From the Junior School
From the Head of Junior School
As we continue to focus on inclusivity, we shared a wonderful story Can I join your club? by John Kelly with our girls during assembly. This story talks about the many clubs and interests there are within a community and how sharing opportunities brings a community together.
It’s interesting, and impressive, to see how many of our girls are involved in so many diverse co-curricular activities both on and off campus throughout the school term. It’s important and exciting for us to find moments for the girls to share these passions as we hope our girls will see how they can connect with one another in so many different ways. We have Junior School girls who train and compete in Latin dancing, fencing, equestrian, ballet, sailing, speech, music, singing, drama and so much more. Many of these girls don’t get to showcase their dedication and talents during the school day or get cheered on at Saturday sport or get recognised in our Junior School Sport newsletter which is part of the College Compass each week. As a result, we don’t know all the passions and talents we have among us in our Junior School community. For this reason, we have, this year, begun to hold Grade assemblies for Years 3-6 in addition to our weekly K-2 and 3-6 assemblies so we increase our capacity to learn about and from one another.
More and more girls are volunteering to share their musical talents at our weekly assemblies, performing as we come together to share our weekly news, and this always sets a beautiful tone for our community sharing in assembly. We’re looking for more co-curricular activities to be showcased in upcoming assemblies if girls are willing to volunteer to share their passion and skills.
This challenge of how we can connect with one another in different ways is also one I posed and chatted about in our JSPG Term 2 meeting yesterday. Having watched this powerful video ‘Don’t put People in Boxes‘, I asked our community to think about the many things we share. Often, we don’t realise how many commonalities we share and if we can spark conversation with people we don’t necessarily see we have things in common with at first glance, we may build the most beautiful friendships. Some of the questions I posed include:
- Do you have a hobby that you make time for on a regular basis?
- Do you play a musical instrument?
- Do you speak more than one language?
- Have you ever had to show courage in trying something new?
- Have you lived outside your birth country?
- Have you ever worried about social media’s impact on your daughter?
- Have you ever struggled to get your daughter to eat her veggies!
- Have you ever felt lonely?
Each of us share many similarities despite the wonderful differences we also have through the journeys we have walked. Each of you have chosen Pymble as the community for your daughter to spend her formative years as she learns and grows. Each of you want the best for your daughter. Each of you are doing all you can to support your daughter. The more we chat and the more we listen to one another, the more we learn and the more friends we will make and the stronger our community will be as we collectively raise the girls.
Family Fun Day – a celebration of community
A huge thank you to all involved in our Junior School Family Fun Day. Events like this take an enormous amount of planning and set up, so a very heartfelt thank you to all of you who dedicated hours of your family time to create such a special event for our families to share. Autumnal sun shone almost as much as the girls’ smiles. What a glorious celebration of our community.
Our debating team is off to the semi-finals
After a hotly contested debate, our Primary B team won their debate last week and have progressed to semi-finals tomorrow. The girls debated the topic ‘Parents should pay their children pocket money’ and argued the negative with some compelling points:
- Children are not mature enough to receive pocket money and will waste it
- If children only receive $5 a week this is too little and won’t enable them to develop meaningful skills of managing money
- Not all families can afford pocket money and this causes social division and inequity.
Congratulations to this team and good luck for the semi-final debate tomorrow against Aloysius which is being hosted Joey’s.
A message from Nerissa Davey – Deputy Head of Junior School – Operations
Student voice
Since the start of the term Reverend Bent has invited our Year 3 to 6 girls to share something that speaks to their heart or a challenge during our Chapel time. Last week we welcomed four courageous girls to share their talents and voice. We had Amelia Hardas, Bella Xu and Zoe Alphandary leading the hymns, they sang beautifully and kept everyone in time and in tune! Tanvi Raniga shared a beautiful poem/mediation with us, which was truly inspiring and created a sense of calm for us all. Yenyu Chan shared her very thought provoking poem called What a wonderful world.
What a Wonderful World
Our sapphire seas, our emerald Eden,
Are on the verge of demise,
What is left of Eve’s Garden,
Now begs for mercy and pardon.
Let’s start with the sapphire seas,
Schools of fish and coral reef,
Once swam in symphonies of silver,
Now beaten, bloodied and bruised.
The colours of the rainbow, now fade into black blues,
Leaving us forlorn, like a kitten without a clue,
Earth as once our only treasure,
But now we leave it unsteady and frail.
Emerge from the shadows,
Restore our earth, with bandages instead of bulldozer’s,
Oh, what a wonderful world that would be,
We must sing the praise of nature’s grace,
A place where we all belong.
Written by Yenyu Chan (Year 6)
A Guided Mediation
Make you mind clear,
Imagine bubbles travelling through your body,
No bad thoughts in your head
Don’t forget to breathe in and out,
Fill your lungs with air slowly,
Understand your mind and body.
Like a graceful swan, glide through the river of your imagination
Never forget you are new and unique to the world.
Even though your mind might be wondering, just stay calm
Slow and calm thoughts
Stay lying down as long as you want.
Written by Tanvi Raniga (Year 5)
Careers Day
Our annual Careers Day was held last week and was once again a resounding success. A big thank you to all of you who gifted your time to share your stories about your career adventures with our girls in Years 4 to 6. This now annual event inspires our girls to be curious, to wonder and dream big, to question and think creatively about the many wonderful opportunities they can explore as they grow up.
It’s also a special experience for the girls to see and hear from you about your ‘world’. Your time to support our girls’ learning is much appreciated. We look forward to this event again next year and invite more of you to come along and share.
Bowden Brae Aged Care visit and Volunteer Week news
We are very proud to say that our girls have been featured on the Uniting Church website – Insights. What a lovely article showcasing the wonderful difference our girls are making through this service initiative. Click here to view the article.
Kindness Day – Call for help!
On Wednesday 14 June we are celebrating our Kindness Day in Junior School which will centre around service. Each year group will be taking part in an activity that will involve giving back to others. We would love to invite following members of our community to assist on the day:
Year 4 – We need knitters and anyone who is able to crochet and assist in putting together the squares our Year 4 girls have knitted this year for the charity – Wrap with Love.
Year 6 – We would love to invite any Grand adults to assist with sewing hearts. The girls will be stitching around felt hearts and we would love some assistance with teaching them how to use embroidery thread. This will be in support of 1000 Hearts Charity.
If you are able to assist please email Alana Hooper ahooper@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au Many thanks!
Around the Grounds
Year 1 Excursion: Clifton Gardens – Michelle Cook, Year 1 Co-ordinator
Last Wednesday on a crisp, autumnal morning, Year 1 excitedly boarded the buses bound for Clifton Gardens for our first excursion of 2023. As part of our Term 2 Integrated Inquiry Unit on people and places, we were met by Ranger Harry and his talented team of scientists who had arranged an action-packed day of practical experiences to help us learn more about the environment and how to best care for it and its creatures.
Ranger Harry introduced us to a Lace Monitor called Lacie, an Echidna named Tilly, a Fruit Bat called Peanut and an owl called Tony. We learnt about their characteristics, their habitats and the food that they eat.
We then looked at how the products that we use in our daily lives; detergent, oil, paint, and sunscreen, can affect our waterways and wildlife. We discussed the different types of landscapes that we have in Australia; desert, snowy, rainforest and aquatic.
Next, we eagerly ventured down onto the jetty to experience fishing from a reel. Sadly, we can report that although we were most excited to spot many schools of fish, stingrays and jellyfish, the fish were definitely not biting!
After lunch, we thoroughly enjoyed sculpting stunning sea turtles and their habitats in the sand whilst learning about the effects on global warming on our ocean environments.
Our final activity saw us carefully scouring the surrounding bush on a scavenger hunt for a variety of different bugs. We found Bull Ants, Cowboy Beetles, Australian Cockroaches and wriggly worms.
Absolutely blessed with periods of sunshine and the sounds of happy laughter, Year 1’s exciting adventures at Clifton Gardens were ones that we’ll all remember.
“I liked the Waterways experiment because we learnt to care for the sea in lots of ways. I noticed that chemicals like soap and oil can damage the ocean”. – Audrey Yu
“I loved making homes for the turtles and fishing with my friends. It takes lots of hard work and patience. I loved fishing because it was so much fun to catch fish with my friends. It was interesting to make homes for the turtles because we were doing experiments like scientists”. – Kitty Mae Ruiz del Portal Greene
“We learnt that if we put oil, detergent and paint into our waterways, it can hurt all our sea animals”. – Flora Wu
“We saw a flying fox or fruit bat and Ranger Grace told us that it is nocturnal and eats fruit”. – Lyanna Xue
“My favourite activity at the Clifton Gardens excursion was the bug catching because I could see different bugs and that means the environment is healthy for the bugs. I saw big ants and wriggly worms!” – Viola Li
“I really enjoyed fishing on the jetty with a reel. We didn’t catch anything, but we saw two stingrays, a jelly fish and a puffer fish”. – Kelly Ni
National Simultaneous Storytime 2023 – Josephine Laretive, Librarian K-2
On Wednesday 24 May, Kindergarten to Year 3 participated in National Simultaneous Storytime an annual event run by the Australian Library and Information Association. This special event promotes the value of reading and literacy, the enjoyment of books, and picture books written and illustrated by Australian authors and illustrators.
The event began with a slow-motion running race by our very own Junior School staff team. Georgia Farthing and Kaymi Madugalle Wijeratne (Year 2) shared fascinating facts about Sloths. We viewed the story The Speedy Sloth by Rebecca Young and illustrated by Heath McKenzie read by a zookeeper at Singapore Zoo, with resident Sloths ‘Indigo and Bubba’ enjoying their lunch hanging in a tree in the background.
To end the event, we were led by the wonderful Miss McGeoch to dance moves to the track ‘I Like to Move It.’ We had a magnificent time and are proud to have joined the National Simultaneous Storytime event!
Sustainability in the Junior School
In the Junior School we are working to be more sustainable. The Junior School sustainability club have been working with Sarah Shields, the College Horticulturist to learn more about the use of worm farms. A huge thank you to Maddie Burns in Year 5, who was determined to make a difference to the Junior School environment so raised money to purchase a worm farm for use in the Junior School. Thank you Maddie!
K-2 Travel Term 2
Please email juniorschool@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au with your daughter’s full name and class if you have any travel changes for Term 2 before 2.00pm.
Uniform and Appearance
All students are expected to wear their uniform correctly and with pride. Uniforms cannot be mixed with each season (please refer to page 33 of your daughter’s school diary correct uniform appearance details). Junior School has a strict ‘no hat no play policy’, please ensure your daughter has her bucket play hat at school every day. During the cooler months please ensure that your daughter is wearing the correct uniform.
As the weather becomes cooler, I know many parents worry about keeping their daugther warm during the day, particularly in her PE tracksuit. Sports hoodies are not allowed to be worn to and from school or with winter uniform. IF your daughter has PE and is in her full PE uniform she may wear a Pymble sports hoodie whilst she is at school. Please make sure that your daughter’s uniform is named. A white marker is recommended for dark clothing items.
Absent, Late Arrivals/Early Departures, Vacation
A reminder if you daughter is absent from school please enter your daughter’s absence through the MyPymble App or email Junior School Administration Office juniorschool@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au . For any changes to your daughter’s travel, late/early arrivals please email the Administration Office.
Exemption from Attendance Application form can be found on the Portal, please ensure if your daughters is away for two days or more to complete the application form two weeks in advance from the start of your daughter’s absence.
Lost Property
Please ensure your daughters full name is clearly labelled on all items of clothing including socks, hats and lunch items so it can be quickly returned to your daughter if it is found.
JSPG Term 2 Meeting
Thank you to all the parents who attended yesterday’s JSPG Term 2 Meeting either in person or online. If you weren’t able to attend, please click here to view the full recording of the meeting.
From the Junior School Parent Group (JSPG)
Welcome to Week 5. We are nearly halfway through the term!
We had a fabulous day on Saturday enjoying our JSPG Family Fun Day and Movie Night. Thank you to everyone who attended, we had over 850 students and family members from the Junior School. We were so honoured to receive such a fantastic representation and such a great amount of interest. We hope our families enjoyed the afternoon and evening and what was on offer.
The girls had a lot of fun with the giant inflatable obstacle course, crazy hair, karaoke, glow products and old-fashioned games. The barbecue dinner, crepes, popcorn and fairy floss were also a hit. Thank you for all our parent helpers that participated in the lead up and on the day, as you can imagine a huge amount of effort goes into the day and we were also lucky with the beautiful weather. We will post photos of the day next week.
Our Year 6 families are looking forward to the parent-daughter dance this Saturday night at Killara Golf Club. We have around 230 attendees so it is very exciting that it will be a special celebration of their final year in the junior school. There will be lots of food, drinks and entertainment and an event not to be missed.
We are asking all our junior school families to register for the PPA Trivia Night on Saturday 3rd June at Hornsby RSL. Don’t worry if you don’t know anyone, you will be allocated to other tables in your year group. It’s such a fun, fabulous night. This year’s theme for dress up is “Movie Characters”. You can win a variety of prizes including a Gucci handbag. To register, please click here.
Key Dates
| Friday 26 May | Year 6 Windows into Learning |
| Saturday 27 May | JSPG Year 6 Parent Daughter Dance – Mrs Brown and Mrs Davey will be in attendance. |
| Monday 29 May – Friday 2 June | Reconciliation Week |
| Wednesday 31 May | Year 2 Outdoor Education day |
| Wednesday 31 May | Year 6 to Saint Ignatius’ College Riverview – STEM |
| Friday 2 June | Mothers and Grandmothers (Ex students) Morning Tea |
| Monday 5 June | ySafe for Years 3, 4 and 6 |
| Tuesday 6 June | ySafe for Years 1, 2 and 5 |
| Tuesday 6 June | ySafe Parent Information Evening (online) 6.30pm to 7.30pm |
| Wednesday 7 June | Year 2 Taronga Zoo |
| Thursday 8 June | K-2 Athletics Carnival |
| Friday 9 June | 3-6 Athletics Carnival |
Kate Brown
Head of Junior School