From the Middle School
Welcome back to all of our Middle School families. I hope that you have had a great break and that the girls are ready for a fast and fun Term 4. I would like to extend a very warm welcome to the following new students and their families: Claudia Georgakis (Year 8), Siri Taubenschlag (Year 8), Caitlyn Cardno (Year 8) and Jasmine Kee (Year 7). I hope that you settle in quickly to our community.
I would also like to acknowledge new staff joining or changing positions on the team this term. Jade Cunningham who is taking over from Theresa Mimmo as Head of Year 8 (Lang, Marden, Thomas and Wylie), Felicity Dyet who will continue to support Year 7 students in Goodlet, Ingleholme, Marden, and Thomas, whilst Gina Ventura is on leave until Week 3; Karen Al- Kakhey who now has responsibility for 7 Hammond B (previously Jade Cunningham’s Compass Group) and Erin Foster who has responsibility for 7 Bennett A, whilst Ronell Catulong is on leave for Term 4.
On Monday night, we welcomed Year 7 2025 families to the College for the first time. I would like to congratulate and thank Amber Lewis, Ginnie Makan and Jessie Leung who presented their reflections on their Middle School journey so far. Also thank you to Harriet Gregory for stepping in and for opening the presentation, and Claudia Wyatt, Annie Luo, and Jamila Soo for your support with registration. You were outstanding ambassadors for Pymble and spoke with such authenticity and confidence. Congratulations and thank you also to Isabel Fan for her beautiful performance at the piano.
On Thursday our Year 7 Transition Leaders ran the second round of workshops designed for Year 6 Junior School students. Their commitment and invested interest in helping Year 6 to feel welcome and informed, was most praiseworthy.
Thank you to all the girls who have put themselves forward for 2025 Leadership positions. The team is looking forward to shortlisting applications and the interview process to follow.
At our Combined Assembly on Tuesday, Dr Hadwen spoke about expectations around:
- Appropriate use of language to promote positive connections across our community.
- The importance of not accessing laptops during recess and lunch in an attempt to foster healthy interpersonal communication and the need to not open laptops in the classroom until invited to do so by the teacher to minimise distraction and ensure best learning outcomes.
- AirPods/earbuds not being used to maximise socialisation in the playground and to ensure focus during lessons.
All of the initiatives outlined above reinforce our values and inclusive culture and encourage the girls to build respectful relationships across the day. Please chat with your daughters about this. We appreciate working in partnership with parents to ensure best outcomes for all.
Congratulations to Athena Wu (Year 7) who both competed in the Transpacific World Schools Debating Championship over the break. Together with her teammates from Kings and Sydney Grammar, she was awarded the U14 Grand Final Champion title. An amazing achievement.
Congratulations again to Athena and Jing Yuan Lui (Year 7) who participated in the Cambridge Schools ANZ Debating Competition, held from 12 to 13 October. Athena was ranked sixth best speaker, and Jing was ranked 16th. We are so proud of both of you and most impressed by your skills and commitment to public speaking.
From the Middle School Parent Groups
Welcome back to all our Year 7 families, hope you had a wonderful holiday break.
We hope you have a productive Term 4 and we look forward to catching up with you.
We are looking for anyone who would be interested in joining the SSPG next year as a Year 8 Coordinator. This is a small time commitment and very rewarding to organise a couple of events during the year within a larger team environment. Please contact us if you are interested.
Kind regards
Year 7 Co-ordinators
Stephanie, Leigh and Briar
Year 8 Co-ordinators
Jenny Pang (0422 716 808, cola0214@hotmail.com) and Ms Kai Jones (0431 725 948, kai_look@yahoo.com)
Jenny O’Donnell
Head of Middle School