Congratulations Class of 2018 Outstanding HSC results! Find out more on page 4
PYMBLE LADIES’ COLLEGE ISSUE 1, 2019 VOLUME 45
Contents
Pymbulletin | Volume 45 PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE
PEOPLE AND CULTURE
Welcome to the first issue for 2019.............3
International opportunities..........................21 Cybersafety for all..........................................21
NEWS
AIEF award....................................................... 22
Five firsts for Pymble girls............................. 4 All-round Achievers.........................................5 Dux of School....................................................5 ATARS at a glance.............................................5
Staff announcements................................... 23 Professional Learning Grant....................... 23 Fountain restoration..................................... 23
SUSTAINABILITY
Showcase nominations...................................6
Front cover Year 12 Final Assembly. About Pymble Ladies' College Celebrating 100 years of education in 2016, Pymble’s history has been marked with excellence. The College has gained a reputation for offering extraordinary opportunities with outstanding teachers and facilities. Pymble students aspire to the College motto, ‘All’ Ultimo Lavoro’ – Strive for the highest, graduating with confidence and maturity to embrace the challenges that lie beyond the College gates. A school of the Uniting Church in Australia, Pymble welcomes girls of all faiths in Kindergarten to Year 12 and Boarders from Year 7.
2018 HSC results: an overview......................7
Changing Lives through education ......... 25
Congratulations to our 2019 Prefects........ 8
Reverse Garbage........................................... 26 Kids Teaching Kids........................................ 27
PERSONALISED LEARNING SPORT AND ACTIVITIES Science Tour....................................................11 Mathematics wizards.....................................11
Sportswomen’s Awards............................... 29
Excursions – the first 60 years....................11
Junior School Swimming Carnival........... 30
Mary Poppins...................................................12
Preparatory School Swimming Carnival..31
Pymble wins Festival of Speech..................14
Dance Showcase .......................................... 32
Language Arts prize.......................................14
Woolworths Cricket...................................... 34
Music awards...................................................14
Duke of Edinburgh........................................ 34
Celebrations of Learning..............................15
Cattle Club...................................................... 35
Year 7 Camp.....................................................15
Robotics........................................................... 35
COMMUNITY
BLACK WATCH TIES
Carols at Sunset..............................................17
President’s Report ........................................ 36
Farewell to Year 12 2018.............................. 18
Events............................................................... 36
Jacaranda Day.................................................19
Reunions.......................................................... 37
Boarding celebrations...................................19
Upcoming reunions and events................ 38 Notices............................................................. 39
Stay in touch with us on social media
Principal’s Message
Welcome to the first issue of Pymbulletin for 2019 This issue captures some of the news, events and achievements of our girls, as well as members of the Pymble Ladies’ College Ex-Students’ Union, at the end of the previous year. On that note, I extend a warm welcome to our newest ESU members, our Class of 2018. We hope you treasure this edition of Pymbulletin – your last as students and, also, your first as members of our alumnae. We have every reason to be proud of our 2018 HSC graduates. A cohesive year group with a myriad of talents, passions and unique personalities, the girls were active leaders and enthusiastic participants in a range of co-curricular and service learning programs – and they wowed us with their academic achievements, too. Our Class of 2018 outperformed selective girls’ schools and selective co-educational schools in terms of the number of students to place First in an HSC Course, received a record number of nominations for exhibitions and showcases of their HSC major works and performances, and accounted for 30 places on the HSC All-round Achievers list. There are too many stories of exceptional personal growth to list here, however you can recap a few of the highlights on the following pages of this issue. This will also be my last issue of Pymbulletin as Principal of Pymble Ladies’ College. At the end of Term 2, I will leave my home-awayfrom-home for the past 12 years to pursue a new direction in educational enterprise. It is an understatement to say how proud I am to have led the staff and students of Pymble to ensure that a generation of girls experienced a world-class, future-ready and personalised education in which they have been encouraged to follow their passions, take on challenges and thrive as individuals. The College is also future-ready and thriving, and I know I leave it in the best of hands.
Read about our girls’ discoveries on their adventurepacked USA Science Tour (page 11)
We hosted our annual Christmas College celebration, Carols at Sunset (page 17)
With Pymble’s core values in my heart and my sight set firmly on the future, I will continue to strive for the highest as I embrace new challenges beyond the Marden Gates, just as our girls will too. All’ Ultimo Lavoro. Mrs Vicki Waters PRINCIPAL
Our seventh annual Kids Teaching Kids was a memoriable learning experience (page 27)
Stay in touch with us on social media
VOLUME 45 | PYMBULLETIN | PAGE 3
News
Five firsts for Pymble girls Pymble Ladies’ College has outperformed selective girls’ schools and selective co-educational schools in terms of the number of students to place First in Course in the HSC in 2018. The five Pymble girls and their subjects are: Phoebe Coles – Agriculture Zoe Harrison – Dance Emmerson Pearce – Food Technology Sofia Whitbourn (Year 11) – Ukrainian Continuers (outside tutor) • Anjia Zhou – English ESL • • • •
The only school in NSW with students achieving more First in Course places was Sydney Grammar School, an academically selective school for boys. In addition, 19 Pymble students earned a place in the Top Achievers in Course list across a variety of courses:
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Charlotte Armati – 8th in Agriculture Olivia Carolan – 9th in Senior Science Alicia Chang – 6th in English Advanced Phoebe Coles – 16th in Biology Alexandra De Santi – 4th in Dance Sumyukta Garikapati – 10th in Textiles and Design Annaliese Hall – 3rd in Dance Kate Han – 16th in Modern History Vicky Huang – 5th in Food Technology Samantha Kitchen – 8th in Senior Science Giselle Laszok – 12th in Legal Studies Julia Lin – 10th in Physics Emmerson Pearce – 10th in Hospitality Angela Wang – 10th in Legal Studies Yanwen Wang – 20th in Biology Tahiré Wijetilaka – 10th in Modern History Isabelle Yu – 10th in Hospitality Daphne Zhang – 17th in Chemistry Chloe Zhu – 16th in English Advanced
HIEVERS LIST
ED AC DISTINGUISH
ievers List tinguished Ach The NESA Dis earn a Band 6 students who es g d le w o kn ac it course or a ter) in a 2 Un et b r o 0 (9 lt resu an Extension 5 or better) in (4 lt su re E4 Band cts. or more subje course in one mentions, ts earned 514 en ud st le b ym In 2018, P udents. 0 individual st 18 y b d ve ie h ac
PAGE 4 | PYMBULLETIN | VOLUME 45
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ACKNOWLEDGING OUR ALL-ROUND ACHIEVERS Thirty Pymble students were named in the Allround Achievers list. This list acknowledges the results of students who achieved Band 6 results (90 or better) in 2 Unit courses or a Band E4 result (45 or better) in an Extension course in 10 or more units: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Charlotte Armati Maxine Betty Alicia Chang Phoebe Coles Juliette Di Bello Catherine Graham Zahraa Khan Giselle Laszok Sunny Lee Wendy Li Emily Liao Julia Lin Sayuni Mallikahewa Jenny Ni Emmerson Pearce Olivia Pesavento Georgiana Ralphs Emily Shaw Emily Shen Sonia Sun Angela Wang Jelinna Wang Yanwen Wang Sophie Webster Alice Woodbury Joyce Wu Faye Xie Penny Ying Daphne Zhang Anjia Zhou
Dux of School one of three girls to achieve top ATAR Our 2018 Dux of School, Daphne Zhang topped the year in English Extension 1, Mathematics Extension 1, Mathematics Extension 2 and Chemistry. Along with her Co-captain of Community Service, Phoebe Coles, Daphne found the time and the passion to organise and promote 2 awareness and fundraising events at the College which generated more than $80,000 for charities including The Smith Family, the Exodus Foundation and the Bobbin Head Cycle Classic. Daphne also placed 17th amongst all HSC Chemistry students in NSW and was named on the All-round Achievers list of students who achieved Band 6 results (90 or better) in 2 Unit courses or a Band E4 result (45 or better) in an Extension course in 10 or more units. Daphne was one of three Pymble girls to achieve the top ATAR of 99.95. The students are: Emily Shen, Daphne Zhang and Anjia Zhou.
ATARS AT A GLANCE 100
188
Students
80
115
60 40
Students
63
Students
20 %
66
Students
21
Students
<80.00 >80.00 >90.00 >95.00 >99.00
The Universities Admissions Centre (UAC) does not provide the College with ATAR results. The Director of Studies generates an estimate based on HSC results and compares these estimates with the ATAR results provided by those students who agree to provide the information. There is a high degree of correlation between the data sets.
“ These are exceptional achievements from a school that is nonselective and I congratulate our Pymble girls for striving for and achieving the highest accolade in their studies,” said Principal, Mrs Vicki Waters.
1 Phoebe Coles – first in Agriculture 2 Dux of School, Daphne Zhang
VOLUME 45 | PYMBULLETIN | PAGE 5
News
Showcase nominations reach record heights
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In 2018, the number of Pymble students nominated for exhibitions and showcases of their HSC performances and major works reached record heights. In Music, eight of 10 Music Course 2 students were nominated for inclusion in ENCORE. In Dance, five of seven students each received three nominations. In Drama, 10 of 16 students were nominated for inclusion in OnSTAGE. In Visual Arts, five students had their Bodies of Work selected or nominated for inclusion in ARTEXPRESS. In Textiles and Design, one student had their work selected for inclusion in Texstyle. Visual Arts students selected for ARTEXPRESS 2019: • Ella Hodgeman • Huasheng (Anna) Pahl Students nominated for ARTEXPRESS 2019: • Christina Chen • Tiana Powell • Emily Xiong Music students nominated for ENCORE: • Audrey Chan • Christina Chen • Florence Chou • Samantha Chua • Juliette Di Bello • Rachel Down • Annaliese Hall • Annabelle Kim • Wendy Li Drama students nominated for OnSTAGE (for group performance): • Hannah Arain • Madeleine Gallagher • Catherine Graham • Annaliese Hall • Sophie Macourt • Allegra Mazin • Kinsey McGregor • Monique Muskens • Tamsyn Navra • Caitlin Quinn
PAGE 6 | PYMBULLETIN | VOLUME 45
Student nominated for OnSTAGE (for individual performance): • Madeleine Gallagher Dance students nominated for inclusion in Callback: • Alexandra De Santi (Core Composition, Core Performance and Major Study Performance) • Madeleine Gallagher (Core Composition, Core Performance and Major Study Performance) • Annaliese Hall (Core Composition, Core Performance and Major Study Performance) • Zoe Harrison (Core Composition, Core Performance and Major Study Performance) • Phoebe Walker (Core Composition, Core Performance and Major Study Performance) • Stephanie Rennie (Major Study Performance)
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Textiles and Design student selected for Texstyle: • Madeleine Hill
1 Madeleine Gallagher, Annaliese Hall, Catherine
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2 Back Row: Madeleine Gallagher, Allegra Mazin,
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Graham, Allegra Mazin, Caitlin Quinn with Miss Tamara Sweetman Annaliese Hall, Catherine Graham, Caitlin Quinn, Daisy Spence, Lucy Powell, Olivia Michael Second Row: Deena Moursi Front Row: Kinsey McGregor, Tamsyn Navra, Sophie Macourt, Monique Muskens, Hannah Arain, Bronte Charles, Zara Meier
3 Artwork by Tiana Powell 4 Kinsey McGregor, Tamsyn Navra, Sophie Macourt, Hannah Arain and Monique Muskens
5 Madeleine Hill with her Texstyle nomination
2018 HSC results: an overview
2 UNIT RESULTS IN BANDS 5 AND 6 PYMBLE AVERAGE
NSW AVERAGE
80
21
st
21 ATARS
News In 2018, 251 students from Pymble Ladiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; College sat for the NSW Higher School Certificate in 45 courses. A further 21 accelerated Year 11 students sat for the HSC examination in Mathematics. On average, 80% of Pymble candidates across all 2 Unit courses offered at the College achieved results in Band 5 and 6, compared with 47% of students across the state in the same subjects. In the 1 Unit Extension courses, on average, 98% were placed in Band E3 or E4, compared with 86% across the state. When compared to the state average, results in Bands 5 and 6 (2 Unit courses) and Bands E3 and E4 (Extension courses) have remained consistently high, with student achievement above state level in most courses offered at the College. In 2018, the combined Band 5 and 6 results were 30% or more above the state percentages in the following subjects: Agriculture, Ancient History, Biology, Business Studies, Dance, Drama, English as a Second Language, Food Technology, Geography, Legal Studies, Mathematics General 2, Modern History, Music 1, PDHPE, Physics, Senior Science, Textiles and Design, Visual Arts and Hospitality. In the period from 2017 to 2018, the following are examples of percentage improvement in Band 5/6 results: Agriculture 30%, Business Studies 15%, Dance 10%, Earth and Environmental Science 6%, English Standard 8%, Legal Studies 17%, Mathematics General 2 13%, Modern History 12%, Physics 4%, Senior Science 13%, Textiles and Design 7% and Hospitality 25%.
VOLUME 45 | PYMBULLETIN | PAGE 7
News
1
Congratulations to our 2019 Prefects
1 Sophie Mok, Mrs Vicki Waters
(Principal) and Onyinye Nwamadi
2 Mrs Vicki Waters (Principal), Jaime
Bell, Sophie Mok and Isabelle Duff
3 Mrs Vicki Waters (Principal) with the 2019 College Prefects
4 Aisling Salvador, Lucinda Denny, Isabella Bardon and Sophie Lind
PAGE 8 | PYMBULLETIN | VOLUME 45
Our 2019 Prefects have been selected by their peers and College staff because of the qualities they embody and for their humanity. As Theodore Rooesevelt once famously said: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”. Good leadership comes from the heart, and good leaders care for others and genuinely aim to lift up those around them.
Scholarship Program, and has been a wonderful role model, renowned for her interest in sport and world affairs, since commencing at Pymble in Year 7. Sophie has been a Pymble girl since Kindergarten and is also an outstanding role model and scholar, as well as an accomplished public speaker through her involvement with the Language Arts.
As a Uniting Church school that promotes unity through diversity, it is wonderful to know that our new leadership group not only has heart, but represents a variety of different backgrounds united by the common thread of Pymble and all that the College stands for.
Each Prefect has a specific role with a position description to ensure that their leadership work is focussed and intentional, and that it helps to bring the entire student community together. This includes Student Liaison Prefects for each of the five schools. These roles are especially important for our younger students, who learn what good leadership looks like through interactions with our Senior leadership team and then bring those learnings to their own Schoolspecific leadership roles.
We welcome Onyinye Nwamadi and Sophie Mok as our new Head Prefect and Deputy Head Prefect respectively. Onyinye is one of our Boarders through the Indigenous
News 2019 OFFICE BEARERS Day School Positions HEAD PREFECT Onyinye Nwamadi
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DEPUTY HEAD PREFECT Sophie Mok CAPTAINS OF COMMUNITY SERVICE Grace Jarvis, Isabelle Nguyen CAPTAIN OF COMMUNITY SERVICE K-6 Isabella Natale CAPTAINS OF MUSIC AND THE ARTS Sarah Boyd, Lucinda Denny CAPTAINS OF SPORT AND ACTIVITIES Sally Guthrie, Matilda Pennington CAPTAINS OF SUSTAINABILITY Kelly Hua, Zoe Zhou
Student Representative Council PRESIDENT VICE PRESIDENT TREASURER SECRETARY
Katrina Woo Jaime Bell Carina Ye Amy Cairns
School Liaison Prefects PREPARATORY SCHOOL LIAISON PREFECTS KINDERGARTEN Rebecca Jones, Lydia Yang YEAR 1 Sarah Su, Zara Sved YEAR 2 Kirsty Grabs, Dharma Surridge JUNIOR SCHOOL LIAISON PREFECTS YEAR 3 Sophie Knox, Tanya Lambinon YEAR 4 Alexandria Cung, Sophie Wruck YEAR 5 Ayra Kassam, Sophie Lind YEAR 6 Jessie Lum, Georgina Sargent MIDDLE SCHOOL LIAISON PREFECTS Alexandra Egan, Paige Jackson, Shakira Tyson UPPER SCHOOL LIAISON PREFECTS Jessica Brown, Kashmala Haidar, Emily Morrison SENIOR SCHOOL LIAISON PREFECTS Georgia Winter, Shirley Zhang ACTIVITIES CO-ORDINATOR Selena You
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House Captains BENNETT GOODLET HAMMOND INGLEHOLME LANG MARDEN THOMAS WYLIE
Isabella Bardon, Saskia Newman Isabelle Docker, Laura Kellaway Elizabeth Woodhill, Eleanor McNaught Charlotte Dean, Bethany Ng Eliza Johnson, Aisling Salvador Arielle Madew, Hannah Trevitt Zahra Bilal, Lara Richards Sophia Carmody, Antonia Maher
HOUSE CO-ORDINATOR Nicole Freestone
Boarding House Positions BOARDING HEAD PREFECT Phoebe Kinsey BOARDING DEPUTY HEAD PREFECT Isabelle Duff BOARDERS REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL Tiffany Chan
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COMMUNITY AND THE ENVIRONMENT Ashley Jacobsson SPORT AND ARTS Eleanor McNaught GOODLET PREFECT Shakira Tyson MARDEN PREFECT Xhana Tishler VOLUME 45 | PYMBULLETIN | PAGE 9
Personalised Learning
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Personalised Learning Personalised Learning experiences value studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; voices, needs, aspirations and passions in authentic ways, because their purpose is to empower those learners to become self-directed and independent. Our Personalised Learning Framework places at its heart the learner attributes of passion, scholarship and self-assurance; its intention is to foster young women who can delight in their successes and failures because these experiences contribute equally to ongoing learning.
Personalised Learning
Science Tour
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Our girls in Years 9 to 11 made the most of their recent Science Tour of the US, packing in as many of the ‘must-see’ attractions as possible. They visited the Grand Canyon, the Winslow Meteor Crater, then travelled to Orlando to complete astronaut training at NASA – and to have lunch with an astronaut! They also visited Washington DC, where they spent time at the American Museum of Natural History and the Air and Space Museum. Last stop was New York to see the Natural History Museum and Central Park and, of course, to shop! A whirlwind Science Tour that will never be forgotten!
1 USA Science Tour 2 Hana Kassam, Year 9, Jasmine Saluja, Year 11, Mrs Erica
Lyons, Felicity Pham, Year 9, Fiona Parsons, Year 11 and Sophie Knox, Year 11
3
3 Angie Wang, Year 7 4 Serena Li, Year 8
Mathematics wizards Congratulations to Serena Li, Year 8 and Angie Wang, Year 7 who were invited to participate in the Australian International Mathematics Olympiad (AIMO). This competition runs for four hours and is for students up to Year 10. An amazing achievement for our Middle Schoolers. Angie also received an AMC High Achiever Award as well as the Cheryl Praeger Award, which awards the top performing female per grade nationally, from the Australian Mathematics Trust as part of the Australian Mathematics Competition.
4
Serena recently competed in the ninth World Mathematics Team Championships in Beijing and was award a silver medal in the Intermediate Individual Contest.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF EXCURSIONS In the early days of the College, excursions were close to home, however, as the years progressed, opportunities extended to the many global tours currently offered by the College. Several early excursions have stood the test of time, such as the Geography/Geology excursion to Long Reef and Collaroy and the Science excursion to Taronga Zoo, which our girls still enjoy today. Factory visits in the decades from 1920, supporting subjects such as Chemistry, included visits to John Vicars Limited Woollen Mills at Marrickville, the Davis Gelatine Factory at Pagewood, the Oxy-Acetylene Works at Balmain, Gasworks at Waverton, the Australian Glass Manufacturers at Waterloo, the Iron and Steel Works at Port Kembla, the Sulphide Corporation at Cockle Creek and the Berger’s Paint Factory at Rhodes. In the 1940s, Geology, Biology or Geography excursion destinations included Hawkesbury Agricultural College, Jenolan Caves, Taronga Zoo, Warragamba Dam, Broken Hill and Whyalla and the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme. The Heritage Centre has a new archival display of memorabilia from three excursions. Display highlights include the workbook and notes of Margaret Dampney (Grant, 1931) from the Geological excursion to Yass in June 1924; original photos of the Whyalla excursion for Geography and Geology students in the September school holidays of 1947; and the itinerary for the first excursion to New Zealand in 1959, which reciprocated a visit to the College from Columbia College students in 1957. Visitors are welcome. If you have some memories of excursions, please share them with our Archivist. VOLUME 45 | PYMBULLETIN | PAGE 11
Personalised Learning
Mary Poppins flies with outstanding success Congratulations to all the cast, crew, orchestra, staff, parents and friends who were involved in this huge production. It was an unqualified success and could only have reached such a standard through the combined efforts, hard work and talents of such a unified team of people. Accolades from a diverse and wide range of people flowed in with a common theme of best school musical ever seen… “ I thought it was a professional production” … “outstanding performances throughout the whole cast” … “an astounding level of playing from a school orchestra”.
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PAGE 12 | PYMBULLETIN | VOLUME 45
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1 Faith Sherwood, Year 10, as Mary Poppins
Special thanks and congratulations to Mrs Sabina Turner, producer, for her amazing vision and passion, Mr Kurt Schweinberger for his creative and intuitive direction, Ms Sophie Campbell for her exciting and highly effective choreography, Mrs Patrice 4 Goodman for the superb 5 direction of the orchestra, Mrs Kristie Fritz for her amazing, stylish and fanciful set design and construction, and the Theatre staff for their support and application of the complex technical elements of the production.
2 Georgina Makeham, Year 8 and Abigail Ballhausen, Year 7
3 Amelia Seeto and Charlotte Allen, Year 7
4 Holly Boswell, Year 10 5 Lucinda Denny, Year 11 6 Charlotte Allen, Year 7, Caitlyn Minney, Year 10, Douglas Harrison and Amelia Seeto, Year 7
7 Amelia Seeto, Year 7, Madeleine
Morris, Year 10, Camellia Amiri, Year 11, Faith Sherwood, Year 10, Patricia Chan, Year 11, Damian Hempsteed and Charlotte Allen, Year 7
Lastly, thank you to the Pymble community for supporting the production by attending the performances. We broke our musical box office records! It truly was a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious production! Bravo!
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VOLUME 45 | PYMBULLETIN | PAGE 13
Music awards
Personalised Learning
Congratulations to Angelina Yoon, Year 7, for being awarded her Licentiate of Music, Australia (LMusA) Diploma with Distinction on Violin, and to Isabel Dean (Viola), Lara Albany (Piano) and Sophie Ku (Viola), Year 8, for being awarded their Associate of Music, Australia diploma (AMusA).
Pymble wins Festival of Speech Each year the Association of the Heads of the Independent Girlsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Schools run a weekend activity titled Festival of Speech. The festival was held at Brigidine College, St Ives. Twentyeight schools were involved from as far afield as Canberra and Armidale. Sections included â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Junior and Senior Debating, Junior and Senior Readings, Junior and Senior Poetry, Junior and Senior Public Speaking, Current Affairs, Religious and Ethical Questions, and Drama. Pymble placed representatives in every division. We were declared the overall winners of the 2018 competition with a margin of 12 points. This is a spectacular achievement. Congratulations to all; staff, coaches and especially our girls.
5 1 Amelie Yee, Year 10, Onyinye Nwamadi, Year 11 and Viveca Tang, Year 10 2 Alyssa Yee, Year 7 and Medani Athauda, Year 11 3 Miss Tamara Sweetman, Sarah Boyd, Lara Richards and Georgia Winter, Year 11 4 Tara Narayan, Esther Choi, Amber Cai and Alison Cook, Year 9 5 Isabel Dean, Year 8, with her accompanist Mrs Sorina Zamfir 6 Lucy Fang, Year 10 and the Hon Tony Smith MP
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2
Language Arts prize 3
4 PAGE 14 | PYMBULLETIN | VOLUME 45
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Lucy Fang, Year 10, placed in the My First Speech Competition run by Parliament House. She and a parent were flown to Canberra where she delivered her speech in Parliament House. Lucy met competition judges and local MP John Alexander, and was taken on a behind-the-scenes tour of Parliament House. She also had the opportunity to observe Question Time. Congratulations Lucy!
Celebrations of Learning The Preparatory School held their Celebrations of Learning assemblies in Term 4 where our girls were recognised with citations and a specially chosen book. Each citation reflected the goals of each student and was a way in which staff could acknowledge and celebrate the girls’ commitment to advancing their knowledge and understanding of the world. What was most evident in the nature of the citations for 2018, was the capacity of our students to embrace learning with a positive mindset. They have grown as courageous and caring individuals who have an ability to identify their own achievements and to reflect on their actions through the lens of our College values: Care, Courage, Integrity, Responsibility and Respect.
Personalised Learning
Year 7 Camp Our Year 7 girls had a great time bonding, learning new skills and rising to new challenges on their four-day camp which was packed with activities including canoeing, scavenger hunts and everyone’s favourite ride, the flying fox.
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2 1 Mrs Sarah Colquhoun, Mrs Karen Ahearn, Blair Elliott, Year 2 and Mrs Vicki Waters (Principal)
2 Amber Zhou, Victoria Xu, Amna Syed,
Michelle Shi, Amaaya Saheed, Michaela Peppel and Annabel Makeham, Year 1
3 Yuan Hui Chen, Fiona Wu, Reese Zhang, Mia 3
Zhu, Mirabelle Lee, Gianna Hu, Jessamy Facer, Shylah Carré, Lauren Chen, Amelia Hardas, Annabel Makeham and Michaela Peppel, Year 1
4 Ella Monk and Abigail Tyler, Year 7
4 VOLUME 45 | PYMBULLETIN | PAGE 15
Community
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Community As a community, we value the relationships we have with each other and we stand together as global citizens, included and valued. Connecting and engaging with members past and present ensures our rich learning community extends through generations to build Pymble bonds that endure. Together, we acknowledge and commemorate our past and present achievements. At home and internationally, community members are committed, loyal and proud to be a part of Pymble.
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Community
Carols at Sunset 2
Our annual whole College family Christmas celebration was held on Sunday 2 December. Entertainment was provided by the Jazz Ensemble and Junior School Jazz Band.
The Combined Carols commenced at 6.30pm and featured the Preparatory Choir, the Junior School Choir and Chamber Choir, the School Choir and Pymble Chorale, accompanied by the Symphony Orchestra. As the sun set behind the Colonnade building, the magic of Silent Night filled the air, bringing the hope of peace and joy to all for the festive season. A magical evening for all.
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6 4 1 The Pymble community enjoying Carols at Sunset
2 Faith Sherwood, Year 10 3 Megan Buson, Jessica Davidson, Tiana Zarafetas, Year 9 and Delta Zarafetas, Year 8
4 Preparatory singers 5 A special guest makes an appearance 6 The Combined Carols
5 VOLUME 45 | PYMBULLETIN | PAGE 17
Community
Farewell to Year 12 2018 The last week of Term 3 was filled with fond formal and informal farewells from each and every year group to our departing Year 12 girls.
Our longest-serving attendees went ‘Back to Prep’ to share their early memories of Pymble with girls who were their age when they commenced at the College. Our Liaison Prefects for the five schools – Preparatory, Junior, Middle, Upper and Senior – enjoyed their own special goodbyes with the students they had worked closely with and represented for the past 12 months. Our oldest Boarders were farewelled by their younger Boarding ‘sisters’ in a Chapel service and dinner and Secondary School students and staff tried valiantly to hold back their tears at a final assembly to say thank you and to reflect on the special qualities of our graduates. This of course was followed by the Final Chapel Service for Year 12 and their parents, the symbolic releasing of white doves on the steps of the Chapel, and the Valedictory Dinner that evening.
1 Isabel Walker, Year 12 2 Natalie Taylor, Kate Woolley, Alicia Chang and Charlotte Buckland, Year 12
3 The symbolic releasing of white doves
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3 PAGE 18 | PYMBULLETIN | VOLUME 45
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Community
Boarding celebrations At the end of Term 4, we welcomed our ‘new’ Year 12 Boarding students for their first formal meal in Lang House. It was a special occasion with the ‘quiet’ room being turned into a festive dining space. We all enjoyed the opportunity to settle in and enjoy the beauty of Lang House. There was much banter and lots of suggestions for future activities.
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At the same time, our Year 9 Boarders had their final dinner on the Marden verandah. Miss Glover and her team set the scene with beautiful decorations and planned a range of fun activities, not the least a piñata! We were all sad to see our Marden House leaders go but we knew that they were ready to move on and embrace all that Goodlet House has to offer. Our year culminated in a Chapel service and Christmas party. The Chapel service was a beautiful celebration of our Boarding community and the care and respect that we have for each other. Thank you to our amazing Reverends who excelled once again in making the evening special.
1 Back Row: Lucy Hancock, Lauren Madacsi, Eleanor McNaught
Front Row: Mia Shortis, Phoebe Kinsey, Onyinye Nwamadi, Year 11
JACARANDA DAY Pippa Hallas (1992), CEO of Ella Bache, addressed our students in Kindergarten to Year 12 as part of this year’s Jacaranda Day service on Wednesday 14 November. Pippa inspired our girls with the lessons she has learned since she was “sitting on the same floor” as the girls and left them to ponder three questions: • What is your vision for yourself? • Who do you need to surround yourself with to achieve your goals? • What will you do each day to move closer to those goals?
3 3 Back Row: Isabella Natale, Year 11, Grace Jarvis, Year
Jacaranda Day is a very special day for our community. The story of our magnificent Jacaranda tree is a daily reminder of the strength of our community and the significance of yesterday, today and tomorrow.
11, Mrs Julie Shaw, Ms Pippa Hallas, Olivia Anderson, Year 10, Simonie Jenkins, Year 10 Front Row: Isabelle Nguyen, Year 11, Anna Ericsson, Year 4, Kavya Surana, Kindergarten, Eloise Kinchington, Year 7, Tahmara Thomas, Year 8, Lihini Jayasekara, Year 8
Its strong roots are symbolic of our Christian heritage and our Uniting Church ethos as well as 102 years of dedicated staff, excellence in teaching and enthusiastic learning.
4 Alicia Slobodian, Scarlett Tierney, Lux Fritz, Stella Xu, Year 6, Mia Tesoriero and Ollisha Muthukuda, Year 5
4 VOLUME 45 | PYMBULLETIN | PAGE 19
People and Culture
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People and Culture We are committed to ensuring every student is known, valued and encouraged. Professionally, we nurture a learning culture that celebrates creativity, engagement and critical thinking. Our professional practice is deeply embedded in worldwide research and best practice, and we actively seek to share our expertise, facilities and resources to create a vibrant global educational community. Together we make a difference, within Pymble and beyond.
PAGE 20 | PYMBULLETIN | VOLUME 45
People and Culture
International opportunities The 2018 Cultural Exchange program offered a world of opportunities for our girls in Years 9 and 10. In Year 9, 17 girls exchanged with five schools in five different countries, including Japan, England, Scotland, Argentina and New Zealand.
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The opportunities grew in Year 10 with 23 of our students taking part in the program. Our partner schools were in South Africa, England, Canada, Italy, Spain, United States of America, Scotland and a newcomer for 2018 – the Isle of Man. This year our Year 10 students also had the opportunity to apply to take part in the Cambridge Summer Program. In addition to this amazing opportunity, we also engaged with the Oxford Royal Academy summer program for the first time. Ten of our Year 10 girls travelled with Mr Gabriel Langford to the UK for a two-week immersion in these world-class university environments and took part in programs ranging from Science, Medicine and English Literature. Our Upper School program wrapped up for the year at the end of Term 4 after four of our Year 10 students, accompanied by Ms Mariel Lombard, took part in the 13th Community Development and Leadership Summit at the Modern School in New Delhi, India.
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Cybersafety for all
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Parents of girls in Kindergarten to Year 9 had the opportunity to attend an informative and engaging presentation by Australia’s leading expert on cybersafety and young people, Susan McLean. Susan’s presentation included essential information about: • What children are doing online – the channels you know, and those you don’t. • Online grooming – including warning signs and what to do if you suspect this is happening to your child. • Cyberbullying – what it looks like, how to prevent it and what to do if it occurs. • Sexting – the social, emotional and legal consequences. • Potential dangers and safety tips – how to assist the children in your care to stay safe online via parental controls and restriction passcodes. Susan also came to the College earlier in 2018 to take a session with Years 7 and 8 students.
1 Alexandria Graham, Holly Boswell, Jaanavi Kumar, Nathi Hoyle and Lucia Laszok, Year 10 with exchange students from Spain – Lucia Alvarez Gallego
2 Madeline Warden and Isabel Wilson, Year 10 with
exchange students from South Africa – St Anne’s
3 Erin Thomas, Livia O’Dea, Rebecca Terry and Grace Livingstone, Year 10 with exchange students from USA – Our Lady of Good Counsel High School
4 Stephanie Volos, Year 10 and exchange student from Isle of Man – King Williams
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5 Kelly Zhao and Karenza Griffiths, Year 9 with
exchange student from Japan – Ashi ya Gakuen
6 Students with Susan McLean
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People and Culture
AIEF award Congratulations to our Deputy Principal, Mrs Julie Shaw, who has been recognised by the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation (AIEF) for her outstanding commitment to supporting AIEF students and programs. Each year, the AIEF recognises the valuable contributions and support of six of their stakeholders from across Australia. Mrs Shaw has been recognised as a highly-engaged advocate of Indigenous Education and has been awarded the honour of being a custodian of a painting by Indigenous artist, the late Kim Hill (Holton), for 2019. This is a very special award recognising Mrs Shawâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s passion and commitment to the education of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
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People and Culture
Professional Learning Grant The Pymble Parent Association Professional Learning Grant is open to all academic staff at Pymble Ladies' College. The purpose of this grant is to enable an academic member of staff to undertake a professional learning opportunity that will enhance his/her own learning and enrich the experiences of students within their department. The grant submission may be for an amount up to $6,000 which will cover the costs associated with the professional learning activity that would ideally be completed outside College hours. Congratulations to Miss Jamie Mitchell on being awarded this grant. Miss Mitchell plans to attend the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Research Conference and undertake a professional learning course at San Diego Conference Centre in 2019. “ The NTCM Research Conference is an opportunity to network with fellow mathematics education researchers at sessions that address the field’s most important topics,” said Miss Mitchell. “ The findings of these will influence the future of Mathematics education and Pymble will be at the forefront of that change.” Miss Mitchell aims to “discover new methods for the teachers at Pymble to ensure all students are truly understanding what they are learning and making significant growth”.
FOUNTAIN RESTORATION We have watched with pleasure the restoration of the Felicity Lamb memorial fountain with new pebbles, brick work and plumbing. The statue was donated to the school by Year 10 students in 1995, in memory of their fellow student and Boarder, Felicity Lamb. The then Principal, Mrs Gillian Moore, is quoted at the time: “The year has brought its share of joy and of sadness and we look back on it now with a sense of achievement but also with consciousness of the untimely loss of the young life of our Year 10 student, Felicity Lamb. Her memory will remain in the ongoing life of the College through the rowing shell named for her and the sculpture.” Felicity was remembered for her vibrancy and caring nature and as a talented oarswoman, netballer and special friend at a memorial service in the Chapel on 5 April 1995.
Staff announcements Dr Sarah Loch has been appointed as our inaugural Director of Research and Development. Having worked across the school sector and in university faculties of Education before commencing at Pymble in 2016, Dr Loch has a great understanding of the transformative power that research inquiry brings to the mindset of students and teachers and is thrilled to have the opportunity to develop this role for the College. Dr Loch has already begun to build upon Pymble’s research culture by launching the inaugural issue of a new research journal, Illuminate, which shines a spotlight on how staff use research to create best educational practice throughout the College, from Kindergarten to Year 12. Ms Lamia Rockwell has been appointed as the Dean of Students Kindergarten to Year 12. Formerly the Assistant Principal Dean of Students at Mount St Benedict College, Ms Rockell has also held leadership roles including Head of Mathematics at St Catherine’s School in Waverley, Director of Boarding at Ascham and Director of Senior Years at Melbourne Girls Grammar School, where she introduced an innovative evidence-based wellbeing, academic and physical fitness program for students. In 2019, we welcomed back Mrs Anna Plant, Deputy Head of Junior School, who returned from maternity leave. We expressed our thanks to Mrs Liz Worsley for acting as Deputy Head of Junior School during Mrs Plant’s absence and wished her all the best after 13 years at Pymble. Mrs Worsley was presented with a touching gift of a handmade album of all the musicals she had written and produced during her time with us.
The fountain was originally located in the sunken garden near the Isabel McKinney Harrison Centre. It now fittingly resides in the shadow of the Chapel, a place of peace and reflection, close to the Gunyah stone and plaque. VOLUME 45 | PYMBULLETIN | PAGE 23
Sustainability
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Sustainability We embed high-level sustainable practices in every area of Pymble life â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in educational, operational and wider community settings â&#x20AC;&#x201C; as the way to protect and guide our future. Social and personal responsibility, as well as economic and environmental initiatives are evident throughout the College, influencing others to make positive changes.
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Sustainability
Changing lives through education 2
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On 28 September 2018, 15 students and two teachers set off for a lifechanging community service trip to Tanzania.
Over two weeks, our girls discovered what life was like for many Tanzanians and learned firsthand the challenges they experience in relation to accessing education and other basic needs. The main focus during the trip was to work with local communities to provide additional resource support to enhance the classroom environments and to enrich the experiences for the students in the schools. Our girls and staff visited the School of St Jude, East Meru Community School (EMCS) and Moivaro State Primary school and made countless connections with different students, staff and the local community as they undertook labour-intensive work, carrying bags of gravel and buckets of water and collecting rocks, sand and gravel for the construction and renovation of classrooms. The girls also developed educational activities for the EMCS students, including an excursion to a snake park for the entire school – this was the first time that many of the students had left their village. The Tanzania trip also included other cultural immersion elements such as visiting several students’ homes, meeting the family of a traditional Maasai Boma and a three-day safari to discover the beautiful wildlife of Africa.
1 Laura Hedley, Year 10 2 Zoë Janssen, Jada Powell and Niduni Jayasinghe, Year 10 3 Jemima Curtis, Niduni Jayasinghe, Jessica Tapp, Abby Valvekens and Amisha Pathak, Year 10
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Sustainability
Reverse Garbage Our Kindergarten girls had a great time in Term 4 2018 learning a new lesson in sustainability in their workshop run by Reverse Garbage.
The girls discovered how to make a pushmi-pullyu puppet using discarded materials and engaged in animated discussions about the benefit of reusing and recycling items rather than throwing them away. Earlier in the year, our Middle School students also made sculptures from recycled waste which were displayed at the Big Little Creatures exhibition at the Reverse Garbage community co-operative in Marrickville.
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1 Presenter from Reverse Garbage 2 Ingrid Hastings, Year 7, Elizabeth Peters, Year 7,
Georgina Makeham, Year 8, Emilie Palme, Year 8, Jessica Tse, Year 8 and Danielle Reed, Year 7
3 Mia Pan, Olivia Wang, Trisha Viswanathan and Alice Liu, Kindergarten
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Sustainability
Kids Teaching Kids “ On the KTK Conference day, I was able to learn about a variety of topics through a multitude of media – my favourites were the animations and vlogs because they were so engaging. I have taken a personal interest in many of the environmental issues I learned about on the day and have even decided to try the 31 Day Plastic Jar Challenge!”
Our seventh annual Kids Teaching Kids (KTK) Conference at Pymble was a memorable learning experience for our young ‘teachers’ and their ‘delegates’. The conference, held in Term 3 2018, was part of national Kids Teaching Kids Week, a learning model through which Year 8 students are challenged to extensively research an environmental issue as part of their work in the Science, Earth, Environment and Design Solutions (SEEDS) unit. The Year 8 ‘teachers’ then present their design solutions in a range of interactive formats to Year 6 students who attend the KTK Conference day. Year 8 Pymble girls delivered 70-plus SEEDS workshops to approximately 260 Year 6 students from Pymble and other local schools. Student reflections attest to the success of the day.
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Amali Hilton
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REFLECTIONS FROM YEAR 8 KTK ‘TEACHERS’ “ The thing that distinguishes the SEEDS program from so many other school initiatives and projects is that it requires students to 3 consolidate their own knowledge through teaching others about a topic they are interested in. The KTK Conference was a brilliant way to showcase the term-long efforts of all different groups. Aside from learning about environmental issues and what individuals could do to help solve them, students also gained valuable knowledge on how to engage an audience and showcase their research, findings and designs in compelling ways.” Faye Chang
“ The best part of the KTK Conference was presenting and seeing the audience so engaged and involved in the presentation. It was very rewarding to see how much impact our work had on the audience.” Niraaya Jayasinghe “SEEDS was a very engaging and handson way to learn about environmental problems that affect our world today. During the course, we were able to further develop the fundamental skills of researching, working collaboratively, presenting and problem solving. This experience has enhanced my learning because I have learned more about the issue of deforestation and how it has a major impact on the planet both locally and globally.” Sofia Massaro
1 Pippa Stoodley-Williamson and Annabelle Jones, Year 8 2 Harriet Wykeham-Fiennes, Laura Legovich and Eliza Thompson, Year 8 3 Iris Chen, Claire Li and Jade Chen, Year 8 VOLUME 45 | PYMBULLETIN | PAGE 27
Sustainability Sport and Activities
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Sport and Activities Pymble is balanced in its passions, demonstrating to students that true success comes from a holistic approach to education; this approach equally values academic success, music and cultural pursuits, sporting achievements, community service and personal wellbeing.
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Sport Sustainability and Activities
Sportswomen’s Awards 2
On Friday 9 November 2018, we had the pleasure of celebrating our most dedicated and accomplished athletes in Years 7 to 12.
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Our annual Pymble Sportswomen’s Awards night recognises the girls and young women who have shown remarkable dedication, skills and sportsmanship in their chosen sports. These athletes consistently uphold the College values and strive for the highest in training, in friendly matches and in the thick of fierce competition. It was befitting that our special guest speaker was Layne Beachley AO, seven-time World Champion Surfer and the Founder and Director of her own charity, the Layne Beachley Foundation, Aim for the Stars, which, like Pymble, endeavours to empower young girls and women to fulfil their potential and to give back to the community that supported them on their journey. Layne was an inspirational speaker on the evening and is a wonderful example of how personal success and community service can combine to lift up and empower others. It was also a pleasure to welcome back to the College, our accomplished ex-student, journalist, author and TV and radio presenter, Melissa Doyle AM (1987), our Master of Ceremony for the awards. Melissa also complements her impressive career with ongoing support for multiple charities, including the Make A Wish Foundation, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead and World Vision, and is a wonderful Pymble role model for all of our girls. The highest accolade of the evening, Sportsgirl of the Year 2018, was awarded to Year 12 student Sofia Metaxouli, whose accomplishments include:
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• Australian U19 Ladies’ Indoor Netball Team (third year in a row) – World Series 6s Competition – Runners up – World Series 7s Competition – Third Place
1 Sofia Metaxouli, Year 12
• NSW Waratah U19 Ladies’ Indoor Netball Team.
2 Isobel Gosper, Year 8 3 Layne Beachley AO 4 Shivani Mehta, Year 9 and
• P ymble Senior Firsts Netball team (undefeated IGSSA Champions).
and Mrs Julie Shaw
Mrs Julie Shaw
5 Eve Parker, Year 12
• P ymble Senior Firsts AFL team (undefeated AFL NSW Independent Girls School Competition Champions).
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Sustainability Sport and Activities
Junior School Swimming Carnival The Junior School Swimming Carnival went swimmingly on Wednesday 21 November 2018. There was fabulous House spirit shown from all girls, as well as excellent participation and some exceptional results. There were 11 new school records and one equal record set on the day, along with more swimmers participating in all the events than previous years. Also for the first time, the top eight Preparatory School swimmers were invited to swim in the Preparatory School 50-metre Freestyle Championship event.
WINNING HOUSE: Gibbs HOUSE SPIRIT: Mackellar JUNIOR CHAMPION: Tribeca Liu JUNIOR RUNNER UP: Lucy Xie SENIOR CHAMPION: Grace Gerreyn SENIOR RUNNER UP: Ellie Beck 8 YEARS CHAMPION: Rena Liu 9 YEARS CHAMPION: Tribeca Liu 10 YEARS CHAMPION: Lucy Xie 11 YEARS CHAMPION: Miranda Gu 12 YEARS CHAMPION: Grace Gerreyn
1 Clara Thiris and Mahika Swamy, Year 4 2 Imogen Wu, Year 4 3 Elizabeth Graves and Olivia Linfoot, Year 6 4 Kate Thorpe and Gigi Spiller, Year 6 5 Tess Standfield and Amber Conlon, Year 6
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Sport Sustainability and Activities
Preparatory School Swimming Carnival 1
The Preparatory School Swimming Carnival held on Thursday 22 November 2018 was a spectacular event for our Preparatory School girls. The girls had been working hard during their PE swimming lessons throughout the term with Preparatory School PDHPE staff, Mrs Gentle and Mrs Anderson, and the Pymble Swimming Coaches. The carnival was split into three swimming zones which ran simultaneously. The girls were placed into zones according to their swimming ability and it was ultimately their decision how far they felt comfortable swimming. Every girl participated in at least three swimming events: freestyle, backstroke and a novelty event. Some more confident swimmers even competed in breaststroke and butterfly. The enthusiasm and energy of the girls made it an extremely enjoyable carnival. A few highlights were the Preparatory School divers and their amazing dives from the various boards including the five-metre! The â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;save the sea creature on the kickboardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; novelty event is always fun and the girls delighted in their lifesaver role. The final race, the House relay, saw Gibbs fly home and grab the win. Congratulations to all girls on an amazing day and Mackellar House, which was the overall winner.
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1 Chenxi Wang, Kindergarten, Jessamy Facer,
Year 1, Victoria Xu, Year 1, Weiwei Liu, Year 1, Alina Yang, Kindergarten and Michaela Peppel, Year 1
2 Esha Mudaliar, Kindergarten, Ruby StoodleyWilliamson, Year 1, Amna Syed, Year 1 and Ella Zhou, Year 1
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Sport and Activities
Dance Showcase Congratulations to all dancers who performed in the When I Grow Up Dance Showcase! The production included more than 600 girls from Kindergarten to Year 12, showcasing their incredible performance skills. The standard was exceptional, and we are so proud of all dancers. MAJOR AWARDS – PERFORMERS OF THE YEAR
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JUNIOR JAZZ: Grace Perrignon JUNIOR LYRICAL: Grace Perrignon SECONDARY CONTEMPORARY: Alexandra De Santi SECONDARY JAZZ: Alexandra De Santi GOLD CUP: Alexandra De Santi MAGIC MOMENT: Anika Perera DANCERS’ DANCER: Keaara Gunzenhauser
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Sport and Activities
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1 Tiana Zarafetas, Year 9 and Laura Kellaway, Year 11
2 Junior Tap, Little Horrors 3 Prep Lyrical World Peace 4 Cygnets and Swans Sapphires Ballet 5 Eisteddfod Junior Lyrical Chefs 6 Prep Primary Ballet Strawberry Pickers
7 Stephanie Yuan, Sophia Irwin,
Elaine Zhang and Lily Xing, Year 2
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Sustainability Sport and Activities
Woolworths Cricket On Tuesday 23 October, nine Pymble girls from Years 5 and 6 competed in the Woolworths Cup Regional final at Lindfield Oval. The Woolworths Cup is an external competition run by Cricket NSW involving primary girls’ schools.
Pymble won the toss for their first game and chose to bat, setting a total of 82 runs. Queenwood were able to chase this total down and win the match with a total of 109 runs. Our second match was against Mona Vale Public. The girls hit the ground running and set a massive total of 113 runs! Some strong bowling by Sophia Slater, Year 5 and Ava Chippeck, Year 6, limited Mona Vale’s total to 81 runs. The final match of the day saw us take on Mona Vale Public for a second time. Our last two batters of the day, Juliette Harris and Arabella Smithyman, Year 6, stepped up to the crease. A great two overs of shot playing by the girls saw Arabella needing four runs off the very last ball. Pitched slightly off leg, Arabella was able to whip it over the fielder’s head for six! A great team effort!
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Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award Ceremony On Wednesday 14 November, five Pymble students were awarded their Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award in ceremonies held at Government House. This was an amazing achievement for our students, who spent more than 12 months working for this award. The awards were presented by His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Ret’d), Governor of New South Wales. The following students received their award: Monique Muskens, Phoebe Walker, Samantha Bear (ex-student 2013), Hannah Reeve and Claudia Green, Year 12. Well done girls!
3 1 Rahul Mishra (Coach), Ellie Hennessy, Year 5, Juliette Harris,
Jessica Ames, Sophie Livingstone, Kate Thorpe, Jack Garrad (Manager), Arabella Smithyman, Ava Chippeck, Bella Walker, Year 6 and Sophia Slater, Year 5
2 Claudia Green, His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Ret’d) and Hannah Reeve, Year 12
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3 Phoebe Walker and Monique Muskens, Year 12
Robotics
ROWING Sport Sustainability and On theActivities last Saturday of
We are proud to announce that out of 51 robotics teams at the VEX Robotics Competition Nationals in Melbourne, one of our robotics mentors, Cristhina Boni Lavratti, was named Mentor of the Year! With her expertise and commitment, Cristhina helped make it possible for all four of our Middle School teams to qualify for Nationals, where our Pymble Predators reached the semi-finals in an alliance and won the Energy Award for their excellent attitude and team work. Congratulations Christina and thank you for your dedication.
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November, the Pymble Rowing team sent four Eights of Years 10 to 12 girls down to Melbourne for the annual Head of the Yarra race. This is a unique event and one of the oldest races on the Australian Rowing Calendar. The course starts in the Melbourne CBD and winds its way down the Yarra River over 8.6 kilometres to the finish line at Hawthorn Rowing Club and is a time trial format. The Pymble First VIII won the Schoolgirl Eight event by more than a minute!
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Cattle Club Congratulations to our courageous Cattle Club members â&#x20AC;&#x201C; many of whom paraded for their first or second time â&#x20AC;&#x201C; at the Upper Hunter Beef Bonanza in Scone. The girls competed alongside 880 students and 400 head of cattle to showcase our two heavyweight steers, Norbit and Numbat, and to participate in Junior Judging. Hats off to Victoria Graves, Madison Simson, Jemima Burney, Lucy Glendinning, Grace Collins and Ella Gray for three days of great teamwork, learning and camaraderie!
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1 Ning Ning Jin, Alyssa Yee, Lucia Jin and Jessie Xie, Year 7
2 Cristhina Boni Lavratti 3 Jemima Burney, Year 7 4 Jemima Burney, Year 7, Grace
Collins, Year 10, Lucy Glendinning, Year 10 and Victoria Graves, Year 9
5 Madison Simson, Year 9, Jemima
Burney, Year 7, Lucy Glendinning, Year 10, Ella Gray, Year 11, Grace Collins, Year 10 and Victoria Graves, Year 9
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Black Watch Ties Sustainability
President’s Report All’ Ultimo Lavoro Our school motto was certainly brought to life by our Class of 2018 students through their HSC results. Congratulations on achieving such outstanding results and truly “striving for the highest”. We would love to hear from you as you move out into the world – drop us a line at pymble.exstudents@gmail.com, join our private alumni Facebook group to keep up with the news and include Pymble as your school on your LinkedIn page. We warmly welcome you into our fold and wish you the best in everything that you choose to do.
EVENTS Each year in Term 4, the Alumni Office and members of the Ex-Students’ Union (ESU) Committee speak to the incoming Year 12 students about the Alumni/ESU association with the College and how they will be their support once they leave the College in and become ex-students. The students are always so wonderfully supported and guided during their time at the College and we would like to continue that support when they leave the College. To finish off the ‘exstudent introduction’, all the girls enjoy some delicious cupcakes – with red, white and blue frosting of course.
I’m excited to announce that we will be holding our inaugural Chair of College Council’s Alumni and Mentor Networking Event on Friday 10 May at 5.00pm. Hosted by our Chair of College Council at a city venue, the event will provide networking and mentoring opportunities for our more recent leavers, aged 19 to 30. Why bother networking you might ask? Networking can provide longterm connections that lead to opportunities, career advice and support. It can provide a different perspective, introductions to others in the network and also raise your profile. Let me share some sobering statistics. Female graduates outnumber male university graduates by a ratio of five to four in Australia, but women start to fall away relative to men soon after university. Their graduate pay is 3.6 percent lower. Then over time, they leave work so that less women participate in the workforce generally (60 percent compared to 71 percent of men) and they earn less (23.1 percent less than men’s average full-time salary). This downward trend continues as seniority rises, with only 2.4 percent of CEOs in our top 500 listed companies being women. Research shows that professional men are more likely to be comfortable asking someone in their business network for a favour or advice whilst women are often more hesitant. We want to help our younger members to challenge and change this reality. Making connections or ‘networks’ improves the chances of levelling the playing field. We’ll be drawing on the broad experience of our ex-student alumni, parent and community network to act as mentors. Invitations have been sent and we hope to see you there.
Thank you all who contributed to and attended our alumNOW2019 exhibition and sale of fine arts by our very talented ex-students. The opening night on Wednesday 13 February 2019 was well-attended and it was wonderful to hear so many exstudents also attended the exhibition which ran until Saturday 16 February in the Main Hall at Pymble. Last year, we launched the Ex-Student Grant Program. The aim of this program is to support ex-students in meaningful endeavours related to contributing to the community or career development. The grant recognises the value of ex-students who are independently making their mark on the world, by contributing to their communities or developing their careers to become contributing citizens. The committee will accept applications for a limited number of grants from eligible ex-students, capped at $3,000 per applicant. Further information is available on the College website. Later this year, a new Principal will begin a new era at the College. We look forward to seeing many of you at our 2019 events so that we can appropriately thank Mrs Vicki Waters for her strong support of the ESU before we welcome our new Principal, Dr Kate Hadwen. All’ Ultimo Lavoro Li-Enn Koo (1991) PRESIDENT EX-STUDENTS’ UNION pymble.exstudents@gmail.com Pymble Ladies’ College PO Box 6233, Pymble, NSW, 2073
Stay in touch with our global network of ex-students. Join the alumni Facebook page www.facebook.com/groups/PymbleESU PAGE 36 | PYMBULLETIN | VOLUME 45 36 | PYMBULLETIN | VOLUME 42
Black Sustainability Watch Ties REUNIONS Darling Downs and Northern New England On Saturday 13 October 2018, 11 Pymble ladies gathered at the Parkhouse Restaurant, Margaret Street Toowoomba for the 2018 exstudents’ reunion. The Toowoomba lunch was a wonderful afternoon despite the fog, cold wind, cold temperature and wet weather, which no one complained about as we needed the rain so badly. The 2019 Reunion Luncheon for the Darling Downs – Granite Belt – Northern New South Wales will be held on Saturday 13 October at the Parkhouse Restaurant, Toowoomba. Helen Gibson (Colton, 1963)
Back Row: Pamela Strange (Kirk, 1952), Robyn Fulcher (Kirk, 1958), Helen Gibson (Colton, 1963), Karen Gillott (Gowing, 1957), Helen Henderson (Wright, 1957), Margaret Capp (Knapman, 1969), Jan Knight (Kirk, 1955), Robin Baker (Duncan, 1964) Front Row: Gai Mitchell (Thomson, 1968), Susan Treloar (1968), Sue King (Bristow, 1968)
Melbourne Reunion Once again, the Royal South Yarra Lawn Tennis Club kindly hosted the annual Melbourne Reunion on Sunday 28 October 2018, with Pymble girls attending from the classes of 1955 through to 1993. Despite the span of almost 40 years, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the luncheon and shared stories of their time at the College. Thank you to Sally Totman Marshall (Totman, 1993) for her organisation and assistance on the day and for each year bringing the lovely memento of the guest book, which is signed by all attendees and has been going since Miss Knox’s time.
Perth Reunion It was a glorious West Australian day when a group of Pymble exstudents gathered for their annual reunion on Saturday 3 November 2018, held at PLC Perth in Peppermint Grove. We were fortunate enough to also have the PLC Perth Principal, Dr Kate Hadwen, the PLC Perth Alumni Manager, Sascha Hill, and their Old Girls’ Union President attend. Many have lived in Perth for some time and others not so long however it was lovely to get together to enjoy the bond of days at Pymble Ladies’ College.
1998 – 20 Year Reunion
1998 – 20 Year Reunion More than 50 1998 leavers caught up on Friday 2 November 2018 at Daniel San in Manly, Sydney. A great night was had by all; reminiscing and catching up on the diverse range of paths each of us has taken over the last 20 years – so much so it was decided that ten years between reunions was too long! Thank you to all who came and made it such a memorable night – especially some of our overseas and interstate ladies. Victoria Hunt (1998)
Update your contact details – go to the Ex-Student section of the College website www.pymblelc.nsw.edu.au/community/ex-students-union VOLUME 45 | PYMBULLETIN | PAGE| 37 VOLUME 42 | PYMBULLETIN 37
Black Watch Ties Sustainability Upcoming Reunions and Events
REUNIONS
Class of 2014 – 5 Year Reunion Tahra De Souza E: tahradesouza@gmail.com Natalie Reid E: Natalie_reid27@outlook.com
1963 – 55 Year Reunion
Class of 2009 – 10 Year Reunion October 2019 – Venue TBA Louisa Grundy E: louisagrundy1@gmail.com Victoria Montgomery E: Victoria.montgomery11@gmail.com Class of 2004 – 15 Year Reunion Date TBA, Afternoon Tea – Pymble Ladies’ College Winsome Fox E: winsomepbfox@gmail.com Sabah Hussain E: sabahh@iprimus.com.au Class of 1999 – 20 Year Reunion Saturday 4 May – The Greengate Hotel, Killara Natalie Best (Chan) E: Natalie.d.best@gmail.com Class of 1994 – 25 Year Reunion Saturday 14 September – The Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney Zoe Wang (Moore) E: zoe.l.wang@gmail.com M: 0411 010 232 Gretta Howard E: grettahoward@hotmail.com M: 0410 469 273 Class of 1989 – 30 Year Reunion Saturday 2 March – The Greengate, Killara Kirsty Pearce (Ryan) E: kirstyspearce@optusnet.com.au Class of 1984 – 35 Year Reunion Romilly Madew (Evans) E: Romilly.madew@gbca.org.au Romilly is happy to support organising the reunion, if others can support her. Please email romilly.madew@gbca.org.au if you can help with the organisation. Class of 1979 – 40 Year Reunion Saturday 15 June – The Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney Anna Davis (Gissing) E: Ard17@bigpond.com M: 0419 607 963 Class of 1974 – 45 Year Reunion Convenor needed Class of 1969 – 50 Year Reunion Sunday 28 July (Commemoration Day) – Pymble Ladies’ College Philippa Graham (Myers) E: pdgraham@graers.com M: 0407 202 838 Class of 1964 – 55 Year Reunion Saturday 16 November, 12.30pm lunch – Pymble Ladies’ College Kate Fredericks (Ferguson) E: katefredericks6@gmail.com Di Thomas (Boden) E: drdthomas@hotmail.com Jenny Hooper (Fox) E: jenniferbhooper@hotmail.com Mahdi Deaton (Williams) E: madhideaton@gmail.com Isabel Scott (McKinney) E: izzasc@bigpond.com Class of 1959 – 60 Year Reunion Saturday 14 September – DMC, Pymble Ladies’ College Diana Ford (Gee) E: dianasford@yahoo.com.au Margaret Kirkwood E: iammargaretkirkwood@icloud.com Class of 1954 – 65 Year Reunion Sunday 28 July (Commemoration Day) DMC, Pymble Ladies’ College Jacqueline Farrar (Molyneux) E: jacqueline.farrar@icloud.com M: 0412 267 540 Class of 1949 – 70 Year Reunion PAGE 38needed | PYMBULLETIN | VOLUME 45 Convenor 38 | PYMBULLETIN | VOLUME 42
At three o’clock on 17 November 2018, almost 40 1963 leavers met at the David Macfarlane Centre to celebrate 55 years since they had left school. It was a very happy gathering, with lots of shared memories discussed over a glass or two of sparkling wine and very delicious canapés. Some ‘old girls’ had travelled long distances to be there, like Jennifer Wilkie (Fowler) and Gillian Warn (Irving) from New Zealand and Helen Gibson (Colton) from Queensland. It was low key, with no special guests or speeches, though Louise Allison and Ali Watson (Ferguson) welcomed everyone and proposed that the money that remains in the account after the bills are paid will be donated to the College for the Indigenous Scholarship Fund. Allie Kearns’ (McCutcheon) granddaughter kindly took a group of Boarders for a tour through Marden where they marvelled at the changes! Before the afternoon gathering, Susan Willard (Locke) had arranged a Boarders lunch at the Greengate Hotel in Killara and 12 Boarders certainly enjoyed the additional opportunity to catch up. Louise Allison (1963)
1973 – 45 Year Reunion On Saturday 10 November 2018, the Class of 1973 celebrated its 45 Year ‘Sapphire’ Reunion. The superb College grounds and a buffet lunch were thoroughly enjoyed by 52 fantastic women whose stories were many and varied, but all our journeys had begun as friends and classmates at Pymble. We remembered those who are no longer with us and those who are currently battling health issues. We are blessed that those numbers are low, and our friends remain strong and determined. We shared our Facebook page details where friends can come together on social occasions between our five-year reunions and our thanks to Jill Taylor for initiating this a couple of years ago. A truly wonderful day of memories with lots and lots of laughter. Sally Gulson (Sherman, 1973)
Black Sustainability Watch Ties NOTICES 1978 – 40 Year Reunion Ingleholme Class at the 1983 Reunion
Virginia Dawes-Ehrhardt (Dawes, 1977), Merry Hughes (1978), Sonal Moore (Sheth, 1978) and Carolyn Cottee (1978)
On Friday 23 November 2018 at Cafe Morso in Pyrmont, 70 amazing ladies gathered to celebrate our year group and remember those we have lost. We had several who were at their first reunion, which was fantastic and some international attendees! Carolyn Gavey travelled from the UK, Cathy Starr (Goode) from Vancouver and Virginia Dawes-Ehrhardt (Dawes), who left in sixth class at Ingleholme, flew in from California. There was also a strong Boarder contingency; it’s always so great to see them together. We managed to spend four straight hours catching up and laughing and being thankful that Pymble introduced us all so many years ago.
Marriages Electra Silk married Anthony Merrett (Shore 2004) at All Souls Anglican Church Bangalow on 29 September 2018. Guests celebrated after the ceremony at Deux Belettes in the Byron Bay hinterland. The wedding was attended by many Pymble girls with Caprice Silk as the Maid of Honour. Anna Read married Andrew Corbett at Jaspers Berry on 27 October 2018. Her bridesmaids were all Pymble girls; Emily Van Der Merwe (Read), Natalia Forrest (Scheidegger) and Sarah Cook (Gaydon).
Merry Hughes (1978)
1983 – 35 Year Reunion
Electra Silk (2008) and Anthony Merrett
The Class of 1983 had more than 50 attendees laughing and spending a fabulous afternoon at the Collaroy Beach Club on Saturday 27 October 2018. Lesley Diaz (Wood), Head Prefect, flew from the US especially for the reunion. Lesley and 13 other Boarders had a dinner the night before and relived Pymble boarding in the eighties. We have a very well-connected year, the first to blend the Ingleholme girls into Year 5 and we are now planning an annual lunch in October each year. If you couldn’t make it, please email KCorcoran@ pymblelc.nsw.edu.au to update your contact details.
Births Katherine Goldsmith (2005) and her husband Matthew welcomed their son Deuchar Timothy Goldsmith Fletcher on 26 April 2018.
Jennifer Cole (Hart, 1983)
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Anna Read (2006) and Andrew Corbett
Avon Road, Pymble NSW 2073 PO Box 136, North Ryde BC NSW 1670 Australia Tel: +61 2 9855 7799 Fax: +61 2 9855 7766 Email: communityengagement@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au
www.pymblelc.nsw.edu.au A school of the Uniting Church in Australia for girls from Kindergarten to Year 12, with boarding available from Year 7
‘All’ Ultimo Lavoro’ – Strive for the highest
“
These are exceptional achievements from a school that is non-selective and I congratulate our Pymble girls...
”
said Principal, Mrs Vicki Waters. CRICOS 03288K