Principal's Message

Dear Students, Parents and Carers,

We Grow Through Connection

We have had another outstanding year at Pakenham Secondary College!  2023 has seen many highlights in so many areas important to our College Community. Students have worked hard in the classroom across the many subjects on offer, and they have really made the most of so many co-curricular opportunities ranging from Sport and the Performing Arts to Leadership and Connecting with our Community.

Our College Motto of ‘We Grow Through Connection’ continues to hold our College in great stead.  We can all continue to grow and improve through the positive connections we have with others.  There is a strong level of team work amongst students, families and staff as we strive to further improve the outcomes of our students.

We are a great school - we are proud of our students, their efforts, and their achievements.  We have a such a strong sense of community at PSC where we all come together in the best interests of our school.  As a College Community, we continue to achieve great results for our students. 

There have been some important events at PSC since the last Newsletter (Friday 24 November).  For example, our Valedictory Dinner was held Friday 24 November at the Pakenham Race Club.  It was a wonderful night with so many Year 12 students, families and staff in attendance.  The Pakenham Race Club venue is a befitting venue of what is an important event on our College Calendar.  Our Valedictory Dinner was incredibly well organised by Dean Blight and his team, and it was terrific to see so many of our students enjoy the night with their families – well done to all involved. 

Our Headstart Program at the end of the year was very successful allowing the opportunity for all of our students to get a ‘head start’ with their learning and assessments for 2024.  We say ‘well done’ to all of our staff and students.

Our Orientation Days this week (Monday and Tuesday, 11 and 12 December) were also very successful where approximately 180 Year 7 students for 2024 were welcomed to Pakenham Secondary College.  We planned and provided some important activities for our new Year 7 students as part of their Orientation to further assist with the transition process.   We thank Kay Chandler (Assistant Principal) for all of her hard work in delivering our successful Orientation Days.  We look forward to our new Year 7 students commencing their enrolment in 2024.

Our recent Presentation Evening (Thursday 7 December) was outstanding.  We had so many families and staff in attendance to help celebrate the achievements of our students in 2023.  An event such as our Presentation Evening does not occur without hard work and leadership, and we thank Michelle Scheiwiller (Assistant Principal) and her team for planning and implementing such a high-quality event on behalf of our College Community.  Furthermore, it was wonderful to see several students showcase their abilities up on stage with various speaking and compering commitments, together with staging a few musical performances – well done to all involved. We have incredibly talented students at our great school, and this was demonstrated by the huge number of awards from so many different curriculum and co-curriculum areas.  We are proud of all our students, and we congratulate all our Student Award Winners this year.

The 2023 Year 12 VCE Results were released earlier in the week, and we hope that our students received the results that they expected.  As a College, we were very pleased with many of the Year 12 VCE Results this year. Some summary points are provided below:

• Our Average Study Score increased by a further point to 29 in 2023 (it was 28 in 2022)
• The Average ATAR for our Year VCE students again increased this year
• Approximately 28% of our Year 12 Cohort received an ATAR above 80 in 2023 – this is an increase from approximately 20% in 2022
• More subjects with a Study Score above 30 in 2023 when compared to that of 2022
• Just like 2022, we had 100% VCE Completion in 2023 

We must make mention of our 2023 College Dux in Ryan Asche.  We congratulate Ryan on this wonderful achievement!  Ryan has worked incredibly hard throughout 2023 to achieve outstanding results including an ATAR of 91.75.  Well done Ryan on being our College Dux in 2023. 

We thank all of our students in the Class of 2023 for their efforts this year.  We also thank all Year 12 Teachers, and staff more broadly, for their committed and caring approach in support of our Year 12 students.  Furthermore, we thank our families for working so well in partnership with the College, and for their care and support of their Year 12 children in 2023 and in the years previous.

We are proud of all of our Year 12 Students this year, and we wish the Class of 2023 all the very best for the future. 

Our 2024 Annual Implementation Plan (or AIP) has been endorsed by our College Council and it sets out our plans to further improve student outcomes.  Our priorities for next year will be to further improve student attendance and learning growth (reading and numeracy).  Please contact the General Office (pH – 5945 1433) to learn more about our 2024 AIP.

Some recent testing results amongst our students reveals incredibly strong growth in Numeracy at Year 7 and 8.  For example our Year 7 students on average achieved 18 months of growth across the calendar year. 

Families are informed of the following:

• Our Activities Week concludes today (Friday 15 December)
   
• Students in attendance next week (Monday 18 to Wednesday 20 December) will be engaged in some Environmental Duty at the school. 
   
• Our Last day for 2023 is Wednesday 20 December and Semester Two Reports will be distributed to families on this day via Compass
   
• Students return to school on Wednesday 31 January, 2024

Our students have achieved so much in 2023.  These achievements have been possible due to the very strong sense of community at our great school – the level of teamwork between students, staff and families to further improve student outcomes is outstanding.  

The College is looking forward to welcoming back our students in 2024 ready.  We look forward to our students returning in 2024 in full uniform, adopting a well organised approach with appropriate resources on hand such as text books and a functional laptop, and an attitude that supports a commitment to being ready to learn.

Our excellent reputation in the local community continues to grow.  More and more people know of our great school and everything we are achieving for our students.  I thank our hardworking and committed staff for everything they do to work with families to best support our students.  I thank our students for their dedicated approach to their studies and making the most of the many opportunities afford to them, and I thank our families for their wonderful support of PSC.

I wish our College Community a safe, restful and enjoyable Summer Holiday period.  I am very much looking forward to 2024 and everything that we as a College Community can achieve for our students into the future.

Thank you and regards, 

Aaron Smith  

College Principal – Pakenham Secondary College