Principal's Message

Dear Students, Parents and Carers,

We Grow Through Connection

Dear Students and Families,

Welcome Back for Term Two! We have another action - packed term ahead full of outstanding learning opportunities and co-curricular activities for our students.

We have high standards for our students. We want to see them do well with their learning and participation at PSC. We remain committed to learning growth where quality relationships, catering for individual difference and high quality teaching practice can provide for improved student outcomes. As per our Motto, ‘We Grow Though Connection’, we can all grow and improve through the positive connections we have with others.

We have been happy with how our students have been able to settle into the new term. We encourage students with their families to reflect on the Term One Reports to review and establish student learning goals across all subject areas for the term and year ahead.

As mentioned last week in my PSC Community Update, we will continue with our focus from last term on further developing and maintaining an Orderly Learning Environment in Term Two. In respect to An Orderly Learning Environment, students are expected to:

Be on time for class
To be lining up out the front of their classroom whilst waiting for their classroom teacher
Be welcomed by teaching staff on their way into the classroom, and then stand behind their seats waiting for the classroom teacher to invite them to take a seat
Be in full uniform and have the correct resources to support them with their learning (eg fully charged laptop, books, etc
Be informed by their classroom teacher of the learning for the lesson at the start of each class

An Orderly Learning Environment promotes calmer and more productive learning environments, and we appreciate the support of students and families in this approach.

Further supporting our Orderly Learning Environment approach is our School Wide Positive Behaviour Support theme for Term Two in Respecting Others. Our students do this well and it is an opportunity for our students to be recognised and acknowledged in this area throughout the term.

Our Whole School Anzac Day Assembly earlier in the week (Tuesday 23 April) was outstanding. Anzac Day is such an important day for our nation and we as a College were able to properly acknowledge its importance with a real sense of occasion given the success of our Assembly. We had Mr. James Ryan as a guest speaker on the day together with student leaders compering and providing some readings to mark this special occasion. James has served as a reserve with Norforce, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, Kimberley Squadron, Broome Unit. Norforce is responsible for an area of operation a little over 1.3 million square kilometres. James has also served full time for the Royal Australian Corp of Transport (or the RACT) as a Driver Specialist posted to the RAAF Base in Edinburgh, South Australia. Furthermore, James has worked with Drones for use in surveillance as part of his involvement with the Reserve Services. James spoke incredibly well and we thank him for his time and effort as part of our PSC Whole School Anzac Day Assembly. Our students were incredibly respectful throughout and we thank everyone involved in allowing for such a successful event.

Our 2024 Open Night was also held earlier in the week (Tuesday 23 April) with a huge crowd in attendance to check out our great school. We started the Night in our Lecture Theatre and it was standing room only such was the strong interest from our Community - I was very pleased with the level of attendance from prospective families wanting to know more about PSC. Families were able to take in some formal presentations, view key learning area displays and participate in a tour of the College. I thank Kay Chandler (Assistant Principal) for leading and organising this special event along with student helpers and staff who were able to contribute so well to the Open Night’s success. Our enrolments have grown by 100 students across Year 7 to 12 over the last 12 months, and we have 8 Year 7 Form Groups in 2024. The interest in our College continues to soar given the outstanding outcomes we are achieving for our students – we continue to be a school on the move.

We continue to make improvements with our Buildings and Grounds. Over the recent School Holidays, we had D Wing and the Yawa Centre painted, we installed additional Basketball and Netball Poles on our hardcourts, we added garden furniture throughout the Grounds and we had a new retaining wall developed behind the Office – Administration Building. Our work here is ongoing and we have some further projects that we would like to complete before the end of the year.

The dates of our Student Free Days for the remainder of 2024 are provided below:

Friday 3 May
Friday 7 June
Wednesday 6 November

We communicate these details with our families to assist you with your planning.

We are very much looking forward to the term ahead. There is so much going on at our great school, from College Production and State School Spectacular Rehearsals, to Interschool Sport, Lunchtime Clubs and Excursions – so many opportunities for our students to take advantage of throughout Term Two. Importantly, Learning Growth is Our Priority and we will do all we can to work with families to further improve student outcomes across learning areas within the College.

I encourage families to contact the College should you have any queries on pH 5935 1433 – we are here to help in any way we can,

Regards,

Aaron

Aaron Smith

College Principal – Pakenham Secondary College