From the Junior School
From the Head of Junior School
As the holidays approach, I want to congratulate each girl on her effort, positive energy and open mindedness this term. Our girls have risen to challenges offered to them and shown their Pymble spirit through their learning, sporting and co-curricular activities.
Our phenomenal performance of Wind in the Willows
Our Year 6 girls shone on stage last week with their performances of the Wind in the Willows musical. Whilst some of the girls select drama, singing and dancing opportunities throughout the year, there were also many girls who performed and who found the process daunting. It takes huge courage to step out on a stage in front of an audience to act, sing and dance.
Some of our girls also stepped up, at the last minute, into solo parts when their peers were unwell. Whilst there were nerves backstage, each girl stepped out in character and performed with confidence and spirit way beyond her actual age. I watched both evening performances and they were exceptional. Huge congratulations to our girls, the Year 6 teachers and our brilliant Performing Arts teachers, Ms Ellen Buckley, Ms Maria Lee and Mr Kurt Schweinberger.
A message from Lara Bird, Deputy Head of Junior School – Academics
Congratulations
This week we are celebrating some girls for their special achievements. Whilst these girls deserve to be honoured in this way, please be assured that we celebrate each girl for all she has achieved and for the many ways she has grown this term. These results are a testament to the dedication of our teachers and the commitment by our students to their learning.
WriteOn Competition
Congratulations to Emma Deere, Year 4 who was awarded Silver in the Stage 2 category in the WriteOn Competition. Schools across New South Wales participate in WriteOn, a highly competitive academic competition for students in Years 1-6. NESA received over 640 entries from schools across NSW. Emma’s piece was called Song of the Savanna.
Robotics success
Congratulations to Lily Dao, Isabella Dong, Jing Yuan Liu and Arianna Ng who won the Design award for their robot at the VEX IQ competition at Barker College on Friday. Their team will now compete at State level later this year.
Athletics Champions
Congratulations to all Isabelle Lau, Emma Deere, Florence Chen and Safina Burgess who won Gold in the 4 x 100m relay at IPSHA this week. This is a phenomenal achievement and reflects their strong teamwork and determination. Congratulations to Florence who also won Gold in the Junior 100m and to Claudia Birrell who placed 5th in Long Jump. We are so proud of all our athletes!
Sporting superstar – Mr Matt Tyson
Congratulations to our Head of Sport K-6, Mr Matt Tyson who has been elected as of the IPSHA Girls Sports Representative on the IPSHA Sports Committee. This honour is testament to Matt’s exceptional leadership in girls’ sport and his passion for growing participation in all sorts of team sports for our young people.
Golf champion
Congratulations to Sophie Tong (Year 5) who competed in the Primary School golf championship last week at Batemans Bay. Sophie won NSW Primary Schools girls State Champion and CIS team Champion. Sophie has been selected to represent NSW in the State team and will play in the Australian National Championship in Perth in November.
ICAS Assessments
Congratulations to the following students who received a High Distinction in the ICAS Assessments. We also honour and congratulate all students who participated in ICAS Assessments, the girls displayed courage and perseverance by challenging themselves in this highly rigorous academic assessment. High Distinction is awarded to the top 1% of participants.
The following students were awarded High Distinction in English: Irene Du (Year 3), Emma Deere (Year 4), Christina Yang (Year 4), Ellie Zhang (Year 4), Zoe Liang (Year 5) Emma Popli (Year 5), Adeline Wu (Year 5), Michelle Xing (Year 5), Chloe Yi (Year 5) Lily Zhang (Year 5), Isabella Dong (Year 6), Athena Wu (Year 6)
ICAS Mathematics, the following students were awarded High Distinction: Amélie Berg (Year 4), Sarah Lu (Year 4), Loriah Zhang (Year 4), Charlotte Wu (Year 5), Isabella Dong (Year 6), Arabella Hoang (Year 6), Anika Verma (Year 6)
ICAS Science and Digital Technologies, the following students were awarded High Distinction: Irene Du (Year 3), Amélie Berg (Year 4), Olivia Headley (Year 4), Loriah Zhang (Year 4), Ellie Zhang (Year 4), Sarah Tew (Year 5), Adeline Wu (Year 5) and Charlotte Xue (Year 5).
A total of 96 students received the award of Distinction.
Mathematics Association of NSW (MANSW) – Investigating with Mathematics Competition
Congratulations to all the students who participated in the MANSW Investigating with Mathematics competition. Congratulations to the following students who were awarded Highly Commended.
Year 2
Category: Class:
Investigation: “Putting the play into playdough”
Award: Highly Commended
Year 2 students: Claire Huang, Charlotte Wang, Sarayah Wijesuriya, Siena Cassidy, Sophie Woo, Georgia Farthing, Alicia Gong, Claire Lee, Mila Li, Emily Ma, Marisa Nayak, Emily Shi, Violet Li, Olivia Xue, Audrey Conn, Isla Morrison, Ella Jang, Li-Ya Koo, Olivia Guo, Annabelle Moore, Yifei Zheng.
Year 4
Category: Class:
Investigation: “How do the staff in Pymble Ladies’ College Junior School impact the local environment by their transport choice?”
Award: Highly Commended
Year 4 Students: Evie Cho, Emma Feng (4D), Caitlyn Ho, Julie Kang, Annabelle Kim, Candice Li, Ella Li, Sarah Lu, Megan Ng, Genevieve Wong, Angela Xiong, Loriah Zhang, Stephanie Zhao
Year 5
Category: Group – Katelyn Gu, Athena Ng, Charlotte Wu and Audrey Quan
Investigation: What would be the impact on the environment if we banned disposable items for a week at Archie’s Café, our College café?
Award: Highly Commended
Year 5
Category: Individual – Charlotte Xue
Investigation: “If customers at Archie’s Café brought in their own cups what would be the positive impact on the environment based on the contribution percentage?”
Award: Highly Commended
Year 6
Category: Group – Phoebe Scott and Arabella Hoang
Investigation: “Miniature homes x food waste”
Award: Highly Commended
Mathematics Competition
Congratulations to Alice Jiang, Year 5 who was awarded Gold in a Mathematics competition. Alice is now training with the NSW team and hopes to compete for NSW later this year.
Sokratis Jr change of date and Creative writing club
Please note the new date for Sokratis Junior and Year 4 Creative Writing Club Showcase.
Tuesday, 7 November (Week 5)
2.00pm-3.00pm Year 4 Creative Writing Club with Mrs Brown – Junior School (3-6) library
3.30pm-5.00pm Sokratis Jr – John Reid Hall
ICAS Results
Parents can access their daughter’s results by following the steps below.
Students that have lost their previous ICAS certificate or sat ICAS at Pymble for the first time this year, can request it via our TAP-ID and PIN request form here.
ICAS Certificates will be posted to the School and will be sent onto parents.
Year 2 and 3 meet Tim Harris – Josephine Laretive, K-2 Librarian
On Thursday 14 September, Tim Harris shared his love of reading and how “books are like glue.” Tim explained that a good story will stay with you, you will remember the characters, you will remember the adventures or challenges, and you will learn about other people and other places. After the event, there was great excitement as many girls were able to have their very own Tim Harris book signed in the Library at recess.
Service in our Junior School – Nerissa Davey – Deputy Head of Junior School – Operations
It was such a special event last week when 8 residents from Bowden Brae Uniting Aged Care came to watch our Year 6 musical. 10 of our Year 6 girls partake in a wonderful service opportunity each fortnight visiting the residents. They were so very proud to share this event with the residents, who in turn were delighted to be here. We warmly welcomed our former Head of Junior School, Rosalie Ramsay.
SRC Update
Our Captains and Leaders this term have come up with some wonderful initiatives and ideas for our Junior School. One of these was to bring some life to our bathrooms in K-3 by adding colourful decals. We achieved this last week, much to the excitement of the girls. We look forward to many more ideas coming realised in Term 4.
Leadership opportunities for 2024
In the coming weeks, our Year 5 girls will have the opportunity to apply for one of these leadership opportunities for 2024:
Kindness Captains – 4 positions
House Captains – 4 positions per House
Student Representative Council Captains– 4 positions
STEM Captains – 4 positions
Sustainability Captains – 4 positions
Chapel Captains – 4 positions; 2 per semester
Please watch this video created by some of our 2023 Captains explaining these leadership roles.
Let’s Get Creative Day – Thursday 16 November
At our Arts Festival day we will be creating a market place for our girls in Year 3 to 6 to sell items they have created. All proceeds from the sale of their items will go to the College charities – Wayside Chapel, Dignity and The Smith Family. There has been a lot of interest from the girls and as such a sign up form has been created for expressions of interest. This form will close on the last day of this term on Friday 22 September.
A message from our Sustainability Captains; Oriana Fenton and Richielynne Xiong
Thank you to everyone for bringing in your creative artworks for our recycled art competition. We have decided to extend the competition to allow you to be creative over the holidays. So please bring all your artworks in by the end of week 1 next term. Prizes will be awarded to the most sustainable and creative artworks!
Around the Grounds
A message from the Administration Office
Thank you parents for a wonderful Term 3 and for your assistance in notifying us if your daughter has changes to her normal school routine day or is absent from school, or if you need to pass a message onto your daughter.
A reminder you daughter will return to school in full summer uniform for Term 4, please ensure all items of clothing and items is clearly named with her full name so it can be easily returned to her if it is found. Further information regarding Uniform and appearance can be found on page 32 and 33 of your daughter’s student diary.
We wish you a safe and lovely school term break and look forward to providing assistance and seeing your daughter in Term 4.
For K-2 girls travel arrangements which have changed for Term 4 please email juniorschool@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au
From the Junior School Parent Group (JSPG)
Thank you to our entire Junior School family for a very busy and amazing Term 3!
We hope you had a fabulous day on Saturday at the Garden Party.
Our Junior School stalls were very successful and attracted many crowds!
A sincere thank you to all our stall convenors who worked tirelessly in planning the stalls, ordering merchandise, liaising with Community Engagement and running the stall on the day. An enormous thank you to our Junior School Parent Group – without your support via donations for prizes and volunteering at our stalls on the day, we could not have run our stalls. Our girls and friends had an amazing day and we are so thankful of everyone’s kind and considerate help.
Important Dates for Term 3
| Tomorrow | Last Day of Term 3 |
| Tuesday 10 October | First Day of Term 4; summer uniform |
| Saturday 14 October | Year 5 Father/Daughter camp |
| Sunday 15 October | Year 5 Father/Daughter camp |
| Wednesday 18 October | Year 1 Get Growing Incursion |
Kate Brown
Head of Junior School