Sound, lighting, wireless mics and slideshow projection for Perth Year 12 valedictory farewell evenings. Day rehearsal plus 3 hour evening with two operators.
Last updated: 13 May 2026 by Enchant Entertainment
A valedictory is the closing chapter of thirteen years of school. Every detail of the farewell evening needs to land.
Year 12 valedictory evenings carry serious emotional weight for WA families. Parents, grandparents, siblings, staff and the leaving cohort gather to mark the end of school life and the start of whatever comes next. WACE results, ATAR scores, the dux address, the farewell speech from the year head. Every word needs to be heard. Every photo in the retrospective slideshow needs to appear at the right moment. The whole farewell evening has to feel polished from the entry procession to the final recessional.
A valedictory works when the technical side disappears. The audience watches the students, not the gear.
The brief, every night
Enchant Entertainment is a Perth family run business that has been delivering AV for school valedictory evenings since 2018. Our team arrives at your venue during the day for a full rehearsal, sound checks with the student valedictorian and award presenters, programs the slideshow cues and stage lighting scenes, then operates the entire farewell evening with a dedicated team of two.
Based in Kwinana, we serve Perth Year 12 schools across the metro area and into the South West. Our $5,000 complete farewell package includes everything you need for a 3 hour Year 12 leavers evening, plus the day rehearsal that catches every timing issue before guests arrive.
Year 12 valedictories sit apart from any other school event. They live on the line between formal and emotional, often within the same five minute window. A reflective speech follows an award presentation follows a memorial moment for absent friends. The technical job is to support each of these moments without ever drawing focus away from the students. A microphone that works perfectly is invisible. A slideshow that lands on the right photo at the right second feels like part of the speech. Two operators handle every cue so nothing slips while the audience is focused on the leavers.
Running a graduation too? Many Perth schools run a formal graduation ceremony separately during valedictory week. See our school graduation AV hire page for that format.
A clean four step process for your Year 12 valedictory.
Send your Year 12 valedictory date, venue and program details. Tailored quote returned within 48 hours.
Venue walk through with the year coordinator. Power, stage, screen placement and sightlines all confirmed.
Afternoon rehearsal with the valedictorian, dux and presenters. Slideshow and music cues locked in.
Two operators run sound, lighting and slideshow through the farewell evening, then pack down.
From an intimate hall ceremony to a large reception venue, we tailor the rig to your format.
The traditional Year 12 farewell. Principal address, valedictorian speech, award presentations, slideshow retrospective. Two operators keep every transition clean while the moment stays focused on the students.
Performing Arts Centre, theatre or auditorium venue. Built-in lighting points and tiered seating work in our favour. We add the PA, wireless mics, mixing desk, slideshow projector and operator team.
Off site function centre, golf club or hotel ballroom. We work with the venue’s existing rigging where it suits, supplement with our gear and run the night without disrupting their setup.
School gym or multipurpose space converted for the night. We bring the full rig including drapes if needed to soften the space, plus PA designed for the difficult acoustics of a hard floor venue.
Some valedictories include a Year 12 performance item (music, dance, drama). We add the mics and lighting cues needed for the performance section as part of the rehearsal flow.
Marquee on the school oval or outdoor garden venue. Battery powered PA and silent generator hire available for venues without easy mains power. Weather contingency rigging quoted on top.
Every valedictory hire includes these as standard.
Add ons available
Larger projection screen · Second screen for back of venue · LED uplighting in school colours · Stage drapes and masking · Haze machine · Extra wireless microphones · Battery powered PA · Silent generator hire · Video recording · Live stream setup
One package, everything included. No hidden costs.
Larger venues, outdoor setups or additional features (live stream, video recording) may require optional add-ons. Get your tailored quote in 48 hours.
The right rig for one of the most important nights of a student’s school life.
Powered speakers sized to your venue. Designed for clear speech intelligibility so every name in the awards and every word of the valedictorian speech carries to the back row.
Professional wireless mics for the principal, MC, valedictorian, head of Year 12 and award presenters. Lectern, handheld and lapel options available.
High lumen projector and projection screen. The Year 12 retrospective slideshow displays clearly even in a partially lit venue. Individual student photos sync to award announcements.
High quality music playback from laptop or USB. Entry processional, award background music, recessional and any music for the slideshow segments all managed by our operator.
Stage wash, front spots and option for moving heads if your venue supports them. Warm tones for speeches, cooler tones for slideshow, scene presets for transitions.
Digital mixing console with scene recall. The day rehearsal mix is saved and recalled for the ceremony so sound is consistent without any nervous adjustments on the night.
Valedictories have constant transitions. A principal speech, then a slideshow segment, then an award presentation with individual photos, then a musical interlude, then the valedictorian. Every transition needs sound and slideshow advance happening at the same moment. The microphone for the next speaker has to be live before they reach the lectern. The next slide has to be ready as the award is announced.
With one operator splitting attention between sound, lighting and slideshow advance, things slip. A name gets announced before the photo appears. A microphone gets opened a beat late. The audience notices every miss.
With two operators, one focuses on sound and music while the other runs lighting and slideshow. Both attended the day rehearsal so they know the program. Every transition lands clean. The audience never sees the technical work happening, which is exactly how it should feel.
Get your quoteEverything a WA school requires before allowing contractors on site.
All staff hold current WA Working With Children Check cards. Documentation on request.
Certificate of currency with every booking. Meets all WA Department of Education requirements.
All electrical equipment regularly inspected, tagged and tested to Australian safety standards.
Invoiced after the event. No deposit required for school bookings. Suits school purchase order processes.
Valedictories carry weight. Our team treats every one with the care it deserves.
Our team has delivered AV for school valedictory ceremonies across Perth since 2018. Trusted by schools from Kwinana to Joondalup for one of the most important nights of the year.
Slideshow timing is the most common technical failure at school ceremonies. We rehearse every cue in the day rehearsal and our second operator handles slideshow advance live during the ceremony.
Scene presets on the mixer and lighting desk mean every transition is preprogrammed. No fumbling between segments, no awkward pauses, no microphones opened a moment too late.
Family owned and Kwinana based since 2018. Fast access to all southern suburbs, Rockingham, Fremantle and the CBD. More availability through the busy late Term 4 period.
From first enquiry through to ceremony night, you deal with the same person. Easy to reach when valedictory week gets busy and you need answers fast.
A microphone failure during the valedictorian speech is the worst case scenario. We carry spare wireless mics, cables and a backup mixer to every valedictory ceremony.
Eight years of running these evenings has taught us where they go right and where they go wrong. Here is what most schools wish they had known earlier.
The Year 12 retrospective slideshow is the emotional centrepiece of every WA valedictory. It is also the most common technical failure. Schools build the slideshow in PowerPoint or Keynote, time it to a song the staff picked, and assume it will run cleanly on the night.
Three things go wrong. The slideshow runs longer than the song, leaving 30 seconds of silent photos. The photos are not in chronological order so the cohort journey does not land. The audio plays through the laptop speakers because the cable to the PA was not tested. All three are caught in the day rehearsal, which is why we never skip it.
A nervous valedictorian speaking in front of 800 people is a moment that has to work first time. We use a wireless lectern mic plus a backup handheld, both tested during the day rehearsal at the actual lectern position. The dux often follows the valedictorian and needs a quick handover. Our second operator manages the swap so the speeches flow without pauses.
The WA Year 12 calendar drives valedictory dates. ATAR exams finish in early November. WACE results are released around the third week of December. Most schools hold their valedictory in the window between these two dates, when the formal academic pressure is over but the cohort has not yet dispersed.
Friday and Saturday evenings in early to mid November fill up first. Larger schools with bigger venues sometimes run mid week to access PAC availability. If your school runs both a graduation ceremony and a valedictory evening, they often sit back to back during the same week. We can cover both events with the same operator team to keep continuity.
Most Perth schools use either their own Performing Arts Centre or hire a function venue. PACs have built in lighting and acoustic treatment which works in our favour. Function venues need full rigging from scratch and usually have stricter bump in times. Marquee valedictories require weather contingency planning and silent generator hire if the venue has no mains power.
Common terms you will hear when planning a school valedictory ceremony, explained simply.
The student selected to give the formal farewell address on behalf of the graduating cohort. Typically the highest performing or most representative student in the year level. The valedictorian speech is the emotional centrepiece of the ceremony.
The formal entry of Year 12 students into the venue, usually to music. Many schools also have a recessional, the formal departure of the cohort at the end of the ceremony. Our operator manages the music timing for both.
The Year 12 photo montage shown during the ceremony. Usually covers the full school journey from Year 7 through to Year 12. Timed to music and run by our AV operator to ensure photos appear in sync with the soundtrack.
The segment where individual student awards are announced. Often paired with an individual photo on the projection screen. Requires careful timing between the announcer mic, music underscore and slideshow advance.
The PA system and mix position facing the audience. The operator sits at “front of house” and controls the overall sound the audience hears throughout the ceremony, blending speech, music and slideshow audio.
A feature on digital mixers that saves the sound settings dialled in during the day rehearsal and recalls them exactly for the ceremony. Means the night sound matches what was set up hours earlier.
The setup phase before a show, when equipment is brought in, rigged and tested. For valedictories, bump in usually happens in the afternoon ahead of the day rehearsal. Bump out is the reverse, packing everything down after the final farewell.
A small gooseneck microphone mounted on the speaking lectern. Used when speakers stay at the lectern for the entire speech. Reliable for nervous speakers because there is no mic to hold or adjust. Combined with wireless mics for speakers who move.
Our family run team is based in Kwinana and services schools across the entire Perth metro area and into the South West.
Tell us your date, venue and program. Our team will have a quote back within 48 hours.
Or email info@enchantent.com.au · ABN 55 936 767 411