Principal's Message

We Grow Through Connection

Dear Students, Parents and Carers,

In our first College Newsletter for 2026, I formally welcome our families back for what will be another exciting year at Pakenham Secondary College!  We have been so pleased with the start of the year, and we wish all our students all the very best with their studies in 2026.

It has already been a very busy start to the year.  Beyond our excellent Teaching and Learning Program in the classroom, students have already had access to Interschool Sport, Excursions, our Lunchtime Clubs, our Whole School Assembly and our House Sports Carnival.  We are very pleased with how our students are willing to access the co-curricular opportunities provided.

We Grow Through Connection.  We continue to be proud of our College Motto. It supports everyone to connect and work together to achieve the best outcomes we can for our students and our College Community.  

Our College Values.  Please be reminded that we have our SOAR Values at PSC which guide us in our approach to Teaching and Learning, and to how we support and guide our students more broadly: 

Social and Personal Responsibility  

Opportunities for All 

Achieving Your Personal Best 

Respectful Relationships 

Of the four SOAR Values, Respectful Relationships will be our focus during Term One. 

I have again highlighted the Four Areas Important to Our College Community. Through 2026, we will provide many opportunities to our students in these Four Areas: 

-              Student Learning Growth and Pathways 

-              Sport 

-              Performing Arts 

-              Student Leadership and Our Community 

Our main priority is Student Learning Growth and we will work hard in partnership with families to support our students to further grow and improve their learning.

Well done to our Year 7 students – they have settled in so well!  Our Year 7 students were a part of the Getting It Right Program at the start of the year and their participation here is designed to assist them with their transition from primary school, and to further improve their understanding of how we operate as a College.  We were very pleased with the strong level of participation from our students in our Getting It Right Program.  We welcome our Year 7 students to Pakenham Secondary College.  I would also like to acknowledge and welcome several new students from across other year levels that have enrolled with us for the first time in 2026, and, I would also like to recognise our Year 12 students and wish them well with their studies across their subjects in their final year of secondary school.

NAPLAN 2026 – We have been using English and Mathematics classes to support our Year 7 and 9 students in preparation for NAPLAN this year. The NAPLAN 2026 Assessment Window is from March 11 to March 23 at the College. Families are encouraged to contact the General Office on pH – 5945 1433 with any queries, and we wish our Year 7 and 9 students all the best with their NAPLAN assessments this year.

In 2026, we are continuing with our work relating to An Orderly Learning Environment.  We have been really pleased with how students have established a sense of routine with their classes.  Supporting our approach is new signage that has been installed in classrooms throughout the College referencing our College Values and Classroom Expectations.  We thank our students for arriving to classes on time, for lining up out the front of their classrooms, for wearing full uniform and for having the correct resources with them to support their learning (eg laptops). Our students are polite, co-operative and outstanding representatives of our great school.

We have had several New Staff join our great school this year and already they are having such a positive impact about the College - we welcome our new colleagues to PSC.

Our students are reminded of the Mobile Phone Policy.  Mobile Phones are not to be seen at school with students keeping them locked securely in their locker throughout the day.  Families are also reminded of the recent Social Media Ban for those students under the age of 16 – more information relating to the Social Media Ban can be found here .

Our International Student Program is an important part of our College.  We have a number of International Students enrolled at our school and we are committed to supporting the needs of our International Students.  We wish our International Students all the best with their studies for 2026, and trust that their excursion (Thursday 26 February) to Phillip Island yesterday went well.

Continuing with the theme of International Education, we are excited about our continuing connection with our Sister School overseas in Ridge Valley School, India.  In 2026, we will be continuing to provide learning opportunities for students in our respective schools to together engage in research, collaboration and project work using the theme of Climate Action. 

We were thrilled to learn last week (Friday 20 February) that our College Production for 2026 will be Mary Poppins Jnr.  Our students are very excited about the prospect of participating in what will be another first class PSC Production this year – we can not wait to see it!

Our College Council seeks to involve our College Community (Parents, Staff and Students) in the future planning and direction of the College in terms of further improving student outcomes.  The Pakenham Secondary College Council Election process commenced Friday 6 February, 2026 with nominations sought.  We have extended the period for seeking nominations to Friday 6 March, 5pm - please contact the General Office (pH – 5945 1433) with your interest in obtaining a Nomination Form together with any queries concerning College Council. 

Our next Meeting of College Council will be March 26, 2026 (5:30pm at the College) and it is on this date and at this time that our Annual General Meeting (AGM) will also be held.  If Students, Parents and Carers would like to attend our AGM, please contact the General Office on pH – 5945 1433.

We thank those members who will be leaving Council after our March Meeting (2026) in Wayne Hampton, Jodie Tamblyn (Parent Representatives) and Yuvika Pant (Student Representative).  Wayne was a College Council President for some time and was superb in the role – his positive advocacy and support of our great school was first class in his extended time on Council.  Jodie too was a long serving member of Council where she sought to strongly support the College with every opportunity – Jodie’s involvement on Council was outstanding.  Yuvika served for a short time and we thank her too for her positive contribution to Council.

I mentioned earlier that we had our Whole School Assembly recently (Tuesday 10 February) and it was a wonderful event.  A major theme of the Assembly was to recognise our Student Leaders for this year.  It was terrific to see our students leading the way with compering and speaking duties at this important event.  Please read on for a list of PSC Student Leaders – we thank our Student Leaders in advance for their work and leadership throughout the year in 2026.

Families may be interested in Second Hand Uniform.  We have some Second hand Uniform at the College that can support families in need.  Families are encouraged to contact our General Office on pH – 5945 1433 with any enquiries.

Connecting with Indigenous Culture and History remains a priority for our College. We are committed in our support of First Nations People and how we can further improve Cultural Understanding of Indigenous Culture and History.  Within the local network of schools, we are a  part of the Marrung Steering Committee and related Community of Practice, our House Names are named after Indigenous sporting greats, we continue to look at ways of adding to Indigenous symbolism throughout the College (including with respect to our Capital Works Program), and, importantly, we cover Indigenous topics in the curriculum provided across a range of subjects.  Furthermore, we are providing opportunities for our Indigenous students to participate in a range of community events, and our Indigenous Support Worker works closely with Indigenous students and their families.

Our $11.5 Million Capital Works Program continues to proceed to plan.  As a College, we continue to work with the Victorian Schools Building Authority (VSBA), the Department of Education and Training (DET) and the Architects to ensure that our Capital Works Program is progressing in a manner that is expected. We are expecting that our Capital Works Program will be completed by the end of 2026 – we appreciate the patience of our College Community with respect to the Program.

There is huge interest in our College.  Enrolments have surged over the last few years.  To further demonstrate the huge interest in our College, we again have 250 Year 7 students that have enrolled with us in 2026.  The interest in our College is enormous because of the great results we are achieving for our students as we continue to work in partnership with our families.

2026 will be another big year at our great school.  Our main priority is Student Learning Growth, and we will work with families to further the learning outcomes of our students.  We thank our families for continuing to work in partnership with us as their ongoing support means so much to our great school. 

We are recognised for our strong and regular communications. Please refer to our Weekly Updates and Newsletters, Compass Posts, College Calendar and our Social Media Platforms to continue to help keep yourselves informed about is what is happening at our College.

I thank our College Community in advance for their support and advocacy of our great school in 2026, and I wish our College Community all the best for what will be another successful year at Pakenham Secondary College – We Grow Through Connection,

Regards

Aaron

Aaron Smith

College Principal – Pakenham Secondary College