From the Principal
Greetings from my desk at Pymble, where I have just returned from Jerusalem.
Why was I in Israel? Well, late last year, I was approached by the Board of March of the Living (MOTL) Australia to consider joining two other selected community members (Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe and award-winning journalist Nick McKenzie) on the MOTL program during the recent school holiday break.
MOTL is a for-purpose, not-for-profit organisation dedicated to remembering the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. The program is an inclusive and immersive educational experience of “going where history books can’t”, which includes visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau and speaking with, and learning from, Holocaust survivors. The Board was keen to revive the program, post-COVID, and decided to invite non-Jewish community leaders who they felt could use this experience to promote social justice for future generations. Next year, I hope we can offer MOTL as one of several international service-learning opportunities for our students, along with supporting local schools and community in Tanzania and refugees in Athens and Thessaloniki, Greece. These programs will sit alongside our extensive national and local service programs we are proud to offer at the College.
Being of service to others is a focus of the whole school, embedded into our Watch Us Change the World strategic direction that guides us to build our students’ Social, Emotional, Digital and Academic Intelligences and, ultimately, inspire them to want to make the world a better place. On a local level, we kicked off the year with a College-wide initiative, Pymble Gives Back, to collect much-needed items to support the work of Wayside Chapel, Dignity and Anglicare at Hornsby. We were so proud to see students, families and staff donate bags and bags and bags of clean clothing, new socks and underwear and warm blankets to send on to the charities at the end of Term 1. In Term 2, we will continue to be of service to these organisations and many others.
Should you wish to contribute any of these items to our Term 2 Pymble Gives Back drive, please feel free to email our Community Engagement team via communityengagement@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au or drop off bagged items to our Main Reception.
Why International Women’s Day matters at Pymble
Each year International Women’s Day (IWD) is marked in our calendar as a day of significance. At an individual and organisational level, supporters are employing increasingly diverse, creative and visible ways to inspire meaningful conversations about inequities for women that still need addressing and, ultimately, action towards gender equity.
Pymble has engaged in IWD events and initiatives for many years, however, this year we took a few big, bold steps outside our classrooms and campus to encourage change where it will count for our girls in the future. Stepping out of your lane is not always a comfortable experience. We intentionally did so to send a strong message to businesses and organisations that our girls expect an equal playing field, and we do this with the understanding that any feelings of discomfort are a sign that we are learning new things and that tides are turning. For as any changemaker knows, continuing to do the same thing that always makes you feel comfortable is unlikely to have any real impact. That feeling of gentle disruption created by courageous conversations makes me think of the many women, and men, who have championed gender equality in the past. Thank you for your inspiration; our intention is to build on the strong foundation you have laid.
Perhaps you came across some of our 2023 IWD initiatives:
- The magazine we created for the business world, in partnership with The Australian Financial Review, celebrating the unique strengths and skills of incredible female role models, Pymble girls and alumni.
- A campaign called Chairs for Change which we launched with Women on Boards to encourage corporate Australia to remove gender associations from the title of the highest office in business by changing Chairman to Chair. This has since gone global, with companies all over the world signing up.
- Our new Speaking of Change podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify featuring the ridiculously inspirational triple athlete and Pymble ex-students Chloe Dalton, who is blazing trails for female athletes.
It was exciting to see our students, past and present, voice their opinions so thoughtfully and respectfully through these channels. They are a credit to our College and our staff, who are passionate about delivering educational excellence and, of equal importance, setting our students up for life beyond Pymble as compassionate and influential women. This always has been, and always will be, our mission.
It’s our time. Watch us change the world.
