From the Principal
This week our First Nations students hosted a very special NAIDOC Week assembly for Years 5 to 12. It was incredibly powerful to see the girls own their heritage – and their rapt audience – as they shared stories, honoured female role model elders, and demonstrated their growth as emerging young women who are proud of who they are and where they come from. The students have taken the time to write about the significance of celebrating the achievements and capabilities of our First Nations Australians in this way, and they would love you to read their reflections here.
This event followed last Friday’s inaugural Dragon Boat Cultural Festival, a new College initiative of hosting a different cultural celebration for our community each year. As with our NAIDOC Week celebrations, indeed any culture-based event at the College, this was inspired by our Social Intelligence strategy of bringing our diversity to the fore as an opportunity to connect with one another and forge deeper respect and understanding of the differences we all bring to our united Pymble family. It’s hard to say who was more excited – our student performers, their proud parents watching on, or guests like me, who were participating in this significant event for our Chinese families and friends for the very first time. Thank you to the many parents and students who contributed to this wonderful (and totally sold out!) event, which you can learn more about in this video.
Celebrating our culture of care
Ever since we introduced our Watch Us Change the World strategy with a focus on our four ‘intelligence’ pillars, life continues to remind me of the importance of our commitment to building Social Intelligence, in addition of course to the Academic, Digital and Emotional Intelligences.
As you know, earlier in the year I had the opportunity to go on a Holocaust remembrance tour, where I learnt about the dark side of humankind and the cost of indifference. I also learnt about the incredible power of kindness from many sources, including a small, meagrely funded Jewish Community Centre in Krakow, Poland. When the war broke out between Russia and Ukraine, Krakow became a haven for displaced Ukrainians. Knowing what it feels like when people are indifferent to your plight, the Jewish Community Centre staff put a sign above their door, saying welcome in Ukrainian. Since that sign went up, the centre has helped more than 200,000 people in need, by offering employment, food parcels, accommodation and so much more. Perhaps the most significant gift they gave was one of belonging – something that is important to all of us.
The thing that struck me on that trip was the word indifference. It sat with me in an incredibly uncomfortable way, and it made me think about what makes me get up in the morning so excited to work with the staff, students and families here at Pymble.
Here’s what I arrived at. What sets Pymble aside from other schools and communities is that we are not indifferent. We care. We care about our students and their families, and we care about our staff and their families. We call ourselves a family and we operate as a family, according to our values. This doesn’t mean we get along every day, but it means we hold each other to account.
If indifference sat comfortably at Pymble, there wouldn’t be Dragon Boat Festivals, NAIDOC Week celebrations, Christmas Concerts, parent support groups for co-curricular, Garden Party or many of the myriad events across the College that we hold dear to our hearts.
When we talk about our girls and our community changing the world, we don’t mean making big, grand, jaw-dropping gestures. We mean turning up each day for each other, caring for each other and sharing things that really matter.
I’m incredibly proud to lead this amazing community but I’m even more proud of all that I have learnt and all I will continue to learn from you, our Pymble family, every single day. Thank you for seeing the bigger, humanitarian and world-changing picture for our girls in all that we do, including our Social Intelligence pillar.
Say hello to our HOLAs
In keeping with our commitment to helping parents and carers get to know our Heads of Learning Areas (HOLAs), this week it is my pleasure to introduce you to Mrs Salina Bussien, HOLA – Modern and Classic Languages. Mrs Bussien leads the department offering our Secondary School girls the opportunity to learn Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Italian, Latin and Classical Greek, and this year she is teaching Year 12 French Continuers and Year 12 French Extension.
Salina, when did you commence at Pymble?
“The short version of a long story is that I started as a part-time Italian and French teacher in 2006 and then came back as full-time language teacher in 2009 before changing career for a few years and returning to Pymble as HOLA in 2018.”
What was the ‘aha’ moment that led you into teaching?
“I never made the conscious decision to become a teacher. It is something that happened organically. Starting university, I had no clear career goal in mind and chose an area of studies that interested me: literature and linguistics. What I didn’t know is that this would lead me to my very first teaching experience. As Associate Instructor of the French and Italian Department at Indiana University, I remember distinctively the joy and positive energy I felt teaching Italian to undergraduates and thinking to myself ‘I could do this’.
What is the most rewarding aspect of the work you do here?
“I would say sharing my passion for languages with students and colleagues and continuing to stress the benefits of second language acquisition, especially at a time when we need students to gain strong critical skills, the ability to navigate the increasingly complex way we communicate and to appreciate and value diversity, a key focus in many parts of the world today.”
What are you most proud of achieving as a Pymble HOLA?
“I am very grateful to be supported by the College and be working with a great team of educators who are committed to unlocking our students’ brain and heart capacity and giving them access to a rich multilingual global community.”
Work aside, tell us a fun fact about you…
“I love the arts and puzzles, and recently became a fan of David Baldacci’s detective novels.”
Finish this sentence: If I could impart one life lesson to our students, it would be…
“Go explore the world, appreciate new challenges, connect with others, and above all don’t worry if you are not following the rule book. There isn’t any.”
Wishing our Pymble family a wonderful week ahead – and sending all positive thoughts and calm vibes to our Year 12 students who begin Trial HSC exams in Week 3. Girls, you’ve got this!
