport Victoria State Athletics Competition

‘No great thing is suddenly created.’ Epictetus

This famous quotation embodies our PLC Junior School SSV State Athletics Team for 2022. The Final SSV Competition this year was the State Athletics Championships and Rosalie Bandara, Abby Bourne, Chelsea Yang and Tiana Wan were our last remaining athletes, having progressed through the District, Division and Regional Athletics competitions. Although the girls trained very hard throughout the year to put themselves in this position, their story starts way back in 2019.

At the start of 2019, it was evident that we had some amazing running talent during our Year 3 PE lessons and ultimately our Years 3-6 House Athletics. So for the first year ever, I selected a bottom age 4x100m relay team to represent PLC at our District Athletics Competition; these girls ran as our B Team behind our older and more experienced Year 4 A Team. The aim was to give an extra year of experience and training to the girls, as the relay event is a real science and art form that is difficult to master. Who starts first? Who finishes? Who runs the straights? Who runs the bends? Do you hold the baton in your right or left hand? Do you run on the inside or outside of your lane? What are the changeover and acceleration zones? These are all the questions that are answered over months and even years of training.

I was fortunate enough to work with this great group of students who were all highly motivated and dedicated to learn more, practice hard and be the best they could be. They were rewarded in 2019 by finishing in first place in the SSV District 4x100m Relay B Race. I felt that this could be the beginning of something special but as we know, sometimes life throws some unexpected challenges our way, including two of our girls not being able to take part in the team at that time.

The following year began with great excitement and anticipation surrounding the team. We had Abby Bourne and Tiana Wan remaining in the team and two new spots to fill. But then 2020 brought COVID. We were teaching PE on a screen and you just can’t replicate that one-on-one coaching that happens in class and at training sessions.

2021 arrived, a year where we would go back and forth from lockdown to lockdown. We filled the remaining two positions of the Relay Team. It would be the year that Chelsea Yang would find a new level of top speed as well as endurance. Then a new student arrived at PLC, Rosalie Bandara; she stormed onto the scene in the 2021 House Athletics, out-sprinting everyone and breaking two PLC records in the process. One of these records was the Year 5, 4x100m Relay for Hethersett where she teamed up with Chelsea Yang, the two of them going on to fill the remaining two relay spots with Abby and Tiana. Before we could get too excited, Victoria went into another lockdown and the Athletics season was shut down. At the time we thought all the training had been for nothing… we were wrong.

The school year started in 2022 and everyone was excited when the Athletics season came around. The standard sprint timing lesson was held early in Term 1 and there were no surprises to see Rosalie, Tiana, Chelsea and Abby sitting at the top of the list. The girls spent months of lunchtime trainings with me, working on all the biomechanics and the technical sides of the 4x100m Relay event. The girls would gain great feedback when watching their baton changeovers on the iPad to see how they could keep striving for improvement.

Finally, after three years, the girls were able to compete at the SSV District Athletics Competition. PLC won all six relays in both the A and B Divisions which was the first time this had ever been accomplished by any school in the District’s history. The Year 6 girls raced beautifully and won comfortably in a time of 1:01. But the girls weren’t satisfied. The 2016 PLC 4x100m Relay Record for the Year 6, 12/13-year-old girls was set by Tiffany Pai, Amelia Liu, Jemima Mellado and Margot Shiel with a blistering time of 58.28, narrowly missing out on State Championships after being knocked out at the Regional level. The girls have a relay baton signed with their names and time in the PE Centre. Abby, Tiana, Chelsea and Rosalie had seen this baton and were motivated to set a new record and sign a baton of their own.

The Relay team would once again breeze through with a first place at the next round of competition, the Division Athletics, this time shaving one second off their time and sitting at around one minute. Then came three weeks of school holidays, meaning the girls would not be able to train, and the Regional Athletics Competition was being held on the second day back in Term 4. This dedicated group of girls called each other over the holidays and visited an athletics track to keep up their training. This paid off as the girls smashed the PLC record, running a phenomenal time of 56.72. The girls finished in second place with the top two teams progressing through to the State Championships. The level of screaming after the race was something to be seen and heard as the girls celebrated with a silver medal, a PLC record and a trip to the State Championships.

The girls then battled it out at the SSV State Primary Track and Field Championships at Lakeside Stadium Albert Park. Rosalie qualified for the 12/13-year-old girls 100m and 200m sprints and completed a superb race in both heats of the 100m and 200m, finishing in first and third place respectively. A 100m time of 13.41 helped her qualify for the finals later in the day. The time of 13.41 by Rosalie would also break another PLC record of 13.51, held by Luciana Treacy back in 2012 when she won the silver medal at State Championships.

The time had arrived for the relay heats, with the top three from both heats and the next fastest four teams progressing to the finals. The girls would go even faster than they did at the Regional level, breaking their own record with a sensational time of 56.64. In doing so, they beat the relay team they had finished second place to at the last competition. The girls were finals bound. Rosalie raced against the ten fastest 12 and 13-year-old girls in Victoria and won a silver medal at the State Championships. Rosalie only had a moment to catch her breath and attend the medal ceremony before she was marshalled for her 200m final. Rosalie ran another amazing race, finishing fifth in a time of 29.35, which was just outside her personal best of 28.82.

Then the eight fastest relay teams in Victoria stood at the starting line for the 12/13-year-old 4x100m relay race. The girls ran the perfect race, resulting in second place with the time of 56.89. There were hugs and high fives with family members, a medal presentation ceremony, photos and then they were on a bus as we drove off to their Year 6 Camp which had just started that day. The girls made it back to camp for the nighttime activities and the remaining two days of the three-day camp, just another sacrifice that this amazing, passionate and motivated team made over the journey.

Well done, girls – all your hard work, discipline and dedication has paid off. We will keep an eye out for you in years to come.

Ashley Newell Head of Physical Education and Sport