Principal's Message

'We Grow Through Connection' – 

Last week via Compass (10/9/22), I asked for feedback from our community on a motto for our College, 'We Grow Through Connection'. 

Our College Newsletter from earlier in the term included the following:

'As the new Principal, I am committed to working with our College Community in a positive and productive manner to deliver continuous improvement to our students and College more broadly. ‘Growth and Connection’ is very important to me.  Everyone in our College Community can continue to improve and meaningful connections with others can support this improvement'. 

I really value growth and development, and I believe meaningful and positive connections can support all members of our College Community to continue to improve.

Please provide feedback on the proposed motto for our great school via the General Office (phone 5945 1433; pakenham.sc@education.vic.edu.au).

PSC and the State Schools Spectacular!

What an event! The State Schools Spectacular is a Performing Arts Extravaganza showcasing some of the best talent in the State.  The singing, dancing and musical ability of the students involved from a variety of schools was simply outstanding.  To mark the importance of the occasion, the Spectacular was held at John Cain Arena in the city in front of a huge audience enjoying everything the Spectacular had to offer.

We say ‘well done’ to our PSC State School Spectacular Team!  Our students were exceptional and they did our College proud: 

We thank our staff in Sophie Wood and Jamie Gourlay for their tireless work and commitment to the PSC State School Spectacular Team in 2022.  Please read on for further details of our successful participation in the 2022 State Schools Spectacular.

PSC Chess Team!

Our PSC Chess Team competed in an interschool competition last week and they finished just short of top place.  Our students were outstanding on the day and we have a number of students who will now go through to the State Chess Competition later in the year such as their success in last week’s competition.  We thank Sergio De Lima for organising the interschool competition at our College last week.  Please read on for further details relating to the achievements of our PSC Chess Team!

The Class of 2023

Our Year 12 students are now getting to the end of their secondary schooling with only weeks remaining before the end of the year.  VCE students will use the coming weeks to finish off any assessments, revise and complete practice exams, while our VCAL students will continue to work towards meeting their assessment requirements.  We thank staff for making themselves available to assist our VCE students with some school holiday classes over the up and coming break.

Our Class of 2023 will no doubt have mixed emotions as they move into their final weeks. We thank them for their wonderful contribution to our great school, and we thank their teachers and families for their fabulous support.  We wish all of our Year 12 students all the very best as they work as hard as they can in towards the ‘finish line’.

Parent Teacher Student Conferences, Term 3

We had our Parent Teacher Student Conferences earlier in the week (13/9/22) and we thank families for their attendance.  The Parent Teacher Student Conferences are an excellent means of checking in with teaching staff to learn more about student progress to this point of the year. 

We would ask families and students to reflect on conversations held at the Conferences, and to also refer to Interim Reports that were made available via Compass last week (9/9/22).  The up and coming school holiday break will give students an opportunity to reflect on what was shared from the Conferences and in the Interim Report as they review and possibly adjust learning goals for the remainder of 2022.

Student Voice

At PSC, we are committed to Student Voice.  We want our students to be heard and we have plans to further the opportunities available to our student cohort in this area.

Please read on for a report from our College Captains as they reflect on the 2022 year, together with their thoughts on the weeks and months ahead moving into Term 4.

Year 12 Social, 15 September, 2022

What a night! It was fantastic to see our Year 12 students all dressed up and hitting the dance floor as part of what was a tremendous event! We thank our student leaders in Lucas Kiernan, Madelyn Foott, Aleisha Lippis, Matthew Blanco and Lakmini Fernando for organsing this outstanding opportunity for their peers, and we thank staff for their attendance and support. Well done to everyone involved! Please read on in the Newsletter for photos and further reports relating to our 2022 Year 12 Social.

New Names for our Sub Schools

As mentioned in a Compass post last week (9/9/22), we now have new names for each of our Sub Schools.

At PSC, we celebrate and acknowledge indigenous culture and traditions.  As a result, and after some consultation and research, we have re-named our Sub Schools in the following way:

Year 7 to 9 Purple Sub School is now Yawa (‘Journey’)

Year 7 to 9 Green Sub School is now Warreeny (‘Ocean’)

Year 10 Sub School is now Bunjil (‘Creator)

Senior Sub School (Year 11 and 12) is now Balam Balam (‘Butterfly’) 

These new names are in the Boon Wurrung Indigenous Language.

Please be reminded that term 4 commences on Monday 3/10/22.

In closing, I thank our students, staff and families for all of their efforts this term - we have achieved so much at our great school.  Term 4 promises to be another very busy term at PSC and we very much look forward to providing wonderful opportunities to our students. Be sure to have a safe and enjoyable school holiday break everyone – take care,

Regards, 

Aaron Smith

College Principal – Pakenham Secondary College