From the Middle School

From our Head of Middle School

Composing this final Middle School newsletter provides me with a moment to reflect on all that your daughters have achieved across 2022. I would like to acknowledge each and every member of the Middle School community and in turn recognise their capacity to step up and embrace opportunities and challenges across many different fields. The growth and maturity that the team has seen demonstrated over and over again is a tribute to who the girls are as individuals.

Congratulation to the Jacaranda Awards recipients for Term 4:

Congratulations to Year 7 whose final performance of Postcards from the Dreaming moved the hearts and souls of the audience on Monday. Please enjoy the video below, the final product I promised in an earlier newsletter.

Thank you to the wonderful Middle School Team: Sarah Budd, Gina Ventura, Victoria Harrison, Mariel Lombard, Myvanwy Carr, Stephanie Bennett, Stephanie Sibug, Ruth Volonakis and Amy Bastes whose daily commitment to ensuring your daughter’s experience at Pymble is warm and positive; is a demonstration of their diligence and generosity.

Wishing all of our Middle School families a safe and merry Christmas. We always appreciate working in partnership with you. Farewell to our Year 8 families and all the best for your Upper School journey. It is with gratitude that I acknowledge Myvanwy Carr and Mariel Lombard- our two Heads of Year 8. Your leadership and investment in the girls are exemplary. Please know how appreciated you are by our Middle School community.

Year 7

We can’t believe we are at the end of our first year with our Year 7 group. It has been a year free of lockdowns which has meant things like year group celebrations, excursions and gatherings have been possible. While this has taken some adjustment, Year 7 have risen to the occasion, and we are very proud of them. This was exemplified on Monday’s assembly when the College farewelled Mrs Shaw, who will be moving into a new role.

Our final Year 7 assembly, led by our Middle School leaders Kyraa, Saskia, Tyra and Sophie was an important opportunity to acknowledge how far we have come and how much we have achieved.

It has been a wonderful year for both of us getting to know Year 7 and supporting them through their challenges with new routines, friendship changes and the demands of academic studies. We could not do this without the help of our wonderful Year 7 Compass teachers who care deeply for the girls. Wishing our Year 7 families a happy Christmas and safe, restful holiday. We look forward to welcoming Year 8 2023 next year on Tuesday 31 January.

Year 8

It’s been a busy week for our last week of term. A big thank you to Iris and Ruth who presented the Middle School gift to Mrs Shaw at our Gratitude Assembly on Monday. The girls presented a collection of postcards designed by our Year 7 and 8 students and signed by each of our Compass groups. The theme of the postcards came from the Indigenous composition sung by our Year 7 students called “postcards from the Dreaming”.

This week, we also celebrated our final Year Assembly as a Year 8 cohort. This was an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of our beautiful girls this year, to show gratitude for those who have been a part of the girls’ journey in Middle School and to look forward to what lies ahead.

On this note, it has been a great pleasure for us, Ms Carr and Ms Lombard, to walk with your daughters as they navigated new experiences, challenges and achievements during their time in the Middle School. We are looking forward to joining the girls next year as they transition into the Upper School, and to continue to support their growth and development. We wish all our Year 8 girls and families a safe and enjoyable summer holiday. Our very best wishes for the Christmas celebrations.

Year 8 Thinkers and Ideas class presentation on Epistemology

On 22 November, Mrs Tarrant’s Year 8 ‘Thinkers and Ideas’ class took a trip to the Junior School. The students had written a children’s book on Epistemology and wanted to share their learning with the Year 5 Enquiry class.

In the lead up, the Year 8 students worked studiously to write and design a chapter about one key epistemological concept for the class book. This proved very challenging, to break down extremely complex ideas so that they could be understood by Year 5 students.  However, it enabled the students to consolidate their knowledge and gain a deeper understanding of epistemology, a topic they had covered earlier, in their ‘Thinkers and Ideas’ elective.

To ensure the presentation was engaging and memorable, the Year 8 students brought in a type of food that started with each of the letters in the word ‘epistemology’. The girls had great fun coming up with different foods and ended up with a vast array of alphabet-appropriate options, including eclairs for the letter ‘E’ and lollipops for the letter ‘L’. 

The Year 5 students received the Year 8 ‘philosophers’ warmly and listened eagerly as the students read chapters from the class book on Epistemology. The Year 8 students did a stellar job providing answers to the myriad of questions the students had, as they grappled with the lofty ideals of empiricism and rationalism.  It was impressive to see the girls make links with their prior knowledge, from other subjects.

One of the many highlights was hearing one of the Year 5 students express her keenness to study Philosophy in Year 8!  Another was seeing the girls relate so well, despite the difference in ages.

Mrs Tarrant and her Year 8 Thinkers and Ideas students would like to thank the Year 5 Enquiry class and Ms Bird for this rich learning experience.  

Written by Melody Chen and Jenny Xu

Looking forward to 2023

We’d 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!

Mrs Jenny O’Donnell

Head of Middle School