Pakenham Secondary College News

Principal's Message

Dear Students, Parents and Carers,

We Grow Through Connection

 

Leadership is important to any organisation, not to mention a school.  We have a significant number of Student Leadership Positions available to our students each year including the very important roles of College Captains and Student Representative Council (or SRC) President. 

 

There has been great interest from our existing Year 11 students with respect to these College Captain and SRC roles for next year, and we have recently adopted a rigorous process to help decide who will fill these positions in 2024.  I am very pleased to announce the following: 

 

Our College Captains for 2024 will be:

  • Jemma Kendall
  • Holly Falkingham

Our College Vice Captain for 2024 will be:

  • Grace Groves

Our SRC President for 2024 will be:

  • Indigo James

Given their respective roles, Jemma, Holly, Grace and Indigo will all be outstanding representatives of our great school.  We congratulate them all on their appointments and we wish them well with their leadership in 2024.  We thank all of our Year 11 students who engaged with the process expressing an interest in these positions for next year.

 

Education has been in the news of late.  Subsidies for teacher training to get more teachers into the System, trial of a 4 - day school week in Queensland, curriculum changes, the impact of teacher shortages and adequate funding for State Schools are just some of the issues raised in the media affecting schools in recent times.   

 

Whilst it is pleasing to see these sorts of issues at the forefront of media reporting, the challenges remain for school communities to successfully meet the ever - changing landscape that is Education.  One of the real constants in Education is change and working with the funding that is allocated; I am proud of our ability as a College Community to work through the changes and challenges that confront us on an ongoing basis.   

 

Our State has elevated Education to a level of real importance – Victoria after all is the Education State.  We have much to be proud of in terms of the outcomes being achieved for students in the State School System.  Pakenham Secondary College is an important part of this System, and we too are achieving great outcomes for our students.  We look forward to the ongoing work and leadership required in best connecting with families to further improve the outcomes of our students at our great school. 

 

We continue to make some pleasing progress through Term Four.  The Year 12 VCE Exam Period has concluded, and our Year 10 and 11 students have also finished their Exam (10 November) and Headstart Programs (24 November).  Students across Years 7, 8 and 9 have been completing their assessments across their subjects throughout the remainder of the term leading into our Report Writing Day (24 November).  Furthermore, we are embarking on a final round of On Demand Testing for 2023 in Literacy and Numeracy with our Year 7, 8 and 9 students. We look forward to receiving these results soon to analyse growth in these important areas of learning.  Our existing Year 7, 8 and 9 students will commence their Headstart Program next week (27 November) and we look forward to providing opportunities to these students to learn more about what is ahead in their subjects for 2024. 

 

Across the College, our student enrolments are set to increase by over 100 next year – we are pleased with the level of interest and growth in our great school.  With this sort of growth, we need more staff and we have already made a number of appointments with new colleagues to join our College in 2024.

 

Our Annual Implementation Plan (or AIP) for 2024 will be developed to support Two Key Priorities for our College Community next year:

  • Further Improving Student Attendance
  • Further Improving Student Learning Growth (with a focus on Reading and Numeracy Growth)

We have some ideas as to how we can make these sorts of further improvements for next year.  Families are invited to contribute to our plans by contacting our General Office (pH – 5945 1433) to share your thoughts and ideas.

 

We continue to further improve our Buildings and Grounds.   For example, we have had our Gym floor professionally cleaned, and some Banner Poles installed to further promote the College.  Further painting works are planned for the Summer Holiday Break.

 

Planning continues with our Capital Works Program.  Our last meeting with the architect, VSBA and DET representatives was earlier in the week (20 November) where more of the proposed Master Planning for the College was tabled and discussed.  Please be reminded of the timeline attached to our Capital Works Program below: 

  • Master Planning due by 5 Dec., ‘23 
  • Schematic Design by 20 Feb., ‘24 
  • Design Development by 7 May, ‘24 
  • Tender Documentation to be completed by 30 July, ‘24 
  • Contract Awarded, 10 Sept., ‘24 
  • Construction Start, 24 Sept., ‘24 

We have some key events coming up at PSC.  For example, our Year 12 Valedictory Dinner at the Pakenham Racecourse will be held tonight (24 November), whilst our College Presentation Evening will be held at the Cardinia Cultural Centre on Thursday 7 December.  These are very important events to best recognise student effort and achievement. 

  

In closing, please be reminded of the following: 

  • Activities Week – Monday 11 to Friday 15 December 
  • Semester Two Student Reports – Distributed to Families via Compass, Wednesday 20 December  

The College Calendar continues to be busy with many co-curricular opportunities for our students.  Again, we thank our staff for their work in developing and making available these opportunities for our students through Term 4 and beyond. 

 

We continue to provide a high-quality Teaching and Learning Program which is well complimented by extensive co-curricular activities for our students.  Furthermore, we are here to help our families wherever we can concerning support that they may need.   

 

Again, I thank our families and staff for working as a team in the outstanding support and guidance of our students.  A reminder that we are committed to an orderly learning environment, a focus on what matters most, shared leadership and high expectations for all in our College Community.

 

Thank you and regards, 

 

Aaron Smith  

College Principal – Pakenham Secondary College