From the Middle School
From our Head of Middle School
Welcome to Week 3 in Middle School! It’s so beautiful to have all this sunshine and is a wonderful opportunity for the girls to be out on Gloucester Lawn to enjoy the weather. Many of our Compass groups have been heading outside this week during Mind/Body/Spirit time to take advantage of the weather and engage in some casual games on the lawn. Great to see the girls embracing one of our 5 Ways to Wellbeing: Keeping Active.
This Thursday’s lunchtime Gloucester Gathering will be a Cookie Decorating activity. Everyone is welcome to join in so please encourage your daughters to get involved and bring a friend.
A very big thank you to the Warren family from Narromine for the delicious bowl of fresh mandarins and lemons that Ally kindly brought in for the Middle School staff this week. So thoughtful and much appreciated.
Congratulations to the Year 8 students who participated in the Textiles showcase last week. Your dynamic designs and creative sewing skills impressed all.
A reminder that our 2023 Subject Selection Information Evenings are approaching.
Year 7 into Year 8 2023 will take place on Wednesday 17 August at 6.00pm as an online live event.
Year 8 into Year 9 2023 will take place on Wednesday 17 August at 6.30pm as an online live event.
We are delighted to invite Middle School families for a preview of the Year 9 Residential Program at Vision Valley. These will be offered online on the dates below:
Year 8 on 10 August 2022 at 7pm – join here
Year 7 on 23 August 2022 at 7pm – join here
NSW Health will be running the third vaccination clinic for Year 7 and any Year 8 students who require a catch up on Thursday 18 August. Vaccinations offered at this clinic will be Diphtheria/Tetanus/Pertussis (dTpa) and catch up for Human Papillomavirus vaccine (HPV).
Students in Year 7 will be allowed to wear their sports uniform on this day. If your daughter has had either of these vaccinations or you have any questions, please contact the Middle School office.
Year 7
It has been lovely to see our Year 7 girls making the most of the beautiful sunshine this week on Gloucester Lawn. Compass groups have been out playing games during our Compass Extend session and some girls are always keen to use the available equipment at lunchtime. A great way to break up the day inside. We also encourage all girls to get involved in the Co-curricular sports program if they are not yet doing so. Registrations close this week for Term 4 Co-curricular sports. The girls can choose from Touch Football, Water Polo, Volleyball, Summer Rowing, Cricket Sixers and Tennis. The value of participating in a team sport for our students’ social, mental and physical health cannot be underestimated so we encourage all Year 7 girls to have a go and register for a Term 4 sport. Click here to register via My Pymble.
As you would know we have robust Digital Wellbeing lessons embedded in our Directions program, and together with families recognise the importance of helping the girls develop the skills they need to use technology effectively and how to stay safe online; key messages that were reinforced in last week’s presentation by Constable Lynda Hart. There are still instances that we are made aware of in which students are using inappropriate messaging apps and are using social media platforms in unkind or unsafe ways. The app Omegle has been referenced as being used by some girls. This app promotes chatting with strangers and is not suitable for adolescents.
We ask our parents to continue to monitor technology use at home including phones in rooms at night (which adversely impacts sleep health), age-appropriate movies and television series, social media applications such as Snapchat and Discord, as well as chat platforms. Please check in with your daughter to find out what tech she is consuming and if she is protecting herself adequately.
The eSafety Commissioner has helpful parent resources https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents and it is also worthwhile having a look at the Pymble Cybersafety Hub.
In Directions this week we have started to explore Character strengths. Character strengths are the positive qualities individuals have, that impact on how we think, feel and behave. Everyone has a unique set of character strengths. Knowing our individual strengths and how to best use them is helpful in many areas of life. Research shows that when children apply their highest strengths, they have better social skills, more resilience and greater engagement in school. Year 7 students are in the beginning stages of identifying character strengths and how different strengths can be useful in different situations.
Year 8
This week Year 8 students have been finalising their SMART goals for Semester 2. Students were encouraged to set both personal and academic goals and discuss their aspirations with their Compass teachers in one-on-one conversations during Compass Extend. Please discuss your daughter’s goals with her, it may provide further insight into her interests and concerns. Some of the goals are subject specific, for example improving specific skills in a particular subject. In connection with passion for particular subjects – please check the Parent Portal for information about the Subject Selection evening on 17 August. Later this term students will be setting a community service goal when the Middle School Service Project is launched in Week 4 of term.
Ethical decision making has been the focus in Directions and English this week. The English department created the Courage pillar, led by Julia Peppitt, to develop and embed links between the English curriculum and wellbeing to encourage the development and understanding of courage. The study of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream has provided the opportunity for students to consider ethical decision making and questions such as: can we always trust authority figures to know what is best for children? Is it ever right to break the trust of a friend? Students were encouraged, through group work, to voice their opinions and ideas about ethical questions to form a considered opinion. Furthermore, in English class students explored a contemporary reimagination of a conversation between Hermia and her father, Egeus, from Shakespeare’s comedy, in which Hermia establishes her personal boundaries. This activity reminded students of the importance of setting boundaries; a concept students explored in Directions last Term.
To complement the focus in English, in Directions students considered hypothetical, ethical situations such as: what would one do if you agreed to see a film with someone, but then you get asked to a party which would be more fun? Or what would you do if your friend told you that she has told your parents she is sleeping at your house, but she isn’t, and she is actually spending the night at someone else’s house? In groups students defined the ethical problem and then came to an agreement about the best solution after consideration of the consequences.
REMINDER FOR ALL STUDENTS
Learning for Secondary School students will be face-to-face and on campus from Term 3 as advised via the Parent Portal at the end of Term 2.
Secondary students who test positive to COVID or are not well enough to attend school are to follow the normal procedure by contacting their subject teachers via email and/or referring to Canvas to catch up on missed work.
Homework Help in Term 3
Homework Help is an after-school service offered to all Pymble students in the Secondary School to provide assistance and support with everyday homework, assignments and research skills in a friendly, quiet environment. Homework Help is staffed by teachers from the Learning Support Team.
When: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday after school: 3.30pm to 4.30pm
Where: Classroom C3 (Top floor of the Colonnade Building)
Dates: From Monday Week 3 (1 August) to Thursday Week 9 (15 September)
For further enquiries, please contact Mrs Lora Lim, Head of Learning Support at llim@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au
FROM THE SECONDARY SCHOOL PARENT GROUP
Year 7 Co-ordinators
Carol Bai 0450855866
Shiva Rich 0414322874
Year 8 Co-ordinator
Sunny Ires 0424878781
