From the Principal

Happy seventh birthday to our Pymble Ladies’ College Cadet Unit! Known as PLCCU in short, the unit was launched in 2017 as a co-curricular opportunity for students to further develop their sense of identity, purpose and belonging. The national youth development program proudly shares the character and values of the Australian Army, which they define as:

• Service. The selflessness of character to place the security and interests of our nation and its people ahead of my own.
• Courage. The strength of character to say and do the right thing, always, especially in the face of adversity.
• Respect. The humanity of character to value others and treat them with dignity.
• Integrity. The consistency of character to align my thoughts, words and actions to do what is right.
• Excellence. The willingness of character to strive each day to be the best I can be, both professionally and personally.

It’s easy to see why the Cadet program has continued to appeal to our students over the years, given that it builds on many of the same values we live by as a College community, in addition to offering an appropriate level of mental and physical challenge for our outdoor adventurers. We are now at 63 cadets and there is always room for more.

Congratulations to all involved for their impressive ceremonial parade on Monday afternoon. The next intake of PLCCU recruits is in Term 3 and interested students in Years 8 and 9 are invited to register to join through the normal CCSA registration process.

People would rather follow a leader who is always ‘real’ than a leader who is always ‘right’.

Craig Groeschel

Our cadets are about to undertake five weeks of training to determine who will be promoted to leadership positions within the unit. At the same time, staff have begun conducting interviews with our 2024/25 prefect candidates, beginning with Boarding students this week, followed by day students soon after, and culminating in the Prefect Announcement Ceremony on Wednesday 12 June.

It is always such a pleasure and a privilege to sit with the girls as they reflect on their Pymble journey and share their ideas to enhance the experience for the younger years making their way through. We are fortunate to have so many incredible young role models in our community.

In our eyes, every student is a leader at Pymble. From the youngest girl in Junior School to the oldest in Year 12, we encourage all our girls to show up as leaders of themselves first and foremost, and then the community.

This brings me to that wonderful quote, which I shared with our Cadets this week: “People would rather follow a leader who is always ‘real’ than a leader who is always ‘right’.”

Sometimes, when you accept a title, put on a uniform or wear a special badge, the temptation is to want to be ‘right’ all the time – but we all know that’s humanly impossible. If you focus instead on being ‘real’ all the time, people will naturally follow your lead because they can see you approach your role or whatever it is you are doing with authenticity, humility and an inner strength. Showing up as the best version of yourself – as the genuine version of yourself – is the greatest way you can lead others, with or without a title, uniform or badge.

It was interesting to hear our former student Vanessa Hudson (1987), now the CEO of Qantas Group, reflect on her time at Pymble at our Alumni Mentoring Event last week. This annual event brings together highly experienced industry professionals and leaders in our community to provide insights, advice and mentorship for our Alumni at key stages of their careers. In her keynote address to an audience of 220, Ms Hudson noted that, while she was never appointed to a student leadership role, the qualities, values and characteristics she developed during her time at Pymble have always stood the test of time.

To our 78 wonderful mentors, who include Ms Hudson, Board members and many of our parents and Alumni, thank you for going above and beyond to support the professional development of our former students. A huge thank you also goes to our College Board for ensuring our care for our Pymble girls extends far beyond the school years, into and throughout their careers. Our students are truly blessed to have the support of our Pymble family for life.

Windows into Learning

With great joy – and a healthy dose of pride – we resume our series of magic moments of teaching at learning across the campus.

In the Library with Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2

A key focus of the K-2 library program is to facilitate literature-based activities that encourage reading engagement, enjoyment of literature, and reading for pleasure. In Kindergarten, we are currently exploring texts that are composed for specific audiences and purposes. We read Jeremy by Chris Faille to focus on context, and the girls discussed how the purpose was to tell a story about a rescued kookaburra that grew and was eventually set free. In response to this text, the girls followed step by step instructions to draw a kookaburra, also viewing other picture book illustrations of kookaburras to extend our artwork.

We then viewed a non-fiction book on kookaburras and discussed how the purpose was to inform and provide facts. From this book we learned about kookaburra features, what they eat and where they build their nests. Girls added facts to their response sheet. The two books allowed us to compare how the purpose was to tell a story, or to inform and provide facts. It was a delight to observe the attention and skill of each learner as they engaged with both texts and were able to respond by sharing their discoveries.

Mrs Josephine Laretive
Junior School Teacher Librarian K-2 

Religion and Ethics in Year 8

In Term 1 this year, Year 8 students learned about the strong relationship between people’s religious beliefs and their desire for justice in the world. Each student chose a person of faith from the past who dedicated their life to serving others and working for social justice in their community.

Based on their independent research, students produced an artwork to represent their chosen person’s life and how their religious beliefs inspired their social justice work. They also wrote a reflection, explaining how their choice of colours, symbols, text and the composition of their artwork represents the life and work of their ‘social justice warrior’.

The Religion and Ethics teachers are amazed and delighted by the thoughtful and profound questions asked by our students. This subject provokes deep thinking, cultural understanding, empathy and ethical awareness, and is an important part of the rich learning at our school. 

Below is a selection of the beautiful Year 8 social justice artworks for you to enjoy.

Ms Caragh Warth
Head of Learning Area – History, Society and Ethics