From the Boarding School

From our Head of Boarding

It was a real treat to welcome our ‘Baby Boarders’ to Pymble last week – Year 7 2023. They are a fabulous bunch joining us from all corners of New South Wales and they had a great time here on campus very much due to our incredible Boarding staff and our Boarder ‘Big Sisters”. We loved meeting them all and can’t wait to welcome them into the family in January.

On Tuesday night, we met more of our new Boarders in an online meeting with the Year 8, 9, 10 and 11 cohort who will be joining us next year. These girls will be here for a sleepover on 11 November and last night was a chance for them to see some of the faces so it’s not quite so strange when they turn up next week. As always, our Boarders did us proud sharing their top tips and a little bit about themselves.

Here we come Lang!

Last year, we started the tradition of the ‘room draw’ in which the room allocation for Lang House is decided. It really is a very special occasion as each girl has the opportunity to select her room for her final year at the College. The girls who have been here the longest get first pick and there is Mrs White’s ‘wheel of destiny’ when there is more than one girl on the arrival date. While it is lots of fun, what I really love is the genuine excitement the girls have for each other, the concern they all have to ensure everyone gets their ‘pick’ and the joy when it all comes together. It really is the Boarder spirit shining through.

Congratulations to our 2023 Spirit House Captains

Last night in Chapel we formally announced our Spirit House Captains for 2023. While the Day School has membership to eight houses, our Boarders are members of one of four of these houses, known as spirit houses – Goodlet, Marden, Hammond and Lang. There are two Spirit House Captains for each Spirit House and these girls are charged with engaging the entire Boarding community in the various events and activities that take place throughout the year in addition to promoting and fostering school spirit and the College values – Care, Courage, Integrity, Respect and Responsibility. I am delighted with our team for 2023 and cannot wait to see what these young women will bring to our Boarding family.

Congratulations to the following Spirit House Captains:

Goodlet: Skye Pockley and Holly Craig

Hammond: Andie Hodder and Rori Lemon

Lang: Victoria Burton and Charlotte Leung

Marden: Erica Williams and Giaan Jackson

Love It – Mrs White

It was another busy week in our Love It program with Friday evening an opportunity for our Goodlet girls to head over to Newington for a Halloween event. The Boarders from both schools enjoyed the opportunity to further develop their friendships after the dinner last term.

Saturday afternoon was spectacular weather and the girls from Goodlet enjoyed a trip to the beach to cool off, while on Saturday night, a bus full of Marden girls headed out to one of the best games of basketball of the year. In the final second of the game, the Sydney Kings sunk a basket to win by 1 point. Sunday afternoon was a chance for the Boarders to celebrate Halloween with our friends from Knox. The Spirit House Captains and Prefects ran a wonderful Trick for Treat event that culminated with a barbecue dinner and cricket on Lang Lawn.

Wow – how do we beat that weekend?

This week, our Year 12 (2023) prepare to farewell Goodlet. The room draw occurred on Monday night, followed by a special dinner with the Goodlet House staff on Wednesday night. Sunday afternoon will mark the beginning of the Year 12s moving in and they will enjoy a proper housewarming on Sunday evening.

On Friday evening, we will be welcoming the year 9s from Riverview for a games and pizza night in the gym, while our Goodlet girls enjoy a twilight beach picnic. Saturday, we will be heading to South Curl Curl for a beach day and Kate will be taking a group to the Glebe Markets. Sunday will be a chance to head to Newtown to check out the thrifting opportunities and trendy shops along the way.

View from my Window – Ashleigh Henderson

My name is Ashleigh Henderson, and I am a Year 10 student and I have started boarding at Pymble this year. I live on a bit of land a little out of Dubbo in central west NSW, approximately six hours from Sydney, with my parents Janet and Phill, younger brother James and sister Mikayla. The thing I love most about Dubbo is the community and how everyone is always there to support each other. I also love sunsets and golden hour back home.

On our property we have two dogs – Mud (a Kelpie) and Winnie (a Border Collie) – and five chickens. While attending Boarding School I have only been able to hear about the weather catastrophes back home. Lately there’s been too much water in my dog’s kennels for them to go in, and despite being on a hill, we were ankle deep in water. Everything is extremely green when I go back in the holidays – it’s a bit weird compared to the dry grass I’m normally used to.

Last holidays, I was lucky enough to go on Drama tour and travelled around London, Stratford and Paris. I had the best time and learnt so much about the monarchy and did my fair share of touristing. Seeing the crown jewels, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Shakespeare’s house, the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower were real highlights.

When I’m at home, I love seeing friends, going to dance and swimming in my pool. Out my window, I see our garden and behind the fence I can see our orchard with the orange trees popping through and the flowers bright pink, yellow and white showing their colours in the warmer months.

I love boarding here at Pymble and I’m proud to be a Boarder and enjoy all the new experiences and opportunities that come my way.

Boarder of the Week

Congratulations to Emma Toynton, our Year 12 superstar Boarder of the Week. Emma joined us from Rocky Glen, near Coonabarabran, in Year 9 and has been a dynamic presence ever since. Despite a sometimes tough exterior, Emma has a heart of gold and a knack of cutting through, making people feel heard, cared for and appreciated.

She also demonstrates incredible resilience and courage. This came to the fore when after a gruelling week of hospitality work placement, Emma headed out to the Beef Bonanza and was a huge asset to the Cattle Club team. Not only did Emma manage all her parading commitments but she also made sure everyone was well fed, cooking up our Pymble eggs to make a breakfast feast. We feel very lucky to have Emma in our Boarding family.