From the Principal
Wow, we are halfway through Term 4 and it’s beginning to look a lot like the frantic build-up to the end of the school year.
Plans are set for our College Christmas Celebration – the first one in three years, hooray! – and Speech Day dates and times have been finalised. If you’ve never been to one of our Christmas celebrations, we warmly invite you and your family to join us this year. All are welcome to come along, enjoy the Chapel service and sing our hearts out to carols on Gloucester Lawn.
It is also Showcase season – another big hooray! Whether your daughter will be on stage or is interested in trying out for a co-curricular Drama or Dance team in the future, we look forward to seeing you at Stories in the Sand Dance Showcase and Centrestage Co-curricular Drama Showcase in the coming weeks. These events typically sell out, so I suggest you book ASAP.
Our Year 11 Visual Arts students are currently showcasing their creativity in our inaugural Pymble Archies exhibition. These original drawings will blow you away; they are so incredibly skilful and telling of the person behind the portrait. The artworks are on display in the foyer of the GMCPA and students, staff and families are encouraged to click on the following link to vote for their People’s Choice Award. Congratulations and good luck to all our Archies artists!
Speaking of Archies, last week we unveiled our newest food outlet, Archie’s Café, located opposite Mollie Dive Fields, near the Centenary Car Park. We’ve had lots of positive feedback from families who tried it out last weekend during Saturday sport and students – especially our Years 5 and 6 girls who have not had access to an onsite café until now. Archie’s Café has prompted many conversations about its namesake, so this week I thought it would be timely to share the story of our two school dogs.
A tale of two puppies
Archie and Turi are Australian Cobberdogs, selected intentionally for their nature and genetics. Cobberdogs are gentle, playful, easy to train and intuitive about the physical and emotional state of the humans around them. They also have low-shedding coats which make them suitable for anyone allergic to dog hair.
Archie, now 2 1/2 years old, arrived at the College in September 2020. Turi, who is 14 months, joined our family in November last year.
Turi’s mum is Archie’s half-sister, and both dogs came to us from Ridgy Didge Australian Cobberdogs in Queensland. The breeders carefully chose each dog for us based on their temperament, rather than gender or colour, knowing they would become working dogs in a K-12 girls’ school. It took us about nine months from placing each request to meeting our pups, as the breeder suggested we wait for specific litters.
Aside from being gentle, loving souls, Archie and Turi have distinct personalities as the following ‘conversation’ reveals. 😉
Q. Archie, it’s no secret you’re a compulsive hugger. Bit unusual for a dog, isn’t it?
Archie: I know, I just can’t help myself. When I see my favourite two-legged friends, suddenly my front paws are reaching towards their shoulders and I’m standing on my hind legs nuzzling in for that cuddle. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and, just quietly, I think the humans love it too.
Q. Yes, your hugs are very special but sometimes you choose awkward moments…
Archie: You’re talking about when Dr H is speaking at the pulpit in Chapel, aren’t you? My bad. I’ll try to stay seated in my pew next time – but, hey, no promises.
Q. Aside from going to Chapel on special occasions, how do you both spend your days?
Archie: I’m glad you asked because I take my job as a school dog very seriously. I spend Wednesdays and Fridays in the Junior School, visiting classrooms with Mrs Brown, going to Kindness Club in the Library and snuggling up to students who need a little extra TLC. I’m actually very good at that. On Mondays, I offer my unconditional love and support to whoever needs me in the Middle School. Quite often I’m invited to Compass Time with different groups. Assemblies, carnivals, fundraisers, enrolments events, staff days, musicals…you name it, I’m there. I even watched The Lion King in the GMCPA this year and met the cast and crew on Pride Rock after the show. I’m still fan-dogging over that. Another one of my favourite places to hang is our Boarding Houses – those Boarders sure know how to make a puppy feel loved.
Turi: I’m also delighted you asked because, in addition to sniffing out, ahem, culinary opportunities around the campus, I have a busy schedule of attending College events, sitting in on Mr Raymond’s Year 12 Software Design and Development class, visiting different departments and spending time with the girls at Vision Valley. I’m often in the Upper School and Senior School and my other favourite gigs are cheering on students before and after examinations and station duty in the morning, where I model great uniform with my hair tied up nicely.
Q. What do the girls love about seeing you in class and at their special events?
Archie: Aside from our humungous eyelashes, which they all comment on, I like to think we have a calming effect.
Turi: I don’t like to brag, but I have been told the girls just melt when they see us. They’re so adorable like that.
Q. And what do you do after school hours?
Archie: The funny thing is, after spending all day in an all-girls’ school, I go home each night to an all-boy household with Mrs Sengupta. Mrs S (or Mumma, as I think of her) is married to Arun and they have three boys, Charlie, Billy and Xavier. Even Alfie their miniature schnauzer is male. Alfie likes to hop up on Mumma’s lap when she’s sitting down so, naturally, I follow my fur-brother’s lead. I’m like a living throw rug.
Turi: My human family is Mr Raymond, his wife Margie and their two-leggeds, Maddie and Ollie. They also have two border collies, Haile and Mo, who keep eyeballing me like they want to round me up or something. What do they think I am, a sheep?
Q. How did you both get your names?
Turi: Mr Raymond (aka Daddy) is a super-fit human who runs almost as fast as me and Archie chasing each other up and down Dr H’s corridor. He’s also just a little bit obsessed with marathon runners, so all the four leggeds in his household are named after one. It is a great honour for me to be named after the amazingly courageous ultra-marathon runner, Turia Pitt.
Archie: I’m super-chuffed that I was named by the students. Each girl had the chance to nominate a name, then we shortlisted the most popular and asked the girls to vote again. Funny to think I could have been called Popsicle, Princess Leah or Marshmallow but for democracy.
Q. Archie, how did you feel when Turi came along as our second school dog?
Archie: Turi who? LOL, just kidding. Honestly, the more the merrier for me – and we are biologically related, after all. Last week, we were both at Links Day welcoming our incoming K to 7 students. It was a big day, and we were both exhausted from being patted by many little hands but, somehow, we found the energy to do zoomies around Gloucester Lawn. I don’t know what was so funny but everyone just stopped what they were doing to watch and laugh.
Anyway, it’s not like Turi has a café named after her or anything…
Q. So Turi, no café yet, but I hear you have a great affinity with food?
Turi: You must be referring to the ‘incident’ with the painter’s hamburger, right? It’s okay, Mrs Alexander bought him another one. Sure, Mr Raymond and the Curriculum office have dubbed me Miss Bin Chicken for my obsession with leftovers, but I’ll have you know I am also working towards my Canine Good Citizen Award so that I am well behaved both at home and out in public. Note the emphasis on working towards.
Archie: Ha ha, I already have mine. Having been to puppy training since my first week on campus and having achieved my Canine Good Citizen Award, I am one highly-trained pup with all the requisite social and obedience skills. Turi will get there too. She might just have to put in some hard yards to achieve Exercise 6 of the 14 exercises to master, which is to leave a food distraction on request. Good luck with that one, Turi!
Well, hopefully you’ve enjoyed a bit of a giggle from this insight into our beautiful school dogs. Archie and Turi certainly bring a great deal of joy into our lives, and we love them dearly as very special members of our wonderfully diverse and unique Pymble family.
Dr Kate Hadwen