From the Junior School

From the Head of Junior School

In a recent assembly we talked about Being our Best. I spoke to all girls K-6 about always remembering to know who they are, not comparing themselves to anyone else but focusing on the unique strengths they bring and how their voice matters, no matter how quiet or loud that voice is.

Our Junior School girls have boundless energy and determination to change the world. I continue to be amazed by the way so many of our girls showcase mature leadership in many different ways. Our Semester 2 Captains deserve to be celebrated for their commitment to their portfolios and the way they consistency lead by example.

It’s also worth celebrating the many other girls who show impressive confidence and initiative as they step up and look for ways to make a difference in our community. So today, I’m giving a shout out to some of these quiet leaders in our community:

Last week Hailey Judd and Grace Neal (Year 6) volunteered to help and led an experiment for younger students at lunchtime when they saw how busy the teachers were. They didn’t want any of the enthusiastic young scientists to miss out on the opportunity to engage with the experiment, so they stepped in and led one themselves. A big thank you to all our Year 6 volunteers who helped our Kindergarten to Year 2 sisters during the Science Week lunchtime activities.

Each week in K-2 Assembly Jessica Pickford, Marley Titley, Selina Jiang, Molly Hardiman, Amelia Hardas, and Olivia Hicks-Duncombe speak to the Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 on our weekly kindness focus. This term these girls have been sharing their advice and wisdom to our youngest students, engaging them on how to be kind to our environment, including reducing, reusing and recycling and bringing nude food to school.

Queenie Sun (Year 3) was at the Year 3 to 5 dance on Saturday and noticed a peer who was reluctant to join in the dancing. Queenie stepped away from enjoying the dancing herself and spent time talking to her peer, listening to her and encouraging her to have a go.

A passionate group of social justice activists across Years 4 to 6 have begun to meet with Mrs Kate Giles, Mrs Melissa Kotian, Mrs Shaira Musico and me weekly to discuss ways they can lead positive change. These girls are our first Social Justice Club and they’re on a mission to make an impact! They are looking particularly at gender discrimination and looking for ways they can raise awareness and act to support positive change. Look out in the next few weeks as these girls begin their advocacy and activist journey.

Huge congratulations to all our Junior School girls who have competed in the State Interschools Snowsports this season as we have just been announced as overall winners in the Primary Schools competition – outstanding achievement!

I am proud to announce that Bianca Ng and Sarah Tew (Year 5) placed 2^nd in the National Day of AI. This is a spectacular achievement by both girls in a challenging competition.

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

Embracing Challenge through Academic Competitions

Speech and Drama

Our final Eisteddfod results have come in and it is wonderful to see the level of achievement from all our girls. Mrs Clancy wrote to me saying that “A special highlight of the events at the Ryde Eisteddfod was the level of enthusiasm that the girls showed for each other’s performances. They all showed enjoyment and talent when performing”. Well done girls for supporting each other and having a go! Thank you again to our wonderful Speech and Drama teachers.

Congratulations to the following talented girls for their performance: Arya Raman (Year 3), Crystal Li (Year 3), Doris Pei (Year 3), Isabella Shi (Year 3), Sienna Yeung (Year 3), Siya Mishra (Year 3), Tiffany Gu (Year 3), Tiffany Ma (Year 3), Angelina Yang (Year 4), Aurora Lin (Year 4), Chloe Qi (Year 4), Isabel Liu (Year 4), Sophia Wang (Year 4), Abigail Yeh (Year 6) and Catherine Wang (Year 6).

Congratulations to the following students on their achievement:

Poetry Performance events

Aarthi Rao Year 3               1^st Place
Candice Li Year 4                1^st Place
Chloe Ma Year 3                 2^nd Place
Isabel Khattar Year 4         2^nd Place
Wenhui Zheng Year 6        2^nd Place
Hailey Zhang Year 3           3^rd Place
Grace Jacobs Year 6           3^rd Place

Chloe Zhang Year 3            Highly Commended
Miranda Chen Year 3         Highly Commended
Nadya Faheem Year 3       Highly Commended
Sophia Wu Year 3               Highly Commended
Charlotte Lau Year 4          Highly Commended
Dionne Jacobs Year 6        Highly Commended

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.

Academic Learning Discussions – Monday 18 September

Parents will soon receive a portal notice to book an Academic Learning Discussion via Edval. These discussions will take place online with your daughter’s Compass Teacher.

Please note that all Co-curricular activities will run as normal on this day.

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.

Year 5: Webb’s Creek OEP

Written by Olivia Dinnie and Sueann Deng

Last week 5P, 5A and 5N went to Webb’s Creek for their annual Year 5 Outdoor Education program. 5B, 5L and 5W headed out there this week.

We had a variety of different activities such as ziplining, abseiling, canoeing, damper making/cooking and frisbee golf.

Ziplining – When you’re ziplining you are 10 metres high in the air flying 20 metres across a giant pond. History fact: a long time ago they said “hold this and don’t let go! *shove*” but now we have harnesses that hook you onto the line, so you don’t fall off. The fun part about ziplining is racing your friends.

Abseiling – Some crazy people might say “jumping off a cliff.” Abseiling is much more than that; it’s where you climb down a cliff at any height backwards. We started off doing abseiling off a 1 and a half metre cliff backwards. They made us do a little one so we could get the hang of what abseiling is. Once we all had a turn it was time for us to try the bigger cliff, the 10-metre cliff. “This was the scariest thing I have ever done,” said some of us. “It was a good thing to do so I could get over my fear of heights,” said another. In the end it was really fun.

Next, canoeing. We sat in a red canoe and used a single sided paddle to paddle with our partner. The heavier person sat at the back and the lighter person sat at the front. The back person is the captain, and the front person is the listener. Capsizing is very hard to do but is possible.

Then onto damper making. This is when you mix flour and water together to make a bread but instead it’s called damper. Instead of putting it on a stick you wrap it in aluminium foil and grill it! When it was ready to eat we unwrapped it and put butter and jam on it, just like a piece of toast.

Frisbee Golf is pretty simple (but very hard to do). You throw a frisbee into small nets scattered around the place, it was really fun!

The last thing we did was an Ecology Walk (Bush walk). The place we went was called Castle Mountain because it is literally a castle on a mountain and that’s where we walked up to. The castle was half built but it was spooky and fun. We learnt lots of facts about the castle and the bush. There was even an ant nest stretching up to 3km long!

We found Outdoor Education incredibly fun, and we learnt a lot of new skills and made more friends. We hope you enjoyed our summary about the best camp ever!

Year 1 ‘Emmy & Friends’ – Kate Giles- Lead Coordinator K-3

Year 1 students have been participating in protective behaviour program run by Act for Kids “Emmy & Friends” each week. The program allows the girls to engage in important discussions reinforcing the importance of feeling safe and seeking support.

These sessions focus on teaching the girls to:

identify and articulate their feelings
understand the difference between safe and unsafe secrets
identify early warning signs to alert them of when they are in danger
identify public and private body parts
develop awareness of personal body space
identify trusted adults and what they can do when they feel unsafe.

‘I learnt that we have to tell a trusted adult when someone makes us feel uncomfortable or we have early warning signs’. – Catherine Chen

‘I liked learning the Emmy and Friends songs and they made me smile.’ – Rainie Liu

‘I learnt that the Early Warning Signs such as goosebumps and a lump in your throat, mean that we need to tell an adult until they listen.’ – Irene Qiu

‘I learnt that my body is very clever, and it gives me a message that I am feeling safe or unsafe’. – Lua Jung

‘I have learnt that your personal bubble is all around you, and you cannot go into someone else’s bubble without permission’. – Charlotte Cross

‘Consent means asking to touch someone. They have to say yes otherwise, this is not consent.’ – Penelope Lam

‘Tell, tell and tell again until someone listens and learns.’ – Eldora Xu

‘You are not allowed to keep a bad secret and you should tell it to someone you trust’. – Anna Won

‘Tell, tell, tell again until someone listens and helps’. – Aanya Rao

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, we are encouraging all girls from K-6 to create artworks (sculptures, pictures or other artworks) using recycled materials. Please bring artworks into the JS offices by the end of this term.

A message from Kurt Schweinberger – Deputy Director of Co-curricular Performing Arts (K-6)

Year 1 and Year 2 Showcase – Space Quest, Photo ordering information

1. Visit: www.lightboxphotography.com.au

2. Select ‘View and Order Photos’ from the right-hand menu.

3. User registration will be required to view your photos the first time.

Enter your name, email and a user password.

Note: This ‘password’ is not the access login but your own user password that you create.

This prevents others accessing your photo order.

4. Select ‘Access Gallery’ (top right).

Enter the following code into ‘Access Gallery’

photos code: space

5. To view the photos on repeated occasions only your email and ‘user password’ is required.

6. In the ‘Prints & Products’ column select the product with associated size.

– A selection of prints

– Block mount prints

– Canvas prints

7. To finalise your order please select ‘Check Out’ and complete the payment and postal details.

If you have any further inquiries please contact;

Lindsay Kearney – 0425 255 264

The Wind in the Willows is coming to Pymble!

Join us for the 2023 Year 6 Musical, The Wind in the Willows. This riotous comedy follows Mole, Rat, Badger, and the impulsive Mr. Toad, whose antics land him in serious trouble. With his beloved home under threat from the notorious Chief Weasel and his gang of sinister Wild Wooders, Toad must attempt a daring escape leading to a series of misadventures and a heroic battle to recapture Toad Hall.

Tickets for this exciting production will go on sale Friday 25 August (9.00am) through the GMCPA box office.

The performance dates are Thursday 14 and Friday 15 September, commencing at 7.00pm.

The performance will run for approximately 60 minutes.

We look forward to seeing you at the theatre.

Calling all musicians, dancers and entertainers, the Junior School PJ factor is back, and we are looking forward to seeing students in Years 3 – 6 create exciting and entertaining performances that are focused on the theme of being CREATIVE!

“Creativity is defined as the ability to create something new through the use of your imagination, mind and experiences”

As part of the Junior School “Let’s Get Creative Festival” (Thursday 16 November), we will be selecting a group of students from each house to perform at the festival. Reflecting on the above image, we are encouraging students to think outside the box and create a performance that extends their individual talents, to create something new and imaginative.

Students may enter as a soloist or as part of a small group.

Heats will commence Wednesday 11 October (Term 4 Week 1). See below the day for each house.

Heat 1: Wednesday 11 October – Marden
Heat 2: Thursday 12 October – Lang
Heat 3: Friday 13 October – Ingleholme
Heat 4: Monday 16 October – Wylie
Heat 5: Tuesday 17 October – Hammond
Heat 6: Wednesday 18 October – Goodlet
Heat 7: Thursday 19 October – Bennet
Heat 8: Friday 20 October – Thomas

Following the heats, a group of students from each house, who demonstrate creativity and originality in their performance, will be selected to perform at the Let’s Get Creative Festival.

When preparing their performance, students need to consider the following points:

I have taken my talent and created something different and original
My performance does not exceed 2 min
My performance is appropriate for my age (parents need to work with their daughter to create a performance that is indicative of their respective age)

Student sign-up sheets will be communicated in the Week 7 Newsletter.

If you have any questions, please speak with Mr Schweinberger.

A message from Josephine Laretive (K-2) and Martha Itzcovitz (3-6) – Junior School Librarians

The Junior School will be holding a Great Book Swap to celebrate reading, learn about Indigenous Languages and culture, and raise funds for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF). This event encourages the Junior School to swap a book in exchange for a gold coin donation.

When: The Book Swap will be held on Tuesday 5, Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 September at lunchtime.

Where: Junior School Libraries

How can we join: We encourage all girls to bring a pre-loved book that is in good condition and is age appropriate to school from Week 7, Monday 28 August until their Book Swap Day. Books will be displayed for each Year group and girls will choose a pre-loved book from the collection.

How do we donate to the IFL: Girls can bring a gold coin on their Book Swap Day, or donations can be made online to the Pymble Ladies’ College Great Book Swap page

Our House: Pymble Ladies’ College has been assigned to Lungkura House, one of five Aboriginal language houses named after animal characters in the ILF books. Lungkura means blue-tongued lizard in Walmajarri, a language primarily spoken by people living in or on the edges of the Great Sandy Desert and parts of the East Kimberley region of Western Australia.

For more information about the IFL visit: https://www.indigenousliteracyfoundation.org.au/

Lost Property

All K-6 lost property has been relocated to the K-2 Upper PA Room. Items on display have no clear name and could not be returned to the individual student. Please assist us in reducing the quantity of lost property in our Junior School by labelling all clothing, lunch boxes, umbrella and alike clearly.