Principal's Message
We Grow Through Connection
Dear Students, Parents and Carers,
Today signals the end of Term Three and our students have had another wonderful term at our great school. Our students continue to grow and further improve their learning, together with participating in so many co-curricular opportunities at the College – we are proud of our students and their efforts and achievements.
We remain committed to learning growth. Our work and leadership are geared towards further improving Numeracy and Literacy (with an emphasis on Reading) outcomes for our students. Furthermore, we strive to provide high quality opportunities both in and out of the classroom that seek to engage our students and provide a strong reason to attend school.
We continue to provide opportunities to our students in the areas important to our College Community:
- Learning Growth Across all Subject Areas
- Sport
- Performing Arts
- Student Leadership
We are proud of the fact that we work so well with families to provide a quality education to our students. Our sense of team work with families remains strong and we look forward to supporting our students as much as we can throughout Term Four and beyond – as per our College Motto, ‘We Grow Through Connection’.
The State Schools Spectacular was held last weekend (Saturday 14 September) at John Cain Arena (Melbourne) with several of our students participating in this wonderful event. The Spectacular is an event showcasing the high degree of talent that exists amongst students enrolled in our State Schools. We had many of our students involved again this year with special mentions to James Nimaya (Principal Dancer), Jackson Newman– Watkins and Tyler Love (Crew) for being selected from hundreds of students across the state to fill prominent roles in this year’s Spectacular. The 2024 Spectacular was outstanding, and we are proud of our students given their participation. We thank Jamie Gourley (SSS Co-ordinator) and her team for their outstanding work through the year to prepare our team of students – well done to all involved.
French Day was held earlier in the week (Monday 16 September) and it was incredibly successful with strong student participation in the wonderful activities provided. It is great to see such Celebration Days being offered to our students where a Key Learning Area such as Languages (French) is highlighted and celebrated. Well done to Deb Kielnhofer (Languages Key Learning Area Leader) and her team for organising such an outstanding day for our students.
Staff v Student Games have been a feature of our Program throughout Term Three where our students have been competing against our Year 12 students in a range of sporting activities. We had ‘Dodgeball’ this week to close out the Term and staff were once again victorious – well done Staff! These events have been a lot of fun for all involved and we look forward to the next round of Staff v Student Games.
Our Semester Two Parent Teacher Student Conferences were held earlier in the week (Tuesday 17 September) with a huge number of families in attendance. We were pleased with the event allowing families the time to check in with our teaching staff and ask questions about the learning progress of their child, and to discuss and establish some plans for the remainder of the year to guide and support further improvements. We thank our families and staff for their time as part of the Semester Two Conferences.
Families will have access to what is called the Schools Bonus in 2025. All families have access to a special $400.00 payment as of next year to assist them with their child’s education. Information concerning the Schools Bonus can be found as part of this Newsletter with further information being made available to families in terms of how to access the Schools Bonus in the future. Any queries concerning the Schools Bonus can be directed to our General Office (pH – 5945 1433).
Our Class of 2024 are fast approaching the final weeks of their schooling, and we are supporting them as much as we can as they finalise their assessments, together with preparing for any exams that they may have coming up next term.
There can be mixed emotions for our Year 12s at this time as they reflect on 13 years of schooling. We thank families for working with us to support our Year 12 students, and we thank our Year 12 Teaching Staff for all of their hard work throughout the year.
We wish our Year 12 VCE and VCE VM students all the very best with their studies across their subjects over the closing weeks, and we will continue to support our VCE and VCE VM students as much as we can as we lead into the end of the year. We are proud of our Year 12 students - they have represented the College to the highest of standards and we wish them well for the future.
Student Leadership is incredibly important at PSC. We thank all of our appointed Student Leaders this year, including our Year 12 Leaders in Jemma Kendall and Holly Falkingham (College Captains), Grace Groves (College Vice Captain) and Indigo James (SRC Leader). We are currently adopting a process to appoint our Student Leaders for 2025 and we encourage our students to participate in the process.
We continue to strive to further improve our Buildings and Grounds. As mentioned in previous Updates, a new Bike Shed and Locker Bay is to be constructed and ready for use by our students in time for the 2025 school year. Importantly, our Capital Works Program continues to build from strength to strength with the Design Development phase well underway. We hope to go to tender in November this year with construction commencing towards the start of 2025. Families are invited to contact the College on pH 5945 1433 to learn more about the Capital Works Program.
We have some New Staff Members at PSC – we welcome the following colleagues to our great school:
Hanh Tran – International Student Program Co-ordinator
Tiffany Pintaudi – Receptionist
Mala Jayamanne – Maths and Science (to commence Term 4, 2024)
Alice Teng – Maths (to commence Term 1, 2025)
As you may expect planning for 2025 is well underway. We have provided even more choice to our students with respect to subject selection with our Year 9 Elective Program now mirroring in many ways the broader Year 10 Elective Program that we recently implemented at the College. More student choice provides stronger student engagement, and we are pleased with what we can offer our students in 2025 and beyond. A broader Curriculum Program together with growing enrolments means more staff will be required moving into 2025 and we will advertise several positions accordingly at the beginning of Term Four.
Further strengthening our understanding of Indigenous History and Culture is very important for our College Community. We have taken several steps in recent times to further strengthen this understanding, and our work here continues with our successful Artist in Residence Program involving Sam Richards. Sam is an Indigenous Cultural Educator and she has been working with our students in the areas of Visual Arts and Technology. Furthermore, we are planning to include some Indigenous elements into our new Capital Works Program, and introduce some new Indigenous signage throughout the College.
Please continue to visit our Social Media, Website and Compass platforms to learn more about our great school. Please be informed that our new College Magazine, ngargee yel-in-wa (an Indigenous name meaning Celebration of the Days), will be released next term highlighting so many activities, events and achievements through 2024.
We are a great school achieving great outcomes for our students – our successful Sub School Assemblies yesterday (Thursday 19 September) highlighted the wonderful efforts and achievements of our students with many certificates awarded to students. I thank our hard-working staff for everything they do to support students, and I thank our families for working so well with the College to also support our students. We have a very strong sense of community at Pakenham Secondary College, and our students continue to make the most of the opportunities that our great school provides them – we are proud of our students and their efforts and achievements. I am looking forward to Term Four as we continue to grow through connection.
Please be aware that we have an Early Dismissal of 2:30pm for our Last Day of Classes for Term 3, Friday 20 September, and we return to classes for Term 4, Monday 7 October.
Be sure to have a safe and enjoyable break everyone,
Regards
Aaron
Aaron Smith
College Principal – Pakenham Secondary College