From the Principal

From the Principal

This year, Pymble’s focus is on using our gifts and talents to give back to community. With this in mind, this week’s Newsletter outlines my commitments to education and organisations beyond the gates of Pymble in 2023, along with new service initiatives for students I am engaged in supporting. Thank you to my wonderful husband, Matt, and our family, the College Board, Pymble staff, and our girls and families whose support enables me to give back, and to be enriched, through these opportunities.

The groups I will continue to contribute to, and learn from, in 2023 include:

  • Association of Independent Schools, NSW (AISNSW) Mental Health Advisory Board – Chair
  • AISNSW Advisory Board
  • Independent Girls’ Schools Association (IGSA) Standing Committee
  • Alliance of Girls’ Schools Australasia (AGSA) Board – Treasurer
  • Australian Youth Orchestra Board
  • Telethon Kids Institute (The University of Western Australia) – Adjunct Research Fellow
  • The Child Health Promotion Research Centre (Edith Cowan University) – Adjunct Research Fellow.

Speaking of commitments, I am delighted to let you know I have now finished the Master of Narrative Therapy and Community Work that I started in 2022. While I have learned so much, it was, frankly, a bit crazy completing a Master’s degree in one year. Thank you to my wonderful assistant, Shannon Sengupta, and everyone else who became involved in supporting me during that time.

March of the Living (visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau)

Late last year, I was approached by the Board of March of the Living (MOTL) Australia to consider being funded to attend this program from 14 to 30 April 2023, along with two other selected community members (Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe and award-winning journalist Nick McKenzie). The Board of MOTL is keen to kickstart the program again, post-COVID, and decided to invite non-Jewish community leaders who they felt could use this experience to promote social justice for future generations.

MOTL is a for-purpose, not-for-profit organisation dedicated to remembering the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. The program is an inclusive and immersive educational experience of “going where history books can’t”, which includes visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau and speaking with, and learning from, Holocaust survivors. It is internationally renowned and, since its inception in 1988, has more than 300,000 alumni from 50 countries.

Aside from being surprised and humbled to be invited onto the program, and very grateful to our Chair, James Hunter, and College Board for supporting this opportunity, I feel a deep sense of responsibility to ensure my involvement is a meaningful experience for our students and our community.

After discussing the trip with our staff, I have been overwhelmed by the support and the many staff members who have reached out to share their family history or connections with the Holocaust. Thank you, Team Pymble, for sharing your stories with me and for your warm encouragement.

Next year, I hope we can offer MOTL as an experience for our students – I know our history faculty and other staff are keen to support this tour. Who knows, perhaps we can encourage other schools to also take up the opportunity. I will be speaking with our Secondary students about MOTL in the coming weeks. Thank you in advance for your support and please do reach out to me should you wish to share your story.

Other service programs reignited and under development for students

East Meru – Tanzania

For many years, the College has supported East Meru Community School in Tanzania, visiting often to be of service in this community. I am pleased to say we are re-launching this program in September 2023. Thank you to our Head of Wellbeing (7-12), Michelle Hunt (pictured on the right, in the photo at the top of the page), for her passion and drive in reigniting this opportunity for our students in Years 10 and 11.

Athens and Thessaloniki – Greece

With giving back in mind, and using the connections made during my sabbatical in 2022, our Deputy Principal, Lamia Rockwell, and I are working on an annual service and history trip to Greece, starting in September this year. We are co-designing the experience with Manas Ghanem, who is a lawyer, Fulbright laureate, specialist in Conflict Transformation and Peace-building, and the former Legal Officer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Students participating will work with The Melissa Network in Athens and Solidarity Now in Thessaloniki. Draft dates for this program, which will be open to students in Years 10 and 11, are 23 September to 14 October 2023.

More information about each of these new programs, and other service opportunities in 2023, will be provided to students later in the year.

Me pictured with Debbie, who is from The Melissa Network and Head of the Kindergarten established for the children of refugees in Athens.
Manas Ghanem (pictured in the middle) with members of the Solidarity Now team in Thessaloniki.

Finally, Matt and I are looking forward to volunteering at Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross throughout the year – even more so after hearing from Wayside’s inspirational Head of Marketing and Fundraising, Laura Henry, at our first combined assembly this year. (Laura is pictured wearing the fabulous “Love Over Hate” Wayside Chapel t-shirt in the centre of the photograph at the top of this page.) For now, I’m signing off with a heartfelt thank you for the support each of you gives me to use my gifts and talents to be of service to our Pymble family and our local and global communities.

Dr Kate Hadwen, Principal