Principal's Message
We Grow Through Connection
Dear Students, Parents and Carers,
Welcome to this month’s edition of the Pakenham Secondary College Newsletter.
It has been another busy term at our great school with so much happening in support of our students. We continue to provide high quality opportunities to our students in the areas important to our College Community:
Student Growth and Pathways
Sport
The Performing Arts
Student Leadership and Our Community
Our dedicated staff continue to work incredibly hard to meet the needs of our students, and we as a school continue to enjoy great support from families – the teamwork that exists between students, staff and families at our great school is outstanding. Our College Motto, We Grow Through Connection, will continue to hold us in good stead – we can all further improve through the positive connections we develop with others; our sense of community is very strong at Pakenham Secondary College.
NAPLAN 2026 is now complete, and I thank our Year 7 and 9 students for their efforts with these Literacy and Numeracy Assessments. I also thank our staff led by our Data Learning Specialist in Viesha Kosciuk for the hard work required in ensuring the smooth implementation of NAPLAN this year.
Our College Production of Mary Poppins Jnr is generating a lot of interest across the College with casting announcements confirmed on Friday 13 March. Our students are again incredibly excited about our 2026 Production and we wish them well with their endeavours as they prepare for showtime later in the year.
Harmony Week (16 to 22 March, 2026) was held last week and it was a huge success with several activities provided for students and staff. It was great to see so many of our College Community in traditional costume as part of the Week. We congratulate Nicole Erjavec and her team, together with the Student Representative Council (SRC), for organising Harmony Week on behalf of our College Community.
College Photos were held earlier in the week (Monday 23 March) and the process here on the day went smoothly. Families who have ordered Photos should receive them next term. There will be a ‘Catch – Up’ day for photos on Tuesday 31 March for those students who may have been absent earlier in the week (23 March), and the 2026 Year 12 Group Photo will also be taken on this day.
The recent Year 7 Parents and Carers Morning Tea (Thursday 26 March) was very successful with a number of families in attendance to meet with members of our PSC Leadership Team, and to learn even more about our great school – we thank those families who were able to attend.
Our Annual General Meeting (or AGM) was held as part of our College Council Meeting yesterday (Thursday 26 March) whereby our 2025 Annual Report was tabled, accepted and endorsed – in time our 2025 Annual Report will be appear on our Website https://www.pakenhamsc.vic.edu.au/ .
At our College Council Meeting, we also welcomed new members of Council in Nur Syakila Binti Mohammad Rafique (Student Representative) and Janine Ashton and Nomie Pancha (both Parent Representatives).
Some Parent members are leaving Council and we thank them for their wonderful service and support of the College. Wayne Hampton (former College Council President) and Jodie Tamblyn have been outstanding members of College Council over an extended period of time, and again, we thank them for everything that they have done for our great school. Yuvika Pant is also leaving Council after a short time as a Student Representative, and we thank her for her participation and contribution. Please note that after running a process last night at our Council Meeting (Thursday 26 March), our College Council President for the next period of Council will continue to be Ms. Jarni Sewell. Jarni has been outstanding as College Council President and we wish her well in the role for the next period of Council.
A number of Policies were tabled and endorsed at our last Council Meeting and, in time, these Policies will be able to be found on our Website ( https://www.pakenhamsc.vic.edu.au/ ). Please contact the College (pH – 5945 1433) should you have any comments or queries concerning these Policy Documents.
Our Term One Reports were released to families via Compass on Monday 16 March. I encourage families to read through these Reports in readiness for the Parent Teacher Student Conferences next week (Wednesday 1 April).
Our Term One Parent Teacher Student Conferences will be from 1:00 to 7:30pm, Wednesday 1 April. This is an excellent opportunity for parents and carers to speak with teachers about the progress of their child’s learning across the subjects. Please see Compass for details on how to book in Conferences with our Teaching Staff. Please be reminded that we will not be running normal classes on the day, and students are expected to attend the Conferences with their parents and / or carers.
We are very much looking forward to our Athletics Carnival next week (Thursday 2 April) at the College. This is such a fun way to end the term with students participating in a range of activities whilst representing their House as part of the Carnival – we wish all of our students all the best with their participation.
Our Capital Works Program continues to make positive progress, and we are looking forward to see at what stage the Program will be after the Term One School Holiday Break. Please be reminded that the Program sets out to essentially replace the existing D Wing at the school in support of several subject areas including Visual Communication, Multimedia, Mathematics and English, and to further renovate our Technology (eg Woodwork, etc) Hub. Staff work and break out spaces, together with extensive landscaping are also included in the new build. Please note that we will see some Asbestos Removal Works occurring as part of the Capital Works Program over the Term One School Holiday Break – please read on in this Newsletter for further details of these Asbestos Removal Works, and please contact the College (pH – 5945 1433) should you have any queries.
Importantly, there will be a broader Buildings and Grounds Program implemented over the Term One School Holiday Break to further improve certain aspects of the College.
Ongoing and clear communications with our College Community is vital, including who on our staff families can reach out should they have any queries and / or in need of support. Please see below in terms of Key Staff and their Roles here at the College:
Yawa Sub School Leader (Year 7 to 9) – Ms. Susan Banfield
Warreeny Sub School Leader (Year 7 to 9) – Mr. Tim Kelly
Acting Murnong Sub School Leader (Year 7 to 9) – Mr. Mike Pallisano
Bunjil Sub School Leader (Year 10 – 12) – Ms. Nevicia Reynolds
Balam Balam Sub School Leader (Year 10 – 12) – Ms. Allison Barrie
Student Wellbeing – Ms. Courtney Sloothaak, Mr. Tyler Frost
Our colleagues above can be reached via the General Office (pH – 5945 1433) or via email by using our Compass platform.
Recent weeks have been very busy at the College, and I thank families for their ongoing support of our great school. Please continue to Stay Connected by following us on our Social Media, Website and Compass Platforms. Please also contact our General Office (pH – 5945 1433) should you have any queries – we are here to help.
I will be on Long Service Leave from Monday 30 March to Thursday 2 April inclusive, with Kate Logan (Assistant Principal) fulfilling the Acting Principal role for this time. Please note that we will have an early dismissal of 2:30pm on the last day of Term One (Thursday 2 April), and please refer to the information relating to wellbeing support included in this Newsletter, if required, to be accessed over the Term One School Holiday Break - I hope that students and families have a safe and enjoyable Term One School Holiday Break,
Regards
Aaron
Aaron Smith
College Principal – Pakenham Secondary College