From the Junior School
From the Head of Junior School
Our school has been full of magic over the last two weeks with our spectacular Year 1 and 2 Showcase performances last Friday and then Book Week. The performances of Porridge were so memorable and a testament to the dedication of our Performing Arts teachers and the Year 1 and 2 teaching teams. I was so proud of all the girls and the way they leant into the courage it takes to stand up on stage and perform, the responsibility our Year 2s showed in learning their character’s lines and the care all girls showed in supporting one another. Thank you to all our parents who helped with costumes, hair and makeup to bring this outstanding performance to life for our girls. Our school is definitely ‘a happy ever after kind of place!’
Reading is Magic! What a wonderful start to the week we had with our spectacular celebration of Book Week. So many fabulous literary characters paraded through our Junior School as we shared our passion for books. These events are so special and it’s always wonderful to see how much creativity the girls (and staff) invest in planning their costumes. Special shout out to the creativity of Emily Pu (Year 5) came dressed as our very magical librarian, Mrs Itzcovitz!
I also want to thank and commend the leadership of our four library leaders for 2024 – Imogen Martin, Charlotte Xue, Emma Campbell and Isabelle Yeh – who led the book week panel and quiz with such energy and confidence.
I am particularly proud to announce that this year we have had our best results in terms of girls (and staff) completing our Pymble reading challenge with every student in Years 3, 4 and 6 completing the challenge and 97 per cent of Year 5 completing it, too. These are phenomenal results! Thank you for supporting your daughter as a reader.
Kindergarten and Year 1 enjoyed a wonderful book tour designed by Mrs Josephine Laretive through Valley Playground. The girls immersed themselves in the picture book One Little Duck which is a twist to the nursery rhyme ‘Five Little Ducks’, as instead, mother duck calls home various farmyard animals ‘over the hills and into the fields where flowers sway’. Mother duck is the epitome of a generous host as she expands her dinner table, inviting others to come join her for dinner each night as the book explores themes of friendship, family, kindness, belonging and adventure.
eSports – We’re headed to the State Championships!
Huge congratulations to Isabelle Yeh (Year 6) who this week won the NSW eSports Fuse Cup this week following a nail biting final against a boy from SCEGGS Redlands! Competing against students from Year 5 to Year 8, Isabelle remained calm and composed and represented our College values in all her heats resulting in her being a very a popular winner of the competition. Isabelle has now qualified for Nationals which are held later this year on the Gold Coast.
Thank you to Mr Turnbull and Mrs Roma who supported the girls during this hotly contested competition. Congratulations to all these girls who represented our Junior School at this competition: Sasha Fairclough, Salma Hassan, Afra Sarchami, Zara Ware, Erin Wei, Isabelle Yeh and Chloe Zhang.
Snowsports – We’re headed to Nationals!
Our Junior School girls have won the primary school Snowsports Championship for the third year running. What a fantastic achievement!
Camp courage – We’re off to our Outdoor Education Programs!
Next week, I am lucky enough to be heading out on the Outdoor Education Program with Year 4 to Webbs Creek. Whilst for some girls, Outdoor Education is a natural highlight, for others it is a time of great courage as they face their fears about being away from home, sleeping in a tent, changing routines and having a go at activities they have never tried before. I am deeply proud of our girls and the way they give things a go, lean into their strength in the face of fears and support one another.
Living our Values Everyday
Our Junior School girls constantly fill my heart with pride and joy. This week, I heard that one of our elite divers, Zara Ware was recognised with a sportsmanship award whilst competing in Adelaide for the way she helped out a fellow diver from a different state whom she didn’t know. This is a fabulous example of kindness to others, respect and care.
Also, this week some of our amazing girls helped promote our Junior School at a large Open Morning. Some of our Kindergarten girls (Juliette Benson, Alyssa Zhang and Mimi Fei ), Year 3 students (Sarayah Wijesuriya, Violet Li and Kaymi Madugalle Wijeratne ), Year 5 students (Julie Kang, Isabel Khattar, Zara Ware and Evie Haslam) and Year 6 students (Adeline Wu, Charlotte Wu and Lily Zhang) showed their courage and responsibility as they spoke to the large adult audience, welcomed them to our school and gave an insight into aspects of learning at Pymble.
An amazing group of Year 6 students then volunteered their time to show these prospective families around the Junior School. These tours are unscripted, and the girls showed great integrity, responsibility, respect and courage in the way they lead them with such poise and confidence. Thank you to these girls who led tours:
Emily Deutscher, Olivia Dinnie, Gabrielle Hanna, Audrey Li, Yumi Liang, Lucinda Bryant, Emma Popli, Sophie Chiang, Chloe Morrison, Jaanvi Sawhney, Eleanor Zalewski, Callie Cao, Flossie Murphy, Sueann Deng, Amy Peng, Chloe Pedersen, Meera Gohulan, Jannette Long, Arya Shanmugaratnam, Zara Younger, Victoria Yu, Angela Chiang, Carolyn Dou, Olivia Guo, Audrey Lee, Tanvi Raniga, Charlotte Ma, Trisha Viswanathan, Safina Burgess, Emma Campbell, Izabella Prokop, Stephanie Port, Sophia Mohseni, Anna Xu, Zoe Liang, Leia Ripley and Alice Jiang.
A message from Mr Robinson – Deputy Head of Junior School – Operations
An important notice about OSHC Registration
Commencing in Term 4, it will be a requirement that all Junior School students be registered for OSHC (through the Kidsoft Website) in order to enrol in new or additional co-curricular offerings. This includes swimming and tennis. If your daughter is not registered with OSHC she will not be able to be enrolled in any co-curricular activities from Term 4, 2024.
I strongly encourage all families to register with OSHC now, in order to access both the Term 4 activities, but also 2025 offerings when they go live on 20 November 2024.
A message from Lara Bird, Deputy Head of Junior School – Academics
Speech and Drama
Congratulations to all the talented performers who competed in the Ryde Eisteddfod. Thank you to Mrs Victoria Clancy, Speech and Drama Instructor for preparing the girls for the competition. We are Pymble proud of you all!
Poetry Performance events
Dakota Gu Year 2 1st Place
Selena Rezaei Year 3 1st Place
Anya Jolapara Year 4 1st Place
Hailey Zhang Year 4 2nd Place
Sarayah Wijesuriya Year3 2nd Place
Aarthi Rao Year 4 3rd Place
Viola Li Year 2 Highly Commended
Kelly Ni Year 2 Highly Commended
Olivia Zheng Year 2 Highly Commended
Harley Bertrand Year 3 Highly Commended
Kaymi Madugalle Wijeratne Year 3 Highly Commended
Ariel Wang Year 3 Highly Commended
Chloe Zhang Year 4 Highly Commended
Rachel Zhang Year 4 Highly Commended
Character monologue in Costume
Sarayah Wijesuriya Year 3 Highly Commended
Talented Performers
Year 2: Isabel Gao, Molly Liu, and Grace Yu
Year 3: Evelyn Chiu, Elaine Fu, Mischa Jadav, Ishita Singh and Melissa Wang
Year 4: Priscilla Fang, Claire Que, Rose Wang and Sophia Wu
Wellbeing Weekly – Kate Giles, Head of Wellbeing K-6
Thank you to those parents who attended the Parent Wellbeing Series session today. It was a wonderful opportunity to discuss how to support and grow a healthy self-confidence and body image in our girls. For those who were unable to attend this session, some key take aways from the session included:
- Children who grow up feeling confident and accepting themselves and their bodies are more likely to have healthy self-esteem, take care of their physical and mental health and also to participate more in school and hobbies.
- Body dissatisfaction in young people is associated with mental health concerns such as depression and anxiety, as well as risky behaviour.
- How you can help your daughter:
- Model positive behaviour- avoid negative self-talk about yourself and your body
- Focus on health and not weight- emphasise the importance of being healthy and strong and encourage activities that promote fitness and enjoyment
- Help your daughter critically analyse media images and explain that photos and media representations are not always real
- Celebrate and focus on your daughter’s attributes and efforts, such as kindness, creativity and determination
- Limit negative influences by monitoring and limiting exposure to social media
If you are interested in learning more, some useful additional resources include:
“Raising girls who like themselves: in a world that tells them they’re flawed” by Kasey Edwards and Dr Christopher Scanlon
“Embrace kids- how you can help your kids to love and celebrate their bodies” by Taryn Brumfitt and Dr Zali Yager
A message from the Intercultural Committee
The Junior School Intercultural Committee (ICC) is proud to announce our drawing competition for the 2025 Cultural Celebrations Calendar!
We are looking for entries for the following celebrations – Hannukah, Ramadan, Yoyo Day, Bastille Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, The Day of the Dead, World Indigenous Day, Diwali and Christmas.
12 winning entries will be chosen to be printed for each month of our Cultural Celebrations 2025 calendar.
Drawings can be submitted at Hedgehog House and each entry will earn you 10 House points. You can submit as many drawings as you want! The competition closes on Friday, 6 September.
Junior School Digital News
From the Junior School Parent Group (JSPG)
- Father’s Day Breakfast – Friday 6 September
You are warmly invited to a BBQ breakfast to celebrate Father’s Day on Friday 6 September from 7am – 8.15am at Hedgehog House. This event is open to all Pymble students and their fathers or father figures.
Please purchase parent and student tickets here if you would like to attend.
All proceeds will be donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.
- Garden Party – Saturday 21 September
Junior School Poster Competition
With just under one month to go until Pymble’s biggest event of the year, Junior School students are encouraged to enter the Garden Party Poster Competition.
First prize: 50 house points
Highly commended: 25 house points
All submitted entries will receive 5 house points
Entries are to be submitted to the Junior School Office by Friday 23 August 2024. All posters entered will be displayed at Garden Party 2024. Prizes and certificates will be presented at Assembly in the week before Garden Party. Multiple entries are welcome.
Click here to download a copy of the poster which you can print at home. Students / parents can also pick up copies at Junior School reception.
Cake Stall
The stall caters to a broad range of customers from those wanting a delicious on-the-go snack to keep up their energy levels, to those looking to take home a cake, tart or pie for a special occasion. All baked goods are welcome!
You can help in two ways by:
- Baking delicious cakes, biscuits, slices and treats for sale.
- Assisting on the stall during the day.
The cakes and baked goods can be dropped off at the stall in the foyer of the Gillian Moore Centre for Performing Arts (GMCPA) on the day of the Garden Party from 7.30am.
We also need volunteers to work on the stall and sell the delicious treats throughout the day. If you can help at the stall for an hour, please register here.
There are also competitions for cake decorating and cake box decorating, with generous prizes on offer. More information to come soon.
Thank you, as always, for your support.
4L Playdate – Sunday 25 August
4L Families, let’s have some fun at St Ives Showground Playground from 2.00pm to 4.00pm on Sunday 25 August.
Please contact us with any questions at pymblelcjspg@gmail.com
Term 3 2024 Key Dates – Weeks 5 and 6
Friday 23 August igsa Track and Field Championships
Friday 23 August Year 4 Loom bands with Secondary
Saturday 24 August IPSHA Saturday Sport
Monday 26 August Year 4 OEP Group 1 Webbs Creek
Monday 26 August ICAS Mathematics 6.45am Year 5 classroom
Tuesday 27 August Year 4 OEP Group 1 Webbs Creek
Tuesday 27 August Write a Book in a Day
Tuesday 27 August Year 1 Emmy and Friends
Wednesday 28 August Languages Day
Wednesday 28 August Years 3 to 6 IPSHA Athletics Carnival
Wednesday 28 August Year 6 Author Maryam Master 1.45pm to 2.45pm
Wednesday 28 August Year 4 OEP Group 1 return from Webbs Creek
Wednesday 28 August Year 4 OEP Group 2 Webbs Creek
Thursday 29 August Year 4 OEP Group 2 Webbs Creek
Thursday 29 August Year 5 Spring into Leadership day
Thursday 29 August ICAS Mathematics Catch up Session 6.45am Year 5 classroom
Friday 29 August Year 4 OEP Group 2 return from Webbs Creek
Saturday 30 August IPSHA Saturday Sport
Sunday 1 September Father’s Day
Kate Brown
Head of Junior School