From the Middle School

Well, there is an end to it! What a big year for all of our girls and what a fantastic job they have done navigating the challenges and stepping up to achieve so much. Thank you to the parents who were able to join us for our Final Assemblies on Thursday either in person or online. Like you, I was so proud of all the girls and enjoyed the celebrations. Afterwards Years 7 and 8 were treated to a barbecue lunch which marked our final time together prior to the Year 8 girls stepping up to their new home in the Upper School. I must say we are really going to miss them as they have contributed so much to our Middle School community.

Yesterday, as a farewell gift, Year 7 gave Year 8 delicious cupcakes to enjoy after their assembly. Our outgoing Middle School Leaders also delivered a beautiful and heartfelt thank you and goodbye (just for 12 months) to their Head of Year, Mrs Budd, who will be staying on in the Middle School to support us as Acting Deputy Head. I look forward to continuing to work closely with Sarah in this capacity.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge all of the wonderful staff in Middle School and to recognise with deep gratitude the investment each of them has in your daughter’s wellbeing. These people embody the culture of the Middle School which is a warm and friendly environment where the girls feel supported and cared for.  Thank you to our Heads of Year: Mr Levin, Mrs Budd, Ms Carr and Ms Lombard; our Administration staff: Mrs Tysoe, the incredible Administration Co-ordinator, and Mrs Volonakis and Mrs Sibug who together work hard to keep the ship afloat.

This term you would be aware that each Compass group has been working hard to produce a Service project and last week we featured a range of photos. I also wanted to highlight a book that 7 Thomas A has created with love for the Westmead Children’s Hospital that is just outstanding in its quality and originality. Thank you, girls, for your generosity and willingness to be there for others.

A special shout out to the Year 7 Transition Leaders this week who have been working right up to the line to support our new incoming students next year. Their willingness to contribute to the event on Wednesday was so very much appreciated. They have done an outstanding job stepping up to and beyond their responsibility.

Isabella Attard Isabella Pak  Delaney Burke Samantha Fahy Annabelle Jones Caitlyn Bilney Annabel Morris Sehjal Baveja

Alessia Macolino Ayana Chandra Emelia Caulfield Angela Zhang Anais McDonald Nikita Srivastava Imogen Wu Tessa Gregory-Reid

Yve Willmott Ruhani Surana Lisa Wang Ruby Pickthall Mahika Swamy Charlotte Ruscio Isabelle Short

Congratulations to the Middle School Robotics teams whose achievements are detailed below. At the recent VEX Robotics Competition, Middle School had seven teams competing, and four of our teams, 20731H, 20731A, 20731G and 20731N made the finals. Two teams, 20731H and 20731N, managed to qualify for the Nationals in March 2022. The girls have had an interrupted build season and had to build robots at home during lockdown.  Nonetheless, they managed to get some robots competing against teams from around Australia and internationally, which is an amazing achievement in itself.

Below are the two groups of team members who made Nationals for 2022:

20731H – Sophia Chen, Ang-Ya Koo, Amy Zhang, Sophia Chang (Year 8) 
20731N – Lisa Wang, Lucy Xie, Natalie Yang (Year 7)

Well done to all those who were involved across the program:

20731P – Isabella Nguyen, Thinara Siriniwasa, Isabella Chen, Chi Ien Zhan (Year 8)  
20731D – Anna Le, Katherine Lee, Ruhani Surana (Year 7) 
20731A – Maya Garg, Annie Luo, Rachel Moon, Teresa Sun (Year 8) 
20731M – Imogen Wu, Kitty He, Iris Li, Alice Mao, Jessica Xu (Year 7) 
20731G – Katrina Lin (Year 8), Grace Beck (Year 7), Penelope Danziger (Year 7), Michelle Pan (Year 7) 

Year 7 Directions Update

As we prepare to send off our students for a long summer holiday, this week’s Year 7 Directions lesson was about providing them with a set of strategies to manage strong emotions. TIPP skills are a great method to help cope when faced with overwhelming emotions. They are strategies that can be drawn on when we need something ‘louder’ or stronger than our self-soothing strategies. The TIPP acronym stands for ‘Temperature, Intense exercise, Paced breathing, and Progressive muscle relaxation’. These strategies work because they tap into key physiological processes to help our body calm down. The use of cooler temperatures for instance helps to decrease our heart rate by acting on the vagus nerve. More information on how the vagus nerve can be stimulated for better mental health can be found here.

On Monday 29 November 240 Year 7 Geography students were given the opportunity to explore the processes that shape our unique Australian landscapes through a trip to the Blue Mountains. The trip included fieldwork activities at the iconic Three Sisters to look at the impact tourism has had on the world heritage site. Students then braved the Scenic Railway, descending to investigate the temperate rain forest and examine the area’s coal mining history. We investigated the change in climate, wind, precipitation & cloud cover to name a few. Some lucky students were even able to spot a Lyrebird amongst the undergrowth (which is a rare and unique experience), while others spotted some dinosaur friends from the annual exhibition. A huge thanks to all who made this trip a success and a massive thank you to the parents that allowed their children to be part of this experience! Check out the Student Photo Competition using Padlet: https://pymblelc.padlet.org/fcole/i49jokpxoprqfl5u

Ms Frankie Cole

Geography Teacher