From the Junior School

From the Head of Junior School

Last week, each of our girls had the exciting experience of seeing what her learning will be like in 2025. We were so proud of the courage and Pymble spirit our girls demonstrated as they moved into their new grade, met new teachers and began to make new friends. Many girls expressed apprehension at the start of the day but by the end of the day, they left saying it had been a brilliant day!

Junior School Parent Group (JSPG)

This week, we formally farewelled and thanked our outgoing JSPG leaders. They have been a fabulous team who have worked tirelessly to run so many successful events, creating memorable memories for our girls to treasure. I am deeply grateful to them all and the time and energy they have gifted to our school community over the last couple of years.

2024 JSPG Committee: Leah Deutscher, Percy Yang, Shweta Deshpande, Leisa Whitehead, Jessica Du, Emma de Bilde, Colleen and Hanson Han, Amiee Birch, Leyya Li and Mimi Hu

I am excited to be working with the incoming JSPG team and I look forward to the many new memories we can create for our girls and parents in the coming year. Thank you for being courageous in stepping forward to help foster our community spirit and community of kindness where all feel welcomed and included.

2025 JSPG Committee: Deeviya Jolapara, Prad and Tara Navaratnam, Selina Kadeer, Jay Jay Xu, Sam Birch, Owen Brandner, Sheryl Wang Shi, Lalenya Waterhouse, Percy Yang and Betty Zhu

Kindness Champion

This week, I want to celebrate the courage and kindness of Elliyeen Azhar (Year 1) who recently donated her hair to help children battling cancer. We are so proud of Elli and her care, courage and selflessness.

Grandparents’ Day

Tomorrow, we welcome our grandparents to school for lunch and then a musical performance by all our Junior School girls. We know that whilst some girls are lucky enough to grow up living with or near their grandparents, there are others who have grandparents living far away or whom they cannot see, and we take care to ensure all girls have a lovely lunchtime on that day so no one feels left out. In our experience, many grandparents who are able to come then ‘adopt’ multiple children for the day who are friends with their grandchild which again shows the deep kindness that flows through our community.

A message from Mr Robinson – Deputy Head of Junior School – Operations

OSHC Registrations

It is with thanks to parents and carers that we have now surpassed 90 per cent of students (Kindergarten to Year 5) being registered with OSHC. This important step not only provides a backup plan for when pickup may not go as planned but will allow students to be eligible to select co-curricular activities for 2025 (including tennis, co-curricular music and swimming).

Separate instructions will be shared via MyPymble notices that demonstrate where to find your OSHC registration number within Kidsoft, as this number will be a mandatory field when registering for 2025 co-curricular activities on 20 November 2024.

Lunch and Recess orders

A reminder for girls to pack a drink bottle for recess and lunch each day. Parents can order recess and lunch online through Flexischools. The cut off time for ordering on the day is 8.00am.

If your daughter has an allergy or dietary alert, please select Allergy Junior Recess or Allergy Junior Lunch so this can be highlighted for the kitchen.

If your daughter has no allergy/dietary alert please select Junior Recess or Junior Lunch.

Wellbeing Weekly – A message from Mrs Kate Giles – Head of Wellbeing K-6

Thank you to the parents who have attended the parent Wellbeing Series this year. The final session for 2024 that was held today focused on supporting your daughter manage worries, change and uncertainty. For those who were unable to attend, some of the key messages from the session included:

It is a natural part of childhood to have some worries and fears.
These worries and fears can be triggered by everyday school events.
Supporting children to face situations that cause them worry or fear helps build resilience and self-confidence.
Worries and fears can become an anxiety diagnosis when they do not go away, are intense or overwhelming and they start to significantly impact the child’s everyday life (for example, they avoid places or people).
About seven per cent of children aged between eight and 12 receive an anxiety diagnosis.
Things you can do to support your child with their worries or fears include:
- Remaining calm (checking your own feelings)
- Helping your daughter share her emotions and express how she is feeling
- Give her time to share – listen, empathise and validate her feelings
- Gently encourage and support your daughter to face the situations she is anxious about
- Praise her for facing situations that cause her worry and fear
- Avoid criticising your daughter for being afraid or worried
- Know when to step in or step back- when does she need extra help with her emotions?
Some useful resources include:
- https://brave4you.psy.uq.edu.au/“The Bonsai Child” and “The Bonsai Student” by Dr Judith Locke https://raisingchildren.net.au/toddlers/health-daily-care/mental-health/anxiety-in-children
- https://www.rch.org.au/kidsinfo/anxiety-primary-aged/

We will be holding further parent Wellbeing Series sessions in 2025. If you have any feedback from the sessions or there are any particular areas that you would like to learn more about in sessions next year, please email me at kgiles@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au

A message from Mr Kurt Schweinberger – Head of Creative and Performing Arts K-6

Junior School Ensemble Concert: Symphony of Sounds

Last night’s Symphony of Sounds Junior School Ensemble Concert was a wonderful celebration of participation, excellence and teamwork. With over 250 choir, strings and band students from Years 3 to 6, the Gillian Moore Centre for Performing Arts stage was alive with music, spanning Baroque to Jazz, Disney favourites to the vibrant sounds of Spain.

Backstage, the energy was high as students prepared for their performances, supporting each other and sharing in the excitement. Thank you to everyone who attended the event. Proceeds from the concert will go to the Music Support Group, helping to provide new instruments and allowing the College to commission new works for future performances.

Looking ahead, we invite you to join us for the upcoming College Christmas Celebration, held in the College Chapel on Sunday 1 December. The evening will feature our talented College strings ensembles and choirs, promising to be a lovely way to usher in the festive season. We hope to see you there!