From the Middle School
It is with great excitement that we share with you our newly appointed Year 7 Leaders for the remainder of 2025. We have been so impressed with the many girls who put themselves forward for positions of responsibility across the portfolios.
Their confidence and the impressive initiatives they shared demonstrated the very high calibre of our applicants. I want to remind the girls that even if they were not successful this time, there will be many other opportunities available to step up. Student voice in Middle School is integral to working effectively together. I encourage everyone to be part of building a stronger community that embraces our College values.
Middle School Leaders
- Gandom Sharifishahed
- Molly Turner
- Lexie Wang
- Kashmira Agnew
- Ria Iyer
Environment Leader
Sophie Ahn
Communications Leader
Sahana Shasidharan
Community Service Leader
Yiyi Wang
Wellbeing Leader
Anika Perera
Intercultural Leader
Olivia Zheng
House Liaison Leaders
Bennett: Indy Barnes
Goodlet: Isabella Wilson
Hammond: Zoe Maynard
Ingleholme: Trisha Viswanathan
Lang: Maggie Brown
Marden: Anna Smart
Thomas: Charlyse McMahon Collinson
Wylie: Catherine Yu
Congratulations to the Year 8 team who placed first out of 77 schools in NSW at the NSW da Vinci Decathlon. Placing first, the team qualifies for the national championships, which take place in the next holiday break.
This is a sensational achievement that is a testament to your skills, passion and determination.
Team members: Adele Jiang, Jennifer Kurniawan, Arden Liceralde, Emma Ouyang, Anika Verma, Penny Xing, Meii You, Annabel Zhao. We are very proud of you girls.
Out of the ten disciplines, the students came first in cartography, ideation, legacy and mathematics.
Student Reflection
The Da Vinci Decathlon is an initiative run by Knox Grammar School, and it is a team academic competition. For each year level between Year 5 and 11, each school sends a team of eight students to compete in ten different disciplines: art and poetry, cartography, code breaking, creative producers, engineering, English, ideation, legacy, mathematics and science. Each year, all ten of the papers are centred around a certain theme, with this year’s theme being ‘Light’.
In preparation for da Vinci, our team worked incredibly hard, meeting up every week, researching and doing past papers to improve. All this hard work paid off, as our team placed first in ideation, cartography, legacy and mathematics, and we were crowned the state champions.
I am incredibly proud of our results and grateful for the amazing da Vinci program Pymble offers, as well as my amazing teammates. I look forward to competing in the national round in the school holidays.
Written by Emma Ouyang (Year 8)
Our second group of Year 8 students left last Sunday as part of the National Exchange Program. This group travelled to Hobart, Toowoomba and Melbourne.
Congratulations to all the Year 8 students who took part in the National Exchange program. Being selected for this opportunity is an amazing achievement, and you should be proud of yourselves for stepping out of your comfort zone. Experiencing life at a new school and living with a host family takes courage and an open mind, and you’ve shown just that. You’ve embraced new routines, built new friendships, and learned to adapt to different environments — all while representing our school with pride. Well done for making the most of this exciting journey!
Scholarship registrations for new RTG STEM Scholarship open to current Year 8 students
Pymble has a new scholarship for students with a passion and competent skills in STEM. The RTG STEM Scholarship offered through the Pymble Foundation is open to Year 8 students (current and external students) for a scholarship commencing in Year 9 2026 until Year 12 2029.
Registrations close on 30 July 2025. Students are required to sit an examination held at the College on Sunday 10 August 2025.
Information about portfolio requirements and how to apply can be found online through the Scholarship webpage.
Please share your stories of diversity and inclusion
Sharing stories is an engaging way to educate others about different ways of life, celebrate diversity and encourage inclusivity within our Pymble family and the communities we support. If you have a story you’d like to share about culture, religion, neurodiversity or physical diversity, we’d love to hear about your ideas via our online form here.
Jenny O’Donnell
Head of Middle School