From the Principal

Life was like a carnival for most of our year groups this week, with Kindergarten to Year 2 athletic events on Main Oval on Wednesday and all Secondary students and teachers (and me!) out at Sydney Olympic Park for the Years 7 to 12 competition today.

Athletics Carnivals at Pymble are compulsory for good reasons. For some of our girls, this is their day to put all their training and hard work to the test, and to shine. For others, it is a chance to simply ‘have a go’ and see what they are capable of. For all, it is a temporary escape from everyday lessons and an opportunity to celebrate House spirit and a sense of belonging to something bigger than self and your immediate friendship groups. Whether your daughter’s carnival was this week or, for Years 3 to 6, next term, I hope she made the most of these joyful – and important – occasions. At the conclusion of our carnival today, I was saying to the girls that attendance at compulsory events is the first metric I look at when considering Prefect positions!

“What we have learned as Head Prefects”
by Emily and Ang-Ya

Believe it or not, we also find ourselves on the cusp of announcing our incoming Year 12 Prefects for 2025/2026. It’s been a year since we introduced you to our current Prefect team, but it seems like only yesterday, as Head Prefects Emily Abadee and Ang-Ya Koo will attest. This week, I asked the girls to share the most valuable lessons they have learned from their time in office to assist our incoming and aspiring student leaders. Over to Emily and Ang-Ya…

The importance of valuing different perspectives. With our large prefect team of around 70 students, we really honed our ability to listen to diverse ideas and bring them together to deliver meaningful initiatives.

One of the challenges we faced was co-ordinating initiatives that included many different people. Our 2025 theme banner launch in Combined Assembly, for instance, required us to be very organised and communicate clearly to keep everything running smoothly. Thankfully, we always had lots of support from the prefect team and staff – we couldn’t have launched our initiatives without their support!

Meeting so many unique and inspiring people that we never would have met otherwise has been a highlight. We’ve especially loved hearing from strong female voices like the Hon. Bronnie Taylor, Storai Sadat, and the amazing student leaders we’ve met from other schools.

Although it sounds cliché, our best advice for other student leaders is to stay true to yourself! People gravitate towards leaders who are genuine, passionate, and willing to listen. And don’t be afraid to make mistakes or reach out for support, because these are the moments that often help you grow the most.

And for all students, whether you aspire to be leaders or not, we encourage you to embrace all opportunities and get involved no matter how daunting or unfamiliar they may seem. Everyone is a beginner at some point, and you’ll never know what you’re capable of until you give it a go. From our experience, time at Pymble truly flies, so make every minute count.

Emily, Ang-Ya and the current Prefect team have one last ‘Come Alive in 2025’ initiative planned for the first week back in Term 3, after which they will begin their handover to their successors and move into the HSC Trial Examinations period. In the meantime, all our students from K to 12 can look forward to more fun and festivities from our fabulous leadership team as they continue to show up as their best selves in their final term on campus.