From the Principal
To channel the vibe of the beautiful young people we have the pleasure of caring for and learning with each day, I have to say this term has been epic. There was no chill factor whatsoever but it was so not lame. This of course translates loosely to: we’ve spent a fabulous 11 weeks together – the longest period of time on campus in a couple of years – and we have all worked incredibly hard to achieve some amazing things, despite the ever-present threat of COVID-19, but now we are cooked and looking forward to some downtime over the Easter break.
The girls have been incredible. Taking our ‘Let’s Get Creative’ theme to heart, they stepped up to ‘Dream, think and make it happen’. Torrential rain may have postponed or changed the nature of their events and competitions but they did not let this affect their commitment. A sudden need to self-isolate due to COVID-19 or being a household contact may have necessitated a slightly different plan, but online or in person, our girls stayed true to the course, giving their all.
To all our students who represented Pymble during Term 1, whether that was in the fabulous Mamma Mia musical, athletics, rowing, cross country, swimming, diving, badminton, robotics, tennis, sailing, equestrian, touch football, debating, drama, theatre sports, dance, off-site outdoor education programs, Model United Nations or any of the other sports and activities you do so well, thank you for always showing up as your best self and making us #PymbleProud. On that note, best wishes to our Cattle Club girls who are competing at the Royal Easter Show this weekend with our College steers Squirt and Squirrel. I will be there to cheer you on!
A huge thank you also goes to our parents, who are genuinely our partners in all that we do at the College. It has been wonderful to have you back on campus this term, and we are grateful for all your efforts to keep COVID at bay while simultaneously supporting your daughters’ learning. It was such a joy to welcome many of you to our Icebreaker celebration on Friday night and humbling to have so many parents come up to me to acknowledge the outstanding work of our staff during a challenging term of hybrid learning on campus and online.
Which brings me to the other heroes of the term, our phenomenal teaching and operational staff.
Our amazing Pymble staff have tapped every inch of their creativity and energy to perfect the crazy, exhausting and ever-changing juggle of trying to teach and run a school on campus, support remote online learning and look after their own families’ needs, all while testing and checking for their need to self-isolate and pivoting back to working from home when required. They truly have given their all in trying to be everything to everyone all of the time and for that they have my utmost respect and heartfelt thanks.
In our hybrid online/in-person Combined Assembly on Wednesday, I asked all students, wherever they were watching, to show their appreciation for staff in the room with them. During the standing ovation and world’s longest round of applause in the gymnasium with Years 9 and 10, I have never felt prouder. Thank you, girls, from the bottom of my heart, for your ability to celebrate the very special people around you. May this always stay part of who you are.
Our Costumes for Cancer initiative this week exemplified the care, commitment and creativity that has characterised the term. Re-scheduled for the Secondary School on the one sunny day of the week and re-imagined for the Junior School as a danceathon thanks to Wednesday’s downpour, Costumes for Cancer ended up raising a $15,000 donation for the North Foundation, which supports hospitals and research units with the Northern Sydney Local Health District.
The significance of the girls’ efforts was brought home by a visit from Dr William Stevenson from the Haematology Department at Royal North Shore Hospital and one of his patients, Susan, a leukaemia survivor. Dr Stevenson told our Secondary School girls that the funds raised by Pymble will support an upgrade to RNS’s system used to match life-saving bone marrow transplant donors all around the world with their leukaemia patients. In the Junior School, Susan shared her positive message of how new research and medicines offer hope for the future and a way to help others. Well done to our Service Prefect Madison Lyster and her year group Service Leaders for blitzing their ambitious target of $10,000 and empowering our girls to want to change the world for those living with leukaemia.
Signing off now until Term 2, with enormous gratitude for our Pymble family and wishing one and all a safe and restful break.
