Student Voice

Pakenham Secondary College at the ANZAC Day Dawn Service

Our College Captain and Vice Captain, Holly Falkingham and Grace Groves, laid a wreath on behalf of the College at the Pakenham Dawn Service on ANZAC Day (25th April). 

Thank you Holly and Grace for representing our College at this important event.

ANZAC Day Whole School Assembly

On Tuesday, 23rd April, we held a Whole School Assembly to commemorate ANZAC Day. 

ANZAC Day as we know it was first observed on 25 April 1916, as people came together to commemorate the landing of Australian and New Zealand forces at Gallipoli, Türkiye, on 25 April 1915.

This important tradition has now become an opportunity to stop and reflect on the sacrifice and dedication of all our veteran and service community, and the families who support them.

Our ANZAC Day Whole School Assembly was led by the Student Representative Council and included an important speech by our Principal, Mr Smith on the history and importance of ANZAC Day, as he explained the Gallipoli campaign to our students.

We were also thankful for the attendance of our guest speaker, Mr James Ryan. Mr Ryan has served as a reserve with Norforce, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, Kimberley Squadron (Norforce is responsible for an area of operations a little over 130 million square kilometres) and he also has four years, serving full time in the Royal Australian Corp of Transport. He spoke about his Grandfather fighting in World War II and his Father serving in the Vietnam War - doing what they could to keep Australia safe. He also talked about the sacrifice that serving members and their families make every day and said that "serving is as hard as it is rewarding". It was a great speech and we are very grateful for Mr Ryan giving up his time to come along on the day, and providing us with an insight into what it takes to be a serving member of the Armed Forces. 

Our College Captains, Jemma and Holly, recited two important poems, 'In Flanders Fields' by John McCrae and the 'Ode of Remembrance' by Laurence Binyon, and we held one minute's silence, followed by 'The Last Post'. A wreath was then laid by the podium by two of our students, Brooke Wheller from the Yawa Team and Libby O'Shannessy from the Bunjil Team. 

We are so lucky that we have an exceptional piper, Mr Telford, who played the bagpipes so beautifully to conclude our Assembly. 

Thanking you,

The Student Representative Council