From the Junior School

From our Head of Junior School

As the year comes to a close, I want to say a very heartfelt thank you to each of you for the support and kindness you have shown to our community, our teachers, our Admin team and our Junior School leadership team throughout this very busy year. I feel so lucky to be leading our community with such supportive families – thank you!

Our College Christmas Carols were a lovely way to bring us together and to celebrate our faiths and community. I was so proud of our amazing Junior School musicians and singers who performed with such joy and reverence. A huge thank you to our outstanding Performing Arts team and Mrs Narelle Colby who work so diligently and with such passion in building our girls’ skills and performance confidence.

As the long holidays approach, I would like to encourage the power of BOREDOM! Too often as parents we fear the phrase, ‘I’m bored’. Many times, our immediate response is to offer a device to let our children watch something to distract them or we rush to organise entertainment for them. I know I often did that myself when my daughters were young. I would like to suggest that boredom is actually a powerful opportunity for our girls to explore their creativity, to dream, to create, to reflect and to innovate.

Without the chance to be bored, we may not have the chance to develop our hunger for adventure and novelty. Through being bored your daughter may find a new hobby. Perhaps she may learn to sit quietly and see the wonder in nature and learn the power in being still and ‘present’. Perhaps she may offer to help around your home…anything is possible!

Being bored can also give us the space and time to reflect on our goals and chase those goals with renewed energy and determination.

So, over the summer break I encourage you to let your daughter be bored! As we come back together in 2023, I look forward to hearing the many wonderful creations and adventures they enjoyed as they shifted their mindset from ‘boredom’ to exploration, wonder and innovation.

This week two lovely Year 4 students, Audrey Lee and Alice Hockley, helped me decorate my office Christmas tree. Thank you girls for your kindness.

Take care and wherever you may be journeying this summer, travel safely.

Good luck to our amazing Robotics teams who head off to Nationals next week. I’m looking forward to being there cheering you on!

A Message from Nerissa Davey – Deputy Head of Junior School – Operations

And their voices have been heard!

What a wonderful year 2022 has been – an amazing display of the power of student voice. Mrs Kate Brown has explained to new parents the ‘why’ behind the choice of Heidi as a hedgehog as our ambassador for our Junior School, Community of Kindness. For those who don’t already know it’s because hedgehogs are curious little creatures who explore widely, enjoying many adventures – with a tiny voice.

This is exactly what we share with our girls, that even the littlest and quietest voice will be heard in our Junior School. This year we made a bold change as we came together and decided to invite all girls from Year 1-6 to be part of our Junior School leadership through our termly Captain roles, and thus to have a voice. Each year there are a total of 20 roles in each class from Year 1 to 6 to be voted in. This means 600 roles (20 roles x 30 classes) are available for our girls! Talk about power!

Each week our girls deliver notes to Mrs Brown’s post box and they also arrive at their various meetings proudly carrying their SRC boxes and they come ready with suggestions in Kindness Club, Sustainability Club and ICT Club. Our girls have been a part of much change. This year the SRC initiatives we are most proud of are our many Bubble Discos, Buddy Reading, our bird feeders, the amazing bathroom decals, our bottle cap mosaic artwork which is currently being built, scrunchable plastic bins and our movie afternoons.

I am very proud to announce that our SRC girls were the recipients of the 2022 NSW IPSHA Social Justice Commendation Award for the bird feeders we created. Mrs Sally Ruston, Head of Abbotsleigh Junior School and a member of IPSHA’s Board presented our SRC Leaders with their award last week. Our girls even made bird feeders for her to take back to her school to spread the word about kindness to our environment.

The girls have also used their voices this year in the Junior School to bring our communities together. We have organised different opportunities to share our cultures. We had Dragon dances for Chinese New Year, we celebrated Harmony Day proudly wearing our national dress. We learnt about the celebration of Holi in assembly and we enjoyed learning more about Diwali. These are the types of events we wish to see more of in our Junior School so we can continue to break down cultural barriers and celebrate our diverse backgrounds.

Lastly, these past 2 weeks we have seen our Bottle Cap artwork begin to come to life! What an amazing achievement from all girls in K-6, over 8000 bottle caps collected and shaped into what is going to be a memorable and unforgettable reminder or the importance of recycling and being kind. We hope to unveil this artwork in 2023. A huge thank you to Mrs Emily Clutterham, our Creative Arts teacher for her guidance and skill to make this possible, as well as all our Year 6 girls who have spent hours tirelessly gluing caps on.

As the year draws to a close I would like to thank each and every girl in our Junior School for her ideas, her time and her voice to make our Junior School a better place. Looking forward to doing more in 2023!

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Eloise Lawry (Year 5) and her NSW PSSA team on coming second against QLD in the Grand Final for Sports Australia Cricket Championships. Eloise’s team was undefeated in the lead up to the Grand Finals.

Congratulations to Amélie Rahme (Year 4) who competed in Brisbane last week at the Nationals Diving Competition. Amélie had a wonderful experience with divers up to 12 years old in her 3m diving competition. Amélie also competes in the synchronised dive competition. We are so proud of you Amélie and all your hard work and passion for this sport.

Congratulations to Zoe Liang (Year 4) who has won the U/10s NSW Tennis Champion of Champions tournament.

K-6 Co-Curricular 2023

Registrations for 2023 are now open, please refer to the notice on the Portal from CCSA for further information.

For technical issues:

If you have any issues logging into MyPymble, you can reset your password by clicking here or contact the IT department on +61 2 9855 7771 or at helpdesk@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au.

If you experience issues accessing the online registration system, please contact Co-curricular Administration on +61 2 9497 7848 or at ccsa@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au

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 3-6 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.

Your daughter will need the items found listed under “additional stationery”. If you have these items already, please retain for 2023. If you do not have these items, please purchase them.

Please order before Thursday 8 December to ensure delivery before Term 1 2023 commences. Please contact Campion on 02 8905 8691, email campionsydney@campion.com.au for any order enquiries.

Our Week in Learning

Looking forward to 2023

We’d also like to announce the dates of some of the most-anticipated yearly events at the College for early 2023:

Icebreaker: Friday 24 February. This is a great opportunity for parents and carers to come together in early Term 1 to reconnect in a social setting.
New Parent High Tea: Friday 24 March. This is a valuable opportunity to meet fellow parents and carers at the College in order to begin to forge friendships within their cohort. Further details for both events will soon be made available. All new parents and all Year 7 parents are invited to this fun event.

We look forward to your safe return in 2023!

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 hats 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

Friday 2 December Years 3 to 6 Speech Day, 1.30pm

Term 1 2023 Key Dates (Weeks 1 and 2)

Monday 30 January Years 1 to 6 NEW student orientation, 9.00am to 11.30am

Tuesday 31 January First Day Term 1 2023 for all students

Tuesday 31 January Kindergarten First Day, 9.00am to 12.00pm

Wednesday 1 February Kindergarten start 8.15am to 2.00pm

Thursday 2 February Kindergarten start 8.15am to 2.00pm

Friday 3 February Kindergarten start 8.15am to 2.00pm