From the Junior School

From the Junior School

From the Head of Junior School

Junior School Panel Event- A focus on student wellbeing for Academic Success

Thank you to all our parents who attended the Focus on Student Wellbeing for Academic Success evening on Tuesday. This is an event I dreamed of hosting as I am keen for us to grow and learn together as we strive to keep our girls healthy as they develop and pursue their passions and goals. I hope those of you who were able to attend found the event informative and that you have come away with some practical advice and reassurance that we are all in this together.

Setting up and running an event like this takes huge amounts of behind the scenes planning and I want to thank Mrs Kate Giles, Lead Coordinator K-3 and Mrs Jayne Mercer, Lead Coordinator 4-6 for their tireless work over many months in bringing this event to life.

Key take aways from this event for us all as parents include:

  1. Accept our children for who they are. Allow them to write their own story.
  2. Allow our children to be bored. Let them just ‘be’ as they inspires them to be creative.
  3. Make time to talk to them. Seek to understand their story at the different stages in their life.
  4. Remember that we, as parents, deserve and need to have a strong support network around us to help us through the parenting journey.

Congratulations to our Dancers

Wow! Our dance showcase 2023 was phenomenal! It was an honour to watch our girls from Kindergarten to Year 6 share their joy on stage. Sometimes it’s hard to remember how young our Junior School girls are as their skills are so advanced and their confidence on stage is so mature. The costumes dazzled, but the girls’ smiles and pride were even more dazzling. I am already looking forward to next year’s showcase. Please remember that all dance classes have now finished for this year except for ballet classes which continue until after the RAD exams.

Congratulations to all our swimmers and divers

Yesterday was the most exceptional Swimming Carnival for our girls in Year 3 to 6. This year we had the highest number of girls participating in individual races. Congratulations girls for challenging yourselves with the races you swum and for your outstanding House Spirit. Our diving showcase was an impressive showcase of the skill, grace and confidence of our divers. A shout out to Mr Tyson our Head of Sport and Chris Lang our Head Diving Coach for entering the fun and showcasing their diving enthusiasm!

Girl Power! – Social Justice Club- raising awareness of injustices in our community

Thank you to Safina Burgess, Ava Costa, Charlotte Lau, Claudia Birrell, Emily Long, Evie Cho, Anaiya Patel, Ellie Lau, Isabelle Lau, Jessamy Facer, Chloë Lenane, Grace Neal, Lillie Oldfield, Christina Yang, Loriah Zhangwho planned and led a thought-provoking assembly last week for Kindergarten to Year 4. Social Justice club have been working this year with Mrs Shaira Musico, Mrs Kate Giles, Mrs Melissa Kotian and me to think of injustices in our community and world and thinking about ways we can seek to make positive change.

Message about Social Justice Club from Ellie Lau, Grace Neal, Ava Costa, Lillie Oldfield, Chloë Lenane and Jessamy Facer- “We watched a video where girls received less reward than the boys for doing the same job. It seemed really unfair, and we talked about how some jobs still seemed to be more for females and some for males. We know that girls can do anything that boys can! We decided to do our own experiment as we wanted to see what the Junior School girls thought. Would they think that some jobs are for men or boys and some girls are for women or girls? 

In our experiment our K-4 Junior School girls were asked to draw a picture to represent 4 professions and then to name their person. Following the completion of the drawing the ‘real life’ people came and introduced themselves and shared what it was like doing their job. Thanks to Bronwyn from Lane Cove Fire Station, Mitch from our Pymble Dance staff, Romina Cooke, Head Pymble Cadet and Georgie Friedrichs, Australian Wallaroo Rugby Player. We will review the results more closely and see what we think we can do next to address some of the gender stereotypes we have.”

A message from Mrs Jayne Mercer, Lead Coordinator 4-6 – Around the Grounds

On Friday, Year 6 headed to the Secondary School for their Year 7 Links Day. Throughout the day the girls had the opportunity to experience life as a Year 7 student. They were grouped based on their houses which is how Secondary School organise their Compass classes. This gave the girls the chance to meet the new girls from other schools who will be in their house when they join Pymble in 2024. There was the opportunity to participate in a variety of lessons, join in a scavenger hunt to familiarise themselves with new areas and then spend the afternoon checking out what is available to Year 7 students outside of the classroom in the “Have a Go” session.

Chatting with the girls when they returned to the Junior School they expressed that they had had a wonderful day and were excited about what Year 7 will bring.

“I really enjoyed meeting the new girls.” – Eloise L and Avika K

“I enjoyed the Maths class – we looked closely at curves on graphs, and I realised that they are made from straight lines.” – Amber C

“I enjoyed the English class and writing about a marshmallow.” – Adella B

“I enjoyed the Science lesson in the Science lab and meeting new people.” – Ruby S

A message from Mrs Josephine Laretive, K-2 Teacher Librarian and Mrs Martha Itzcovitz, 3-6 Teacher Librarian 

Last date for borrowing and date need to be returned

Please note that all library books are due back by Friday 1 December.  

  • Final day for Years 3-6 borrowing is Friday 17 November
  • Final day for K-2 borrowing is Friday 24 November
  • All books due back by Friday 1 December

 If you have any concerns regarding book loans, please contact: 

 Thank you for your support!

Diwali photos

Important Dates for Term 4

Thursday 23 NovemberKindergarten to Year 2 Swimming Carnival
Thursday 30 NovemberYear 6 Silent Disco and Parent Cocktail Party, 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Tuesday 5 DecemberKindergarten Celebration of Learning 9.00am-10.30am Year 1 and Year 2 Celebration of Learning 11.30am-12.30pm Students in Kindergarten, Year 1 and 2 will be able to go home with parents at the end of the events, or they can remain at school until the end of the day. A form to advise of family preference will be sent to families.
Wednesday 6 DecemberYears 3-6 Speech Day Supervision for students in K-2 is available. Last Day of Term 4 2023

Kate Brown

Head of Junior School