From the Principal

We were blessed to have some Very Important Guests visit our Junior School last Friday. If you were walking around the grounds this week, perhaps you were lucky enough to encounter a visual reminder of the special role these VIPs play in the lives of our girls. The words of love from our girls to their grandparents are just beautiful. Thank you to all the grandparents, parents, special family friends and carers who helped make our Grandparents’ Picnic so special for our Junior School family.

At the other end of the spectrum, tomorrow in the Senior School Centre, 37 Year 12 Geography students will undertake the very last HSC exam for the year – woo hoo! Following the final “pens down” at 12.30pm, our Class of 2024 will officially become Pymble Alumni, ready to discover a whole new world of adulting. We are thrilled to send them on their way knowing they possess the knowledge and skills to step confidently onto their next pathway in life, with strong character traits and values to shine a guiding light along the way. We fully expect this impressive cohort to continue to roar way beyond 2024 and look forward to watching on with great pride as they change the world in their own unique way.

Reflecting on how our College values of Care, Courage, Integrity, Respect and Responsibility will continue to play a significant role in the lives of all our students when they eventually leave our care, led me to a wonderful poem by an incredible woman I have long admired. Earlier this week, I shared the poem with our staff as possibly the simplest explanation of why we expect our students, staff and community to live our values every day.

Do it anyway by Mother Teresa reminds us there are many reasons why we should, could or would not do some things in life. Equally, there are many reasons to just do them anyway.

Have a great week ahead, and thanks for all you do for your daughters, our staff and our College…anyway.

Windows into Learning

From passion projects to pen pals on padlets, learning at Pymble engages the girls in memorable and meaningful ways, thanks to the passion and creativity of our wonderful teachers.

Year 3 Passion Projects

Our new Compass initiative, Passion Projects, empowers students to explore their own interests, express creativity, and develop a deeper connection to themselves. Each student selects a topic they are passionate about, which could be anything from culture, sporting activities, environmental advocacy, art, or coding, for instance. By allowing the freedom to pursue a subject of choice, the project encourages students to take pride in their individuality, and to be courageous in exploring ideas that matter to them personally. Throughout the project, students work independently with teacher support, learning valuable skills in research, organisation, and presentation. At the end of the term, they proudly showcase their projects to their peers in a class exhibition, sharing their journey and discoveries. This presentation builds confidence and gives students a sense of accomplishment as they see their hard work come to life.

Passion Projects nurture personal growth and inspire students to understand the joy of learning through self-directed exploration. The initiative highlights our commitment to encouraging each student to be a courageous, thoughtful learner, fully engaged in their learning.

Mrs Tracy Reid
Year 3 Co-ordinator

Bonjour from Pymble!

One of the great joys of learning another language is using it in authentic context. Recently, our Year 7 French students enjoyed corresponding with student pen pals at the Ecole-College Saint Dominique in Haute-Loire, France. This was a great opportunity for students at both schools to practise their French and English as they exchanged letters about their family, pets, school and general interests via a padlet.

Mikayla: “I enjoyed learning about my pen pal’s life and getting to know them and French culture. A challenge I faced was the language barrier, but trying to figure out what they were saying was fun.”

Candice: “I enjoyed slowly learning and trying to adapt to reading in French, but sometimes the grammar was a little confusing!”.

Selina: “The pen pal experience was fun because it helped us build a connection between other students. This was very enjoyable because we also got to learn lots more French vocabulary along the way. A few challenges include having to understand phrases because sometimes the dialogue was a bit hard to write as both sides were not fluent in the other language. But overall, this was a memorable experience of making new friends and learning at the same time.”

Mrs Salina Bussien
Head of Learning Area – Modern and Classical Languages