From the Principal
Our Cross Country Carnival on Tuesday was a momentous day in the life of the College. For the first time in Pymble’s history, we had the majority of Junior School students and all Secondary School students racing on the same day and proudly representing one of our eight spirit Houses. It was wonderful to see our girls having a go at the course, despite the heat, and seriously getting into the cheering competition. This is still something of a novelty for our younger Junior School girls, who had a ball screaming out House cheers at the top of their lungs. Congratulations to our runners, walkers and place-getters, and thank you to the parents who came along to add to the excitement of the day. The winning House will be announced soon, so stay tuned!
Building House spirit will continue to be one of our focus areas this year, and there’s a very good reason why. Research shows it plays an important part in promoting engagement, a sense of belonging and inclusion, and school pride – all essential components for optimal learning outcomes. School spirit is naturally a priority for our 2023 student leaders, so today it is my great pleasure to handover to our Head Prefects to share their vision and goals for the year ahead.
A message from your Head Prefects
“For those of you who haven’t met us, we are Alyssa Yee and Freya Carmody, your Head Prefects for 2023. We are really looking forward to working with our Prefect body, students and staff to make the year ahead as special and impactful as possible.
“The Prefect theme for this year is ‘2023, You’ve Got a Friend in Me’ and speaks to our intention to focus on friendship and see a growth in our school spirit and connections – we hope to see each and every student truly support each other and continue developing our strong community. We want school to be a place of friendship and enjoyment, as well as a place of learning.
“On a smaller scale, we have decided to choose one character from Toy Story to align with each term. It’s an upbeat and fun way of focusing on a key value that we aim to embody, alongside the College’s core values of Care, Courage, Integrity, Respect and Responsibility, to help guide us through the school term. We have chosen Slinky Dog for Term 1. Just like Slinky, we want students to approach new things, changes and challenges with an open mind, flexibility and the ability to adapt to change, whilst always remembering to take care of themselves and others.
“To carry our theme throughout the year, we have a range of exciting plans and opportunities within the Junior, Middle, Upper and Senior Schools that focus on building school-wide connections and school spirit.
“A big part of what we hope to achieve this year will be thanks to our Prefect body of 50+ Year 12s who are dedicated to bettering the various sectors of the school across learning, community, wellbeing, Boarding, sports, performing arts, House groups, and the Student Representative Council. Our 2023 Prefects are introduced in the video below which we hope you will enjoy.
“We are dedicated to making 2023 an unforgettable year for every student, and always remember – you’ve got a friend in us!” – Alyssa and Freya
Don’t miss A Chorus Line – coming soon to Pymble!
In other exciting news, tickets for A Chorus Line are now on sale and, trust me, you won’t want to miss it. You could say the show is a bit of a late entry to our 2023 program of events, artfully orchestrated by our Director of Co-curricular Performing Arts, Michael Griffiths, to celebrate our talented Performing Arts (PA) students in Years 9 to 12 – and gift our soon-to-be PA graduates with one last opportunity to shine in a Pymble production.
Our PA Prefects, Piper Markson and Claire Oslington are in their creative ‘happy place’ working as Assistant Directors to Mr Griffiths, which involves helping with vocal training and direction, and collaborating with the cast of 40 to make the show come together. And they really, really, really want you to come along to witness their final hurrah on stage.
“It is an incredible opportunity to be in a production in our final year of school. Working with our peers and teachers to bring the show to life is so rewarding and gives us a break from our studies! Knowing that this is our final production at Pymble makes it all the more special, and we know it will leave many lasting memories.
“The cast and crew is beyond incredible, and their hard work and dedication is evident in the quality of the show. It will make you laugh – it might make you cry – but most of all it will really showcase the amazing talent that we have at Pymble. We really love the show, and we hope you do to.” – Piper and Claire
The part musical, part dramatic production runs from Thursday 16 to Saturday 18 March and is suitable for ages 12 and older due to the sophisticated nature of content.
The link to ticket purchases will be shared with you shortly.
House spirit and spirited performances are just two of the many things that bring us joy at Pymble. We also derive a great deal of joy when our students perform brilliantly in the world of academics. I’m speaking about our recent NAPLAN results, of course, which have been acknowledged in the media this week as among those of the top performing schools in NSW. This follows on from our outstanding HSC results last December. We are justifiably proud of our Academic Intelligence strategic pillar and the work being done across the College to ensure our students develop excellent foundational skills in literacy and numeracy, along with their own unique gifts and talents for singing, dancing, playing, performing, competing and cheering their hearts out when it counts. Go team Pymble!
Dr Kate Hadwen, Principal