Program dates and details

Sunday 7 August to Friday 2 September 2022 (Weeks 4 to 7 of Term 3).

ARRIVAL AT VISION VALLEY

Families are asked to transport their daughters to Vision Valley on Sunday 7 August. Following check-in, Pymble and Riverview parents and students will enjoy icebreaker activities, a site tour and a community luncheon on Sunday 7 August before all parents are invited to depart the site.

COLLECTING AND CELEBRATING OUR RETURNED PIONEERS

Students will arrive back at the College from their ‘Great Return’ (see page 11) on Friday 2 September. Families are warmly invited to meet their daughters at the College and join our returned pioneers for an early evening barbecue and celebration on Gloucester Lawn.

PRE-PROGRAM ‘GETTING TO KNOW YOU’ ACTIVITIES

Building supportive relationships is a key element of the program. Pymble girls and their Riverview counterparts will engage in the following ‘getting to know you’ activities before they reach Vision Valley: 1. Pymble afternoon tea based on the theme ‘Knowing people’. 2. Paired letter-writing activity with a

Riverview student. 3. Afternoon at Riverview with associated icebreaker activities. 4. A return afternoon at Pymble based on the theme ‘Knowing Pymble.

ROOMING AND GROUPING ARRANGEMENTS

Girls will be placed randomly within one of two pods of 25 students. To begin the experience, we will endeavour to ensure each girl has at least one chosen friend within their pod. Students will move rooms at least once during their residential experience and be placed in random groups for all Outdoor Education expeditions. All students will live communally within Stringybark Lodge and, as such, will get to know all 50 students attending the program.

CODE OF BEHAVIOUR AT VISION VALLEY

During their stay at Vision Valley, girls will be encouraged to develop their perspective of the world and themselves as they engage in this challenging, exciting and life-changing experience. We will be encouraging our girls to model and adopt our trademark Upper School behaviours of:

• Positivity • Inclusivity • Vulnerability • Equity • Bravery

Prior to departure, we will send you a conversation scaffold form to complete with your daughter. The submitted form will be printed and laminated for your daughter’s room at Stringybark Lodge and revisited upon her return.

DIGITAL DETOX – TRUST US, IT WILL BE A WONDERFUL THING!

Your daughter will not have access to her phone during the program. Whilst there will be an opportunity to use the Vision Valley landline should a necessity arise, please encourage and support your daughter to live independently. This includes avoiding sending messages she may see when using her laptop for learning, however tempting it may be to establish contact.

Should the Vision Valley team have concerns about your daughter that are repeated and do not ease despite intervention, you will be contacted by either the Deputy Head of Campus or the Head of Upper School.

Halfway through the stay, we will invite you to send your daughter a letter from home. She will then have an opportunity to return some ‘snail mail’ and discover the long-lost art of writing a letter in reply.

SHARING UPDATES VIA STUDENT BLOG

We know parents and carers will be keen to hear about the girls’ adventures while they are away, despite the digital detox. For this reason, and to develop their journalling and reflection skills, the girls will maintain a communal blog through which parents will receive regular updates of daily activities and photos.

COUNSELLING AND WELLBEING SUPPORT

Should the need arise, students will have an opportunity to meet with a College psychologist via Microsoft Teams. Any student who regularly sees a psychologist outside of the school may continue to do so during the program, pending further conversations with the Vision Valley team. Please email Tom Riley via upperschool@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au if this situation is applicable to your family.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF EXPERIENCE IN STUDENT REPORTS

Your daughter's commitment to the Vision Valley learning experience will be recognised in her Term 4 report.

INFORMATION NIGHT: PREPARING FOR YOUR DAUGHTER’S RETURN

Before the program ends, an information night will be held to assist parents with what to expect upon their daughter’s return and how to help navigate her re-entry to normal life. This will also be an opportunity for our community to further build relationships.

Mr Tom Riley HEAD OF UPPER SCHOOL