Preshil

Preshil, or The Margaret Lyttle Memorial School, is an independent, non-denominational private school, in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in the early 1930s by Margaret J R Lyttle, and based upon alternative education principles similar to Summerhill in England, although unlike Summerhill, classes are compulsory and held at fixed times. Preshil states that it 'aims to fit itself to the needs of the child rather than forcing the child to fit into the needs of the school'. At Preshil, students work at their level of cognitive and emotional development. Children are involved in decisions about, and take responsibility for curriculum, and the school environment. It caters for students from Kindergarten to year 12 (Victorian Certificate of Education).

Alumni

Since it is impractical and unnecessary to include all alumni, and difficult or impossible to define 'famous' or 'important' objectively, here is a list of Preshil alumni with some prominence in their field:

• Photographer Polly Borland
• Olympic Taekwondo Gold Medallist Lauren Burns
• Architect Zahava Elenberg
• Furniture designer Anton Gerner [1]
• Comedian Gina Riley
• Philosopher Peter Singer
• Musicians Sean Greenway and Matthew Whittle of GOD (band).
• Musician (2006 Aria winner- Best Female) Clare Bowditch [2]

Bibliography

• Lyttle, Dermot 'Preshil uniquely different' (Kew, Vic. : Preshil, 2002)
• White, Naomi Rosh.'School matters : the Preshil alternative in education' (Port Melbourne : Mandarin, 1995).

External links

• Preshil Preshil's official Web site, retrieved May 14, 2006
• "Preshil vision is still splendid" by Matthew Pinkney, Herald Sun, November 29, 2005, retrieved May 14, 2006
• Preshil and progressive education in Australia - ABC Radio National

References

• web site for Anton Gerner
• Burns, L. Fighting Spirit, Penguin Books Australia, 2003. ISBN 0670040371