From the Acting Principal
Our Upper School family has a brand-new home in the Lower Colonnade. It really is stunning, comprising a vast common area for students with a kitchen and comfy furniture for gathering and relaxing; a fresh new locker room; and a light and bright administration area with offices for staff and meeting rooms for families. This is the second sub-school ‘reveal’ since master planning began in earnest, the first being ‘Hedgehog House’ in the Junior School. It is exciting to see the College evolve so seemingly effortlessly, although of course there is a great deal of unseen work behind the scenes to make these enhancements to our school possible.
As you will be aware, the College has recently formalised our values of Care, Courage, Integrity, Respect and Responsibility as ‘Values Statements’ to guide student behaviour and provide the framework for all interactions among our community. A natural extension of this work involves establishing a culture of gratitude for each other as individuals, for the opportunities and resources Pymble provides, and for the staff who are 100 per cent committed to delivering the best possible educational experience for your daughters.
Gratitude is important for several reasons. It helps us focus on the positive aspects of our lives, which improves our emotional wellbeing. Gratitude can also help build and maintain relationships with others, resulting in a sense of hope, greater life satisfaction, and more proactive behaviours within our community.
Prior to students and staff ‘moving in’ to the Lower Colonnade we held a small gratitude and induction ceremony to acknowledge all the people who played a role in delivering this beautiful new facility. We are so proud of all the girls in attendance, including Isis Li (Year 9) and Katherine Pan and Sehjal Baveja (Year 10) who spoke about their appreciation for their new space and those who helped make it happen.
The team was delighted to receive the following letter from the Managing Director of the building team who, along with the architects and Master Plan team, were invited to the ceremony to hand over the space to our Upper School girls.
“I wanted to personally express my heartfelt gratitude for the remarkable appreciation ceremony you organised at Pymble Ladies’ College yesterday. It was a truly humbling experience…The ceremony was a testament to your commitment to recognising and celebrating the achievements and contributions of everyone involved. It was beautifully executed, with thoughtful planning that made the event both engaging and memorable. The inspiring speeches delivered by the students were particularly fantastic to listen to. Thank you once again for your hard work and for creating an occasion that allowed us all to come together and appreciate each other’s efforts.”
In assembly this week, we continued the theme of acknowledging staff whose work may not be highly visible but who all contribute to making Pymble the school we know and love today. Thank you to our Head Prefects, Bella Walker and Julie Sheng for singling out many of our professional services staff and teams to express our gratitude for the work they do to keep our campus beautifully maintained, and our special events, daily operations and operational processes running smoothly.
There was one more heartwarming story that I shared with the girls, and which I am so proud to share with you here, too.
At the recent National Cross Country Championships in Tasmania, Eliza Lawton (Year 8) performed at the top of her game, placing first in both the Individual event and in the NSW Team event along with three runners from other schools. Another Pymble parent – not Eliza’s – wrote to our Pymble Elite Sportswomen’s Co-ordinator, Mrs Skye Halliday, to commend Eliza for an even more impressive display of integrity, care and respect for her teammates.
“…let me tell you about the thing that made me most proud of our girl. They hand out team medals too…These have always gone to the top six team members but they decided at the last minute to only hand out medals to the top three. The fourth girl waited around for an hour after the race only to find this out – she was devastated. When Lizey got her team medal, she went straight up to this girl and gave it to her. She said, you deserve this as much as me. She had all the mums crying.”
These are the stories from within our community that are as important to us as the wins, the places, the top marks, improved marks, and all the other fantastic feats our incredible girls routinely achieve. These are the stories that define our community, and I look forward to hearing and sharing many more of them over the weeks, terms and years ahead.
Windows into Learning
The topic of gratitude leads us beautifully to our incredible academic staff and the care they take to make lessons engaging, effective and memorable. Please enjoy these windows into learning around the College in Term 3.
Andiamo in Italia! (Let’s go to Italy!)
Our young K-2 learners constantly show remarkable courage as they dive into learning Italian. They proudly sing the welcome song at the beginning of each lesson, happily sharing it with other members of our school community. The girls approach each lesson with curiosity and a willingness to ‘have a go’. Their courage to speak up and share their Italian, even when it feels unfamiliar, is a testament to their growing confidence and eagerness to learn new things. Whether it’s confidently trying out new words, practicing sentences aloud or embracing the challenge of what the next lesson brings, their bravery and enthusiasm is inspiring.
One highlight (among many) was Year 1 girls creating playful sentences about what people eat on certain days of the week. Many girls chose Signora Bellè as their subject, sharing weird and wonderful things she ate each day. Much to everyone’s amusement, according to the girls, Signora Bellè ate 100 black-coloured cheeses and even some caterpillars; however, she quite liked the gelato (all 100 of them!).
Signora Michelle Bellè
K-2 Italian teacher
3D printing in Extension Mathematics
In Extension 2 Mathematics, students are given free rein to model and customise any 3D object they like. This is part of the ‘volumes of revolution unit’ covered by Extension 1 and 2 Maths where students learn methods of cross-section slicing combined with calculus that ultimately provide them the skills to calculate the volume of complex 3D objects such as those they have printed. Given the radius of the circular cross section and its distance from the centre axis, any Extension Mathematics student could tell you exactly how much filament you should order for your giant doughnut!
Ms Patricia Lau
Mathematics teacher
Welcome back, Dr Hadwen – we’ve missed you!
Hooray, Dr Hadwen returns to us in Week 8 after her well-deserved four-week sabbatical! I am incredibly grateful to her for giving me this opportunity to lead the school while she has been away and have gained a huge appreciation for the level of commitment, patience and multi-tasking required to be Principal of a school like Pymble. Thank you to all our staff and families who have supported me during this time, and especially our girls, for being their wonderfully enthusiastic selves and for giving me strength and lots of laughs along the way. It has been a joy.
