Principal's Message

Dear Students, Parents and Carers,

We Grow Through Connection

I again welcome our families back for Term Four.  We have had a smooth start to the term with students across all year levels quickly settling into their classes.  I thank our dedicated and committed staff for their hard work in best preparing for the term ahead.  Furthermore, I thank our families for their wonderful support of our great school.

We are a very strong school of choice within the community.  Our enrolments across the College will increase by 100 moving into 2024.  More and more of the community know about our great school and what we are achieving for our students.

The College Calendar continues to highlight so many opportunities being afforded to our students in areas such as the Arts, Sport, various Excursions and Incursions and Lunchtime Clubs.  Our students are at the centre of our decision making and we are here to work as hard as we can to support their learning and wellbeing, together with providing meaningful opportunities in areas important to them. 

School Wide Positive Behaviour Support Program (SWPBSP)

Our SWPBSP Focus for Term 4 is ‘Choose Success’.  As a staff, we are working as part of a Whole School Approach to help and support our students in this area.  Term 4 is a busy term whereby students are working hard to finalise their assessments across their subjects before the end of the year.  

The focus of ‘Choose Success’ aligns with high expectations, and we have high expectations for our students in regards to: 

• Submission of work 
• Completing assessment and learning tasks to the best of their ability 
• Checking in with their teachers to ask for any assistance that they may require 
• Staying across due dates for the submission of their assessment and learning tasks 
• Making the most of their class time 
• Being well prepared for class 

Our theme of ‘Choosing Success’ we believe will hold our students in good stead for the term ahead and we as a staff will support our students as best we can with their learning and wellbeing.   We are looking forward to our SWPBS focus for this term and we believe it aligns well with the theme used in Term 3, ‘An Orderly Learning Environment’. 

New Staff Join PSC

Given our enrolment growth, some staffing appointments are pending to best cover curriculum and program requirements as we move into 2024. 

Please be informed that we have made some recent staffing appointments, and we welcome the following staff to PSC:

• Channey Ke (Humanities) 
• Courtney Sloothak (Student Wellbeing) 
• Ricky Holland (Humanities) 
• Adam Brown (Koori Support Worker)
• Amy Wojciechowski (School Nurse)
• Matt Black (Les Twentyman Foundation)

State School Spectacular, 2023

The State Schools Spectacular from last term (9 September) was a huge success!  I am so pleased that we are involved in this high quality event each year.  Our students were again outstanding in their participation with James Nimaya leading the way as one of the Principal Dancers.  Congratulations to all involved and we thank Jamie Gourlay for her hard work and leadership in bringing it all together.

State Athletics Champion, 2023

We congratulate Brayden Attwood (Year 11) on his outstanding achievement last week in becoming State Champion at the recent School Sports Victoria Athletics Championships held at Olympic Park.  Brayden won the 110m Hurdles in the U17 age bracket, and he finished second in the 100m Sprint – well done Brayden!

Congratulations and Farewell to the Class of 2023

Our recent Year 12 Farewell Assembly was incredibly successful.  It was terrific to see so many families in attendance as the whole school recognised and farewelled the Class of 2023 last week (Wednesday 18 October). 

The Class of 2023 are to be congratulated for their wonderful attitude throughout the year – they have remained positive, resilient, and committed throughout.  Their dedication to their studies has set a remarkable example for all year levels – it is evident that our Year 12 students are exceptional young people. 

We thank and acknowledge the commitment of staff and families in working in partnership with our Year 12 students over the years, and we thank Year 12 teachers and families for their efforts in 2023. 

We thank the Class of 2023 for everything that they have done for our great school.  We extend our congratulations to the Class of 2023, and we wish them well with their future endeavours.  For those Year 12 students completing their Exams in the coming days and weeks, we wish you all the very best with these important assessments.

Further Improvements to Our Buildings and Grounds

We continue to further improve our Buildings and Grounds.   Two external sides of the Yawa Centre, the internal walls of the Performing Arts Centre and the Gym have all been freshly painted over the September Holiday Break – the appearance of these areas of the College has vastly improved as a result.  A new cricket pitch, an outdoor volleyball court and some banner poles have also been installed in recent times.  We show pride in the way our College presents to our community.

An Update on Our Capital Works Program

Our Capital Works Program is now starting to pick up further momentum.  Please be reminded that we have received $11.3 Million in funding to further improve our Buildings and Grounds.  Architects have been appointed and site meetings have commenced.  Below are some dot points that speak to some key milestones attached to the Program: 

• Master Planning due by 5 Dec., ‘23 
• Schematic Design by 20 Feb., ‘24 
• Design Development by 7 May, ‘24 
• Tender Documentation to be completed by 30 July, ‘24 
• Contract Awarded, 10 Sept., ‘24 
• Construction Start, 24 Sept., ‘24 

Learning Growth at PSC

At PSC, we view Learning Growth as very important and there is so much Data that schools can use to measure student progress and growth.  We will be embarking on a final round of what is called ‘On Demand Testing’ later in the term to check on Numeracy and Literacy Growth for our Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 students.  We will consider and analyse these results when they become available.

Student Opinion Data, 2023 

Data is also used to measure student opinion of their learning, well being and experiences at school.  The Department of Education (or DET) Student Attitudes to School Data for 2023 has now been released and already we have begun to analyse the results. Once again in 2023, we have achieved some outstanding Student Opinion Results.  Our students think very highly of their learning and wellbeing experiences at our great school – please see some examples below of our positive Student Opinion Data for 2023: 

We are above State, Network and Similar School Averages in 

All Measures for Effective Teaching Practice in

• Differentiated learning
• Effective classroom behaviour
• Effective teaching time
• Stimulated learning

All Measures for Teacher-Student Relations in

• Effort 
• High Expectations
• Teacher Concern

2023 Annual Implementation Plan

We continue to make progress against our 2023 Annual Implementation Plan with a focus on Learning, Wellbeing and Maximising Student Learning in Literacy and Numeracy.  Staff and the Leadership Team have been monitoring our progress throughout the year and this will help us best understand the areas we need to concentrate on with our students as we come to build our Annual Implementation Plan for 2024.

We continue to provide a high-quality Teaching and Learning Program which is well complimented by extensive co-curricular activities for our students.  Furthermore, we are here to help our families wherever we can concerning support that they may need.  Again, I thank our families and staff for working as a team in the outstanding support and guidance of our students.  

A reminder that we are committed to an orderly learning environment, a focus on what matters most, shared leadership and high expectations for all in our College Community, 

Thank you and regards, 

Aaron Smith  

College Principal – Pakenham Secondary College