From the Junior School
From the Head of Junior School
Lindfield Fun Run- Running Kilometres for Kindness: Pymble Pulse in action
A massive thank you to the 148 Junior School girls and families who ran in the Lindfield Fun Run on Sunday. We had the exciting accolade of being the biggest school team in the history of the fun run and also the highest fundraising school, raising over $3,800 for local community charities, KYDS and Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Women’s Shelter. You can still donate on behalf of the Junior School team here or enter the raffle to win some wonderful prizes here.
We now have a spectacular trophy in Hedgehog House as testament to our community spirit. Next year we hope to have over 200 runners in our Kilometres for Kindness team. If you are keen to be part of our Pymble running/walking team next year (2km, 5km or 10km) please put Sunday 4 May 2025 in your diary.
Cook2Care – food for The Dish
This week we also travelled out to The Dish to provide the first batch of cooked meals our Year 3 and 4 families have been busy preparing. Thank you all for your constant willingness to model community care to our girls. As care is one of our College values, I am very proud of the way we show our girls how we can provide care through simple acts of kindness. Please read the message from Jasmine Smith (Year 4) in this newsletter about the change she and her Year 3 and 4 peers are leading.
Important Australian research on the positive impact of prosocial behaviours and mental health
Last week the teachers enjoyed professional learning from Dr Bosco Rowland who has led longitudinal research in Australia over the last 20 years with 10,000 children and families. His research focuses on the impact of prosocial behaviours and their positive impact on mental health. Prosocial behaviours are acts that benefit others and they include volunteering and acts of kindness.
What resonated most with me was Dr Rowland’s findings that engaging in prosocial behaviours from a young age create empathy and a strong sense of self and reduce the likelihood of poor mental health in adolescents by as much as 28 per cent.
Dr Rowland articulated that prosocial behaviours such as care and kindness should be woven into the everyday to ensure our young people develop care for themselves (self acceptance), care for others (social conscience) and care for their world (environmental conscience). I feel proud that our Pymble girls are growing up with such a strong sense of our College values and such a kindness mindset. Together we are setting them up for positive mental health in their futures as they learn to live well and therefore hopefully feel well.
Service opportunity for Years 4 to 6 helping vulnerable babies this winter
The generosity of spirit in our Junior School community continues to dazzle as families were so quick to sign up for the volunteering opportunity for the Nappy Collective. Thank you to these girls who will be volunteering on the day:
| Priscilla | Fang | Year 4 |
| Chloe | Huang | Year 4 |
| Isabella | Li | Year 4 |
| Grace | Wang | Year 4 |
| Sophia | Wu | Year 4 |
| Sienna | Yeung | Year 4 |
| Aurora | Lin | Year 5 |
| Alicia | Miao | Year 5 |
| Emily | Pu | Year 5 |
| Elaine | Wang | Year 5 |
| Claire | Zhou | Year 5 |
| Safina | Burgess | Year 6 |
| Madison | Burns | Year 6 |
| Amélie | Rahme | Year 6 |
| Ashleigh | Yip | Year 6 |
There is also the opportunity for families to donate nappies for this collection. If you are interested indonating, please send nappies into Hedgehog House before Saturday 1 June, 2024. For more information about the Nappy Collective and their charity work, please click here.
A message from Mrs Lara Bird – Deputy Head of Junior School – Academic
Congratulations to our Year 5 and Year 6 da Vinci Teams
We are very Pymble proud of our Year 5 and Year 6 team who competed at the da Vinci Decathlon at Knox on Thursday 16 May.
Year 5 were awarded overall state champions, achieving first in English, first in Ideation and a third place in Cartography. Our wonderful Year 6 team were awarded second place in Ideation.
This competition brings together schools across the Sydney region and is designed to challenge students across ten disciplines; Engineering and Mathematics to Codebreaking, Art and Poetry, Science, English, Ideation, Creative producers, Cartography and Legacy.
The girls navigated through challenges designed to push the boundaries of their knowledge and problem solving abilities. They pooled their talents to complete tasks that demanded critical and creative thinking in a competitive and vibrant environment. A big thank you to Ms Lyn Wynne, Year 5 Co-ordinator and Mrs Jo Meacock, Year 6 Compass Teacher for mentoring and coaching our girls. Congratulations girls, we are very Pymble proud of you all.
Year 6 Team
Bianca Ng
Adeline Wu
Michelle Xing
Chloe Yi
Charlotte Wu
Sarah Tew
Lily Zhang
Emma Popli
Chelsea Wang (Reserve)
Year 5 State Champions
Naomi Shi
Loriah Zhang
Kate Bi
Sarah Lu
Alicia Miao
Ellie Zhang
Evie Cho
Sooin Lee
Amélie Berg (Reserve)
A message from Mr Stephen Robinson – Acting Deputy Head of Junior School – Operations
STEAM Festival – Student marketplace
Preparations for the STEAM Festival, to be held on the last day of Term 2 are well underway. This week I spoke to students in Years 3-6 and invited them to sign up to hold a STEAM themed market stall. Stalls can be operated individually, or collaboratively in groups up to five students. Please register your daughter’s market stall via this link.
STEAM Festival – Resource collection
We are currently seeking donations of:
- Newspapers
- Paper towel rolls (please no toilet paper rolls)
- Paper cups
- Paper straws
- Red and green cellophane
- Paper plates
Please drop donations to the boxes located inside Hedgehog House.
Super women in STEM
Wow – our Pymble mums are amazing! Thank you to all our mums who have provided data about their STEM careers. We are collating the data to share with our girls in the coming weeks. Please click here if you would like to provide information on your STEM career.
A message from Kurt Schweinberger – Head of Creative and Performing Arts K-6
Students and staff are busy preparing and rehearsing for the production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. As part of the performance opportunity, we are holding a competition to select a student inspired artwork that will be used as the design for the poster and program.
Artworks are to be completed on an A4 piece of paper and are due to the Junior School Office by Friday 31 May (Term 2 Week 5). All artworks must have the student’s name on the back of the piece of paper.
Students are encouraged to design a fun, colourful and creative design that captures the spirit of Charlie, Willy Wonka and all the interesting characters we meet throughout the story. As part of the design, students are encouraged to use a variety of materials to create something that is truly childlike.
As part of the design, students should not include the title of the play. We only need an image that can be put onto the poster.
We look forward to seeing what students create.
Wellbeing Weekly by Mrs Kate Giles – Head of Wellbeing K-6
How to help your daughter build a healthy body image
Body image is one of the biggest factors that determines whether a girl will like herself. In Raising Girls who like themselves – in a world that tells them they’re flawed, Kasey Edwards and Dr Christopher Scanlon have collated decades of research and data from leading experts in child development, psychology and wellbeing. Alarmingly, they found that over 55 per cent of Australian girls between the ages of 8 and 9 are dissatisfied with their body and by the ages of 10 and 11, 56 per cent are trying to control their weight.
Further, studies show that children who grow up feeling confident and accepting of themselves and their body are more likely to have higher self-esteem, take care of their physical and mental health and participate in school and hobbies. It is therefore crucial that we encourage a healthy body image in our girls for their overall wellbeing and self-esteem.
The Junior School is a Butterfly Body Bright school where we incorporate the resources and messaging from this program into the PDHPE curriculum and in Compass lessons. This research-based program aims to promote healthy attitudes and behaviours towards the body, eating and physical activity in children so they can thrive socially, emotionally and academically.
What can you do at home?
- Celebrate body diversity – highlight the beauty and strength in different body types, shapes, and sizes.
- Model positive behaviour – avoid negative self-talk about or criticising your own body in front of your daughter.
- Focus on health, not weight – emphasise the importance of being healthy and strong and encourage activities that promote fitness and enjoyment.
- Media literacy – help your daughter to critically analyse any media images or messages she sees and explain that photos and media representations are not always real.
- Encourage positive self-talk and self-compassion – encourage your daughter to show kindness to herself by the way she speaks to and about herself.
- Celebrate and focus upon attributes not related to appearance such as kindness, creativity and determination.
- Open communication – create an environment for your daughter to feel comfortable sharing her feelings and concerns without judgement.
- Encourage healthy eating habits with a balanced approach to eating without labelling foods as ‘good’ or ‘bad’.
- Limit negative influences – monitor and limit exposure to media and social media that promote unhealthy body standards.
- Become a Body Bright family by taking the 30-day challenge
If you would like to read more about how to support your daughter build a healthy body image, some more resources include:
https://www.butterflybodybright.org.au/resources/#print
Embrace your body by Taryn Brumfitt (picture book)
Raising girls who like themselves: in a world that tells them they’re flawed by Kasey Edwards & Dr Christopher Scanlon
Shaira Musico, Junior School Service Co-ordinator – A message from Jasmine Smith, 4M
On Monday, 15 Year 3 and 4 girls made a trip out to The Dish of St. John’s at Hornsby to deliver cooked food that they had made over the weekend with their families. Year 3 and 4 have been working hard with their families to cook delicious and healthy homemade meals to support local disadvantaged communities.
It has been incredibly heartwarming for me to see how our Junior School girls have been so supportive and have done a great job in cooking and donating meals. Visiting The Dish with my peers was a great experience as it allowed me to share why this is such an important cause to support. We met Leisa from the Dish who explained to us that twice a week she feeds 40 people and hands out food care packages each Monday to many families in our local area.
“This was an initiative that I came up with because I love to cook and I also think it is really important to care and support people during tough times they might have. This is how I came up with Cook2Care and I love he growing support from our Year 3 and 4 families who can help our community. I can’t wait to share with you about what’s next.”- Jasmine Smith (Year 4)
A message from Josephine Laretive – Junior School Teacher Librarian K-2
National Simultaneous Storytime
Yesterday, Kindergarten, Years 1, 2 and 3 participated in National Simultaneous Storytime. This special event is promoted by the Australian Library and Information Association and is held once a year. This year, the book Bowerbird Blues written and illustrated by Aura Parker was read to us by Dr Loch, Director – Pymble Institute. The story follows a beautiful bowerbird who travels far and wide on search for blue items and connection. The bowerbird finally discovers true happiness.
Our National Simultaneous Storytime assembly begun with a ballet recital directed by Miss McGeoch involving girls in Years 1, 2 and 3 to music from The Carnival of the Animals composed by Camille Saint-Saëns. A special thank you to Alice Ye and Sienna Cheng from Year 3 as the lead bowerbirds. Cass Lam and Emma Gonzalez from Year 2 shared fascinating facts about bowerbirds, including why they build the bower and collect blue objects.
Each class will be involved in a craft activity linked to the book, look out for bowerbirds holding blue strips in their beaks, bowerbird artworks and a bower with the bird and all that blue.
Thank you to all these ballerinas who performed:
| Mia Sun | Year 1 |
| Riyana Maity | Year 1 |
| Olivia Kang | Year 2 |
| Olivia Sun | Year 2 |
| Amelia Yip | Year 2 |
| Jackie Chen | Year 2 |
| Alice Ye | Year 3 |
| Bella Yang | Year 3 |
| Cathy Chen | Year 3 |
| Chloe Chen | Year 3 |
| Georgia Farthing | Year 3 |
| Isabelle Hu | Year 3 |
| Maggie Wang | Year 3 |
| Kaymi Madugalle Wijeratne | Year 3 |
| Sophie Woo | Year 3 |
| Yantong Nie | Year 3 |
| Sarayah Wijwsuriya | Year 3 |
Junior School Digital News
Term 2 2024 Key Dates – Week 4 and 5
Friday 24 May Year 2 Nature Play (girls to wear PE uniform and bring gumboots and raincoats)
Saturday 25 May IPSHA Saturday sport
Saturday 25 May Year 6 Parent Daughter Dance, 6.30pm to 9.00pm, Killara
Monday 27 May – Friday 31 May Reconciliation Week – Junior School Wellbeing week – no homework
Thursday 30 May Wellbeing Series: cultural understanding, 9.30am to 10.30am 3-6 Library
Friday 31 May Year 1 Nature Play (girls to wear PE uniform and bring gumboots and raincoats)
From the Junior School Parent Group (JSPG)
- PPA Trivia Night – Saturday 22 June
The PPA warmly invites you to our annual Trivia Night on Saturday 22 June 2024. Create your own table of ten or we’ll seat you with others from your year group to meet new people!
Fantastic prizes will be won and auctioned throughout the night and raffle tickets are available for advance purchase. All proceeds will go towards the Teacher and Staff Development Program and the Thank You Lunch on World Teachers’ Day.
Please note this is a parent only event and registration is essential. Tickets are available for purchase here. Please RSVP by Wednesday 12 June.
Other Upcoming Events
- Year 2 Dads’ Night – Friday 24 May
Calling all Year 2 Dads! Please come along to our night out at The Bavarian in Chatswood this Friday 24 May from 6pm. Please see the flyer for further details.
- Year 3 Play Date at the Park – Sunday 9 June
Come along for a fun afternoon at Bicentennial Park, West Pymble. Catch up with some old friends and meet some new ones too! The whole family is welcome to join.
We hope our Year 6 parents and daughters have a wonderful experience at their ‘Springtime in Paris’ themed school dance this Saturday night.
Please contact us with any questions at pymblelcjspg@gmail.com
Kate Brown
Head of Junior School