From the Principal

‘Love over Hate’ may seem a bit abrasive for the title of this week’s Newsletter, but there’s a story behind it, which I’d like to share with you now.

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of visiting The Wayside Chapel (Wayside) at Kings Cross for a behind-the-scenes experience that was deeply moving. Wayside began providing support for those in need in 1964 and its motto, ‘Love over Hate’, seems to ooze out in every possible way, through the design of the facilities to the staff, the initiatives – everything. We were asked to bring along old bras and socks and new undies; a pretty simple task and it didn’t take much effort for me to fill a shopping bag, ready to go.

Laura Henry, who began at Wayside as a volunteer more than 11 years ago, was our magnificent guide; deeply sensitive, wise, caring, strong and smart – all the qualities we are working to support and develop in our Pymble graduates. The next day, a little note appeared from Laura, thanking those who attended and sharing a story of the impact the smallest gesture can make.

“I walked into Wayside this morning to see a volunteer handing over a brand-new set of bra and undies to one of our regular female visitors. She headed off down the hallway for a shower, looking very impressed with the set. Sometimes it’s the little things that can make a big difference in the lives of people who are sleeping rough and feeling isolated from society. As I said last Thursday, nothing says ‘I love you’ like a clean pair of undies!”

The evening left me reflecting on the importance of love, hope and joy (in the smallest of things) for all of us. Our Senior Deputy Principal, Mrs Julie Shaw, and I have been working on a plan that includes further developing links with our girls and families to support organisations that do wonderful work in helping everyone feel a sense of hope and joy in their lives; more on this will follow in a future Newsletter.

It also made me consider how we can create opportunities for our children to feel hopeful about their future and grateful for the joy in their daily lives. Sometimes routines can help us establish a pattern of behaviour that continues beyond a one-off initiative. Is there time in your family schedule to make the first day of each month a dinner focussed on hope and joy? Could this be a weekly event, say every Sunday?

Being surrounded by incredible staff and students, I feel immensely hopeful for our future as we work together to develop young people who will go on to positively change their world.

In the spirit of this optimism, we took to the campus to ask our girls what brings them joy and happiness at Pymble. Here’s what they had to say…

“I like that there are many kind teachers and I love our colourful classrooms.” Ivy – Year 2

“All the activities, gymnastics, dancing, diving, swimming, art and OSHC!” Issa – Year 2

“All my friends and that I get to see my teachers every day. I love that everyone is very kind.” Olivia – Year 3

“Learning new things every day and having so many opportunities to try.” Aria – Year 5

“I love seeing my friends at school and the amazing teachers.” Mia – Year 7 (Boarding)

“I like our gym and the ovals, and I really appreciate the opportunity to learn from my great teachers.” Imogen – Year 7

“When it is a sunny day and we are walking through the beautiful school gardens” Catherine – Year 9

“When I see Ms Beaumont’s beautiful smile.” Adelia – Year 9

“When we know we have History with Mr Moynihan because he makes us laugh.” Catherine and Adelia – Year 9

“My teachers, just going to class and my friends and the grounds. Walking past the chapel and the grounds and thinking this is just so beautiful.” Piper – Year 10

“How there is such a great sense of community and I love seeing my friends every day.” Angelina – Year 10

“When I come to school in the morning and I see my friends waiting for me on the bench under the tree.” Pip – Year 11

 “Seeing the animals in the ag plot.” Freya – Year 11

“Being in the KM Building with Year 12.” Issy – Year 11

“Making breakfast in the morning with other Boarders before heading off to school for the day.” Brin – Year 12

“There are so many things – seeing people smile back at you when you walk past them, going to dance with my friends, and today we connected music to the KM speakers and played uplifting music that made it feel like a Friday.” Megan – Year 12

Seeing these words from our girls is a great joy for me and leads me to another quote from a former Patron of Wayside Chapel which is as apt for Pymble as it is for Wayside:

“This is a place where love prevails. And where we find, as we seek to learn more about our community, we understand a little more about ourselves.” His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley, Governor General of Australia.

Stay well, stay safe and continue to share and celebrate joy, hope and optimism with your children.

Dr Kate Hadwen 

Principal

From Out of School Hours Care

This term our program has been focusing on a different country each week. The countries were chosen by the girls in Term 1. The theme is ‘where in the world’?

Each week we will be making crafts that relate to the countries and doing cooking and sporting activities.

Week 1 – Japan week

Week 2 – New Zealand week

Miss Alexandra Ibbotson

Educational Leader

From the Senior Deputy Principal

McGrath Foundation K to 12 Mother’s Day Morning Tea on Thursday 20 May 2021: Double Pink Mufti Day on the Main Oval

This year the College has partnered with the McGrath Foundation – a breast cancer support and education charity in Australia, which raises money to place McGrath Breast Care Nurses in communities across Australia. 

Many NGOs and charities, including the McGrath Foundation, have had little opportunity for exposure and fundraising since the COVID-19 pandemic began so we are delighted to be working alongside the McGrath Foundation this year to increase breast health awareness.

The College will be hosting a Mother’s Day Morning Tea on the Main Oval on Thursday 20 May for our community to celebrate mothers being together and joyfully donating to the McGrath Foundation. We will be inviting a visitor from the McGrath Foundation to join us in an assembly to speak with the girls and encourage them to learn more about their important work and raise their awareness of breast cancer.

To date, our Year 12 leaders have enjoyed supporting the McGrath Foundation in a fun, informative and fundraising Netball match against the Year 12 boys at Knox, and they are also planning for our Secondary School students to take on Knox in a Touch Football gala afternoon! At these events, students will be asked to pull on their pink socks to signal their support.

These sporting contests with our friends at Knox form a small part of our intent to support students to develop respectful and healthy relationships between boys and girls.

Pink socks are available for purchase by clicking here.

In addition, a polo shirt signed by Glenn McGrath will be raffled on the day, so please keep this in mind for all the cricket enthusiasts in our community.

You may be wondering why our morning tea is deemed double pink. The week of 17 to 21 May is Boarders’ Week — and our Boarders’ colour is pink! By wearing pink, you will be supporting Boarders’ Week as well as the McGrath Foundation – please click here to learn more about the big plans in store for Boarders’ Week, led by our wonderful Boarders.

Congratulations to Alison Cook!

Congratulations to Alison (Year 12) who is a 2021 finalist in the NSW Young Achiever Awards. Alison, who is one of our Year 12 Community Service Prefects, is one of four contenders for the Academic Achievement category for creating a positive impact through her academic pursuits. The Young Achiever Awards acknowledge, encourage and promote the positive achievements of all young people nationwide.

Mrs Julie Shaw

Senior Deputy Principal

From the Chaplains

Last week on Thursday 6 May, I had the privilege of accompanying some Year 11 students to a workshop led by Rev Simon Hansford, the Moderator of the UCA Synod of NSW and ACT. The students who attended were Arshia Bhardwaj, Kyana Cvetkovic, Isharah Hewavitharana, Angelica Tan and Tahmara Thomas.   

Here is the article written by Arshia and Ishara:

The leadership workshop hosted by the Uniting Church and guided by the Moderator was an insightful experience. As students, we were able to discuss prevalent issues with fellow student leaders of other Uniting Church schools. The conversations surrounded the topics of consent, mental health and the environment – all of which were voted as the three most salient issues of our generation. 

Mental Health

As a member of the mental health group, I collaborated with a number of leaders from Knox, MLC and Kinross Wolaroi to identify the primary issues revolving around mental health, how they arise and responses that we could integrate into the schooling system to ensure positive wellbeing. Being able to speak openly about mental health and ways in which we could comfortably address it with the rest of our peers was an exceptionally rewarding process for me. We shared how each of our schools responded to mental health issues and collated the feedback to produce the best responses to implement at the College. For example, Knox and Ravenswood are working together to create student-led workshops where they explore issues that young adults face – including mental health. The ideas introduced by other student leaders were refreshing and it was so gratifying to see how various other schools approach such issues and the similarities or differences between them. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and am earnestly anticipating the next one. 

Environment

As part of the environment discussion, we focused on looking at how we can engage students in doing their part for the environment and breaking down the topic that was highly promulgated but lacked action. We discussed current initiatives implemented at other schools and it was interesting to gain insight into what was working and what wasn’t. For example, at Ravenswood they have meat-free Monday and ballot bins to encourage sustainability amongst students. With like-minded students we worked together to create similar environmentally-friendly projects to create a more conscious environment for both the College and beyond. 

Consent

Following the widely publicised issue of sexual assault and consent in our country, we focused on the much-needed reform in Australian schools. This discussion was both highly relevant and incredibly necessary, as consent and positive relationships are integral to all areas of life. By conversing with a variety of perspectives from a multitude of areas, races and genders, we were able to make meaningful progress. It certainly gives me hope that we can – one day – make the world a more loving and harmonious place to live in.

Reverend Punam Bent

College Chaplain

Our Strategic Direction

Each week in the College Compass our strategic pillar leaders will provide an update on the Strategic Direction of the College. We also look forward to sharing the full strategic direction document with you in the coming months.

Our four pillars include: 

• Academic Intelligence – Knowledge for a better world
• Emotional Intelligence – Empowered to be courageous
• Digital Intelligence – Technologies for an innovative future
• Social Intelligence – Diversity as the path to unity

This week Ms Lamia Rockwell will discuss our Empowered to be courageous strategic pillar. 

Emotional Intelligence – Empowered to be courageous

The ongoing focus around Student Wellbeing has continued this term and I am pleased to announce that all of our Academic and School Office staff have completed 14 hours of the Youth Mental Health First Aid course. While some of the content was intense for some of us, the staff members were empowered and most grateful to be equipped with the tools to further support students in the space of Wellbeing. Below is a brief outline of what was covered in the Youth Mental Health First Aid course.

Session 1

• Youth Mental Health First Aid
• Adolescent development
• Common mental illness affecting youth
• The MHFA Action Plan
• Communicating with young people
• Professionals who can help
• Introduction to depression in young people

• Session 2
  • Depression in young people
  • The MHFA Action Plan for depression
  • Crisis first aid for non-suicidal self-injury
  • Anxiety in young people
  • Types of anxiety disorders
• Session 3
  • The MHFA Action Plan for anxiety
  • Crisis first aid for traumatic events
  • Eating disorders in young people
  • Types of eating disorders
  • The MHFA Action Plan for eating disorders
  • Crisis first aid for medical emergencies
• Session 4
  • Psychosis in young people
  • The MHFA Action Plan for psychotic disorders
  • Crisis first aid for severe psychological states
  • Substance misuse in young people
  • The MFHA Action Plan for substance misuse
  • Crisis first aid for intoxication
  • Crisis first aid for aggressive behaviour
  • Crisis first aid for medical emergencies
  • Concluding activities

Our Compass and Directions programs are designed to help our students improve their emotional intelligence and develop good mind, body and spirit habits for life. Lessons are centred around enabling students to develop a ‘Personal toolkit’ of strategies to help them navigate the challenges, changes and opportunities in life.

The Heads of Year are currently working with our Lead Psychologist, Mr Andrew Scott, to develop teen mental health toolkits to be taught to our Secondary School students in their Directions lessons in Term 3. This is also reflected in the Directions lessons in our Preparatory and Junior Schools using the Kimochi program in the Preparatory School and UR Strong program in the Junior School.

One of the first steps in managing health and wellbeing is to develop a level of self-awareness. Awareness of these aspects of oneself is the first step to change and growth. To ensure we are continuing to increase the number of conversations with our girls, we have 60 Year 10 students currently piloting the use of two Wellbeing apps. Half the group is trialling Smartabase and the remaining half is trialling iYarn.

Smartabase was originally developed as an athlete data management system to improve performance, monitor health and optimise athlete development. Smartabase was designed to give people the ability to collect relevant data, analyse it effectively and use the resulting information to guide actions and decisions for success in the sporting and athletic world. Smartabase continues to succeed in a rapidly expanding arena of opportunities. Institutes and academies of sport, universities and schools, private companies, government and military are successfully using Smartabase for a diverse range of applications.

iYarn was established to connect people through simple, powerful and flexible check-ins. Purposeful check-ins encourage expression and provide others with the opportunity to understand. They are a safe space where people can be vulnerable and their stories can be heard.

Students involved are being asked to answer a series of questions (please see below) and score them on a sliding scale in relation to how they are feeling. This information will be tracked and summarised by their relevant Compass Teacher and together with each student, they will be able to focus further on specific areas to promote the student’s wellbeing.

1. Sleep:

• How many hours of sleep have I had?
• How was the quality of my sleep?

2. Exercise/Energy:

• Am I finding time to do exercise or physical activity daily?
• How are my energy levels right now?

3. Friends:

• Do I have good relationships with my friends at the moment?

4. Schoolwork:

• Am I feeling organised in relation to my schoolwork?
• How satisfied am I with my effort towards schoolwork this week?

5. Gratitude:

• Am I regularly doing kind things for my community, family, friends, the environment and/or myself?
• Do I practise gratitude in my life by verbally appreciating others?

Ms Lamia Rockwell

Deputy Principal Students (K-12)

COVID-19 Update

To comply with NSW Health regulations, all families are reminded of the following: 

• Until further notice any girl over 12 years of age will be required to wear a face mask on public or Pymble private transport
• It is the personal responsibility of students to provide their own mask while travelling to and from school and while attending excursions
• We will be reinforcing with the girls the importance of hand washing and sanitising when arriving at campus, while on campus and when leaving the campus
• You will be required to sign in using the QR Codes when entering the College grounds as a condition of entry. Pymble staff may ask to see the green tick on the Service NSW app. 
• If you are unwell or experiencing symptoms, please reschedule your visit to the College for a later date.
• Please keep 1.5 metres from all staff when entering the College and promote hand hygiene within your family. 
• Any girl over 12 years of age will be required to wear a face mask on public or Pymble private transport. 
• If your daughter is unwell, please keep her at home and have her tested. We request that even if your daughter has the slightest sniffle, cough or sore throat, she still requires a COVID-19 test.
• While you are welcome back on campus, we ask that you do not film or photograph your daughter or any other child while on campus.

From the Preparatory School

From the Head of Preparatory School

The benefits of being outside in the natural environment is a topic of many conversations in both early years development and as the wider community focuses on mental health and general wellbeing. Very evident over the last few weeks has been how important time in nature is to the Preparatory School girls as their environments extended to further learning outdoors.

While engaged in activities outdoors, the girls don’t distinguish between play, exploration and learning and nor should they. When observing Year 2 as they had their first experience of Vision Valley, it was very evident that our girls’ collaborative skills were being developed as they negotiated, collaborated and problem solved to complete challenges. This led to shared reflections with other teacher observers on skills and capabilities in the workplace and how we can see the strength of these skills in the girls as they were interacting. It provided us with a window into the future workplace and the strengths many of these young children were already demonstrating.

We saw many future negotiators, those keen to get their own perspective recognised and others that were skilled at haggling and reaching outcomes they desired. Others were the creative thinkers, full of strategies and ideas, but needing others to help execute their often out-there ideas so that they could reach fruition.

Then we had our girls who are skilled at keeping the momentum of the challenge on track. The girls that keep reminding others of what needs to be achieved in order to complete the task. When things didn’t quite go to plan, it was the quick-thinking problem solvers who came to the rescue. Those who immediately identified the issue and moved to immediately have this rectified.

Then just when you thought all was completed, our critical thinkers came out with reflective comments that often sent all back to the drawing board!

“I don’t think this is what we were supposed to do.”

“If we had done this bit differently, do you think it would have been better.”

“Maybe we should start again.”

While this could, and does, all happen in other learning environments, it is the level of engagement in outdoor situations that facilitates contributions in an altered way. Our girls embrace these experiences in such a different manner, a little like family holidays that provide time for unique interactions and new shared experiences to occur.

Year 2 Communication Leaders

Sarah Lu (2T), Charlotte Elliott (2N), Clarice Chung (2S) and Sophia Wang (2W)

Year 2 has been busting to spend more time with their buddies, and as we have been learning about poetry, we thought we could express ourselves through a haiku:

Building with Lego

Feeling happy with buddies

Let’s do it again

On Friday we played with our buddies and we built with Lego and Duplo. We built homes for animals, cities and moving cars. We let our buddies do most of the work because they are younger than us. We learned that we have to be really respectful to all the buddies. It was very fun because we got to stay with our buddies! We loved playing with our buddies, and we hope we can spend more time with our buddies soon.

Year 2 Education Outdoor Program at Vision Valley

Mrs Kate Giles, Year 2 Co-ordinator

Year 2 girls were clearly very excited as they jumped on the bus to head to Vision Valley for the first time. We arrived at Vision Valley and headed straight into some exciting activities like bush walking and finding frogs! We enjoyed the team activities and the games with our friends. 

Our favourite activity of the day was the frog hunting, although the leeches were definitely the most exciting!

After a picnic lunch, we were all very tired but sad to be leaving to go home! On the bus trip home, we talked about how much fun we had and started making plans for the Year 2 Camp in Term 4 (everyone wants to use the water slide!) We are all so excited to be heading back to Vision Valley again and experience all the fun it has to offer.

From the Deputy Head of School

Mrs Tracey Frater

Kimochi Online Parent Session

There has been a keen interest from our parent community to learn more about Kimochis and the ways you might be able to use a common language at home to ensure consistency and to encourage social emotional learning more quickly.

We are delighted to invite you to a parent session on Kimochis delivered by Michael Edgecomb from Doing Life Together on Tuesday 18 May from 7.00pm to 8.00pm.

Click here to join parent session.

Please note that all correspondence to the Preparatory School Office should be via prepschool@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au or by phone on + 61 2 9855 7720.

Mrs Karen Ahearn

Head of Preparatory School

Notices

Dates for your Calendar

McGrath Foundation Mother’s Day Morning Tea – Thursday 20 May

Parents are warmly invited to join their daughter/s for morning tea to celebrate Mother’s Day at Pymble. Students, parents and staff from Kindergarten to Year 12 are encouraged to wear pink (for a gold coin donation). All funds raised will go to support the McGrath Foundation.

Kate and Jol Temple Author Visit for Years 2 and 3 – Monday 24 May

On Monday 24 May, the authors Kate and Jol Temple are visiting Pymble to present to Years 2 and 3 to celebrate the release of their new book series The Underdogs. Students will be able to order signed copies of Kate and Jol’s books. Please click here to read more and access the order form. 

Preparatory School Athletics Carnival – Tuesday 25 May

The Preparatory School Athletics Carnival will take place on the Main Oval on Tuesday 25 May commencing at 9.00am and concluding at approximately 1.00pm. Parents are invited to attend, however, are asked to utilise the designated spectator and parking areas and to adhere to current health guidelines. 

During the carnival, all students will participate in both track and field activities with the emphasis being on active participation. Your daughter has been preparing for the carnival during class physical education lessons and has been building her technique and skills across the different athletic events. The running events are seeded and the girls have all participated in time trials during their physical education lessons and placed in races accordingly.

Please refer to the notification emailed on Wednesday 12 May for further details.

Grandparents Picnic – Tuesday 18 May

A maximum of two guests per family. The aim of the day is for the girls to share a story or some learning they are proud of with their special guest. Grandparents can share a story or bring in a favourite book to share. 

If you have daughters in both the Preparatory School and Junior School, big sisters are invited to join their younger sister in the Riverbed with their grandparents.

**Please note, this event is weather dependent and will be postponed in inclement weather.** 

Term 2 Nature Immersions

The Preparatory School Nature Immersion program will continue this term, with all grades participating in one afternoon of activities. As per Term 1, this program will take place on the Pymble campus with teaching staff and the Pymble Experiential Learning team facilitating the learning. The girls will enjoy activities such as nature walking and environmental education, team building activities, campfire stories and Australian Indigenous education.  

The Nature Immersion afternoons for Term 2 will take place between 1.15pm and 2.30pm on: 

Parent Focus Group Invitation 

As you know, the College has made the decision to combine our Preparatory and Junior Schools into what will become known as our Junior School for girls in Kindergarten to Year 6. This will take effect from Term 1 2022.

In anticipation of this transition, we will be conducting small focus groups with current Preparatory and Junior School parents to get your feedback and to identify areas for enhancement. Our focus groups will be held in the Junior School Library at the following session times:  

We are sending an email to you all which will include a link for you to click on if you would like to be involved in one of these focus groups. Each focus group will be small, however we are happy to hold more groups after these dates if there is lots of interest from our parent community to be involved in this process.  

Helpful Information from the Teacher Librarian

Mrs Josephine Laretive

Years 1 and 2 Suggested Reading Popular Chapter Books!

The library has a wide range of chapter books. The books provided in the below link are organised by the author’s surname, with the genre and key themes listed. Books are not connected to levelled readers.

Click here to see the list.

Student Photos

Junior and Preparatory School photos can still be ordered through Melba Studios. There will be a small fee charged for delivery to your home as the timeframe for delivery to school has closed. 

To order please go to Melba Studios – click here.

• Select ‘School Orders’ and enter the password PLC
• You will need to enter your daughter’s student ID number, which is listed on the email sent to you on Tuesday 30 March and her year group (please note your daughter’s student ID number is privacy protected so only you can see her portrait)
• Select ‘Deliver to Home’ (a small fee will be charged). Please complete one order per student. 

If you have any issues with ordering, please contact Melba Studios directly on +61 2 9438 4566. 

Winter Uniform in Term 2

Please note that girls are now expected to wear full winter uniform to school. This includes the navy blazer, which is a compulsory garment to be worn to and from school in Terms 2 and 3. On days of scheduled PE lessons, all Preparatory School girls will require the full Pymble tracksuit including track pants and tracksuit jacket. Please refer to page 33 of your daughter’s diary for details of requirements. Parents are asked to contact the College Shop on +61 2 9855 7744 to make an appointment for a fitting if necessary. Please note that all students require the winter school hat and Preparatory play hat during Terms 2 and 3.

To ensure lost items are returned to your daughter, please name EVERYTHING that your daughter brings to school. This includes headbands, ribbons, socks, shoes, ties, underpants, lunch boxes, drink bottles, carry bags, shoes etc. There are lots of girls in the Preparatory School with identical belongings and it is easier to reunite your daughter with any lost belongings if they are clearly named. 

Classroom Access and Student Collection

From the beginning of Term 2, due to the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, we will no longer have walkers at Grey House Walk and Sufferance Gate. Should an older sibling or parent be walking with a Preparatory School student to the College, handover of care should occur in the Courtyard areas of the Preparatory School where staff members are on duty from 8.00am to 8.30am. 

Staff members are also at the Preparatory School car line from 8.00am where handover can also take place should you be utilising Sufference Gate. Please note that children arriving prior to 8.00am need to attend Before School Care or remain in the supervision of an older sibling or carer until 8.00am. 

Should your daughter be walking home via Sufferance Gate or Grey House Walk, she can be collected from the Upper Courtyard on the seats outside Year 2 at the conclusion of the Preparatory School day at 2.45pm.

We encourage all parents to continue to utilise the car line for both drop off and pick up of their daughter and remind carers that it is essential to remain in your car for the safety of our community and to enable the continuous flow of traffic through the College.

The College will still require parents and carers to sign in using the QR Code upon entering the campus.

Thank you for your assistance as we return to our regular pick up and drop off routines. We encourage parents to continue to support the independence of their daughter as demonstrated so capably during times when restrictions were in place for the safety of the wider community.

Travel

Parents are reminded to email the Preparatory School if you need to arrange another parent to pick up your daughter at the end of the school day. All changed travel requests should be communicated to the Preparatory School Office before 2.00pm to ensure messages can be conveyed to students and staff.

Medications

On occasions your daughter may require medications to be administered during the day. If your daughter requires any medications during the school day, including prescribed antibiotics, they need to be delivered to the Preparatory School Office, clearly labelled and in original packaging. Clear instructions from parents need to be included with the medication. We cannot administer medication in the form of syrups or tablets if they are not in their original packaging as we have no knowledge of what they are.

Please send to the Preparatory School Office any medication e.g., Ventolin, Epipen, eczema cream, etc. if your daughter has specific medical conditions which warrant their use.  The Action Plan for its use should be included in the pack.

Contact Details

A reminder to keep your contact details up to date. For any changes, please use the MyPymble Change of Details link.

Lunch on the Run and Water Bottles

Lunch orders can be placed through a third-party service called My Student Account. An order needs to be placed by 8.30am for it to be processed on the day of ordering.

A reminder to send your daughter with enough water for the day, as per the College newsletter, as commencing Term 2 bottled water will no longer be served at the food trucks and cafés at the College. Please ensure that your daughter has a water bottle with her. The water bubblers and water bottle filling station has returned to operation.

Click here to order.

PSPG NEWS

Mrs Aimee Birch, Parent Group Leader

Thank you to everyone who attended the PSPG Term 2 Meeting. If you missed it you can click here to view the recording of this meeting.

Athletics Carnival – Tuesday 25 May

The PSPG will be hosting a refreshment stall at the Preparatory School Athletics Carnival. All proceeds from the stall will be donated to Bear Cottage. We need assistance from parents to donate food and help at the stall on the day.

To sign up for volunteering or food donation, please click here: https://signup.com/go/NbmVvwF

For further information, please contact Fatima Khamash at fatma.khamash@gmail.com.

A call for volunteers! The Preparatory Concert will be held in Term 3 and while the girls will be busy learning their songs and dances in Term 2, we as parents need to be busy working on costumes. If you are creative, good with needle and thread, handy with a hot glue gun or just want to get involved, I would love to hear from you! We will hold some fun working bees throughout Term 2, so please put your name down now.  Contact Aimee Birch at sam_and_aimee@bigpond.com.

From the Junior School

From the Head of Junior School

As we continue to enjoy the autumnal colours around our Junior School playgrounds, we are continuing to reflect on celebrating our rich diversity. Our diversity of culture, passions and thoughts make us unique and that is what makes us special. Learning to accept ourselves and one another for who we are is a critical part of our learning and growth. We want to equip our girls with the confidence to celebrate their own strengths. Part of this journey is learning to change our mindsets from worrying about mistakes we make to celebrating these mistakes as ‘fabulous failures’ and seeing them as amazing growth points.

Last week Mrs Lara Bird, Acting Deputy Head of Junior School Curriculum shared the story of Sara Blakely, CEO of Spanx, who spoke about how her father reframed her perspective on making mistakes by high fiving her every time she experienced failure. Click on the short video where Sara Blakely talks about failure. We would love you to share a fabulous failure of your own with your daughters over dinner one evening this week.

As our Years 3 and 5 girls have a go at NAPLAN this week, we are encouraging them to enjoy the experience and to remember that whilst NAPLAN helps us to see some of their understanding and to show us some areas for growth, it does not show us what makes each girl exceptional and unique. The Year 3 teachers have written a letter to each girl to remind them that the people who assess tests like NAPLAN…

“They do not know that some of you speak more than one language, play sport, sing, love to dance, or can code a computer program. They do not know that you are caring and thoughtful, and that every day you do your best. They do not know that you love trying new things and having a go. Because these characteristics cannot be tested.  

The scores you get from NAPLAN will not tell you everything. They can’t tell you that you have improved on something that you once found difficult. They can’t tell you that you make your teacher smile every day. They can’t tell you how amazingly special you are.”

We are proud to display our new Wellbeing Wall which has been designed and made by Kindness Captain Georgia Yuen for her Principal’s Project this year. Lots of girls have already enjoyed reading the different affirmations from this wall.

Lens into Learning

Mrs Lara Bird, Acting Deputy Head of Junior School – Learning and Curriculum

This week our Year 6 girls began their cooking adventures in the Secondary School. The girls have completed a safety protocol quiz to build their knowledge and add a layer of safety to their learning in the secondary kitchens. This week the girls learned how to make sustainable fritters. I know they are looking forward to more cooking adventures in the weeks to come!

Year 6 also shared their knowledge around re-growing vegetables with the Junior School in our assembly this week. There is a vibrant array of beetroot, carrots, onions and celery shooting new roots and leaves in the Year 6 learning space. Each week the girls are measuring and recording the data as part of their integrated inquiry learning.

Junk Yard Beats – Year 5 Incursion

Mrs Jill King, Acting Language Arts Co-ordinator

Did your Year 5 daughter come home on Friday afternoon and start to raid the kitchen cupboard, the workshop and the recycle bin? If so, there is a very good reason. On Friday 7 May, our Year 5 girls were treated to a sensational incursion with ‘Junkyard Beats’ – a group of brilliant musicians, actors and dancers whose mission is to inspire young people to explore the musical possibilities in whatever junk lies around them.

Our girls were completely immersed in the performance and workshop and could not get enough of the driving rhythms created in their ‘Junk orchestra’ of broomsticks, buckets, lids and discarded kitchen utensils. The energy in the room was so exciting.

As well as having enormous fun and making plenty of noise, Year 5 girls were able to assist with the building of three installation pieces. 5B and 5E made a large A-frame drum kit complete with water kegs, aluminium cans and a wok! 5P and 5L have a balaphone constructed from recycled soft drink bottles – each one carefully tuned by pumping air in through a tyre valve until the exact pitch was reached. 5M and 5Y have a very impressive ‘thong-a-phone’ which is a series of PVC pipes cut to various lengths and slapped with a thong to produce the tones.

These unique ‘junkyard instruments’ will be featured in our Year 5 Showcase, as we explore as many ways as possible to ‘Reduce, Re-use, Recycle’ and to share the message of the Lorax.

Debating – a reflection written by the Debating teams

“Debating as part of the Primary A and B Pymble teams for the ISDA season this year has been such a thrilling experience and a wonderful opportunity to improve our speaking skills and to develop critical thinking and listening skills. It has helped us to become more confident when presenting a speech in class, or even just speaking in front of an audience. We really enjoy coming together each Friday afternoon to train, talk and discuss topics – the food is definitely a highlight too!

During the debate, the intensity of it always brings us down to earth. The frantic organisation, the pressure and the sound of pen scribbling against paper creates a different atmosphere than when we train. Occasionally as you are debating you hear the other team’s expectant silence as they wait for the adjudication or the triumphant cheers of victory. The undercurrents of emotion and focus are strangely calming yet overwhelming.

Friday afternoon is the time of week where teamwork, logic and confidence are needed. As a team, we all participate in the group in our own way. Even in breaks, interacting with each other and having fun is really what we all love, aside from the frantic working. We make puns, play card games, and, of course, finish our muffins, but when it’s time to get back to work we never hesitate. Everyone in both teams has enjoyed debating so much, and if we had to pick between this and other activities, we would definitely choose debating (not saying you should not go and have fun with other things, but debating is amazing!)

Before the actual debates begin, we revise our knowledge of argumentation and rebuttal. When we finally come to the part of the debate where the result is shared, tension reeks pungently in the atmosphere. Whether we lose or win, we always celebrate with chocolates or brownies and chat about each team’s experiences which creates a better mindset to keep on trying for future debates.

Debating is something we all love doing. It challenges both our logical thinking and reasoning. The preparation is pressurising, yet reassuring, and the debate is frantic, yet calm and collected. But the one thing we all feel a strong emotion for is the teams. We work together, we have fun together, we never give up on one another. That is what debating is about.”

Congratulations to both of our ISDA debating teams who have progressed to the semi-finals on Friday 14 May. We wish both teams lots of luck.

Sustainability Club Wipes Out Waste!

an initiative led by our Sustainability Captains

We hope that you have stepped up to last week’s challenge to bring a refillable drink bottle to school each day to help us stop the unnecessary use of single use plastic bottles! Our animals and marine life that live on our polluted lands and in our oceans say a huge thank you!

This week’s Wipe out Waste – Tip of the Week is ‘Bring a waste free lunch to school!’

Along with your daughter’s refillable drink bottle, we also challenge the girls to bring a waste free lunchbox every day. This lunch box will have no single use packaging as this goes straight to landfill! Instead of bringing mini wrapped packages, you can place snacks in reusable containers, bring a thermos for those yummy, warm lunches, use reusable cutlery and finally wrap your food in beeswax wraps.

Together we can ‘Wipe out Waste!’

Compass Check-in

Mrs Nerissa Davey, Acting Deputy Head of Junior School Wellbeing

Throughout the Junior School, the girls are learning to ‘Go direct, with respect’. In our assembly last week, Dr H spoke to the girls about what this means and how to show kindness and respect to each other. So, what does this mean to our girls?

“Avoiding Triangle talking means you need to talk to your friends without leaving anyone out. If you do leave someone out, they will feel jealous and sad.” – Cate and Gloria (Year 4)

“Showing respect to others means they will do the same to you. Don’t chat about someone behind their back, go straight to the person if you have a problem.” – Blair and Ella (Year 4)

“Having a circle chat in our classrooms means not leaving anyone out.” – Yuan Hui (Year 4)

“In friendships you need to say what you mean but always with respect.” – Alexandra and Lucinda (Year 3)

“Talk to someone in person and include them in your conversations.” – Celeste and Eden (Year 6)

In our community

This week our Muslim families will break their month-long time of fasting during Ramadan and celebrate Eid. We wish them all the best at this special time. We would also like to acknowledge our Indian families who have relatives and friends living in India. We are holding you all in our thoughts and prayers during this time of COVID-19. 

Notices

Year 3 Parents – Kimochi Webinar

There has been a keen interest from our parent community to learn more about Kimochis and the ways you might be able to use a common language at home to ensure consistency and to encourage social emotional learning more quickly.

We are delighted to invite you to a parent session on Kimochis delivered by Michael Edgecomb from Doing Life Together on Tuesday 18 May from 7.00pm to 8.00pm. This will be an online Zoom event and more information around enrolment and the link to the event will be provided closer to the date.

Parent Focus Group Invitation

As you know, the College has made the decision to combine our Preparatory and Junior Schools into what will become known as our Junior School for girls in Kindergarten to Year 6. This will take effect from Term 1 2022.

In anticipation of this transition, we will be conducting small focus groups with current Preparatory and Junior School parents to get your feedback and to identify areas for enhancement. Our focus groups will be held in the Junior School Library at the following session times:

We are sending an email to you all which includes a link for you to click on if you would like to be involved in one of these focus groups. Each focus group will be small, however, we are happy to hold more groups after these dates if there is lots of interest from our parent community to be involved in this process.

Mrs Kate Brown

Head of Junior School

JSPG

Mrs Louise Woodall, Mrs Sarah Fisher and Mrs Shiva Rich, JSPG Leaders

Grandparents Picnic – Tuesday 18 May from 12.30pm to 2.00pm. The aim of the afternoon is for the girls to share a story or some learning they are proud of with their special guest. Grandparents can share a story or bring in a favourite book to share.

Please register for tickets here: https://events.humanitix.com/preparatory-and-junior-schools-grandparents-picnic

McGrath Foundation/Mother’s Day Pink Morning Tea – Thursday 20 May from 10.10am to 10.50am. Girls are asked to wear pink mufti, bring a gold coin and their own morning tea. All parents are welcome!

Please register for tickets here: https://events.humanitix.com/mcgrath-foundation-mother-s-day-morning-tea

Upcoming Events organised by Year Co-ordinators and Class Parents

From the Middle School

From the Head of Middle School

Welcome to Week 4 in the Middle School. This week marks the first of our Outdoor Education programs this term, with Year 8 split between two locations at either the Colo River Expedition on the Upper Colo or the South Coast Adventure at Killalea State Park. There was plenty of excitement and a bit of nervous anticipation as students headed off early on Monday morning!

For our Year 7 students, this week has also seen the start of their NAPLAN tests with the writing test taking place yesterday and the reading test on tomorrow. The final two skills will be assessed over the next two weeks and catch-up plans have been made for any student who is absent on one or more of the test days. Year 7 girls are to be commended on the way in which they have approached the lead up to NAPLAN with a sense of calm and composure.

Congratulations to our Years 7 and 8 debaters who are through to the finals. Year 7 ISDA are currently undefeated this season! We look forward to following their progress as they look towards a Grand Final on 4 June.

This week in Directions lessons, Year 7 has been exploring the practice of gratitude and its associated health benefits. Studies show that practising gratitude can be used to improve our mental and physical health by developing our ability to empathise with others, boost our self-esteem, reduce anger and appreciate what we have. Students embraced the opportunity for some quiet reflection as they wrote letters to loved ones and took time to consider what brings them joy and happiness in their lives. A beautiful collage of post-it notes has been created on the Colonnade as a visual reflection of the gratitude felt among Year 7 students.

We wish all the best to our Years 7 and 8 athletes as they head down to Frensham tomorrow to compete in the IGSA Cross Country. We are looking forward to seeing the Pymble pride continue into next Monday with the Athletics Carnival which will take place on our Main Oval. Next week we will also be celebrating Boarders’ Week, which is an important celebration of our Boarding community and the richness our Boarders bring to the College. A reminder that if you have any old denim around the house, we would love to use these as a part of a sustainable decoration which will be displayed throughout Boarders’ Week on the Colonnade.

Year 8 Camp Updates

A reminder that the plan is for students to arrive back to Kelso Oval on the College campus on Friday afternoon from both camp locations in line with regular afternoon dismissal at 3.20pm. In the event that there are any unforeseeable adjustments to times, an SMS alert will be sent to update families. Thank you for keeping the Kelso carpark/driveway clear for bus returns. Any student who handed in a mobile phone will be given this back on their return to the College (please note these were retained at Pymble). 

Colo River Expedition on the Upper Colo

We arrived safely at the Somerset campsite mid-Monday morning and the girls haven’t stopped since then! The weather has been so beautiful with two days of sunshine so far. Over the first evening, the girls experienced the sound of rain on their tents with the bonus of staying warm and dry inside. The diverse activities on offer have seen each group step up to various challenges such as Initiative Games – building simple rockets and competing to see whose rocket travels the furthest, the Wombat Hole which demands individuals wriggle through tight spaces to navigate their way out, abseiling down sandstone cliffs through the native foliage, canoeing to their next campsite along the meandering Colo River, just to name a few. By all reports the girls are taking responsibility for the cooking of some of their meals and eating well. Whether spending time around the campfire telling stories or playing Trivial Pursuit in the dining hall, the girls are certainly enjoying each other’s company. They will have plenty of stories to share on their return. 

South Coast Adventure at Killalea State Park

The Year 8 Outdoor Education program on the South Coast has started very well and we have been lucky to have some dry and bright weather to start the week. The girls have been involved in a range of exciting activities already, including mountain biking, canoeing, surfing, bush regeneration and listening to speakers from National Parks and Wildlife Services talk about Indigenous history and culture in the area. They enjoyed their first night of cooking on Trangia stoves and camping in tents and are now busily preparing their menus for a Masterchef competition for their second evening. On Tuesday, half of the group completed the beautiful walk from Werri Beach to Kiama along the coast, with the rest of the group doing this on Thursday. It has been fantastic to see all girls make new connections within their groups and showing support for each other on the camp so far. We are looking forward to a great rest of the week with many fun activities planned. We hope the lovely weather continues!

Congratulations

A hearty congratulations to our very talented Alison Wang (Year 8), who contributed illustrations to a published book. The book is titled Reasoning Talk with Children by Helen Hu. It is published in simplified Chinese. It can be found here at this Amazon link.

It will be available in the Library for a short time for students to see Alison’s impressive illustrations.

Anzac Day Reflection

I was delighted to hear about the following student reflection from Anzac Day:

“Due to COVID-19 restrictions on Anzac Day, my family decided to organise a Light the Dawn ceremony outside our house for our neighbours and community. I offered to play The Last Post at sunrise, and I practised with my trumpet teacher for the weeks leading up to Anzac Day. 

We decided that I should play my trumpet like a bugle, and not use my fingers. It was very challenging to do this as well as being a hard piece to play. 

At 6.00am on Anzac Day morning, 16 of my neighbours joined us with candles. My Dad read out The Ode and then I played The Last Post (waking a lot of birds too!) We had a minute’s silence and then I finished with The Reveille. 

My neighbours were very thankful and quite emotional. Even my 90-year-old neighbour told me afterwards that she opened her bedroom window to listen to it being played. I would like to continue playing The Last Post each year in memory of the veterans past and present.” 

– Josie Green (Year 8)

Mrs Jenny O’Donnell

Head of Middle School

From the Upper School

This term in the Upper School, we begin to sharpen our focus on service to others with the launch of Year 9 Community Service and opportunities to support the Hornsby Women’s Shelter in Year 10. 

It has been heart-warming to see the large number of Year 9 students attending the Wednesday lunchtime service group in support of Days for Girls. We are producing record numbers of sanitary products to support this worthy cause. 

Another wonderful cause that the College supports is our annual Sony Camp. Sony Camp 2021 will be the tenth annual Sony Foundation Children’s Holiday Camp hosted by Year 11 students from both Pymble and Shore, with the assistance of our community. Sony Camp provides much-needed respite for the parents and siblings of children with a disability by delivering a fun-filled four-day residential camp for 25 children with special needs. The Camp relies on the generous donations of our school community. 

Are you able to help us with our Sony Camp fundraising event? We will be holding a bake sale on Saturday 22 May at the Ku-ring-gai Netball Courts in Turramurra. All funds raised will go towards the Pymble/Shore Sony Camp. Donations can include items such as whole cakes, cupcakes, slices, biscuits, toffees, crackles or any other specialties you might have! 

If you are able to assist, could you please complete this short google form https://tinyurl.com/KNABaking to allow us to anticipate donations. Many thanks for your support, every donation will make a difference. 

Leadership Review 

As part of our ongoing review of student leadership at Pymble, we are currently seeking feedback from students in Years 9 and 10 regarding our processes and structure. 

Your child will be invited to participate in a survey over the coming weeks. This is to ensure that every student has the opportunity to share their thoughts and have their voice heard. Our guiding principles around student leadership encompass the philosophy of service to our community. We aim to provide diverse opportunities across a range of areas to allow for the development of authentic leadership styles. 

Family Zone – Year 9 

Following consultation with students, staff and our IT Department, I have made the decision that we will not proceed with the mandatory installation of Family Zone software on Year 9 student devices. Instead, we will continue with our current safety and monitoring measures in alignment with older students. Year 9 students will have the option to install Family Zone as a method to self-regulate their usage of technology as they step towards greater independence. In a recent Year 9 Assembly, we had a rich forum style discussion about the balance between autonomy and responsibility online. I would encourage you to discuss the benefits of installing Family Zone with your daughter to help her make an informed decision about her choice to adopt it or not. 

From the Deputy Head of Upper School

Mrs Michelle Hunt

One of the greatest gifts you can give is your time. This week we look forward to launching the Community Service program. Our Year 9 students will be provided with a number of school organised community service activities, both onsite and offsite, throughout the rest of the year. Hours can be documented and used to achieve a certificate of recognition. Some options include: St Edmunds Athletics/Swimming Carnival, Easy Care Gardening, Exodus, Turra Tots, Aged Care and Kids on the Block. 

from the Heads of Year 9

Ms Dylan Beaumont and Mrs Karen Michie

Year 9 has been busy once again this week. They were all very excited to be doing NAPLAN for the last time. Starting this week, our Upper School Year 9 leaders will be running our weekly assembly. This week we launch the Year 9 Community Service program. Mrs Hunt will talk more about this in her column.  

Next week, Year 9 Drama students will be performing The Importance of Being Earnest. Congratulations to all the students involved both on stage and behind the scenes and a shout out to the Drama teachers for their tireless work in providing this experience for the students. 

As always, Year 9 students continue to amaze us with their achievements. Congratulations to  

• Stella Robertson on making the National Gymnastics team for 2021. 
• The Year 9 Theatresports team who placed second at the Improvisation Australia Theatresports Challenge, where they competed against eight schools. They performed four rounds of improvisation, including ‘slow-motion commentary’, ‘entries and exits’, ‘open scene’ and ‘pop-up storybook’. 

For the rest of Term 2, the focus in Directions for Year 9 is ‘My Future’. These lessons are part of the Careers Continuum and look at the following areas: 

• Know yourself – with a focus on self-awareness, working well with others, being a life-long learner, being adaptable and presenting yourself appropriately. 
• Know your world – with a focus on knowing what is possible, using technology and information effectively, understanding work, exploring the labour market and experiencing work. 
• Manage your future – finding and using opportunities to learn and explore, making informed decisions, planning and building your career, balancing work and life, embracing change.  

The students have access to the resource The Careers Department which has lots of fantastic resources about a range of different career options. We hope that this resource and the lessons this term encourage your daughter to think about her strengths and start thinking about the sorts of careers that might suit her best. 

From the Information Technology Department

Mrs Blythe Cassidy, Senior Digital Learning Leader

Following their ySafe Cyber Safety presentation on Friday 30 April, Year 9 participated in a Digital Wellbeing lesson during their Directions time. The students explored the privacy policies of some of their favourite apps – Instagram, Snapchat and Tik Tok, to increase their awareness of how their data is collected, stored and used by these companies.

“I have discovered that deleted items and items you shared on Instagram will be kept on there until you permanently deleted the account, but the information the others shared won’t be deleted forever.” 

– Yuki Wang

From the Heads of Year 10

Mr Michael Stern and Ms Cara Foley

On Tuesday, Year 10 had the opportunity to attend The Bell Shakespeare Company’s performance of Macbeth. This aligned with their Term 2 English study and was a wonderful opportunity to see one of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies. 

Bell Shakespeare’s actors opened with a buzz with a fabulous account of the witches in Act 1 Scene 1. Watching Macbeth and Lady Macbeth evolve through the various stages of ambition and guilt brought the play alive, giving Year 10 a nuanced understanding of the play. This opportunity was arranged by the English Department who saw incredible value in this opportunity. 

Careers Profiling Interviews 

This week and continuing into next, Year 10 students are participating in Career Avenues interviews. This interview is the follow-up to the careers profiling tests that students completed in Term 1. One-on-one interviews with a Career Avenue counsellor provide students with an opportunity to read through their profiling report and help them to understand the summary information provided. We encourage all students to discuss the findings of their profiling report and their interview with parents and carers as this can prompt conversations about Year 11 and Year 12 subject choices as well as tertiary pathways. 

Jacaranda Awards 

Congratulations to the 16 Year 10 students who were presented with a Jacaranda Award during last week’s Assembly. Students who receive a Jacaranda Award are nominated by their Compass teachers for their participation and enthusiasm in Compass as well as upholding and displaying the College values. Well done to all.

From the Head of Learning Area – Science

Dr Kristie Spence

The Science Department is excited to be launching the Year 10 Personal Experimental Task aka the Year 10 Science PET Project. For this task students will experimentally investigate a question of interest to them at home. We invite you to get involved your daughter’s learning journey and enjoy a bit of scientific discovery yourself.

Students will be given 13 weeks to complete their experiment and write up a scientific report. This includes three weeks of school holidays, which might be a good time for students to conduct their experiment and collect results. The students will get some time in class to plan their experiment, analyse their results and write their report with guidance and feedback from their teacher, but they will carry out their actual experiment at home.

In the coming weeks students will devise a question of personal interest to them. We would encourage parents to brainstorm ideas with their daughter, to help generate some possible questions that are relevant to their lives. Their question could be related to an aspect of their favourite sport or a natural phenomenon they have noticed and wondered about. Ultimately, they will conduct an experiment to answer their question by changing one variable and measuring its effect on another variable. A key requirement of the task is that numerical data will need to be collected for both variables so that they can quantitatively determine how one variable is related to another.

Here are some examples:

• How does the intensity of light effect the rate of seedling germination?
• How does the bounce height of a basketball change as ball pressure is decreased?
• How does surface area of a falling object affect the time taken to drop one metre?

Key Dates

Mrs Melissa Boyd

Head of Upper School

From the USPG

Mrs Pilar De Andrés Varela and Mrs Susan Ma, Parent Group Leaders

We would like to wish all fantastic super mums a wonderful belated Mother’s Day.

We are halfway through Term 2 and have some great opportunities to catch up with other parents in your year group and also meet new ones:

Year 9: A quick reminder that tomorrow (Friday) is the Year 9 Parent Morning Coffee at Brick Lane Espresso in West Pymble shops from 8.00am.

Year 10: There will be a Year 10 Parent Coffee Catch-up on Thursday, May 27 at 9.00am at Brick Lane Espresso, Philip Mall, West Pymble.

Thank you so much Margot for organising it. We hope you can all make it.

Have a great weekend

Pilar and Susan

From the Senior School

“Do things for people not because of who they are or what they do in return, but because of who you are.” – Harold S. Kushner 

As we head into the middle of the term, it is useful to remember the almost magical effect of kindness and how this can change other people’s days and our own. There has been much written about random acts of kindness and I think we are all aware of the philosophy behind this movement – to carry out small or large acts of kindness as a matter of our daily practice. There are many ideas on the website https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/ about how to encourage this. I would also like the girls to consider more deliberate, thoughtful acts of kindness that might require a longer-term commitment or consideration. I have included Kushner’s quotation as a starting point to consider how kindness and compassion reflects so much of ourselves and builds a strong community. 

All of us have experienced the appreciation of an unexpected offer of help, a warm word of understanding or a friendly and genuine smile! There is no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end. 

The ‘ripple effects’ of kindness are felt every day in the Senior School and around the College. As individuals, we can make another person’s day, but as a community, we can make a mighty difference, both for each other and ourselves. 

Athletics Carnival 

On Monday, the Athletics Carnival will provide more opportunities for the girls to have go in the events, connect with the wider school community and show their House spirt at their final Athletics Carnival. We are looking forward to seeing the creative and colourful House dress ups that Year 12 girls are renowned for. 

Review of Student Leadership  

As part of our ongoing review of student leadership at Pymble, we are currently seeking feedback from students in Years 11 and 12 regarding our processes and structure. 

Your child will be invited to participate in a survey and class discussions in their Compass sessions over the coming weeks. This is to ensure that every student has the opportunity to share their thoughts and have their voice heard.  

Our guiding principles around student leadership encompass the philosophy of service to our community. We aim to provide diverse opportunities across a range of areas to allow for the development of authentic leadership styles. 

Wrap With Love 

Term 2 also marks the beginning of another major Senior School service project – Wrap with Love. Senior School staff and girls (and their families) are working hard to knit woollen squares which will be sewn into blankets. These blankets are provided to those in need both in Australia and overseas. If you are able to contribute, you will need: 8 ply wool (any type) 4.00 needles (size 8). The pattern is a square of 50 rows by 50 stitches.

From the Heads of Year 11 

Mrs Andrea Pryor and Mrs Theresa Mimmo

After the excitement of the Year 11 Formal, the students have poured over their photographs and accessed the photographic website with enthusiasm. We were so lucky to have held the formal before further COVID-19 restrictions were enforced. Imagine patrolling the dance floor at a Pymble event with only 20 people allowed to participate!  

The students have settled back into their academic routine and are now focused on their assessment schedule and course work. In Directions classes, the students have been looking at increasing their resilience through developing a growth mindset. Through the VIA survey, student strengths were identified and areas of improvement. Students labelled their strengths as their superpowers. Recognition of where the students could do better in terms of their character strengths aligns with Carol Dweck’s theory of a growth mindset. If the students can see challenges from a growth mindset perspective, then their engagement and performance in their subjects could be enhanced. Reflection and feedback are all important elements of developing a growth mindset and the Directions classes are fostering this approach so that the students can see the relevance of it in their day-to-day classes.   

This week we would also like to promote the drama production The Importance of Being Earnest. There are a number of Year 11 students in this performance, and they have been working very hard in rehearsals. The show begins on Thursday 20 May and finishes on Saturday 22 May.   

From the Heads of Year 12 

Mrs Tor Harrison and Mrs Gina VEntura

As a follow up to the career presentations on navigating UAC and applications, in their Directions classes students will be exploring a range of mental fitness skills and strategies they can use to help boost optimism, gratitude, flow and resilience. By connecting with their known strengths, the students will build on their future planning and how they can better apply study skills such as the Pomodoro Method to achieving flow and their goals. In their Directions lessons the students will investigate the resources on the Blackdog Institute’s Biteback website to learn tips to build their strengths, https://www.biteback.org.au/Learn.

In Week 6, Year 12 students will participate in a workshop with Your Choicez Media on respectful relationships. Follow up discussion and activities will be completed in their Directions groups after this activity.  Other Directions sessions this term will focus on the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle in Year 12, specifically in terms of exercising, eating and sleeping well. 

It is important for the girls to maintain a healthy balance between their academic program and their co-curricular interests. Participating in a team sport, club or a creative activity are all great ways to achieve a sense of flow and balance. For girls interested in a free Stress Buster exercise session, these are being run by Mr Jack Pennington in the Fitness Centre each Wednesday afternoon from 3.40pm to 4.20pm. This is a great way for your daughter to power up for her afternoon study or activities. 

From the Geography Department

Mr Liam Hume

Year 12 Geographers overnight excursion to the Hunter Valley and Hunter Estuary Wetlands. 

Travelling up to Pokolbin on Thursday 29 April, the students visited Tamburlaine Organic Wines for a guided tour to learn about the economic enterprise as their HSC People and Economic Activity local case study. Students learned about the site and location, environmental constraints affecting the vineyard, as well as the sustainable and organic practices implemented at Tamburlaine. In the afternoon, students were given a guided tour around Cessnock by the Hunter Valley Visitor Centre where the focus was on urban renewal after the decline of coal mining industry. This is part of the Urban Dynamics section of the HSC Course. 

On Friday, we travelled to Hunter Estuary Wetlands at Kooragang Island. Using a range of primary fieldwork methodologies, students collected data from three sites within the wetlands. Students were able to observe the biophysical interactions occurring within the wetlands that enable it to function as well as evaluate the traditional and contemporary management strategies in place. 

From the Head of Extended Learning

Mrs Jenny Olsen

Year 12 HSC Study Camp

The camp is offered to Year 12 only to provide a structured and quiet study program in a distraction-free environment. Students will have access to experienced academic staff who will be able to assist with marking, problem solving, understanding the questions or content. In addition, we will be offering dedicated rooms with exam like conditions to allow students to complete practice exams. The week is fully catered for, with morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea provided.

Date: Monday 21 June to Friday 25 June

Times: 8.30am to 4.30pm

Cost: $295 (charged to your College account)

For further information and registration – click here or contact Mrs Jenny Olsen jolsen@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au

First Aid Course

We will be running a full-day First Aid Course (HLTAID003) for students in Years 10, 11 and 12 on Sunday 23 May 2021.

Cost: $99 (charged to your College account)

When: Sunday 23 May 2021

Time: 9.00am to 3.00pm

Where: KM Building

Years: Years 10 to 12 students

Details: Please make sure you have enough food and drink for the day. Breaks will be staggered and there may not be opportunity to leave and get food. This is a practical course; it is hands-on training, combined with skills workshops. Training scenarios will involve kneeling, sitting and/or lying down on the ground both indoors and outdoors.

Course Assessment – Your competence may be assessed in three ways:

• A practical assessment of your CPR skills and your first aid skills during training scenarios
• Peer feedback during scenario debriefing
• Completion of a course workbook on the day

To register – click here.

Mrs Nikki Wyse

Head of Senior School

From the Boarding School

It has been a real treat for me to be on the road this week and to spend time with our Boarding families and meet future Pymble Boarders. I have had an excellent travelling companion in Miss Kathryn Glover, House Supervisor of Marden House, and we have both enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about our girls’ hometowns and spend time with their families.

Our first stop was Walcha where we stayed at the beautiful home of Edwina and Sam Payne, parents of Elke (Year 7). From Walcha we drove to Moree and had a fabulous night with a big group of current and soon to be Pymble families. This was followed by a trip to Walgett where we were treated to a tour of Fairland, home of the Weber family including Hannah (Year 8), and a great evening in the local pub with current and past families.

It has been such a pleasure for us to spend time with these special people. We thank them deeply for making us feel so welcome and for their generous hospitality. We feel very lucky!

Tomorrow there is another opportunity to catch up with families at the Dubbo Boarding Schools Expo, follow by a special event for our present, past and future families. I look forward to sharing news of this event next week.

Welcoming Visitors to Lang House

Last week we were delighted to welcome students from Kinross Wolaroi School to stay with us in Lang House. The girls were here to take part in a leadership workshop with the Moderator of the Uniting Church Synod of NSW-ACT, Rev Simon Hansford. This was an opportunity for Years 11 and 12 student leaders from Uniting Church Schools to discuss pressing issues surrounding consent, climate justice and mental health especially for young people.

It was a great chance for our Year 12 Boarders to demonstrate their hospitality and our visitors enjoyed their company and the beautiful accommodation in Lang House.

From Mrs White

This week in Chapel as we lead up to our second Community Weekend for the year, I spoke to the girls about how we can better support each other within our community. I reflected on a Year 9 class that I taught this week about relationships and the languages of love. We all give and receive love in different ways. I challenged the girls to consider how they like to receive love and conversely how they like to demonstrate their love. In communities like ours, considerations such as this can only strength the bonds that we have. Do they like to show love through physical touch, the giving of gifts, acts of service, words of affirmation or quality time? How do their roommates and sisters in Boarding like to demonstrate love?  Awareness of the love languages for those around us will lead to better communication and enhanced relationships. 

The upcoming Community Weekend will be jam packed with activities. We are looking forward to getting our Houses ready for Boarders’ week. Stay tuned to our Instagram page to keep up to date with all the awesome activities that have been designed to promote our wonderful community. 

A View From My Window

My name is Sophie and I am a Year 12 student and have boarded at Pymble since Year 7.  I live in both Avalon Beach in Sydney’s Northern Beaches as well as Binalong which is a small country town approximately three hours from Sydney.

In Binalong I live on a property that’s about 11,000 acres where my dad, step mum and two half younger brothers Hunter and Sinclair live. On our farm we have both cropping and livestock including sheep, cattle and horses. My favourite thing about our farm is the country landscape. The land is very hilly and there are so many great spots to look out onto the land below. When I look out of my window I see my backyard which, in the good season, is green and covered with many bushes of flowers. We sometimes have a few rabbits here and there in the grass. The grassy hills you can see as well, which are covered with gum trees along with lots of animals. My favourite thing to do on my farm is to ride my horse Jack through the paddocks and creeks and help with mustering.

Avalon is also home to my mum, stepdad and my younger brother Ollie. When I look out of my window, I can almost see the ocean over our deck which I often sit on to have breakfast. My favourite thing to do at home is to go to the beach and on long bushwalks. Frequently, I have brekky at some of the local Cafés after a refreshing dip in the ocean.

I feel lucky to have two beautiful homes as well as my home here at Pymble.

Boarder of the Week

Aneeka Reilly has been a lovely addition to our Pymble Boarding family. Since joining us from Kempsey at the start of the year, Aneeka has embraced every opportunity. She is a delight to have in Goodlet House where she shares her radiant smile with everyone she encounters. She consistently demonstrates the College values; taking great pride in wearing her uniform correctly and maintaining an immaculate room are just two examples of her responsible approach. Aneeka is always there to lend a hand around the house. Her generosity of spirit makes her a much-loved friend.

Mrs Carolyn Burgess

Director of Boarding

Co-curricular Administration

End of Term 2 Registration Period 

The End of Term 2 Registration period will open for all students at 12.00pm on Wednesday 2 June. During this registration period you will be able to register for Term 3 and Semester 2 programs as well as make selections for your Term 4 Saturday Sports. All program information will be available in MyPymble on the Co-curricular at Pymble pages (click here) from Wednesday 19 May.  

Changes to your Co-curricular Registrations 

This is a reminder that registrations for all Term 2, Winter Semester and Yearly programs (with intakes) have now closed. Confirmation emails were sent during the second week of the holidays. If you wish to make changes to your daughter’s Co-curricular programs, please complete a Co-curricular Registration Request form by clicking here.  

If you have any questions about Co-curricular programs, please contact Co-curricular Administration at ccsa@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au or on +61 2 9497 7848.  

Mrs Monique Zahra

Head of Co-curricular Administration

Sport

Artistic Gymnastics

Border Challenge Trial

Four of our Level 7 Pymble gymnasts participated in the Border Challenge Trial at Sydney Gymnastics and Aquatic Centre on Saturday 8 May. The gymnasts were excited to be back after 18 months off from competitions.

The Pymble gymnasts came away with some pleasing results:

• Piya Parimu Kapur (Year 9) – 1st Bars, 1st Overall
• Ilaria Crowley (Year 8) – 3rd Bars, 5th Overall
• Georgia Phillips (Year 9) – 3rd Vault, 16th Overall
• Zoe Kosinar (Year 8) – 27th Overall

The girls performed extremely well, with some gymnasts showing off skills they only achieved during the week leading up to the competition. 

Piya Parimu Kapur (Year 9) qualified to represent NSW at the Border Challenge competition from Tuesday 25 June to Thursday 27 June at Caloundra, QLD. Pymble gymnastics wishes Piya the best of luck for this competition!

Miss Allyse Taylor

Acting Head Coach – Artistic Gymnastics

AFL

CIS AFL

On Thursday 6 May, Briana Armstrong (Year 9), Jessica Colbran (Year 9), Hannah Ford (Year 9), Madeline Lawson (Year 9), Yvette Volk (Year 9) and Lucy Yates (Year 9) competed in the Under 15 Years CIS AFL Girls Selection Trials in Blacktown. It was a wet day and with more than 70 players attending, it was tough for the girls who came up against some of the best AFL players in the region. After the first round of matches, Jessica Colbran, Yvette Volk and Hannah Ford made the ‘possible V probable’ match. After a 40-minute match, the CIS committee had to choose a squad of 22 players.

Congratulations to Jessica Colbran, Yvette Volk and Hannah Ford on their selection in the team. They will now compete in the NSW All Schools 15 Years and Under Girls AFL Championship in Albury. Well done to the girls who competed in the trials, it was an exhausting day, yet you should be proud of yourselves.

Mr Jack Garrad

Co-ordinator – AFL

Basketball

IGSA Basketball

Congratulations to the players who travelled to Mittagong on Saturday to compete in their IGSA Basketball fixtures. Your efforts displayed on the court were impressive.

Year 7
Pymble 17 and 21
Juniors
Pymble 9,10 and 13
Seniors
Pymble 2 and 4

Frensham is a very physical and competitive opposition and Pymble had several excellent victories. Thank you to the parents for their ongoing support which is acknowledged and valued.

Results

Mr Jack Garrad

Co-ordinator – Basketball

Diving

Congratulations to the Pymble divers who spent the Mother’s Day weekend competing at the NSW Elite Junior Championships and Interclub. This was an important event for our Elite Divers to qualify for Elite Nationals events and the final event to refine their skills and techniques prior to Olympic Trials in June. It was inspiring to watch our possible Olympians and future international divers in action.

Congratulations on the following results:
Kennedy Cooper (Year 12) – Group A 10m Platform Preliminaries 2nd, Finals 1st
Samantha Scarr (Year 11) – Group A 3m Preliminaries 2nd, Finals 2^nd, Group A 1m Preliminaries 1st, Finals 1st
Zara Tullipan (Year 11) – Group A 3m Preliminaries 1st, Finals 1^st, Group A 1m Preliminaries 2nd
Abby Smith (Year 7) – National Talent Program Final 2nd
Rylee McKinstry (Year 11) – 16 to 18 Years Girls Springboard 2nd and qualified for Age Nationals
Darcey Hawkins (Year 8) – 14 to 15 Years Girls Springboard 5th
Anne Liu (Year 5) – 11 Years and under Girls Springboard 2nd

Mrs Chris Lang

Head Coach – Diving

Fencing

On Saturday 8 May, Alyssa Yee (Year 10) and Vivian Wen (Year 12) competed in the Roberta Nutt Senior Schools Girls Épée Competition. This competition was the qualifier for the Australian Schools Nationals.
Alyssa Yee (Year 10) – 3rd
Vivian Wen (Year 12) – 8th
Congratulations girls on a great competition!

Miss Megan O’Keeffe

Co-ordinator – Fencing

Football

IGSA Football Round 3

On Saturday 8 May, many of our Pymble Football matches were cancelled due to wet weather at Frensham. Well done to our Senior First team who had a close win against a strong Abbotsleigh team 1 to 0 and our Pymble Seconds for a fantastic win against Danebank Firsts.

Team of the Week: Pymble 9

Congratulations to Pymble 9 for receiving Round 3 Team of the Week. The Pymble 9 team entered their match against Abbotsleigh 9 on Pymble Main Oval on Saturday and with no substitutes, the team put in a fantastic effort scoring the first goal. Abbotsleigh came back strongly, and the match finished as a 1-all draw. Well done to all players involved; Mia Finn (Year 11), Bella Macdonald (Year 11), Victoria Makim (Year 11), Charlotte Milne (Year 11), Jessica Scott (Year 11), Claudia Braysich (Year 12), Claire Browning (Year 12), Jayda Holland (Year 12), Edie Kemp (Year 12), Eleanor Mannes (Year 12), Claire Rogers (Year 12) and the following players showing support despite injury; Sarah Lonie (Year 12), Maddie Lewthwaite (Year 12), Annabel Maple-Brown (Year 11).

Mr Edward Ellwood-Hall

Co-ordinator – Football

Junior School Sport

IPSHA Team of the Week: IPSHA Hockey team of the week is Pymble 3 (Year 5)

After a wet week the sun cleared and we had a beautiful day for Saturday sport. Pymble 3 played against SCEGGS 1 in a close and exciting game, with birthday girl Emily Finucane (Year 5) the first to score a brilliant goal. Pymble was in the lead 2 to 0 at half time, however in the second half, SCEGGS was awarded three quick lucky goals to take the lead 3 to 2. The girls displayed great sportsmanship and a special mention to Claudia Sherlock (Year 5) and Blair Elliot (Year 5) who were strong in defence and worked together with the team to score another goal and end the game with a draw 3 to 3. Awesome work girls! 

Mr Matt Tyson

Co-ordinator – Head of Sport K to 6

Performing Arts

From the Director of Co-curricular Performing Arts

The Importance of Being Earnest – Thursday 20 to Saturday 22 May

Book your tickets now for this great production by our Years 10 and 11 Drama students of Oscar Wilde’s famous play. There are four performances, including a Saturday afternoon performance and two casts alternating performances. The girls have worked very hard and would love your support. So come along and be thoroughly entertained by this comedy of manners, deception and intrigue. Performances are one-and-a-half hours duration with no interval.

Mrs Sabina Turner

Director of Co-Curricular Performing Arts

Drama

Years 10 and 11 Co-curricular Drama Production – The Importance of Being Earnest

Please come along and attend the Years 10 and 11 Co-curricular Drama production, Oscar Wilde’s comedy of manners, deception and intrigue, The Importance of Being Earnest.

Performances are Thursday 20 May to Saturday 22 May 2021. Tickets can be booked through the GMCPA Box Office or Pymble Website.

Best of luck to the Years 10 and 11 Drama students involved. We are very proud of you!

Cast List Link

Years 9 and 10 Drama Auditions – Shore Grammar – Animal Farm

Years 9 and 10 Drama students are invited to audition for Animal Farm by George Orwell adapted by Ian Wooldridge. The performance dates are Thursday 9, Friday 10 and Saturday 11 September 2021. Due to auditions clashing with our Co-curricular Drama production, The Importance of Being Earnest, Pymble students can audition on Monday 24 May from 4.00pm. Please register your interest via email to performingarts@shore.nsw.edu (use this email also for any queries). All audition material has been placed on the portal for students to access. 

Year 9 Drama Auditions – Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview – Robin Hood

Year 9 Drama students are invited to audition for Riverview’s Co-curricular production of The Trials of Robin Hood by Will Averill directed by Sinead Zille. 

Girls’ Auditions

Thursday 27 May, 4.00pm to 5.30pm – AR101, Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview

Friday 28 May, 4.00pm to 5.30pm – O’Kelly Theatre, Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview

Book an audition time by filling in this google form or email Ms Zille syzille@riverview.nsw.edu.au 

Production Details

Rehearsals: Term 3, 3.30pm to 5.30pm on Sunday, Monday and Thursday afternoons 

Technical Rehearsals: Friday 3 September, 4.00pm to 9.00pm and Saturday 4 September, 12.00pm to 6.00pm

Dress Rehearsal: Monday 6 September, 4.00pm to 9.00pm

Performances: (6.30pm shows) Wednesday 8 September to Friday 10 September.

About the Play

Robin Hood – lusty hero, hopeless lover or evil criminal? Upon his return from the Crusades, King Richard is forced to try and figure out what happened in his kingdom during his absence. Is the outlaw Robin Hood a hero, a lovelorn sap or just plain mean? Told from the perspectives of Robin Hood, Maid Marian and Prince John, this hilarious tale combines three different stories into one.

For More Information

Contact Sinead Zille syzille@riverview.nsw.edu.au
Check out the Audition Pack.

Ms Tamara Sweetman

Head of Co-curricular Drama

Language Arts

Debating

FED

Congratulations to Senior A FED who won their make-up round against Knox.

Tomorrow we have the first of the FED finals rounds at Pymble via Zoom. This week we heard that Years 7A, 7B, 8A, 8B, Senior A and B have all progressed to finals rounds. Congratulations teams and coaches. Parents are welcome. These debates will be held in the Kate Mason Building. All must scan in and food will not be served. Masks are also highly recommended. Year 8 will be returning from camp and parents are asked to assist with ensuring debaters have their uniforms.

ISDA

Last week Years 8 and 9 ISDA had their Octofinal debate. Sadly, Year 8 was eliminated after a great season. Year 9 will now debate in the semi-finals next Friday. Congratulations. We have had seven out of our eight ISDA teams through to Finals Rounds! This Friday, we have Primary A and B, Year 7, Year 10 and Senior A debating. All debates are now back at Pymble and will be conducted via Zoom. Parents are welcome, but must scan in. Masks are optional for the Secondary debates, but are mandatory for Junior debates in the Junior School Library.

Archdale

The Archdale season commenced this week on Tuesday 11 May. Welcome to our new teams and coaches. Details, including the 2021 draw, have been sent and registrations should have been completed. The season commenced with face-to-face debates at Pymble. As Year 8 students were on camp, make-up debates will be organised for 8A and 8B teams and affected debaters and parents will be emailed alternate arrangements.

Timings for all Archdale are:

Training will occur prior to debates. There will be one to one-and-a-half hours prior to the debate and half an hour following the debate.

Farewell to Senior Debaters – High Tea

The farewell dinner planned for 11 June has been changed to Thursday 17 June and rather than a dinner, a High Tea at Avondale has been organised. Invitations will be sent to all debaters in Years 10, 11 and 12. It is hoped all Senior FED, Archdale and ISDA debaters will be able to join us at this fun event. We are pleased to also be inviting parents of Years 10, 11 and 12 debaters. After a year and a half of Zoom, we are looking forward to this special event.

PESA Public Speaking

Chloe Hoang performed at the Plain English Speaking competition at Normanhurst Boys’ High on Monday last week. She is now through to the Regional Finals at Lewisham on Tuesday 25 May. Congratulations Chloe. Chloe also performed at Abbotsleigh last night in the Rostrum Regionals. Well done, Chloe!

Mother’s Day Fundraiser

We hope all our mothers and grandmothers had a Happy Mother’s Day last Sunday and thank you to all who assisted with our Language Arts’ fundraiser. We sold many, many mugs and we hope you enjoy them!

Mock Trial

Well done to our Mock Trial team for a great first trial against Masada. Thank you to the team and coach, Mr Moynihan. The next Mock Trial is against Loreto Normanhurst on 25 May.

Mock Mediation

The next Mediation scenario has been released. The team is working hard to prepare their script.

Mrs Bronwyn Hubbard

Head of Language Arts

Music

YOU’RE WELCOME! – Moana is coming to Pymble in four Weeks

For one night only on 3 June at 6.30pm in the GMCPA, Year 8 Elective Music will present the Disney musical, Moana JR. The production is part of the Broadway Junior series and is 60 minutes in length.

Moana is the story of a young girl who is destined to become chief of her island, Montanui. With supplies of fish and coconuts running low on the island, she decides to “take on the world”. She sets sail to the far ends of the ocean to retrieve the heart of the sea. First, she must convince her parents that she is brave enough to do this and face the dangers of going beyond the island shelf into the ocean – much like a Pymble girl “changing the world”!

Tickets will be on sale through the GMCPA box office LINK. Please come along with your family and enjoy some wonderful music, performed by some very talented young ladies.

Term 1 Ensemble Concert Photos

Photos from our fabulous Term 1 Ensemble Concert Let’s Get Loud on Gloucester Lawn are available for viewing and purchase through Lightbox photography.

Access code to view the gallery, if required: music2021
We welcome you to view these photos and any of your ‘favourites’ by selecting the link below and using your email and profile password to access the gallery.

http://www.lightboxphotography.com.au/photocart/index.php?do=login

Mr Kurt Schweinberger

Head of Co-curricular Music

Extended Learning

Robotics

Pymble Pride 6510 competed in the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) South Pacific Regional on Saturday 8 May and Sunday 9 May. This was the first FRC in-person event in more than two years.

The girls have spent the past few months designing a robot to compete on a field the size of a basketball court that climbs and shoots projectiles. The design has complex sub-systems, which include the use of a vision system to aim and guide the robot towards its multiple targets. An impressive, technical intake collects foam balls from the field and delivers them to a spindle, which in turn feeds the balls into a shooter that fires the balls with remarkable speed. The robot’s climber is an elegant design with a hook that rises on the end of a periscope, and in turn lifts the 53-kilogram mass of the robot. Pymble girls’ robot design complexity was admired by competitors, however with complexity comes technical issues.

With a few errors on the competition day, the girls stayed positive and showed resilience with determination to make all parts of the robot work in harmony.

The girls left with a sense of achievement and received an award in recognition of their spirit and sportsmanship. Congratulations to Pymble Pride 6510 for their time, skills and attitude this season. We extend a thank you to our mentors Asaph Mross-Becker, Penelope Blake, Jessie Lum and Eric Zhu for their tireless efforts, and acknowledge our growing parent community who are helping this season with field construction, mentoring, volunteering and many technical elements.

Mr Dan Brown

Digital Learning Leader

Years 10 and 11 Drama performance

Pymble compression tights

Pymble-branded compression tights are now available at the uniform shop. These tights feature reflective logos for visibility, as well as offering UPF 50+ sun protection and are constructed from moisture-wicking fabric. 

Girls from Years 5 to 12 will be permitted to wear sports tights during practical PDHPE lessons and sports training. Tights may not be worn when representing the College unless specified by the relevant Head Coach. 

The tights cost $95 and are available in sizes XXS to XL. Click here to purchase. 

Sony Camp Bake Sale – Saturday 22 May

Are you able to help us with our Sony Camp fundraising event? We will be holding a bake sale on Saturday 22 May at the Ku-ring-gai Netball Courts in Turramurra. All funds raised will go towards the Pymble-Shore Sony Camp. Donations can include items such as whole cakes, cupcakes, slices, biscuits, toffees, crackles or any other specialties you might have!

Sony Camp 2021 will be the tenth annual Sony Foundation Children’s Holiday Camp hosted by Pymble and Shore Year 11 students, with the assistance of our community. Sony Camp provides much-needed respite for the parents and siblings of children with a disability by delivering a fun-filled four-day experience for the children. The Camp relies on the generous donations of our school community.

If you are able to assist, could you please complete this short google form to allow us to anticipate donations.

Many thanks for your support. Every donation will make a difference.

The Sony Camp Committee

Parent portal focus groups

We would like to invite you to attend an online focus group to help us further streamline communications here at Pymble and ensure that we are building the best MyPymble Parent Portal and App to meet the needs of your family.

If you could please spare five minutes to complete the attached survey and/or attend a 30-minute online session on the available dates:

Register you attendance and complete online survey here.

We greatly appreciate your time and commitment to ensuring we provide families with the most efficient Pymble platforms possible.

Community Engagement Team

Year 8 Elective Music performance

Careers, Courses, Competitions and Sponsorships

Careers

What’s going on at Pymble?

Small Presentations this week from UTS Co-op and Co-op UNSW  

UTS Co-op Presentation 

Alumni Kate Woolley (2018) is in her second year at UTS on their Co-op Scholarship program. 

See attached for information on this excellent program. 

UNSW Coop Program Presentation  

More information on this can be found here. 

During Directions I have been presenting the UAC application process. All slides will be available for students to review on the Virtual Classroom after next week. 

Upcoming Presentation at Pymble during Lunch in the Jobson Lecture Theatre 

• JCU via Zoom, 18 May
• Monash via Zoom, 20 May
• University College Melbourne, 25 May
• UNE in person, 3 June 
• Melbourne University in person, 7 June 
• Newman College, 10 June  

Open Days  

Sydney Design School | Info Session 

Friday 14 May, 1.00 pm 

Sydney Design School, St Leonards  

NIE | UCAT and Pathways into Medicine and Dentistry Information Session 

Sunday 16 May, 6.00pm – 8.30pm – online 

Endeavour College | Higher Education Demystified: Look Outside University for Your Degree 

Tuesday 18 May, 6.00pm – 6.30pm 

ADF | Engineering Careers Virtual Info Session
19 May 2021, 6.00pm to 7.00pm – online 

CSU | Charles Sturt Advantage Early Offer Program Info Session 

Tuesday 18 May, 6.45pm – 6.45pm – online 

iCanStudy | How to Reduce Your Notes by 80 per cent 

Saturday 22 May, 1.00pm – 3.00pm 

UOW College | Online Info Session
25 May 2021, 5.30pm to 6.30pm – online 

University of Sydney | Languages at Sydney: Go Global 2021 

Wednesday 26 May, 4.00pm – 4.30pm – online 

Sydney Design School | Open Day 

Saturday 29 May, 10.00am 

Sydney Design School, St Leonards 

ARTiculate – HSC Shakespeare Seminars 

Tuesday 1 June, 5.00pm – Thursday 3 June, 7.00pm 

ACPE | Open Day 

Saturday 5 June, 10.00am – 1.00pm 

CQUni | TAFE Information Session, Online 

Tuesday 8 June, 12.00pm – 1.00pm – online 

UOW College | Nursing Online Info Session
22 June 2021, 5.30pm to 6.30pm – online 

UOW | Year 12 Online Information Evening 

Tuesday 29 June, 6.00pm 

ACU | Exploring the ‘big questions’ 

Thursday 1 July, 10.00am – 11.00am – online 

ACU | Starting your business and IT degree: what you need to know 

Monday 5 July, 10.00am – 11.00am – online 

ACU | Five good reasons to study criminology 

Wednesday 7 July, 2.00pm – 3.00pm – online 

ACU | From Uni to the Workplace – How to Land a Job During and After Uni
8 July 2021, 6.00pm  – online 

ARTiculate – Health Economics to support understanding microeconomics 

Tuesday 20 July, 4.00pm – 4.45pm – online 

University of Newcastle | Open Days
Ourimbah: 31 July 2021, 10.00am to 3.00pm
Callaghan and City: 28 August 2021, 10.00am to 3.00pm

AIT | Open Day 

Saturday 14 August, 10.00am – 2.00pm 

SAE | Open Days
Sydney: 8 August 2021, 10.00am to 2.00pm
Byron Bay: 8 August 2021, 10.00am to 2.00pm

Workshops and Courses 

UNE | HSC Booster Day
31 May 2021, 9.00 am to 1 June 2021, 2.00 pm
University of New England, Armidale Campus

ACU | Experience ACU 

Blacktown Campus: Wednesday 30 June, 9.30am – 1.00pm 

North Sydney Campus: Tuesday 6 July, 9.30am – 1.00pm 

AFTT | Film High School Workshop

6 July 2021, 9.30 am to 5.00 pm
Academy of Film, Theatre & Television, Surry Hills

AFTT | Acting High School Workshop
7 July 2021, 9.30am to 5.00pm
Academy of Film, Theatre & Television, Surry Hills

AIE | Industry Experience Day

7 July 2021, 10.00am to 3.00pm

Scholarships 

John Bell Scholarship 

Value: Training and mentoring opportunity 

King & Amy O’Malley Trust Undergraduate Scholarship 

Value: $5,000 AUD 

Competitions 

Anzac Day Schools’ Awards 

What does commemoration look like in your community? – Entries close 30 June 2021

Front Page Schools Competition 

Entry is free and is open to all Australian schools and classes. Entries close Friday 27 August. 

Anthology Photographer of the Year 2021
Entries close 31 August.

2021 Hilarie Lindsay Young Writers Competition
Entries are open until Tuesday 31 August.

Future of Fashion Design Challenge
This challenge will run until the 14 June. There are heaps of great prizes to be won.

MobileMuster Film Competition
Entries are due Monday 13 September.

9 STEM jobs you can get with a VET qualification

University of Adelaide Year 11 Alternative Entry Pathway

Architecture for Kids School Online

Charles Sturt Advantage Early Offer Program – Opening Soon
Round one applications will be open from 3 May to 31 May.

Boroondara Literary Awards 

Entries close Friday 27 August. 

Early Offers – Not Just for High Achievers 

Early Entry Programs 

If you are doing well at school, there are lots of programs you can choose from for early entry. If you’re acing your subjects, you might like to try WSU’s True Reward Program, or SCU’s Star Early Offer Program. But as we mentioned, there are early entry programs that look at other criteria as well, not just your grades. 

Indigenous Students 

If you’re an Indigenous student, there are lots of programs out there to help you get an early offer. For example, Macquarie’s ATSIEP entry pathway lets you apply even if you don’t meet the required ATAR for your dream course. The University of Sydney’s Gadigal Program also has lower entry requirements, and other great perks like ongoing support throughout your studies. 

Leadership and Community Involvement 

Spent a lot of time volunteering while at school? Were you a school leader or sports captain? You can be rewarded for your extra efforts with an early offer to uni. Macquarie’s Leaders and Achievers scheme is perfect for people who have shown leadership qualities and commitment, or if you’ve been school captain or dux you might like to apply for the University of Sydney’s Future Leaders scheme. 

Notre Dame University Young Achievers Early Offer 2022 Program
Applications are now open to Notre Dame University’s Young Achievers Early Offer Program. This is your opportunity to secure a place at Notre Dame before you even sit your final exams. To apply, you need to gather your Year 11 and 12 results, any non-academic achievements, and answer a few easy questions about yourself. The Early Offer Program is open to students looking to study at both the Fremantle and Sydney campuses. Offers are released between July and September.
Applications are open until Wednesday 1 September.

Portfolio entry 

University of Canberra’s portfolio entry pathway. Or if you’re a budding musician, the University of Sydney’s Creative Arts Special Admission Scheme. 

Other Options 

There are heaps of other programs for all sorts of students. CSU’s Charles Sturt Advantage allows you to get an early offer based on your soft skills, while CQUni’s Prinicpal’s Recommendation Scheme lets you receive an offer based on a recommendation from your principal. Some programs let you complete short courses and base your entry on your results from those, such as La Trobe’s Prepare for La Trobe program. You could also apply using your Year 11 results for some programs, like Murdoch’s Year 12 Early Offer Program. 

iCanMed | Free Parent Webinar (Years 11 and 10): Navigating the Path to Medical Entry & Prep Guide for UCAT and Interviews
16 May 2021, 1.00pm to 3.00pm
Find out more: https://www.bigmarker.com/icanmed/Free-Parent-Webinar-Yr-11-10-Navigating-the-Path-to-Medical-Entry-Prep-Guide-for-UCAT-and-Interviews-45fefc2c05fb87c7570bb1f4

Mrs Katrina O’Kelly

Futures Advisor Years 5 -12 

Preparatory and Junior School Focus Groups

As you know, the College has made the decision to combine our Preparatory and Junior Schools into what will become known as our Junior School for girls in Kindergarten to Year 6. This will take effect from Term 1 2022.

In anticipation of this transition, we will be conducting small focus groups with current Preparatory and Junior School parents to get your feedback and to identify areas for enhancement. Our focus groups will be held in the Junior School Library at the following session times:

Each focus group will be small, however, we are happy to hold more groups after these dates if there is lots of interest from our parent community to be involved in this process.

Indigenous Round

From the College Uniform Shop

Full winter uniform is now to be worn until the end of Term 3. This includes the navy blazer, which is a compulsory garment to be worn to and from school in Terms 2 and 3.

Uniform Shop purchases can be made here: https://shop.pymblelc.nsw.edu.au/

Important Uniform Notes

• Girls in Kindergarten to Year 8 wear the winter tunic with a plain white pointed collar blouse and tie.
• Kindergarten to Year 6 girls have the choice of knee high black socks or 70 denier black opaque tights.
• All Secondary School girls wear 70 denier black opaque tights.
• Years 9 and 10 girls wear the winter skirt with a plain white pointed collar blouse and tie.
• Years 11 and 12 girls wear the skirt with the long sleeve tartan trim long sleeve blouse and tie.
• The navy blazer and winter navy hat MUST be worn to and from school each day.

Activate Family Zone Account

Parents and carers of Years 2 to 7 girls should have received an invitation to accept their Familyzone Premium Licence, which is paid for by the College. Thank you to the families who have already accepted this invitation. This important tool gives parents the ability to receive a weekly snapshot of their daughter’s internet usage, manage screen time and access to apps, set times for work and play, and receive real-time alerts and reports. If you have not received this invitation or would like some more information, please contact the College IT Department or Familyzone Customer Support.

Please make use of the College Cybersafety Hub for up-to-date app reviews and other helpful cyber safety information: https://pymblelc.cybersafetyhub.com.au/family-zone/getting-started.

Arnhem Land Immersion

Arnhem Land Immersion, Take Two: September 2021

I am delighted to announce that last year’s cancelled trip to Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory is back on the table in 2021! This cultural immersion experience for students in Years 8 to 10 is now scheduled to take place in September.

The Arnhem Land adventure sits firmly under our new strategic pillar ‘Diversity as the Path to Unity’, offering 30 students a unique opportunity to build their social intelligence by learning about and experiencing a culture that has existed for over 50,000 years. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the local people, students will be immersed in Indigenous homelands and community experiences including; language, bush foods and medicines, moieties, totems, dreaming stories, song lines and much more.  The immersion will include spending time in the town of Nhulunbuy (also known as Gove) and the Culture College, as well as an Indigenous Homeland, Nyinyikay, where students will experience the contrast between town and community life.  With the confidence that students who travel to Arnhem Land with open hearts and open minds will leave with an invaluable knowledge of First Nations people, their diversity, history and their land, I encourage you to discuss this unique experiential learning opportunity with your daughters.

If you would like to learn more, please click here to access a draft itinerary and expression of interest form. 

Mrs Julie Shaw

Deputy Principal

Cyber Safety Hub

Your family, your school and cyber safety

Our school recognises that children today are growing up in an increasingly online world and that it’s important that we do more to support and guide them to navigate this digital landscape.

Successfully developing healthy and responsible digital citizens requires a holistic approach, and that’s why our school’s cyber safety ecosystem allows us to work collaboratively with you to support your children’s digital development and provide the advice and support you need.

Click here to access the Pymble Cyber Safety Hub.

From the Director of Community Engagement

Pymble Business Directory 

The College is pleased to announce to current families the Pymble Business Directory. The Pymble Business Directory has been developed to build a sense of community, inclusion and support for our Pymble family. The directory will allow Pymble families to advertise your business or service to our Pymble family. Further information and listed businesses can be found here on the Pymble website. 

Preparatory and Junior School Grandparents Picnic

We are in for a fun week next week as we welcome hundreds of parents, carers, friends and Grandparents to the College in celebration of all they do for the girls.  

It is fantastic that so many Grandparents (or other significant ‘grandies’) have registered for the Preparatory and Junior School Grandparents Picnic being held next Tuesday from 12.30pm on Main Oval for Junior School and Preparatory Riverbed for the Preparatory School.  

There will be plenty of shade, and additional seating, plus our Facilities team will be available to assist anyone who needs help carrying chairs or other items to and from their car. Additional parking will be available around Main Oval, and for those who would like a coffee or tea our catering van will be parked at the GMCPA. Girls and guests are asked to bring their own lunch to enjoy. All students will attend the morning tea regardless of whether they have a parent or carer attending. 

To register, please click here. Registrations close this Friday at midnight.  

McGrath Foundation Mother’s Day Morning Tea

Another event we are pleased to be hosting next week is our McGrath Foundation Mother’s Day Morning Tea on Thursday 20 May from 12.30pm on Main Oval. The Community Engagement team is busy getting our pink outfits ready (and we hope you are too!) in preparation for a celebration of the Mothers and other significant females in the lives of our girls, while also raising much-needed funds for the McGrath Foundation. Girls are asked to bring their own morning tea as normal. A light morning tea will be available for guests. Additional parking will be located around Main Oval, and for those who would like a coffee or tea our catering van will be parked at the GMCPA. All students will attend the morning tea regardless of whether they have a Grandparent attending. 

 To register please click here. Registrations close this Sunday at midnight.  

Coming up we also have: 

• Junior School Parent Group Year 6 Parent Daughter Masquerade Dance: Saturday 29 May, 6.00pm to 9.00pm. Main Hall, Pymble Ladies’ College – please click here to register 
• PPA Trivia Night: Saturday 5 June at Hornsby RSL. Theme this year is the Letter P, so get a team together or come solo, everyone is welcome. Please Click here to register. 

ALUMNI

And, in Alumni news, we are excited to be welcoming back our Year 12 2020 leavers next Friday evening 21 May from 6.00pm. If you know any of our Class of 2020 who may not know about this event please pass on this invitation to them.

For more information on events please don’t hesitate to contact us at communityenagement@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au.  

Hope to see you in pink next week!

Mrs Kelly Mancey

Director – Community Engagement 

From the Pymble Parent Association

Last Tuesday, more than 70 Pymble dads came together to discuss how we can design a dads’ community at Pymble at an informal session at the Greengate Hotel.

With dads standing around flipcharts, Denis Brown and Dr Arne Rubinstein presented some thought-starting ideas for the group before breaking into groups to brainstorm ideas. Dr Arne shared compelling evidence of the opportunities dads can have on their daughters’ relationships, academic results and general wellbeing.

Following the ideas session, James Hunter, Chair of Council, shared a story of his connection with his daughter during her school life, and Dr Hadwen shared her story of the role of a father from a daughter’s perspective.  

We received hundreds of post-it notes with comments and ideas, which are now being distilled into plans to take forward. We have more than 20 dads who volunteered to progress the community. There was amazing energy from the dads present to increase involvement with the school and find ways to connect with our daughters and each other. 

For any dads who may have missed the evening and are keen to join the steering team, please contact Denis Brown at denis.brown303@gmail.com.

Mr Denis Brown

Pymble in Young

PPA Trivia Night

Year 6 Masquerade Dance

Grandparents picnic

Mother’s Day Morning Tea

105 Years of Pymble

To mark 105 years since the foundation of Pymble Ladies’ College, College Archivist Enid O’Carroll will share a piece of Pymble history in the Newsletter each week – 105 Objects in 105 Years.

1943 – sports records and uniforms 

Despite the perils of war school day to day life continued, with sport a welcome distraction.  Sports such as Basketball, Hockey and Tennis matched Pymble against Ravenswood, Hornsby High School, Abbotsleigh, Redlands and Wenona. Miss Gorst, Sports Mistress coached all games. Cricket was introduced into the inter sports arena in this year.

White knee length dress was worn for Tennis, although shorter less modest versions were appearing.  Cricketers wore a simple tunic with split sides, bloomers, belt and short sleeve white blouse. Hockey and netball a box pleat tunic.  Red tunics with white girdles (belts) were used for special events and matches. As the war years progressed with shortages of material, students wore blue tunics, and the red were loaned.  The red tunics, when introduced, came under criticism, described as, “too bright, unladylike and unbecoming.”

Results programs and team names were recorded in the Sports Records Books which span years 1924 to 1977. Pictured are A teams for Basketball, Cricket, Hockey and tennis.  A small section of the red tunic bodice is held in the Heritage Textile collection.

1944 – magazine cartoons and sketches 

The school magazine featured cartoons and sketches depicting school life.  Many of the themes today’s students may relate to.  No doubt a topic of discussion by the Magazine committee of the day on whether to include. It appears that the committee was granted liberal editorial powers.  First mention of a Magazine committee are in the c1933 commencing a long tradition lasting numerous decades.

The magazine is creatively illustrated with artistic contributions by students, some signed other anonymous. A sketch around the correct way to wear your hat with comparisons to the millinery fashion of the day. A cartoon around an avid student artist or the depiction of school life in tartan skirt clad stick figures drawn by Christine Smith (1947). Or the creative piece on the busy day of a Boarding student, from morning till bedtime.

A simple poem by J. Woodhouse, Class 5 is included in 1944 magazine it is titled The School Magazine.

The school magazine is a wonderful book,

And through its pages we all love to look.

When the new one comes out at the end of the year

I hope there is room for my rhyme to appear.

Pictured is the magazine committee for 1972 meeting under the Chapel. Also sketches and cartoons from the magazine of 1944, a full collection of magazines are held in the Heritage Archive collection.

Pymble Business Directory – Now Live

The College is pleased to announce to current families the Pymble Business Directory. The Pymble Business Directory will allow Pymble families to advertise your business or service to our Pymble family. We will also be offering this opportunity to our Alumni newsletter Jacaranda Post at the end of Term. 

Businesses who have registered can now be found on the Pymble website here. 

To list your business please complete the attached form.

With your support we hope the Pymble Business Directory will grow to become a valuable resource to our Pymble families. 

Illuminate

The articles will take readers into classrooms from Kindergarten in the Preparatory School to Year 12 in the Senior School, from Drama to Science to the Library. We invite you to enjoy this insight into the depth and diversity of innovation in our learning environments and our commitment to sustainable capacity building.

Keeping Up With Our Boarders

Parent Handbook 2021

Our Parent Handbook provides a quick and easy reference for families on all things Pymble. We encourage all our families to familiarise themselves with the handbook.

Should you have any questions or require further clarification on any of the information contained in the handbook, please contact communityengagement@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au.