From the Junior School

From the Head of Junior School

Play, in all its forms, is a powerful tool for learning, growth and self-discovery. Research evidences that outdoor play in nature is incredibly beneficial for young learners. Whether it’s exploring the wonders of the natural world, engaging in physical activities, or sitting more quietly and observing nature, these experiences foster a sense of curiosity, creativity, and a deeper connection to the environment and prior learning. Outdoor play also offers a change of pace from the routines of the classrooms and an opportunity to take risks and get muddy, all of which is important for our children as they develop and learn to be courageously independent, to make and own their mistakes and to embrace new friendships.

Playing a character is another important element in a child’s development and our Year 1 and 2 girls have been incredibly busy preparing for the Showcase performance this week. I look forward to celebrating that in next week’s newsletter.

Our K-2 girls are enjoying the wonders of play around the world, an initiative designed by our Performing Arts teacher, Ms Maria Lee and our K-2 teachers. The girls have enthusiastically embraced playing Catch the Dragon’s Tail a game from China, Korean hopscotch, Sun and Ice a game from North America. They have also created interpretations of dreamtime stories using wooden animals and learnt how to play Weme a traditional bowling game played for thousands of years by Indigenous communities.

Alongside this, we also recognise the importance of unstructured play which allows our older children to take risks and run more wildly outdoors. While it may seem counterintuitive, allowing children to take calculated and seemly ‘wild’ risks helps them develop resilience, problem-solving skills, and better judgment. There are always rules, whether spoken or unspoken, when children play collaboratively, and this empowers them to negotiate with empathy and build confidence in their communication skills. Whilst this play is technically termed ‘unstructured play’, it is closely observed by our teachers as they assess the girls’ capacity to communicate and connect with others with compassion and a strong sense of self.

We are looking for new objects (‘loose parts’) to inspire the engineering thinking and play of our girls in Years 3-6. If you have any large cardboard boxes, pulley systems rope, old (clean) sheets, or other objects (eg plumbing pipes or even an old wooden boat) we would love to have them to inspire our girls’ learning through play.

Our Sporty Staff – inspiring our girls

Congratulations to Ms Charlotte Baker, PDHPE teacher whose team won the Masters hockey competition this year being undefeated in all their games.

Academic Excellence – Mrs Lara Bird, Deputy Head of Junior School Academics

Year 1 and Year 2 Windows into Learning – New Date

The date for Windows into Learning for Year 1 and Year 2 has changed. Year 1 Windows into Learning will now be held on Thursday 7 September at 8.30am and Year 2 Windows into Learning will be held on Thursday 7 September at 10.45am. Thank you for your understanding and flexibility. This change is due to the large number of students who are participating in the ballet performance.

Embracing Challenge through Academic Competitions

Speech and Drama

Our Junior School Speech and Drama girls participated in the Ryde Eisteddfod. We are Pymble proud of all the girls who participated in this competitive arena led by our fabulous Speech and Drama Teachers, Mrs Victoria Clancy and Miss Pip Dracakis.

We would like to recognise the following students who participated in either the Poetry or Prose events and congratulate them on their wonderful performance: Olivia Huang, Poppy Zhu, Jelena Peng, Candice Li, Scarlett Qui, Alicia Chen, Chloe Qi, Aisha Younus, Aarna Ashwin, Amy Peng and Melody Chen.

Congratulations to following students who also achieved outstanding results.

Poetry Performance events

Naomi Shi Yr4 1^st Place

Trinity Sun Yr5 1^st Place

Cecilia Zhang Yr5 1^st Place

Sarayah Wijesuriya Yr2 1^st Place

Jelena Peng Yr2 2^nd Place

Tanvi Raniga Yr5 2^nd Place

Kaylee Tian Yr4 2^nd Place

Megan Ng Yr4 3^rd Place

Naomi Shi Yr4 3^rd Place

Safina Burgess Yr5 Highly Commended

Prose Speaking

Olivia Guo Yr5 2^nd Place

Safina Burgess Yr5 Highly Commended

Tanvi Raniga Yr5 Highly Commended

Pymble Gives Back – Our Be of Service commitment – led by Mrs Nerissa Davey, Deputy Head of Junior School Operations

Call out for more stationery please to help refugee children

Thanks to your donations in Term 2 which have helped so many families. The HARK Refugee Clinic has asked for more stationery packs to assist the children in their care. These stationery packs provide much needed essential school items for the refugee children in their care. If you are able to assist us, please send the following items to the K-2 or 3-6 Admin offices.

Kindy – HB pencils

Year 1 – Rulers and sharpeners

Year 2 – Erasers and glue sticks

Year 3 – Coloured textas

Year 4 – Coloured pencils

Year 5 – Pens – black, red and blue

Year 6 – A5 notebooks

Student Health & Wellbeing Parent Survey- Kate Giles- Lead Coordinator K-3 and Jayne Mercer- Lead Coordinator 4-6

We are going to be holding ongoing parent sessions next term on a variety of different topics. These small group sessions will be an opportunity for you to hear the current research and evidence around student health and wellbeing and how to best support your daughter. This will also be an opportunity to connect with other parents within our school community.

To best tailor our sessions to be valuable to you, we would love to hear from you about your parenting questions, your concerns or your curiosities about your daughter’s health and wellbeing. Please respond to the survey using this link.

Kindergarten and Year 2 Buddies- Kate Giles- Lead Coordinator K-3

A highlight of the year for our Kindergarten and Year 2 girls is the buddy program. The aim of this program is to build connections across the years which are then strengthened and continued during vertical House activities. The Kindergarten girls are buddied with a Year 2 student from the same House, and they spend time during Compass Directions lessons getting to know each other, playing games and doing a variety of different activities. This term they have enjoyed collaborating and connecting during our “Play around the world” sessions.

I was nervous when I first met my buddy, but she was really nice- Ivy Dao

Having a Year 2 buddy is great as we played a hiding game, and it was really fun – Laveda Piao

It has been fun getting to know our Kindy buddies and playing games with them – Olivia Bi

The best thing about having a Kindy buddy is being able to meet new friends! – Camilla Yan

Kindness to our Environment – A note from our Sustainability Captains; Oriana Fenton and Richielynne Xiong

As a part of our focus on kindness to the environment and our determination to reduce, reuse and recycle, this week we launched an exciting art competition as a part of the Let’s Get Creative Festival. We are encouraging all girls from K-6 to create some artworks (sculptures, pictures or other artworks) using recycled materials. Please bring artworks into the JS offices by the end of this term.

Around the Grounds