Chair of the Board’s End of Year Message

Leadership

CHAIR OF THE BOARD’S END OF YEAR MESSAGE

Mr James Hunter, Chair of the Board

...we worked together as a united community, producing some of the most amazing experiences I am sure our girls will never forget.

The following message was delivered by Mr James Hunter at our End of Year Assemblies for Years 3 and 4, Year 7 and Year 11 in November 2021. Dr Hadwen, staff, parents, carers and girls, At Pymble we firmly believe that supporting your daughter to achieve her full potential is a partnership between our girls, you as parents and carers, and our incredible Pymble team. This has never been more important than in a year when the pandemic has dictated almost five months of online learning at home, with innovative classroom tuition and invaluable support from parents or carers. So let me start by asking our students to join me in thanking your parents or carers who have been such an important part of your lives this year. Parents and carers, thank you for everything you have done to reschedule and reprioritise for your daughters this year. The seamless transition from face-to-face learning in Term 2 to Pymble Online for Term 3 was a massive team effort.

• In the first month, 5,000,000 minutes of video were prepared and streamed and we held 30,000 online meetings. • More than 800 dancers attended one or more of 60 online dance classes held each week. Our dancers also performed in an Online Eisteddfod

Dance showcase. • Staff and students enjoyed an online presentation from the artistic director of the Queensland Ballet in Brisbane and author of Mao’s Last Dancer,

Li Cunxin AO. • We launched a College-wide online Pymlympics competition, including a Junior School Pentathlon and Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

Congratulations to the overall winning House, Hammond. • Recreational community events during lockdown included an online Family

Trivia Night, interactive online cooking class with celebrity chef Justine

Schofield, and online drawing class. As we look back on the year that was, we will remember how we worked together as a united community, producing some of the most amazing experiences I am sure our girls will never forget. I thought you would enjoy reflecting with me on some of these initiatives: • On International Women’s Day (IWD) Pymble launched our Watch Us

Change the World Strategic Direction and our Kindergarten to Year 12 girls contributed to the IWD ‘pledge wall’. • Pymble also partnered with UN Women Australia to support gender equality and the empowerment of women globally. • We welcomed fathers to our Dads and Daughters evenings presented by

Dr Arne Rubinstein from the Rites of Passage Institute. • Our community was joined by our second school dog, Turi, the biological niece of Archie and named after the courageous Turia Pitt. In Co-curricular sport and activities, we achieved so many wonderful outcomes, including: • Pymble won nine Independent Girls’ Schools Association (IGSA) championships in AFL, Softball, Football, Basketball, Cross Country,

Volleyball, Rowing, Swimming and Diving (for the tenth consecutive year!). • The Knox Pymble Swim Club placed second in the overall age group point score at the Australian National Age and Club Swimming Championships. • Pymble rowers won the overall point score at the annual Schoolgirl Head of the River Regatta. • Pymble sailors won the 2021 SheSails Invitational Teams Racing Regatta and placed second overall at the ACT Sailing Championships and first in the all-girls’ school category.

Leadership

CHAIR OF THE BOARD’S END OF YEAR MESSAGE

• The Eisteddfod Dance team performed at DanceLife

Unite and Extreme Eisteddfod where Contemporary

White and Secondary Jazz won first place – and

Contemporary White won the Overall Judges’ Prize for schools. Secondary Jazz Navy and Secondary Jazz

Scarlet placed first and second in their categories at

DanceLife Unite. • In the IGSA online Festival of Speech, Pymble placed second overall.

It is a source of great pride that, even during a pandemic, Pymble’s service to others continued stronger than ever. The year reminded us of our duty to assist those less fortunate than us and our efforts were so important. Our community support initiatives included:

• Ballet Without Borders, featuring our dancers, raised $16,000 for children who wouldn’t otherwise be able to access ballet. • The Mother’s Day Morning Tea to support the McGrath

Foundation raised more than $7,000 for the charity. • The Wayside Chapel Love Over Hate Community Project saw our community donate countless boxes of toiletries as well as clean underwear, clothing, socks and towels for the homeless clients of Wayside Chapel.

On a different note, this year Pymble became an incorporated entity, which is an appropriate governance structure for a school in the 2020s, and we have further strengthened the strong relationship we have with the Uniting Church. In Master Plan news, the planning and approvals are well underway for the Grey House Precinct, which is expected to be completed in the first half of 2024. This includes classrooms for Years 5 and 6, STEM classrooms, six dance studios, a Health Centre, our first Early Learning Centre, larger Out of School Hours Care for busy parents and carers, and much more. Planning has also commenced for the Secondary School Precinct buildings which will be completed in early 2027, which is great news for many of our Junior School girls who will benefit from these facilities. Let’s not forget Archie’s café, which will open early in 2022, overlooking the tennis courts and providing another food and drink outlet for students during the day and families on weekends during sport. In closing, well done to each of our students for all your achievements throughout the year. On behalf of the Pymble Board, I hope that you are looking forward to 2022 with hope and optimism and wish you all a relaxing Christmas holiday. Mr James Hunter, Chair of the Board

Holly Hassall and Alexandra Johnson, Year 12

Abigail Wu, Savannah Sherlock and Greta Campbell, Year 3