Principal’s Message

Ray Squires

In Term 2 students in Year 7 and 9 participated in NAPLAN testing.  Parents of students in Year 7 and 9 have been sent a copy of their child’s NAPLAN results and while it is understood that the results represent one point in time in a child’s schooling, it does provide important feedback for the College, parents and students.  As a Principal, I am particularly interested in the level of growth in student learning that has occurred as students have moved from Year 7 to Year 9.  In 2017, this growth data has been very good with students surpassing the average growth of that achieved across the state, in four of the five key areas.  This is a significant achievement by our students and vindicates the improvement strategies currently being employed by the College.

Student Attendance

We owe it to our children to support them in making the most of their secondary schooling.  Success at school breeds opportunity and we want to give every student the chance to progress to their preferred pathway upon completion of their time at Pakenham Secondary College.

Regular attendance is key to success in any subject.  Our Attendance Policy states:

  • Students who fall below 80% attendance in any class, without College approval, will record an ’N’ for that subject in the end of semester report. The report comment will include –“Based on an attendance rate of less than 80%, (student name) has not been able to successfully meet the requirements of this subject”
  • Students who have 80% to 90% attendance will be required to sit additional work by the class teacher to gain an ‘S’ for the subject.

We all want our students to get a great education and the building blocks for a great education begin with students coming to school each and every day.  Missing school can have a major impact on a child’s future.  As we approach the last quarter of the school year, it is important that parents continue to ensure that their child attends every day.

Interim Reports / Parent Teacher Interviews

Interim reports will be available to parents at the end of this term and can be accessed through Compass.  Parent-teacher interviews will be held on Thursday, September 21.

Pupil free day – Term 4

Parents should note that the next School Council sanctioned Pupil Free Day is scheduled for Friday, December 1.

It should be noted that the Monday before Melbourne Cup Day is a normal school day with all students expected to attend.

Ray Squires
Principal

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Middle School Update

Students across both Sub Schools in Years 8 – 10 have made a positive start to Semester Two and it is noticeable that the majority of students are taking on board the feedback given to them in their Semester One reports. There has already been a vast number of opportunities for students to participate in extra-curricular activities this term, with Year 8 students supporting the 4C’s in making food packages for the less fortunate in our community, as well as attending the Federation University aspirations incursion.

Apprenticeships Group Australia Try a Trade day in Warragul

Apprenticeships Group Australia Try a Trade day in Warragul

Learning about nine different trades on show

Learning about nine different trades on show

The Year 9 students have participated in leadership training with a company named “High Resolves” and also attended the Apprenticeships Group Australia Try a Trade day in Warragul for the first time and what an amazing facility they have! They offer 9 different trades all in one building! (Photos Attached). The Year 9s are currently choosing their course for 2018 and have the option to choose a Mainstream course, a VET course, or start their VCE by completing a Unit 1 & 2 in year 10. Year 9 exams begin on the 4th of September.

The Year 10s are working hard in what is a very important stage in their education. They are currently choosing their pathway into the Senior School and fine tuning their course selection based on their career preferences. Year 10 students will be participating in ‘Mock Interviews’ in the coming weeks, which is designed to prepare them for applying for a job in the future, or applying for entry into further studies.

Keep up the good work Middle School Students!

Brad James & Jenny Healy
Sub School Leaders – Middle School.

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Senior School Happenings

Year 12 VCE English

The Crucible

The Crucible

Year of Wonders

Year of Wonders

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For Unit 4 Outcome 1 students will be writing a comparative analysis of two texts. These are Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks and The Crucible by Arthur Miller.

Parents are encouraged to support their children in the close reading and analysis of these two texts, to prepare them for the best possible marks for the outcome as well as the exam.

Literacy News

The College recently received the Year 7 and 9 NAPLAN results for 2017. While the media has been busy to report ‘doom and gloom’ in relation to the nation’s progress in the areas of Literacy and Numeracy, at Pakenham Secondary the story continues to be quite the opposite. Our results this year showed that in a possible ten different criteria, our students’ growth data from Year 7 to Year 9 outstripped that of the state in nine of those criteria. What that means is that our students are improving at a greater rate than state averages. This has been the story for the past two years.

GrammarThese outstanding achievements are a direct result of the school wide Literacy Program that we have been implementing for several years. The ‘Literacy For Learning’ Program that I have written about in this forum before, continues to support our students in writing in a much more formal and academic way, the kind of writing that is demanded in the school setting if success is to be achieved. Our students are now much more aware of what is required of them and are able to put into place several key strategies that have helped to formalise their writing. I would encourage you to speak to your children about such things as ‘noun groups’, ‘nominalisations’ and ‘connectives’ and find out how your child is using these to improve their writing.

As a result of the outstanding success of our Literacy Program we continue to be visited by many different schools wanting to know the secret of our success. We have now had visits by more than 15 different schools and over 40 Principals, Assistant Principals and Literacy Leaders. While many have been schools from the other side of Melbourne, we have also hosted Berwick College, Hampton Park Secondary College and later in the term we will be visited by Nossal High School and Officer Secondary College.  It is a great thrill to be able to pass on such important information to other schools and share with them our passion and expertise in such an important area.

I congratulate our students on the way that they have incorporated these new strategies into their work and their willingness to try new things. This can be sometimes very daunting but as our results continue to show, it is well worth the effort.

Kate Logan
Literacy Leader


Mehdi Kokoda’s Experience

Following from the last newsletter issue, Mehdi has shared his experience in detail with our local paper Star News Group. His story will be published next week and we will  share that on the College Facebook page as well as the College website.

In the meantime, enjoy the following images taken by a documentary crew who followed the expedition. I’m sure once you see these, you will be keen to read about Mehdi’s life-changing experience.

 

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Science Update

Year 7 student Fiorella Bonaudi creating a parachute

Year 7 student Fiorella Bonaudi creating a parachute

Year 7 student Fiorella Bonaudi in the midst of her experiment

Year 7 student Fiorella Bonaudi in the midst of her experiment

 

National Science Week 2017 in Pakenham Secondary College

The theme for National Science Week this year was “Future Earth”. Teachers and students discussed the impacts of our activities on our planet and environment and the actions we are currently taking to try to preserve the only home planet we have. A video on our plan to colonise Mars was screened to several classes in the Lecture Theatre to encourage students to think about the difficulties of keeping humans healthy on the journey to Mars, as well as solutions on how they can stay alive there. It also served to highlight how much easier it is to take actions to preserve our planet in comparison to making another planet habitable for human life.

As part of National Science Week, two Year 7 classes participated in a CSIRO hosted STEM in Schools, with schools across Australia joining in a virtual classroom forum with a panel of Australians working in the space industry. The panel discussed their work and solving problems related to space expoloration – mission control, lasers, telescopes and space junk. Exploring big questions and coming up with ideas to solve some of life’s big problems are at the heart of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). Following the virtual classroom, students learned about the importance of using parachutes to land cargo safely on another planet and experimented with designing, testing and refining parachutes of their own. Our students particularly enjoyed the challenge set in the parachute making activity.

Adrian Lim and Allison Barrie

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 Club News

Homework Club

Homework Club

All students are welcome to attend homework club every Thursday afternoon in the library until 4:30pm. Students will be able to get help from many teachers and will also have access to computers if need be.

All students are welcome.

 

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Breakfast Club

Toast, breakfast cereal, milk and Milo will be provided Monday to Friday between 8:15am and 8:45am, near the canteen.

The bread is kindly donated by Bakers Delight each week.


Student Attendance

everydaycounts

Going to school every day is the single most important part of your child’s education.

Students learn new things at school every day – missing school puts them behind.

What does it take for your child to succeed?

Missing… That equals to… Which is… Over school life is… The best your child will perform is at…
1 day per fortnight 20 days per year 4 weeks per year Nearly 1.5 years Equal to finishing in Year 11
1 day per week 40 days per year 8 weeks per year Over 2.5 years Equal to finishing in Year 10
2 days per week 80 days per year 16 weeks per year Over 5 years Equal to finishing in Year 7
3 days per week 120 days per year 24 weeks per year Nearly 8 years Equal to finishing in Year 4

 

Recommended Approaches for parents:

What should happen

On Monday morning, Sarah takes a note, (written by her father), to her teacher. The note explains why Sarah will not be at school on Wednesday. After reading the note, the teacher asks Sarah if she is ok and if she would like to talk to the school counsellor. Sarah says she is ok. The teacher believes the note is authentic and informs the principal who approves the absence. The principal asks the teacher to follow up with Sarah and her family in a week or two to see if they need any additional support.

What shouldn’t happen

Sarah arrives at school on Monday looking a bit pale. She is not able to concentrate and is uncommunicative when her teacher asks her what is wrong. On Wednesday she doesn’t turn up to school and is marked as absent without an excuse.

What should happen

A couple of months ago, Tyson’s mum approached the school to discuss the holiday. After the principal approved the absence, Tyson’s teachers provided Tyson’s mother with an absence learning plan to ensure that he doesn’t drop behind while on holiday. Tyson’s family adapts the trip to include time for Tyson to do some school work. When Tyson returns he feels confident about fitting back into his school, knowing he is up to date with his classmates.

What shouldn’t happen

A couple of days before they go away, Tyson’s mum tells his room teacher about the holiday. The teacher immediately informs the principal who requests a meeting to discuss if this is feasible for Tyson. There is no time to prepare an absence learning plan, and therefore the family may be financially penalised as numerous absences for which a reasonable excuse is not provided may lead to a fine.

What should happen

Michelle’s dad knows taking Michelle out of school is not a good idea, especially when it has taken Michelle a long time to settle in. Instead he picks up her Aunty from the airport by himself. Then they both pick up Michelle at the end of the school day together.

What shouldn’t happen

Michelle’s dad decides to take Michelle out of school for the day. Michelle enjoys seeing her aunty, but feels anxious about attending school tomorrow.

The principal requests a meeting with her dad to explain why this is not a reasonable excuse.

What should happen

Harrison’s mum makes the appointment time to after school. She tries to talk to him about why he doesn’t like school. She makes an appointment with the principal to talk about her concerns. Together they come up with a plan to make school attendance easier for Harrison.

What shouldn’t happen

Harrison’s mum lets him take the rest of the day off.  Harrison enjoys getting away from the teasing from his classmates and starts looking for more excuses to take days off and gets behind in his work.

What should happen

Ngello’s parents ask him to do the best job he can, but refuse to let him stay home. They send a note to school with Ngello, letting the teacher know Ngello is struggling and asking for a meeting about his studies. The teacher organises a meeting with Ngello and his parents to work out alternative tasks and extra assistance.

What shouldn’t happen

Ngello’s parents allow him to stay home, and even provide him with a note trying to excuse him. Ngello finishes his book report. Unfortunately for him, the teacher is showing a movie version of the book on that day. The whole next week of lessons involve comparing and contrasting the movie and book, and Ngello feels even more isolated and is unable to complete the work

Need help with your child’s attendance issues, contact the College to discuss strategies.

Remember, if your child needs to be absent from school, please log into Compass and update their attendance records online.