From the Boarding School
It has been a wonderful, whirlwind of a week with our supersized onsite family fully immersed in Boarding life. As you will read below, there has been a full program of activity with a focus on fun and friendship and my deep thanks go to our fabulous Boarding team for making it such a memorable week.
The New Girls’ concert is always a favourite for me. This year we enjoyed the added bonus of our new staff revealing their hidden talents and weren’t we impressed!
The following day we all set off on the Amazing Sydney Adventure, a fun activity designed to assist our Boarders in getting to know each other in their Spirit House Circles and orientate our new Boarders to the Sydney Public transport network. Experiences included buses, trains and ferries with Boarders heading out across the city to locations including Government House, Manly and China Town. It was a fun day of exploring.
Our annual trip to Raging Waters is always a big hit with our Boarders and this year was no exception. It was the perfect weather for fun in the sun!
We’re in!
On Sunday night our youngest Boarders moved to their term time home, Avonmoore. They are delighted to be in their own space and loved their housewarming gift of a Nintendo Switch. We have exciting plans to make the most of this special home and I look forward to keeping you updated on the Year 7 adventures.
Farewell to our much-loved Rev
On Tuesday night we said a fond farewell to our fabulous Reverend Punam Bent. Rev Bent has been a wonderful neighbour, mentor and friend to our Boarding family. She is kind, compassionate and fun. Most importantly she has been ‘there’ whenever we have needed a kind word, a good laugh or some wise advice. Head Boarder, Aspen Moore expressed these sentiments perfectly in her farewell speech which I have shared below:
Dear Rev Bent
It is extremely hard to say farewell to someone so close to our Boarding community. You have been an amazing chaplain, friend and support network for us girls and I dare say we would all agree that your presence in our boarding life has brought us an abundance of happiness and contentment. Your reflections and words of encouragement have filled us with strength and will forever be close to our hearts. Thank you so much for leading our Boarding chapel nights as well as supporting us throughout the day school and through external events. The warmth with which you bring within this Chapel and the care you have showed for each and every one of us has created an environment where us girls have felt connected, heard, supported and valued. Your ability to bring us together, irrespective of backgrounds or beliefs, has truly been inspiring.
We are going to miss you dearly, especially your # and ‘peace outs’ but we want to wish you the best for your next chapter and what the future awaits. We hope that our paths cross again, and until then, we carry your teachings and words of wisdom in our hearts.
View From My Window
Hi, my name is Selina Kerin, and I am a year 7 Boarder at Pymble. I come from a small town called Yeoval in the Central West of NSW. Yeoval has a population of about 300 people and is famous as Banjo Patterson spent the first seven years of his childhood living there.
I live on a farm with my mum, dad, brother Fergus and sister Willa, as well as our four kelpies Ruby, Buddy, Jill and Lucy, and two cavoodles, Daisy and Millie. On our farm we have sheep, cattle and wheat.
When I am at home, I love to ride my horse Nancy, while my sister is riding her horse, Sunny. We spend hours riding through the paddocks and creeks and making jumps from fallen tree branches. I love spending time competing in Polocrosse carnivals and attending pony club camps. Warren is my favourite camp.
In the summertime we love swimming in the dam and playing on the paddle boards and kayaks. We also like water skiing as a family at Burrendong Dam.
When I look out my window, I can see our dogs running around, digging holes and playing in the garden while Mum is planting more plants. The horses in the distance are cantering around the paddock. Ferg is riding his motorbike going too fast and doing wheelies, Willa is painting patterns on old bricks from a path that was pulled up. Dad is rounding up sheep to get them in for shearing tomorrow.
What I love about being home is spending time with my horse Nancy, riding my motorbike around the farm while chasing kangaroos with Ferg and leading the dogs over small jumps. I also love the beautiful views of the Goobang National Park. I enjoy the peace and quiet of farm, the rainwater and watching the dogs play together.
When I return to Boarding, I feel lots of different emotions – sad, nervous but also excited to see all my friends both in the Boarding house and day school and hearing about what they got up to in the holidays.
Boarders of the Week
For those of you who are new to Boarding family, each week we turn the spotlight on one of our fabulous Boarders who has gone out of their way to make Boarding an extra special place for her Boarding Family. This week is exceptional, just like our Boarders, and it was too hard to pick out just one Boarder as being kind, caring and good fun and so all of our Boarders are Boarders of the Week for Week 2. Congratulations girls!
Carolyn Burgess
Head of Boarding