From the Middle School
A very warm welcome to the Middle School for 2025!
The team has had a busy start to Term 1 with 300 Year 7 students beginning their transition to high school, and seven new families joining our Year 8 cohort.
Thank you to all the staff and students who have invested time to ensure that everyone has been made to feel welcome: our beautiful Heads of Year and Compass teachers who have embraced all the girls after the summer break and guided them as they navigate new routines, our Year 8 Transition Leaders and Middle School Leaders – 35 in total – who assisted across the two days of the bespoke Year 7 Orientation Program last week, the Year 10 Peer Support Leaders who ran get-to-know-you games, and the student buddies who helped new Year 8 students settle in and find their way around what can seem like a dauntingly large campus.
At this point I am happy to report that our Year 7 cohort has continued to impress us with their sense of initiative and enthusiasm – a sign of great things to come, I’m sure!
Last week’s Year 7 Orientation Program saw the girls engage in a variety of activities to help them get to know their peers and prepare them for their first full academic week. Sessions were run predominantly in House and Compass groups to provide some familiarity, foster relationships and allow for foundations to be established.
The sessions included:
- An introduction to our focus on Five Ways to Wellbeing: connect, give, be active, take notice and keep learning.
- Fun games and athletic activities on the oval run by our PDHPE staff and the Year 12 House Leaders.
- Preparing for learning which was led by our Heads of Year 7: Mr Michael Stern and Mrs Karen Michie.
- IT setup/working with devices which empowered the girls to explore how we use laptops at Pymble.
On Wednesday of this week our Year 7 girls spent the afternoon in the Aquatic Centre, a welcome break in this hot weather.
Below is the list of 2025 Heads of Years 7 and 8 and relevant Compass teachers for your reference.
| Year 7 Compass Team | Year 8 Compass Team | |
| Bennett A | Jane Lillycrop | Ronnell Catulong |
| Bennett B | Jack Routledge | Adam Moynihan |
| Goodlet A | Alex Campbell | Jessica Budden |
| Goodlet B | Scott Johnston | Angela Thorne |
| Hammond A | Katherine Kitto | Lucy Rich |
| Hammond B | Lucia Maalouf | Karen Al-Khaky |
| Ingleholme A | Jamie Batten | Mel Cooper Findlay / Keya Pettigrew |
| Ingleholme B | Alana Bowler | Eugene Jung |
| Lang A | Anne De Fraine / Lauren Thompson | Sam Kelly |
| Lang B | Joanne Howe | Alexandra Speed |
| Marden A | Lily Hoang | Mark Way |
| Marden B | Penny Blake | Rebecca York |
| Thomas A | Cara Smith | Monique Millett |
| Thomas B | Victoria Waldock | Erica Lyons |
| Wylie A | Peter Veliotis / Prasheel Kumar | Elaine Lee |
| Wylie B | Mami Izuishi | Brendon Long |
Our Year 8s are looking forward to a day off campus next Thursday when they will be heading to the city for their Mind-Body-Spirit Day. The girls will have an opportunity to visit either The Art Gallery of NSW, The Museum of Contemporary Art, The Australian Museum or NSW Parliament prior to picnicking together in the Botanic Gardens and then heading home via a walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Please remember to complete the permission form which is also available on the MyPymble parent portal.
Congratulations to Georgia Friedel (Year 8) who read with such confidence at Tuesday’s Foundation Day celebrations in front of an audience of over 2,000 people. You certainly made Middle School proud.
We look forward to meeting many of you at the up-and-coming Knowing People, Knowing Pymble event on Tuesday 18 February from 5.15pm. Invitations were sent via MyPymble, and are also below:
A reminder and invitation to all of our Middle School students that games and crafting activities will continue to be run across lunchtimes on Gloucester Lawn. This is a fabulous opportunity for the girls to build new connections and have some fun. Throughout the year, on Tuesdays in particular, our Gloucester Gathering Leaders will be organising and facilitating specific events. Please encourage your daughters to get involved. The schedule for Term 1 is below:
From the Year 7 Parent Co-ordinators
The Secondary School Parent Group extends a warm welcome to all our new Year 7 parents. Please note the following two activities in your diary, both of which are great opportunities to meet other Year 7 parents.
Icebreaker: Friday 21 February from 6.45pm to 9.00pm at the College. Click here to purchase tickets.
Thursday 20 March: Year 7 parent drinks from 6.00pm to 9.00pm at Killara Golf Club. Details to be published soon via the Year 7 WhatsApp group.
If you haven’t joined the Year 7 WhatsApp group yet, please contact either Edwina Burns or Maria Guo (Year 7 Parent Coordinators).
Edwina Burns – edwina@deburns.com +61 419 580 580
Maria Guo – maria.guo82@gmail.com +61 414 379 688
From the Year 8 Parent Co-ordinators
A warm welcome to you all! We hope that you had a lovely holiday break.
Eszter Sebok, Supriyaa Singh and Chloe Ma are the Year 8 coordinators for this year. Together with the coordinators of other years, we are part of the Senior School Parent Group (SSPG) which is a subgroup of the Pymble Parent Association (PPA). Our goal is to foster a supportive and engaging community for all Year 8 families.
Announcements
We have several events and activities planned for the year ahead to bring parents together and encourage involvement in the school community. The first one is the PPA Icebreaker, which will be held on Friday 21 February 2025. It is a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and make new ones, and we would love to see as many of you as possible!
We have also set up communication channels to help parents stay connected and informed. We run private Year 8 parent chat groups on various platforms. These groups are independent of the school and provide an opportunity to share updates, ask questions, and connect with other parents. Joining these groups is entirely optional but highly encouraged:
- WhatsApp: We maintain two WhatsApp groups – one for announcements and key messages (admin posts only) and one for general parent discussions.
- WeChat: There is a Year 8 WeChat group, which is regularly updated with relevant information.
- Facebook: Our year also has a dedicated Facebook group where selected updates are posted.
If you would like to join any of these groups, please feel free to reach out to us and we will assist you with access.
Last but not least, we are here to support you and your girls throughout the year. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions. You can reach us at:-
Ms Eszter Sebok at 0493 961 419 and esztersebok@hotmail.com
Ms Supriyaa Singh at 0431 630 780 and supriyaa.singh@gmail.com
Ms Chloe Ma at 0468 449 019 and chloemkw66@gmail.com
We look forward to a fantastic year ahead and hope to meet many of you at our upcoming events!
Jenny O’Donnell
Head of Middle School