From the Upper School

From our Head of Upper School

Welcome to Week 5, which for some feels like Week 3 and others, Week 8. The days and weeks appear to be blurring this term. The Upper School team and I have been in regular discussions with the Deputy Head of Students and Director of Student Learning 7-10 to explore ways we can engage and support our students as online learning continues. We are currently commencing a ‘No homework week’ which concludes next Wednesday. We also hope that the mid-term break commencing tomorrow, Friday 13 through to Monday 16 August will provide some much-needed respite from screens. We hope this time is used to enjoy time outside, reading and relaxation. 

I would like to conclude today by sharing an article by three of our Upper School Leaders, Senu, Felicity and Jiya, who have been leading an extremely cute initiative linking our students with the Preparatory School. It has been the highlight of my week watching them perform! 

“This week, we had the opportunity of kickstarting the ‘Read by US (Upper School) with Love’ project. This new fantastic service initiative allowed students in Upper School (both Years 9 and 10) to read a storybook to the youngsters in the Preparatory School. Whether it’s reading the absolute all time-faves, The Cranky Bear or The day the crayons quit, girls in the Upper School showed their absolute enthusiasm and enjoyment in reading such classic tales. When starting this initiative on Monday, we were pleased to see girls dressed up in the coolest of costumes and manifest their best impersonations to bring characters to life. It was an incredible experience to watch the girls interact with each other, exchange many laughs, and share such a magical virtual experience. The videos the girls made are going to be uploaded to a padlet for the preppies to watch in hopes of getting some giggles, likes and comments. We also hope that by introducing this initiative, parents are provided with enough time to take a break from the screen and all the struggles that come with online learning and spend time for themselves. We believe this is a really good way of establishing a connection between the Preparatory School and Upper School students, even in these times where the student body is online. As student organisers for this program, we are super keen to see more girls in the Upper School become involved and seek pleasure in etching a smirk or even wide smiles on the young faces of many.” – Jiya, Senu and Felicity 

Mrs Melissa Boyd

Head of Upper School

From our Heads of Year 9

This week the Year 9 students had a gratitude focus in Directions. A moment in which they were able to stop and think about what they are grateful for in these interesting times. The students were guided to think about the ‘little things’ that people in their lives do every day to further support them. After this they were encouraged to send three letters (emails) of gratitude to teachers and write one letter for the people living in their homes to show their appreciation. The feedback which was received was amazing. Teachers were not expecting the thanks and one teacher even stated, “What a fabulous surprise, everyone needs a bit of positivity at the moment, and it put a smile on my face for the rest of the day.” 

This weekend we head into the long, long weekend, with combined homework-free days from Wednesday to Wednesday. We strongly recommend that students use this time away from their screens and spend it outside as much as possible. This mid-term break comes at the perfect time to allow ourselves some rest before braving the rest of the term.  

Students have access through the Conde Library to an online platform called Wheelers, in which they can access thousands of Audiobooks and e-Books. This is something we encourage them to utilise while at home as they can download Audiobooks onto their phones and listen while they walk, clean their rooms, cook, or just relax in general. It is a wonderful way for them to engage in diverse types of literature while also giving their eyes a break. We encourage students to reach out to the Library staff if they would like more information on how to access these. 

From our Heads of Year 10

This week we thought you might like to hear from two of our Year 10 students, Tilly, and Jacqueline, who write to you from two vastly different parts of the state. Tilly Barwick is a Boarder who comes from the small-town Gravesend in north-west New South Wales. For Tilly: 

“Going to Pymble Online is always a shock for everyone, and I have been missing Boarding and all my friends at Pymble. But I have also been enjoying my time at home on the farm. Online school has been jam-packed for me. In my free periods and over lunch Dad takes any chance he can get to rope me into a muster or a job. In my spare time I have been moving cows or sheep, shearing, or climbing the mountain on our property to find goats. I have recently had a day roustabouting in the shearing shed. My cousin and I started at 7.30am and picked up fleeces, swept wool and penned up sheep until 5.00pm. It was slow work, but worth it when our grandma brought chocolate slice for smoko. Online school has been a bit hard as I am the only one at home while all my family is at work and school. It is a bit different from last time as we must have our cameras on and really focus on the class at hand. Everyone has their different challenges in home schooling, and I hope you are finding the positives like I am. Thanks.”

Jacqueline Qin hails from Pymble and has been in the news recently for her success in the Young Archie competition, taking out the 13 to 15 Years category. You may have read about Jacqui in The Sydney Morning Herald or Dr H’s newsletter article last week. Jacqui was asked to share her artistic process in creating My Sister: 

“Winning the Young Archie Competition was unexpected and a little bit frightening. It started off as a fun art project where I could experiment with various art techniques and mediums. I chose to paint my little sister, Jessica – believing that it could be a special gift for her. Much like how all siblings are, ever since we were young, we always had a rocky relationship. And like any other older sibling, I make sure to always remind Jessica how annoying I find her, although I have always found myself feeling guilty since I don’t make it clear how much I care about her. It sounds cheesy but I hoped the portrait could be somehow symbolic – like the phrase ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ – but for this instance, it is a portrait.  

During Year 9 Art class, we explored the art technique behind the Archibald winner Ben Quilty’s portrait of Margret Olley. The large strokes of colour from the portrait are one of my biggest inspirations for my artwork. As for the colour choices I instilled some of the colour theory knowledge I have where I used cold colours for the shadows and warm colours for the brighter areas. The colours aimed to mimic the colours of a sunset. I believe one of the main reasons why this experimental technique turned out so well is because I utilised the same colouring method for a portrait I made years ago.  

All in all, winning the Young Archie for my age group feels bizarre and I am still wrapping my head around it. I would like to thank my Art teachers for supporting me throughout my art process and giving me the opportunity to submit my art to Young Archie – an art competition that I didn’t even know existed until then!” 

Key dates

A friendly reminder from our Healthcare Team

If your daughter has a Critical or Medical Alert plan, these need to be updated every 12 months with your GP and forwarded to the College. This includes, but is not limited to, medical plans for asthma, anaphylaxis and allergies. We appreciate the challenges of organising a consult with a GP during lockdown, but please know that you can also arrange a telehealth appointment to have your daughter’s plan updated. It is vital that we have a copy of the plan in Healthcare so we are aware of how to manage your daughter’s condition if an incident occurs on campus, or when she attends an excursion or camp. Before any camps or excursions, you are asked to fill in a permission form and a medical form. Please remember that students are not permitted to attend camps or excursions until these forms are completed. Please contact healthcarecentre@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au if you have questions regarding these plans. We are more than happy to help.

Essential Workers