From the Principal
Welcome back to Pymble for our final term of the year. There’s been much excitement and celebration already, even before day one, with news of several very special achievements over the break.
Congratulations to our amazing Year 7 team who placed first overall, and our equally amazing Year 8 team who placed second overall in the national and very prestigious da Vinci Decathlon competition held during the holidays. The girls worked so hard to take out the top two places in this highly competitive academic challenge, beautifully supported by our Director of the Centre of Excellence, Mrs Debbie Tarrant. Well done to all on this incredible achievement. #PymbleProud
We are also incredibly Pymble Proud of Lauren Korenblyum (Year 10) who received the EdStart Achievement Award for Social Impact for her passion project to raise funds for war relief efforts in Ukraine. Lauren’s idea involved designing, creating and selling badges at multiple community events last year, an initiative which raised thousands of dollars to support the people of Ukraine. Great work, Lauren.
Several of our students also participated in tours, including to Arnhem Land for cultural immersion in traditional homelands and Tanzania to be of service to our partner schools and affiliated organisations in the region. Great job girls, and a special thank you to our staff who gifted their time to supervise our girls on these important programs under our Social Intelligence pillar.
And today we had the great joy of officially opening our new Junior School Office building, which effectively combines the leadership and administration teams of K-6 in one purpose-built space. Affectionately nicknamed Hedgehog House, the building was a big hit with the group of students (one from each class in each Junior School year group) who attended the launch, and we are quietly confident parents will love it too when they next need to visit.
See the care in me – our mantra for Term 4
Typically, before the start of term, I spend the weekend prior feverishly worrying – probably over-worrying – about the term ahead. Are we all prepared? Have we thought about absolutely everything we need to do to make sure Pymble is the best place it can possibly be for our students, staff and families? As I often tell the girls, worry and feelings of anxiousness are often indicators of how much something means to you; how much you care. This is certainly true for me. The day the girls come back and our campus kicks in to term-time is always a day of great anticipation and importance, and I am always conscious of setting the right tone from the start.
Over the break, I was thinking about the impact that each of us has on the people around us. Sometimes we are conscious of that impact, and therefore intentional in our words and actions, and at other times we just go about our day, not recognising or pausing to reflect on the fact that how we show up has a direct impact on others.
Some interesting research by Harvard University Professor James Fowler shows us that ideas, attitudes and patterns of behaviour not only have an impact on the people directly around us, but they also have an impact on people who are three degrees of separation from us. According to Prof Fowler, the ‘social contagion’ theory reveals that if your friend’s friend’s friend is happy, you are more likely to be happy. It seems happiness (and, most likely, the opposite of happiness) spreads through three degrees of separation.
It got me thinking, especially in the context of so much civil unrest and conflict in the world, what would happen if we all showed up with more care in our hearts? Could care for others become contagious if we intentionally channelled more of it within our own circles of influence?
In our first Combined Assembly for Term 4, our new Head Prefects Bella Walker and Julie Sheng helped me to visually demonstrate the answer to this question.
Both selected a number of girls to stand up and represent their circle of influence (this being the immediate family they live with, their teachers, and close friends). Each girl who was chosen to stand was then asked to do the same, and so on, and so on. Pretty soon all students in the gym were on their feet and had a clear – if not slightly chaotic vision – of how their influence has the potential to spread throughout our community.
So, as we begin this term, I am encouraging students, staff and families to embrace the mantra of “see the care in me”. For if we all make a conscious decision to show up to school, work or whatever it is we do during the day with more care for others in our hearts, think about the crazy number of people our Pymble family of 2400 students, 500+ staff and 4000+ parents and carers could potentially influence. If somehow, someway, we could extend the reach of our compassionate influence way beyond our gates, to different parts of the world, to people who are hurting and suffering as a result of war and disasters, imagine how much of a better place the world would be.
I know you will join me in keeping all those communities who are in terrible crisis right now in your thoughts and prayers, and please also take a moment to click through to some tips for parents regarding war content being shared online and via social media.
Wishing you all a wonderful term filled with care, compassion and kindness.
