From the Junior School

From the Head of Junior School

Our girls showed their courage and enthusiasm as learning adventurers as they embraced the activities of Links Day last week. Throughout the day the girls from Kindergarten to Year 5, 2023 had the unique opportunity to step into the shoes of their future grade, giving them a sneak peek into the incredible learning experiences awaiting them next year. Some of the activities included:

Year 1 reading the book Isabella’s Garden by Glenda Millard and talking about the growth of the beautiful garden throughout the seasons and talking about this being their journey from Kindergarten as they bloom and blossom. The girls loved talking about all the things they are looking forward to and making their 3D Hyacinth flowers using a paper twirling technique.
Year 2 enjoying a yarn together about their hopes and wishes for the coming year and reading Smart Cookie by Jory John and reflecting on all the different ways they are smart.
A special Assembly for our future 2024 Year 1 and Year 2 girls that featured our new liaison prefects, Eleni, Mia, Carly and Daniela, heard our ‘Friday Funny’ from the Year 1 teachers and celebrated Iyla Jolapara who is being courageous and generous by cutting her hair and raising much needed funds for blood cancer research.
Year 4 bringing some drama and fun to the classroom with a fairytale role play with a difference.

Our Year 6 girls have their Links Day into Year 7 on 10 November. As such, they used the day to continue working on their individual projects as they work towards their showcase of learning later this term. Year 6 also had the fun of some House spirit activities on Saturday morning with their Year 7 cohort, a glimpse of the camaraderie and teamwork that they’ll experience as Year 7 students.

Diwali celebrations are coming

This week I was honoured to be the learner as a group of four girls from Year 3. Arin Sadananda, Arya, Anya and Siya shared their knowledge of the history and traditions behind Diwali. The girls generously gave up their lunchtime to share with me the story of the love between Princess Sita and Rama and how good triumphs over evil, light over darkness. The girls showed an impressive depth of knowledge about the traditions families honour now and how the stories of Diwali alter slightly depending on where you live in India but the ultimate message of light defeating darkness and welcoming loved ones safely home remains constant. These girls will share their passion and cultural pride in our upcoming Diwali festival celebration next week.

Year 5 and Year 11 Buddies

This week our Year 5 girls shared their vision boards with their Year 11 buddies. Throughout the year we have created opportunities for our Year 5 girls to connect with Year 11 and each partnership has learnt from one another, listening to one another’s stories and finding shared interests and passions. I am proud to hear from Mrs Wyse, Head of Senior School that the Year 11 girls have loved this experience so much, they have asked to continue this buddy program next year as our Year 5 girls move into Year 6.

Teachers as lifelong learners

This week I want to honour Mrs Victoria Adamovich who has been recognised by the Teachers’ Guild NSW for her exceptional research into the wellbeing of students from language backgrounds other than English. Victoria’s research centres on understanding how migration, family structures and choices can affect children. Each year the Teachers’ Guild NSW honours just a few teachers and it is an incredible honour for Victoria to be recognised with her Finalist award.

A message from Lara Bird, Deputy Head of Junior School Academics

Wild with Words Poetry Competition

Students in Year 1 to 6 across Ku-ring-gai are invited to submit a poem about a favourite animal, plant, tree or special place in nature, sharing their love and respect for our environment. Girls are to submit a hardcopy of their poem which includes a hand drawn picture. Entries close on 14 November.

For more details, please click here.

Sokratis Jr Presentation

The Sokratis Junior School presentation will take place on Tuesday 7 November from 3.30pm to 4.30pm in the 3-6 Junior School library.

A message from Stephen Robinson, Acting Deputy Head of Junior School Operations

Grandparents Day Picnic

This Friday we look forward to welcoming Grandparents to the Junior School where they will be able to join their grandchildren for lunch. We have extended our lunch times to occur between 12.30pm and 1.30pm, allowing girls to spend as much time with their family members as possible.

Additional seating will be placed in the:

Kindergarten lower courtyard
Year 1 riverbed courtyard
Year 2 upper courtyard
Year 4 courtyard (behind the new JS Office), for families of students in Years 3/4/5/6.

Where grandparents have students in multiple grades, we kindly ask families to come together in the location of the youngest child.

Throughout the lunchtime we will have games and activities for all students to enjoy, including chalk drawing on the Junior School service road where we encourage students to draw their extended family.

Parking: Parking is available in the Centenary Carpark and will also be permitted in the K-2 and 3-4 carlines, accessible via Gate 1 provided cars are removed by 2.00pm. For additional convenience, Greyhouse Walk will be open for those who would prefer to enter from Pymble Avenue.

Classes resume for all students at 1.30pm and therefore no students will be permitted to leave early without a prior application for leave, as is our normal process.

Let’s Get Creative Festival – Thursday 16 November 2023

We are very much looking forward to welcoming you onto campus for our Let’s Get Creative Festival on Thursday 16 November 2023. We have a very wide range of exciting performances, displays and stalls for you to enjoy.

The following provides a brief overview of the day:

9.00am to 10.00am: K-6 House Competition in the College Gymnasium

10.00am to 11.30am: Exhibits in the Junior School

10.00 Rotation 1

10.30 Rotation 2

11.00 Rotation 3

(Rotations specific to individual grades groups will be communicated to families via Portal notice)

11.30am to 12.30pm: Finale of the PJ Factor competition

12.30pm to 1.30pm: Optional Family Picnic in the Junior School Valley Playground

Market Stall Purchases: Our 40+ student-operated market stalls will be selling a vast range of student created, home-made items being sold for $1-$2. Stalls are cashless on the day, but ‘tokens’ can be bought in advance by sending money into Compass Teachers on Monday to Wednesday of Week 6 (not exceeding $5). Tokens will then be issued to students on Thursday morning. Additional tokens can be bought on the day. We thank all our stall operators who are donating their proceeds to charity.

Parking: As with all events on campus, parking is limited. We kindly ask that all students be dropped off at school at their usual time as so they can prepare for the House Competition. Once carline operations cease at 8.30am, parking will be permitted along the upper and lower loop roads accessible via Gate 1 provided cars are moved by 2.00pm. Greyhouse Walk will remain open throughout the day.

RSVP and Dismissal Process: Please click this link to RSVP your attendance to our festival. The form allows you to identify when and how your daughter will be leaving school, whether this be at 12.30pm or at regular dismissal time.

Should you be unable to attend during the day, we warmly invite you to attend an evening showing of student artworks the evening of Wednesday 15 November between 5.00pm and 6.00pm.

Our Let’s Get Creative Festival is a new and exciting initiative this year. It will be our largest ever event hosted within the Junior School, with every student in Kindergarten to Year 6 involved in performances and the art display. Although we have attempted to foresee all eventualities, please work with us if there are any unforeseen matters as we co-ordinate this wonderful event.

We very much look forward to seeing you at the Let’s Get Creative Festival.

Pymble Gives Back

Thank you to all our wonderful families who have throughout this year donated clothes and linen as of our Pymble Gives Back initiative. With the end of year fast approaching and as we enter the warmer months, please consider donating any suitable items that are no longer being used. We would love to see the bin once again overflow with donations with the generosity of our Junior School Community.

A message from Kate Giles, Lead Coordinator K-3 and Jayne Mercer, Lead Coordinator 4-6

This week in Kindergarten the girls have enjoyed reading Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell and thinking about how they would persuade the zoo to send them an interesting and exciting pet by using reasons.

The Year 1 girls are enjoying learning how to write information reports by investigating interesting facts about animals such as the Blue Whale and the Koala. They have been fascinated by the unique characteristics of the animals and enjoyed learning how to structure their writing to be interesting for the audience.

“I was quite amazed to read that a koala sleeps for 18-20 hours a day.” – Su-Ya Koo

“I had fun trying to make a container that can hold 16 unifix cubes. It was hard but I did it in one go!” – Flora Wu

“I learnt that a baby koala is called a joey and when it is born it is the size of a jelly bean.” – Allison Lu

“It was exciting to see all different sorts of seeds inside the fruits and vegetables. Some of them were very funny shapes.” – Josie Li

“I was surprised to learn that whales have baleen instead of teeth which they use to eat small fish.” – Olivia Yang

Year 2 have enjoyed making Rube Goldberg machines in Science, creating their Mimmis in Visual Arts and convincing their teachers and classmates of their opinions on a range of interesting and varied topics such as that mosquitoes are the most annoying of all bugs, or children should have fewer toys and more cardboard boxes to play with.

‘I loved watching Rube Goldberg videos in Science where children made a maze that show push and pull forces.’ – Lexie Pu

‘I have enjoyed Maths lessons where we were asked to show all the things we know about a 3-digit number.’ – Chloe Xu

‘I have loved learning about technology from the past in History. We got to look at dolls, cassettes and a record player. It was cool.’ – Mia Wang

‘I have really liked learning about Persuasive texts in Literacy. We wrote a letter trying to persuade Mrs Brown to let us go on camp in Year 2.’ – Aimee Pan

‘I loved finding things in nature to make our Mimmi’s in Art.’ – Amelia Chen

Year 3 have been working on their research and note taking skills in Inquiry and English lessons. They have been learning about the fascinating age of exploration and have loved investigating many different explorers who discovered and mapped the trade and spice routes a long time ago. Each girl has chosen to research an early Sea explorer, researching the journey they travelled and why it was important to the world.

‘We have been researching famous explorers. One of the explorers I have learnt about is Ferdinand Magellan. Did you know he was the mastermind behind the first voyage to circumnavigate the world!?‘ – Alice Deutscher

‘In English this term, Miss Kennett has been teaching us all about explorers. One of the explorers I enjoyed researching was Captain James Cook. He was a master of mapping. Cook mapped the main islands of New Zealand and the East Coast of Australia. While he was in Australia, he studied the native flora and fauna.’ – Kelsey Huang

‘It was surprising to learn that Matthew Flinders was the first person to circumnavigate Australia.’ – Annie Yuan

‘I liked learning about Hartog and how he sailed to the unknown southern land and how he landed on the west coast of Australia, placing a special dish there to mark this special event.‘ – Miranda Liu

Parent Friendship workshop – How to support your daughter with her friendships

We are starting a number of parent workshops following the parent wellbeing survey last term. These workshops will provide an opportunity for you to discuss various issues to assist supporting your daughter with her health and wellbeing. The workshops will be small to ensure a relaxed atmosphere and allow for discussions and questions, so will be capped at 20 parents.

The first workshop will be held on Thursday 9 November at 8.30am in the Junior School Library. Should you wish to attend this workshop, please sign up using this link: Parent Friendship Workshop sign up

Should you have any questions, please email us at kgiles@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au or jmercer@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au

HARK Refugee Clinic

In the lead up to Christmas, the HARK Clinic are seeking donations of toys, specifically Barbie dolls, baby dolls, playdough, matchbox cars, soccer balls and Lego. These items can be brought to school by your daughter or dropped at the Junior School office. If you have any questions, please email kgiles@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au. We thank you for helping support the HARK Refugee Clinic at Westmead.

Junior School Panel Event: A focus on student wellbeing for academic success

On Tuesday 14 November the Junior School will host a panel event in the Gillian Moore Centre for Performing Arts (GMCPA) from 6.00pm to 8.00pm. This event is best suited to parents of students in Kindergarten to Year 8.

The panel will feature experts in fields from child psychology, parenting strategies, child advocacy and digital media. Alumni Zoe Robinson will emcee the evening, centring the discussion on student wellbeing for long term academic success.

Zoe will be joined on stage by:

Brad Marshall, the Unplugged Psychologist
Judith Locke, author of The Bonsai Child and The Bonsai Student
Lisa Maltman, founder of The Sleep Connection
Andrew Scott, Leader of Psychological Services at Pymble

Date: Tuesday 14 November

Time: 6.00pm to 8.00pm

Venue: Gillian Moore Centre for Performing Arts

Registration: This is a FREE event, but registration is essential and tickets are limited.

To register please click here.

Pymble families are offered an early bird booking before tickets open to the wider community.

Please note: due to privacy guidelines there will be no recording of this event and no video link available following the panel.

Around the Grounds

Messages from Junior School Administration Office

Water Bottles

With the weather temperatures increasing, a reminder to ensure you daughter has a water bottle with her at school. Water bottle filling stations and water bubblers are available throughout Junior School.