From the Middle School
From the Head of Middle School Jenny O’Donnell
This week in Middle School we are continuing to support the girls to use their voices and genuinely care for each other, which in turn builds our compassionate community. Growing up can be tricky -especially for 12-14 year olds – and it is important to acknowledge that navigating change affects individuals differently. During MBS time, we have been working to again unpack the section of our Student Diaries that refers to “Promoting Positive Behaviour”. In sync with R U OK? Day activities which are happening next week, it is timely to remind the girls that there are many people in Middle School who care and want to support them throughout their journey. Dr Hadwen addressed the College on Tuesday at the Combined Assembly underscoring the above and reminding girls to reach out to their Compass teachers, academic teachers, Heads of Year, Deputy/ Head of School, the counselling team, the Revs- an assortment of trusted adults – whomever they felt comfortable talking to whenever they felt the need. Thank you for working with us to ensure your daughters know we are here in partnership with families to provide best care.
Again I want to thank our Pymble families for billeting the girls from Milingimbi. They have provided a comprehensive reflection of their time together:
Day 1 by Tanvi Raniga
We all arrived at 8 o’clock at the Middle School Office so that we could walked up to the train station to catch the train to Wynyard then walked to the Sydney Museum. We walked through the park and met them right in front of the Sydney Museum. They were playing AFL and shouting to each other in their language. Tessa, a Milingimbi teacher called them over and we went around the circle and said our names. After that the teachers paired us with our two buddies, and we got to know each other. My buddies were called Kathleen and Natasha. After we asked each other some questions, we headed into the museum and started to look at the exhibition. We carefully observed all of the art pieces and some of them were created with natural paint, and they were painted on real bark. There were also wooden statues of the people. That was Natasha’s favourite. We continued and we saw some rainbow and pink pieces of bark art. We also visited the gift shop and admired all of the yellow earrings and artwork; those were Kathleen’s favourites. After looking at the gift shop, we headed to the art-making area and created some jelly-printing artworks, where we rolled paint onto the jelly then compressed the paper on top of the jelly and carefully peeled it off to reveal our masterpieces. After that we had lunch on the hill in the shade of the trees in the park. We headed back to the artmaking room after lunch and we created some watercolour pieces, painting our favourite place in the world and places that made us feel special. To conclude the day, we got on our Pymble bus and sang lots of songs on the way back to Pymble. And finally, our parents came to pick us up and we drove home.
Day 2 by Georgina Lewis
Day 2 began like a normal school day, as we welcomed the girls to Pymble. I was hosting Teshauna and Calypso at my home, and we spent the night before and morning ensuring they were comfortable. Once we arrived at school, it was heart warming to see the Milingimbi girls’ joyous laughs and hugs as they greeted their friends who were staying at other homes. Our morning was very exciting as the welcome ceremony was held, followed by our very own First Nations dance troupe who performed beautifully. After recess, which was spent introducing the Milingimbi girls to our Pymble friends, we were lucky enough to participate in a 3D art making workshop. We all crafted our own sphere-shaped creations with clay that were touched with engravings of animals. Lunch was followed by a Year 8 assembly where we introduced the girls to our cohort, and they were presented with the opportunity to share some words about themselves! They all did very well considering our year group is so big compared to what they are used to. Our final activity of the day was a ukulele workshop led by Ms Ashton and some Year 7 students. Although many of the girls were exhausted from a fulfilling and busy day, it was still nice to teach some of them some chords and watch as they pieced together a song. The girls and I took the train to Chatswood with my mum after school and met up with Edith and her guests, which was really cool! The rest of our night was spent relaxing and playing many rounds of Uno with my brothers at home with Teshauna and Calypso.
Day 3 by Edith Cullinane
We met the girls at the Middle School Office and headed to the ag plot for our first activity. There, we met the animals and even saw some baby chicks with Ms. Attley, which was a new and exciting experience for many of the girls. On our way back, we met with Ms Astrom and played some pickleball which was a lot of fun. Afterwards, one of the Milingimbi teachers, Blakike, taught us some words and games in their language. This helped us understand the girls better and made them feel more comfortable speaking in their own language at Pymble. During recess we celebrated Blakike’s birthday with Lillie baking her a delicious cake. After recess, we cooked in the camp oven at the yarning circle, making brownies and lunch together. While we cooked, the girls shared some of their cultural dances, and Georgina and I taught Tishauna and Calypso a dance we knew. For lunch we had a curry made by Ms Budd. It was delicious and everyone enjoyed it. All day the girls were very excited for the swimming and that time had finally come, down at the aquatic centre the girls had to do a swimming assessment, but we got to finish this off with some fun diving where Xieanna, one of the Milingimbi girls, showed off some cool front flips.
As a separate activity for the billeting girls, Ellie, Georgina and I all decided to go bowling at Macquarie Centre with them. It was an exciting night as we all went together and got some strikes and spares as well as having a delicious meal afterwards at Bondi Pizza. The Milingimbi girls were amazing at bowling, and it brought all of us closer together than before.
Day 4 by Ellie Lau
The last day was especially special as it was the last day on campus for the Milingimbi girls. The start of the day consisted of some reflection time in the Upper School common room, where we all sat together, drank hot chocolate and ate some biscuits, as well as doing some drawing and origami. By the time we had finished our hot drinks, we all went up to the robotics rooms where we were shown the brilliant robots which were built by the VEX and FRC Pymble girls.
After driving the robots and listening to the interesting things the robotics girls had to say, we finally made our way back to the Middle School Office where we enjoyed our morning tea.
Before we knew it, we all were taking the Milingimbi girls down to the gymnasium, (gymnastic gym) where Ms Blaike taught us some cool tricks including artistic gymnastic and circus (trapeze.) All which were lots of fun and an incredible experience for the girls.
After using lots of energy, we then headed back up to have some lunch for the last time outside the Middle School Office.
Then we all did some relaxing weaving which was a nice way to reflect and connect with everyone. Before we knew it, it was time for the Milingimbi girls to go. Edith, Georgina and Ellie started crying as the girls boarded their bus to head to Vision Valley.
Student Achievements
Congratulations to Isabel Fan (Year 8) took part in the Australia National Eisteddfod in Canberra and was awarded 1st place in the 13 years Own Choice Solo and 1st place in the 13 years Classical Solo
30 students across Middle School are continuing to work on the Speaking in Colour Weaving workshops. It is great to see them developing new skills and building understanding about collaborative practices. We are getting closer to a finished product which will be a 3D shark sculpture. I look forward to sharing the artwork with our community.
Congratulations to our 7B Archdale Debating Grand Final winners:
Lydia Chen
Melody Chen
Christina Harley
Chloe Smith
We are very excited to share some wonderful news regarding results from the Cambridge University Australia and New Zealand Debating Competition, held at St Ignatius’ College, Riverview, on 30 and 31 August involving leading schools from across Australia and New Zealand. Athena Wu of Year 8 was a member of the winning team for the Grand Final. As a result, they have been invited to represent Pymble Ladies’ College at the Cambridge School’s Global Final Debating Competition in March 2026, at Cambridge University.
Athena was honoured to receive the following awards:
• Overall 2nd Best Speaker
• Final Best Speaker
• Grand Champion
What an incredible achievement! Congratulations Athena.
Jenny O’Donnell
Head of Middle School