From the Principal
Well, 2021, that was quite a ride! My sincere hope is that each member of our community will look back with enormous pride on the role they played in driving our girls’ learning forward throughout the year, no matter how many roadblocks and detours we encountered along the way. In true Pymble style, we simply created new pathways, while taking a moment or two to appreciate the journey as much as the destination.
This week, I’ve been filled with an equally enormous sense of joy to be able to welcome parents to our end-of-year assemblies. We have missed the energy and presence of our parent community during the last two terms and were delighted to be able to modify our traditional Speech Day/Night formats to allow you to join us on campus to celebrate your daughters’ incredible achievements this year. It was such a pleasure to commend each cohort for their standout attributes and present them with a keepsake card featuring a woman of influence who has demonstrated similar attributes to break new ground in their field of work. I’d like to think the girls will do a little more research into their historical role model and start dreaming big for how they too might like to change the world one day.
To all our wonderful parents and carers, please accept a big, heartfelt thank you for trusting us to make the best decisions for your daughters’ education and for your unwavering support. Your partnership with the College is incredibly important to us, and we could not have achieved all we did this year without you. To our wonderful Preparatory and Junior School families, an extra special thank you for your phenomenal commitment to your daughters’ learning during the extended lockdown.
To our amazing staff, I can’t say this enough: thank you for never hesitating to pivot, innovate and go above and beyond to ensure we deliver an outstanding education for our girls, whether that’s on campus, online or anywhere else we need to be. You have managed to transition pretty much everything we offer at the College online so that teaching and learning stayed on track at all times. Our girls are so fortunate to have you to learn from and look up to.
To our College Board members, thank you for your gifts of time and wisdom, which you so willingly give to me and the leadership team as we continue to dream up new ways to give our girls the most incredible opportunities to learn and grow at Pymble. To our Chair, James Hunter, thank you for being available for guidance 24/7 and for always asking the refining questions that need to be asked. Mostly, thank you for being who you are: supportive, open to learning, brave and kind.
Now to the very special people who are at the centre of our world here at Pymble, our amazing girls. Thank you for being the resilient, courageous, adaptable, curious and unique individuals that make me, your Heads of School, Heads of Year and all your teachers so proud.
Thank you for having a go this year, and for not being scared to try, fail and try again.
Thank you for learning to be good with who you are – let’s keep working on that self-confidence in 2022!
Thank you to the courageous souls who played a role in their final assembly or celebration of learning this week, whether they spoke on behalf of their year group, played an instrument, sang or danced in any of the many delightful (and COVID-safe) performances we have had the privilege to enjoy. A special shout-out and virtual hug to all those students who worked so hard this year to receive an award – and to our Year 12 cohort who finally finish their HSC exams tomorrow. You have faced a challenging year with care, courage, integrity, respect and responsibility, just as we knew you would.
Signing off with enormous gratitude for our Pymble family and excitement for the year ahead. Have a wonderful break, stay safe and see you in 2022.
