From the Senior School
From the Head of Senior School
This week the Year 12 students have been engaged in service activities and turning their attention to assisting others, both within the Pymble community and beyond. We all enjoyed the delicious hot dogs that were cooked and sold by Year 12s, in support of the Sony Camp. The girls raised $1,800 which goes directly to creating pamper packs for the families involved. Grateful thanks to the very significant donations from the Harris family and the additional assistance from the Markson family. Your generosity and kindness are very much appreciated.
Also this week the College came together to celebrate our annual Jacaranda Day with many students and families donating food for families less fortunate. All donations will be sent directly to Oz Harvest and the Exodus Foundation. There is still time to bring in further donations before these are delivered.
Thank you to all parents who attended our Year 12 Information Night on Wednesday night. It was wonderful to catch up with so many of you and also to have the opportunity to meet some new parents. Following the years of online presentations and disruptions, it is always lovely to have time to reconnect and get to know our Senior School families.
Our Year 12 students are also busily preparing for and sitting their first group of assessment tasks. They are to be complimented on their calm approach. As we all remember, these can be times of added stress, so please be in touch with your daughter’s Compass teacher if you have concerns. As always, good routines of solid sleep, plenty of water (as the weather heats up) and healthy eating patterns are especially important during these times.
From the Heads of Year 12
Year 12 2023 Information Evening
It was wonderful to meet so many parents and carers at the Year 12 2023 information evening held this Wednesday. Thank you taking the time to join us in the JLT in our lovely Kate Mason building. We hope that you had some takeaway learnings from the sessions with Futures, Curriculum and Wellbeing. So many of our conversations with students highlight how Year 12 is a marathon, not a sprint and we hope that you now have more of a sense of the support systems in place at the College.
Director of Curriculum, Natasha Stanfield, made the point that conversations between young people and their parents and carers can have a positive effect on student outcomes, especially when they come from a strength-based approach. This University of NSW article links to Natasha’s points nicely. It highlights the soft skills Year 12 students can employ to navigate their HSC year better including self-efficacy, looking forward and adaptability. But what stands out most is that “the best predictor of students’ wellbeing [is] parental support”. We love working with your young people and are grateful for the support that they receive from home to do their best.
