From the Boarding School
Icebreaker is always a great way to come together and I am delighted to report that we had more than 50 Boarding families in attendance! It was a great chance to catch up and make new friends. The highly successful Icebreaker ‘afters’ at Pymble Pub followed and by all reports a great night was had by all.
Just to make the evening extra special, it was wonderful to have our Boarders assisting with the service of food throughout the evening. They certainly did us all proud with their professional service and friendly banter.
Welcome to our BFFs
While our parents were enjoying a night together, our Boarders took the opportunity to invite a day girl friend for dinner and fun. It was a lovely chance for our Boarders to show off their Boarding home, and a great opportunity to strengthen friendships.
Our talented Boarders!
We are never short on news about our Boarders’ achievements and this week I am pleased to highlight the achievements of some of our Year 12 cohort.
Congratulations to our swimming superstars Lily and Hannah who competed in the 2025 NSW Senior Metropolitan Championships over the weekend. Both girls enjoyed great success with Lily earning gold medals in the 400m freestyle and 800m freestyle and bronze in the 200m freestyle and Hannah winning a silver medal in the 50 m backstroke. Lily placed in the top ten in the 50m butterfly, 100m freestyle and 100m backstroke and Hannah placed in the top ten in 100m breaststroke, 50m breaststroke and 100m backstroke.
On dry land, farm girl Hannah has qualified for the Sydney Show Junior Judging Championships in merino fleece, grains, fruit and vegetables and also merino sheep. Stay tuned for the results when Hannah competes at the Sydney Royal Easter Show in April.
Live It, Love It, Learn It – Ms Theresa Mimmo, Deputy Director of Boarding
It was a very busy Friday night in Boarding with day girls coming to visit some of the houses – Avonmoore Boarders welcomed about 25 friends! There was pizza, laughs, games and lots of noise, particularly with the karaoke machine.
On Saturday evening after dinner, a group of Boarders fine-tuned their golfing skills by travelling to the driving range for some evening exercise. With the return of fine weather, Sunday’s activity to Barrenjoey Headland for a walk was well timed, although several Boarders described it as a trek rather than a walk! They were rewarded for their efforts with a swim and ice cream afterwards.
A View From My Window
Hi everyone, if you don’t know me, I’m Phoebe, a Year 12 Boarder. I have boarded here at Pymble since 2019 when I was in Year 6, making this my seventh year here.
I live on the edge of a very small town called Quambone, with a population of less than 100 people. Quambone is about seven to eight hours away from Sydney, the closest proper town – Coonamble – is half an hour away, and the closest city – Dubbo – is a two hour drive.
Quambone has a shop (which is also a post office), a park, a pub and a public school, with a total of just nine students. I live on around 50,000 acres of land that we use to feed up to 12,000 cattle, in a good year. My family has lived, owned, and worked the land since long before I was born. I have an older brother, who turns 23 this year, and I live with my parents, 13 working dogs, seven puppies, about nine cats, and just one horse.
When I look out my window, I see the lawn that my mum looks after religiously – you’d think she lives on the mower, with the amount of time she spends out there. I see the old pepper trees, which have somehow survived thousands of dust and lightning storms, and I see our lagoon, which lays just beyond our dog kennels. In the afternoons, after I have fed and watered the dogs, I like to watch the sunset, the birds flying overhead to their nests for the night.
I love being home – the peace and quiet that you can never truly get whilst living in the city. The night skies, the sunsets and sunrises, and the interesting people.
Though I do leave this behind to return to Boarding, I love being able to reconnect with people that I would never have had the privilege of getting to know had I not come to Pymble. Although it has been a long seven years, I don’t think I would change a thing.
Boarder of the Week
Zoe has been a delightful addition to our Year 7 House, Avonmoore. Despite being a long way from her family and home in Rankin Springs, Zoe is successfully navigating new routines, living arrangements and a much bigger school environment. She is a terrific housemate, always ready to offer a helping hand to both her Boarding sisters and staff.
Her kindness to others is a standout and Zoe has been a beautiful friend to her peers who have been missing home. Zoe has shared her experiences on the land with her classmates and they have enjoyed hearing about her life away from Pymble. It is lovely to be greeted by Zoe’s beautiful smile and wonderful to see her taking on new opportunities.
Save the Date
Friday 28 February – Year 12 Formal
Sunday 2 March – Mother and Daughter Lunch event – The Fernery, Mosman
Friday 14 March – Year 11 Formal
Friday 21 and Saturday 22 March – Year 12 Boarder and Day Girl Parents’ regional weekend
Saturday 8 April – Boarders’ End of Term Chapel Service and Dinner
Monday 10 April – Face-to-Face Learning Discussions for Boarding Families
Tuesday 11 April – Boarders’ Travel Day
Carolyn Burgess
Head of Boarding