From the Middle School

This week we are saying farewell to Ms Mimmo, one of our Heads of Year 8, as she takes up the leadership role of Deputy Head of Boarding here at Pymble. I would like to thank Theresa again for her investment in ensuring the girls have been so well cared over the last two years. Her contributions to all things Middle School have been greatly appreciated.

Next term, we will be welcoming two new Compass teachers to the Year 7 team. As I shared with you previously, Ms Cunningham is stepping into the Head of Year 8 role from the start of term 4 and Ms Foster will be taking ongoing responsibility for her 7 Hammond B Compass group. Mr Catulong will be taking some well-deserved leave for term 4, and Ms Al Khaky will be taking responsibility for his 7 Bennett A Compass group during this time.

I’d like to wish all of our Middle School families a very safe term break. I hope that the girls take time to enjoy away from routines and we look forward to welcoming them back for the start of Term 4 on Tuesday 15 October.

Congratulations again to our Year 8 students who participated with such enthusiasm last week in their Outdoor Education camp experience. You were wonderful ambassadors for Pymble. Please enjoy the student reflections below.

Student reflections

Camp was an amazing experience that I will never forget. I have made many new friends that will last forever. Every day was great excitement to be moving from each campsite as we had to pack up and reset our tents each time giving us an extra fun job.

We also made our own breakfast with bread over the fire and the amazing waffles when we were back at base. The day’s activities included low ropes, base 7, archery, canoeing, hiking, wombat hole, river run and many more. All these activities were great for team building and overall thrill and excitement.

Each night’s dinner was made by a group of students from the camp group. They included minute steak, nachos, rotisserie chicken, beef noodles and concluding with damper or s’mores as a sweet treat. My highlight of the week was the river run as it was messy but great fun to jump into a big mud pool, something I will most likely never be able to do again.

Something else I really enjoyed was spending time with my camp group, especially when we would play footy, cards or sit around the campfire telling each other stories that would run late into the night. The main part of this camp was being able to have a great time whilst not having to care about anything but the excitement of the next day.

Written by Anabella Legge-Hughes (Year 8)

Year 8 camp lasted about five days and four nights around Colo River, Upper Colo. In that time, there were some unforgettable activities for Year 8 to take part in while we were away from our screens. Among all the amazing activities such as cooking, archery, rock climbing, abseiling, canoeing, and hiking, I enjoyed the Base 7 activity the most.

This consisted of sneaking up a hill in camo to try to approach the top tower to get points. This exciting activity was a great way to work our brains by finding strategic ways to keep hidden in the bushes. Though there were many fun activities, there were some challenges throughout this experience. For example, we couldn’t choose our group members. I was quite worried about this part, but I realised talking to people outside of my friend group wasn’t too bad. Staying warm at night was also a struggle, as I didn’t expect the nights to be so cold.

Overall, I would definitely do it again, as the experience helped me gain independence, courage, and I am grateful for stepping out of my comfort zone.

Written by Julia Zhu (Year 8)

Congratulations to our Year 7 and Year 8 Jacaranda Award recipients

Compass Group	Year 8	Year 7
Bennett A	Emma Koorey	Zarah Ali
Bennett B	Eloise Jenkins	Charlotte Pang
Goodlet A	Clara Mudaliar	Olivia Sheldrake
Goodlet B	Alessandra Liew	Wendy Wei and Blair Tang
Hammond A	Malaika Rasheed	Daysie Leahy
Hammond B	Ashira Fonseka	Chloe Yi Ting Teoh
Ingleholme A	Geena Cheng	Chloe Sun
Ingleholme B	Vivian Lui	Kaylene Chiu
Lang A	Madison Langdgrebe	Angela Mao
Lang B	Francesca (Fran) Chan	Dimity Loeve
Marden A	Feifei Wang	Athena Wu
Marden B	Gwen Pickthall	Bebe Brennan
Thomas A	Bethany Carruthers	Rose Bennett
Thomas B	Sophie Heap	Annabel Makeham
Wylie A	Ella Gao	Isobel Goodridge
Wylie B	Alicia Bi	Grace Neal

Garden Party

A thank you to all the Year 7 and Year 8 students that volunteered their time at Garden Party on Saturday. The Middle School Stall sold out of baskets and proved once again to be a very popular stall on the day. All proceeds from our Gift Baskets are donated to the College Charity, The Barbra May Foundation.