From the Principal
Here we are at the end of Week 2 already and, of course, that also means we are two weeks deep into HSC exams. Our Year 12 girls continue to show up for each paper in a calm, focused and quietly confident manner thanks to all their preparation and hard work – not just in the lead-up to this time but throughout all their years at Pymble. A huge thank you to all the teachers and staff from Junior School through to Secondary who have helped our students arrive at this milestone. Extra special thanks to our Senior School team, headed up by the infinitely calm, focused and quietly confident Mrs Nikki Wyse, and our Director of Studies, Mrs Natasha Stanfield, who have all but taken up residence in the Kate Mason Building to support the girls up until the very last paper on Friday 8 November.
To our Year 12 parents and carers, congratulations! You’re so close to having a newly minted Pymble graduate in your family who has finished her exams. She (and we!) couldn’t have done this without your ongoing support.
This week, I am feeling especially grateful to all our parents across the College, having acknowledged your collective efforts at our Pymble Parent Association (PPA) Annual General Meeting on Tuesday night, followed by a Thank You Cocktail Party to celebrate the invaluable role our parent volunteers play in our community.
To date, the PPA and Parent Support Groups have planned, hosted and assisted at 33 College events this year, ranging from Icebreaker to the PPA Trivia Night, morning teas, afternoon teas, campouts and wellbeing days at Vision Valley, fundraisers and carnivals of all kinds, and the jewel in our crown, Garden Party. We also have an army of helpers who assist students, teachers and coaches in classrooms, during exams, and at countless sporting events and performances.
It was a pleasure to honour our parent volunteers on Tuesday – and we were very grateful to be spoilt in return today with lunch gifted to all staff, thanks once again to the PPA. We love our annual Staff Appreciation Day event, which coincides with World Teachers’ Day and includes all academic and professional services staff at Pymble. Thank you for making our staff feel seen and valued for the work they do, from the highly visible roles to those that beaver away behind the scenes.
A special shout-out to our 2024 PPA Committee members for a job well done, and a warm welcome to our incoming 2025 team, many of whom are already familiar faces.
The full list of PPA, Secondary School Parent Group and Junior School Parent Group committee members for 2025 will be posted following the Junior School AGM next week.
| 2024 PPA Committee | 2025 PPA Committee |
| President: Ms Sunny Hres | President: Mrs Shiva Rich |
| Vice President: Mrs Julie Xie | Vice President: Ms Carol Bai |
| Treasurer: Mr Kenneth Kok | Treasurer: Mr Kenneth Kok |
| Secretary: Mrs Shiva Rich | Secretary: Ms Kai Jones |
| Storeroom Co-ordinator: Mrs Christel Vigne | Storeroom Co-ordinator: Mrs Christel Vigne, Ms Elizabeth Toh |
We are choosing a new and courageous path to make the world a better place for our girls
There’s another reason why I am feeling grateful for our parent community. Firstly, your response to our new technology rules announced last week has been uplifting. Every decision at Pymble is made with your daughter’s learning and wellbeing lodged firmly in the centre of our hearts, and with input from the girls themselves. We have been thrilled to see girls untethered from their devices and earphones during breaks and following the new laptop rules in class to encourage greater focus and engagement. Most of our girls have taken to the new guidelines happily and staff have noted the positive energy in the air as they make their way around the campus.
We have also received overwhelmingly positive feedback from parents and carers of students in Years 4 to 7 (2025) in relation to our Pymble Wise Phone initiative. In case you missed it, the College is gifting each student in Years 4 to 8 in 2025 with a phone that will allow them to connect with family and friends in safe and age-appropriate ways, without the added distraction and risks of social media.
You can read more about the Pymble Wise Phone initiative here.
Parents have told us they are 100 per cent behind us – some have almost been in tears of relief to have the means and support to protect their daughters from the risks of smartphones and social media.
We are breaking new ground here, and it’s really exciting. As a united community, we have a choice. We could continue to go with the flow of society at large, allow our young people access to smartphones and social media before they are old enough to use them responsibly, and then deal with any consequences later. Or we can be brave enough to create a new normal for our girls and their technology – one that prioritises their health, friendships, connections and childhood.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for choosing the latter. We know it will be a bumpy road ahead, and we won’t always get everything right. We also know we are travelling in the right direction because we have your daughter’s wellbeing as our guide.
Windows into Learning
They are back! It’s lovely when these submissions from our teachers coincidentally form a loose theme. This week, you are in for a visual treat with the snapshots of learning in our Junior School and Secondary School.
Visual Literacy in English
Year 5 students have been exploring the power of images as part of our Visual Literacy unit. In this lesson, we analysed and evaluated four advertisements. Students were asked to record which advertisement they found most effective and why, as well as which one they thought was the least effective. Their responses were both insightful and entertaining, with many students driven by their appetites and selecting the food options. Others chose the LEGO advertisement for its creativity and the inspiring message they felt it conveyed.
We had a lively and passionate discussion about the motivating factors behind their choices and the impact of additional influences on their decision making. At the end of the lesson, we reflected on what they had learnt, and many students expressed a new awareness of just how strategic and manipulative advertisements can be. They also recognised that words aren’t always necessary to understand a message.
Ms Lyn Wynne
Junior School Teacher and Year 5 Co-ordinator
Illuminating creativity in Visual Arts
Our Visual Arts Exhibition at Garden Party last term was an awe-inspiring showcase held for the first time in our College Chapel. The exhibition illuminated the dedication and engagement of Visual Arts and Photomedia students from Years 7 to 10 and included ceramic sculptures, drawings, paintings, photomedia and printmaking. It also featured bespoke artisan prints created by our Year 8 Art and Enterprise students.
The exhibition was the culmination of a year’s worth of hard work, material refinement, and conceptual engagement. Students grounded their creations in issues such as the role of the artist in society, the importance of the natural environment, and the intersection of art, science and critical thinking. These thematic explorations are central to the NSW Visual Arts curriculum, which emphasises the development of critical awareness and the ability to express complex ideas through art.
Students also engaged with meta-learning, a strategy that involves self-reflection on their cognitive processes and creative decisions. By reflecting on their creative choices, students develop a deeper understanding of their artistic processes and the conceptual underpinnings of their work, thereby enhancing both their technical skills and their ability to think critically and creatively.
Mrs Brigiat Maltese
Head of Learning Area – Visual Arts
