From the Junior School

From the Head of Junior School

Learning in Partnership

It was wonderful to see so many of our Year 3 parents at our Windows into Learning last week. Thank you, Year 3 parents, for the support you give our teachers, and your daughters in their learning. Our Year 3 parents, together with their daughters, designed and constructed a rocket ship, based upon the features and attributes of three-dimensional objects. The girls worked together with their parents, justifying their choice of 3D object using their understanding of vertices, edges and faces. Creativity and collaboration were key skills being developed during this process.

It’s been an exciting week for Year 3 families as we had a wonderful evening yesterday with girls and their parents working together to make animal puppets. The girls, assisted by their equally enthusiastic parents, coded a micro:bit to bring their character to life so they could perform as part of a small play about the magic of teamwork. We look forward to more Tech Connect events in 2024. Thank you to our Head of STEM, Mr Brown, for leading this initiative for our Junior School community

Congratulations!

Huge congratulations to Zara Ware (Year 4) who is now our National U10 Springboard champion, winning two gold medals at Nationals. This is a phenomenal achievement. Congratulations to Emily Long who came 5^th in the National U10 Springboard competition. Both girls show great skill and maturity as they compete and their success reflects their passion and dedication to their sport.

Congratulations to our Eisteddfod dancers who placed 1^st (Jazz) and 3^rd (Lyrical) in their eisteddfod last weekend. These teams have had phenomenal success throughout their season.

Good luck to our ballerinas who are performing the much awaited performance The King of the Polar Bears tomorrow and on Saturday. These girls have been working with dedication and passion over the last weeks to prepare their performance. I can’t wait to watch it tomorrow!

Thank you to our K-pop dance leaders

A huge shout out to Sophia Guo, Estelle Macolino, Lyann Shih, Gloria Yang and Reese Zhang who planned and led a fun filled and high energy K-pop dance challenge for our Year 4 to 6 girls. These amazing Year 6 girls worked together to bring K-pop to our Junior School on Monday lunchtime this week. Over 100 girls joined in the fun in our hall and the Year 6 girls encouraged others to join in and to have a go at learning the choreography. I am so proud of the way these girls celebrated others who showed courage in joining in and applauded those who mastered the choreography.

Year 1 visit Vision Valley for Outdoor Education – Michelle Cook, Year 1 Co-ordinator

On Tuesday 29 August, Year 1 excitedly boarded the bus for our Outdoor Education experience at Vision Valley. For some of the Year 1 cohort, this was their first visit to the Vision Valley campus. During the day, students were encouraged to explore the beautiful natural environment, step outside their comfort zone, and challenge themselves.

Our first activity involved a scenic bushwalk around the lake and throughout the surrounding hillside. The highlight of the bushwalk was sitting around an open fire and cooking marshmallows. We even got to cook two each and they were delicious!

We then formed small groups for an exciting and challenging orienteering activity that saw us utilising our mapping and position skills to locate various hidden signs throughout the bush.

Our final activity involved us challenging ourselves and using our problem-solving skills to build a shelter for a duck that would withstand the wind and the rain. The girls even amazed themselves with their clever designs. We can’t wait for our next visit to beautiful Vision Valley.

My favourite part was toasting the marshmallows and eating them. – Evelyn Sang

I liked the finding the clues when orienteering and the bush walk. – Sophia Thach

Our group had so much fun orienteering, but it was really challenging. – Neve Sadananda and Violet Li

I loved finding a big stick to use to cook the marshmallows on the fire – they were delicious! – Chloe Huang

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

A portal notice has been sent out to K-6 parents 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.

Kindness Message for the week – from our Kindness Captains; Jessamy Facer and Amna Syed

If the world was a cage, kindness is the key to unlock it.

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

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.

Year 4 Family Camp at Vision Valley – Registrations open tomorrow!

Year 4 Parents and their daughters are invited to attend the PPA Family Camp at Vision Valley on Saturday 21 to Sunday 22 October 2023.

This camp is open to one or both parents and their Year 4 daughter only (other siblings are not permitted to attend).

Parents will have the opportunity to meet other families and spend quality time with their daughters camping in the great outdoors at our beautiful bushland campus.

Places are limited and all parents must provide a valid WWCC to Vision Valley prior to attending.

Bookings open tomorrow morning at 6.00am. Click here to book.