From the Junior School
From our Head of Junior School
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams
Each week, we encourage ourselves to think of ways we can make a difference in our world. This could be as simple as helping at home, making friends with someone beyond our friendship group, being more sustainable or advocating for change on a cause that matters to us. I am thrilled to share that our Student Representative Council (SRC) girls have been recognised for their advocacy with a NSW Social Justice award which will be presented to them by Mrs Sally Rushton, Head of Junior School at Abbotsleigh, in an assembly in the coming weeks. The SRC girls have been nominated for their initiative in designing and making bird feeders for our native birds as they were worried about the lack of food for the birds following the rain and floods.
World Teacher Award
This week we are delighted to celebrate Mrs Kate Giles who was recognised with a World’ Teacher’s award through the Teachers’ Guild NSW. Kate was celebrated for her passion for student wellbeing, community and for the way she goes above and beyond to know each girl and celebrate and grow their strengths. This is a well-deserved award in recognition of Kate’s care, expertise and commitment as an education leader.
Congratulations to our new Junior School leaders for 2023!
The last few weeks have been a busy time for Year 5 as they have gone through the process of voting for our Junior School leaders for Year 6, 2023. Mrs Nerissa Davey, Deputy Head Junior School Operations, Mrs Clair O’Connor, Year 5 Co-ordinator, Year 5 team and I have worked with the girls to support them through the process. I am now thrilled to announce these leaders for 2023:
Kindness – Eden Ni, Melanie Xu, Amna Syed, Jessamy Facer
SRC – Chelsea Duan, Isabel Fan, Dionne Jacobs, Amelia Blaiklock
Chapel – Cadence Wong, Wendy Wei, Lana Tao, Gabrielle Guo
ICT – Daisy Scarbrough, Duola Lin, Amelia Hanstrum, Betty Han
Sustainability – Charlotte Pang, Georgia Friedel, Richielynne Xiong, Oriana Fenton
STEM – Phoebe Scott, Anika Verma, Olivia Chan, Sophia Wong
Hammond – Aaliyah Khanche, Diyana Palihawadana, Ava Welton, Arianna Li
Inglehome – Bella Xu, Chloe Deng, Lily Dao, Elsa Yu
Bennett – Ellie Lau, Amber Chen, Edith Cullinane, Arabella Hoang
Lang – Ava Jamieson, Estelle Macolino, Eloise Gavagna, Cienna Heald
Wylie – Grace Neal, Avika Kapoor, Xanthe Munro, Amelia Hardas
Goodlet – Zeta James-Taylor, Adelle Cassidy, Jennifer Xu, Charlotte Sadler
Thomas – Sophia Guo, Madison Aikman, Fiona Wu, Lillie Oldfield
Marden – Chloë Lenane, Athena Wu, Carla Eibach, Charlie Slater
Being a Mathematician in the Junior School
Congratulations to our Year 6 Maths Olympiad students who received recognition in the competition for their achievement in coming in the top ten per cent of participants. Over 100,000 students participate in Maths Olympiad, so this is a wonderful achievement for our girls. We are also very proud of Mrs Joanne Meacock, Year 6 teacher, who was recognised for her passion and dedication in teaching girls Mathematics during the Maths Olympiad competition.
How do mathematicians think, behave, reason, analyse and find solutions? Groups of Year 5 and 6 students have been focusing on developing their own mathematical thinking and behaviours when working on various mathematical problems through the MathsCraft Curriculum developed by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers (ACEMS). Our girls are learning how to approach different mathematical problems, find patterns as well as use different pathways to find solutions.
Each Friday 5W Mathematics students have been actively engaging in problems from the MathsCraft Curriculum. The girls have had to rethink their approach to questions and explore Mathematics through different lenses to build logical arguments and delve deeper with their understanding. Through clearly documenting their thinking they have been able to backtrack and revaluate where they may have gone wrong and use reasoning to support their answers.
Written by Ms Lyn Wynne – Year 5 Compass Teacher
“It’s helped me think of different ways to work out problems” – Annabel M
“It exposes us to having to justify our answers and include our methods” – Yuan Hui
“It teaches us to always show our working so that it’s easier to come back and see where we went wrong” – Grace J
MathsCraft requires a combination of different skills in fun but challenging activities. Year 6 have completed three of these activities so far and they all made us think even harder and smarter. The first one we completed, ‘Magic Matrix’, involved us making our very own magic square in which all rows and columns had to add up to 2022. This shook many of our brains because it was very tough to find the right mix of numbers so that they’d add up vertically, horizontally and diagonally but eventually we all figured it out!
The next MathsCraft task we attempted was named ‘Got One’, a challenge that involved making a grid of numbers using only whole numbers, addition and multiplication. When we achieved one of the many numbers on the grid we’d yell out “got one!” and the first person to complete the entire grid was victorious although we’re not sure if anyone even completed this activity as it was so hard!
This week we did an activity called ‘Lazy Mrs Jones’ where we chose three different numbers and made the largest and smallest numerals using them, then subtracted the smallest from the largest to get our new number and we kept repeating the process. Eventually we all realised we achieved the same result 495 despite trying with different combinations of numbers to all our peers. We then wrote our findings in a reflection to explain how we believe we all got the same result of 495 and we came up with some interesting ideas and solutions.
We have enjoyed taking on the challenges. Year 6’s MathsCraft journey made us think outside the box and expand our mathematical thinking and understanding in many different ways.
Written by Mrs Joanne Meacock – Year 6 Compass Teacher
‘ I’ve really enjoyed how much MathsCraft has expanded my learning and helped me think in different ways’ – Eliza Macpherson
‘ I hope we do more MathsCraft activities in High School so I can continue to experience these challenges’ – Valerie Zhao
Congratulations!
Congratulations to Emma Feng (Year 3) who has been awarded Highly Commended in this year’s Pens Against Poverty competition. Emma wrote a poem ‘From Rich to Poor’ for this year’s theme Finding a Home. The judges commented that Emma’s poem comprised ‘stark contrasts portrayed evocatively’. Emma has been invited to Government House, Canberra to receive this prestigious award.
Huge congratulations to Anna Yuling Wang Year 4, for winning the individual all-round gold medal in 2022 State Gymnastics Championships representing Pymble.
LINKS Day – Mrs Lara Bird, Deputy Head of Junior School Academics
“Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end.” – Robin Sharman
Friday was a wonderful day in which our girls showed their courage and sense of adventure as they stepped into their new grades for 2023. There were certainly some nerves, but our girls all showed their strength of character as they leaned into the experience and explored new opportunities with an open mind. It was also wonderful to meet our new Pymble girls who will be joining the Junior School family next year.
Walk for a Kinder World – Mrs Kimberley Tyson – Deputy Head of Junior School – Students
A big thank you to all the students and families who continue to help us on our mission for Walk for a Kinder World. The Junior School completed 16,639km for kindness last week. Congratulations to all the girls in Goodlet, as you won House Spirit last week with your contribution of kilometres. Well done Year 4, you were the grade that again completed the greatest number of kilometres over the course of the week.
A reminder – if you would like to add photos of your family completing kilometres for kindness please do so on our Junior School padlets- Kindergarten to Year 3 here and Years 4 to 6 here.
There is also a fundraising page which can be found by clicking here. With the generous donations already received from our families we are able to support kindness programs being introduced into disadvantaged schools across NSW so we’re making a positive difference in the lives of those children and school communities – thank you.
Swimming Carnival – Travel for girls in Kindergarten to Year 4
As per the portal notice, girls in Kindergarten to Year 4 will be dismissed at Mollie Dive Field. Please click here to indicate your daughter’s plans for the afternoon.
Celebrations of Learning – Kindergarten to Year 2
Term 4 will end for Kindergarten to Year 2 students after their Celebration of Learning on Thursday 1 December. Girls in Kindergarten to year 2 are not required to attend school on Friday 2 December. Should your daughter in Kindergarten to Year 2 need supervision at school on Friday 2 December, please complete the form by clicking here.
Booklists 2023 – Kindergarten to Year 6
As per the Portal notice, your daughter’s 2023 booklist is now available to order through Campion. Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 students will have their stationery kits delivered to the College during the holiday period ready for their first day of school. Years 3 to 6 will have their orders delivered to their home.
To gain direct access to Pymble’s textbook lists click here. You will need to select the booklist for the grade your daughter is in next year (2023) and type in code 2677.
Please order before Friday 18 November to ensure delivery before Term 1 2023 commences. Please contact Campion on 02 8905 8691 or via email at campionsydney@campion.com.au for any order enquiries.
Junior School Digital News – Term 4 Week 3
Our Week in Learning Photos
From Out of School Hours Care (OSHC)
Bookings are now open for the school holiday programs in December and January. All bookings can be made through KidSoft.
For more information on how to book a place, please click here or contact us via email at oshcadmin@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au
From the Junior School Parent Group (JSPG)
Swimming Carnival
Please join us in participating in our Swimming Carnival Stall on 17th November by clicking here.
The program of events is:
7.30am to 10.30am Championship Events
10.45am to 12.45pm Kindergarten to Year 4 (followed by lunch on Mollie Dive)
11.00am to 11.15am Diving Showcase
Noon to 12.45pm Year 5 and Year 6 lunch on Mollie Dive
12.45pm to 2.30pm Year 5 and Year 6
Please check your daughter’s schedule when you sign up to ensure you can still see her racing.
Year Events
Please see the invitations attached for Kindergarten and Year 4 end of year events. For any queries, please contact us at pymblelcjspg@gmail.com
Elizabeth Toh, Aimee Birch, Stephanie Pickford and Kai Jones
Reminders from the Administration Office
AFTERNOON TRAVEL CHANGES
Please email juniorschool@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au to advise any changes to afternoon travel arrangements. Late changes should be made prior to 2.00pm to ensure messages are received by staff and students prior to the girls end of formal day routines.
LOST PROPERTY
All items of uniform should be named including summer hat, play hat, uniforms, shoes, sneakers, socks, lunch box and drink bottle. Lost items can be readily returned if it they are labelled.
Winter should have your daughter’s name written in white pen inside the crown of the hat. If there is a circular label inside the hat, don’t use this as it is inclined to come loose.
Please be aware that unnamed items will only be held at each Junior School Administration Office for two weeks.
Dates for your Diary
Term 4
10 November Year 5 Mind, Body Spirit Day
11 November Walk for a Kinder World final day and celebration
15 November Jacaranda Day
17 November Junior School Swimming Carnival
22 November Year 6 final Chapel and celebration of learning 8.45am to 11.00am
24 November Year 6 Disco
1 December Kindergarten Celebration of Learning 9.00am, term ends for Kindergarten children
1 December Years 1 and 2 Celebration of Learning 11.00am, term ends for Year 1 and 2 children
1 December. Years 4 to 6 Speech Day rehersals
2 December Years 3 to 6 Speech Day, 1.30pm
Mrs Kate Brown