For our Future Pymble Students

As we welcome the new year, we both reflect on a fantastic 2022 back on campus. It has been a pleasure to welcome so many future Pymble families to our beautiful grounds in person again. 

Technology @ Pymble 

We receive lots of questions about the type of technology used at Pymble. We recognise the importance of leveraging technology for an innovative future. Digital Intelligence is one of our College Strategic Pillars, aligning with our focus on growth through Deep Learning. With this in mind, we provide opportunities for our students to explore and master the use of a range of technologies, appropriate to their age and developmental stage.  

Students in Kindergarten to Year 6 receive a College-provided iPad, granting them age-appropriate access to enriching digital learning opportunities. 

As the girls progress through the Junior School, they will take on greater responsibility for their device. It is used as a learning tool during the day and once your daughter is ready (typically in Year 5), she will take this device home each evening to continue those opportunities. 

Even though many students will be familiar with operating an iPad, your daughter will receive support to become confident and competent with the device, its applications and tools. She will learn to use a variety of applications and digital communication tools such as email, as well as procedures necessary to maintain her iPad and keep it in good working order. Having the increased responsibility of their own iPad, students incrementally become a more responsible digital citizen in a monitored context. Student access to the internet is moderated, and online learning resources are curated through our Virtual Classroom Learning Management System, Seesaw and Microsoft Teams. 

Coding and Computational Thinking is embedded in the curriculum through ‘unplugged’ activities, apps and interactions with physical coding devices. Students share their digital learning with their teachers and parents through the Seesaw portfolio tool. 

The College runs a Choose Your Own College provided device (CYOD) Program beginning in Year 7 until Year 9. In 2023 Year 7 and Year 8 students follow this program (Year 7 to Year 9 2024).  We acknowledge the significant step in development our students undertake when entering Year 7. The aim of this program is to provide students with a guided entry into using and managing a laptop. 

We also believe that students and families should have a choice between a Mac or Windows operating system, so we provide two device options – a College-provided MacBook Air or a Windows HP laptop. Both devices have comparable specifications and learning programs are adapted to support both options. These devices will be configured and managed by the College IT department. Students will retain their device until they complete Year 9. 

Parents/carers will be charged an annual Technology Levy, which includes the cost of the device. At the end of Year 9 the device will become student’s property and College management will be removed. 

A Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT) Program operates for Years 9 to Year 12 2023 (Year 10 to Year 12 2024), providing students more flexibility in both how they learn and what technology they use. 

Year 9 Residential Stay at Vision Valley 

Pymble introduced a four-week Residential Program for our Year 9 students this year. This program incorporates living, learning and outdoor education.  Learning will embrace the opportunities afforded by the natural environment, beyond the confines of a rigid timetable, four-walled classroom, textbook or screen. The freedoms afforded with time at Vision Valley will enable our students to dive deeply into their learning.

The Outdoor Education program fits into the overarching K-12 Outdoor Education Continuum currently being implemented across the College. Key focus areas of the continuum include personal growth, connection to peers, life skills, leadership, rites of passage and environmental stewardship.

The residential program includes two three-day expeditions and one five-day student-led Great Return expedition from Vision Valley back to Pymble. On the Great Return, our girls employed all the outdoor skills they developed during the program, carrying their food and equipment as they traversed beautiful locations including Brisbane Water National Park, Brooklyn Dam and Berowra Valley National Park.

This program will be mandatory from 2024 for all Year 9 students. The four-week blocks will be spread across the calendar year to offer choice around the girls existing commitments and the costs involved in the program, like all College outdoor education programs, included in tuition fees.

Girls will live communally in two pods of 25 students in the newly renovated Stringybark Lodge. Students move rooms at least once during their residential experience and are placed in random groups for all Outdoor Education expeditions and will get to know all 50 students attending the program.

Visiting the College in 2023 

In March we will host a Whole College Open Event for prospective parents keen to learn more about Pymble from Kindergarten to Year 11. Our Principal, Leadership Team and students will host this special day.  

If you haven’t been to the College for a while or your daughter is starting in 2024 or 2025, an Open Event is a great chance to hear about the latest curriculum focus and the dynamic co-curricular programs offered.  Bookings are required to attend. 

Book to attend the Whole College Open Event  Wednesday 15 March 4.00pm-6.00pm 

Smaller group tours are also available each week. Visit our Book a Tour webpage for dates and information. 

If you’d like to introduce the College to friends or even show your family around please share the Booking links with them. 

Change to enrolment fees 

The enrolment fees at the College have remained unchanged despite a significant rise in administrative costs. From 2023, Enrolment Fees will increase as described below. Fees already paid will not incur an additional fee.  

Application Fee $440 (incl GST) 

Provisional Place Acceptance Fee $2,000 (incl GST) 

Entry Fee $2,400 

2024 & 2025 Upcoming Interviews

We will soon be contacting parents who have their daughter’s name on our enrolment list to start in 2024 or 2025 in Kindergarten to Year 7. We will be inviting you by email to a Pymble Morning where an enrolment interview to confirm your daughter’s place will be conducted. These mornings will be conducted from March until June. Please look out for the correspondence and respond in a timely manner. We look forward to meeting you on campus and spending time with your daughter over the coming months.

Many families have already had their daughter’s enrolment confirmed last year and will not need to interview again. All students with a confirmed enrolment to commence in 2024 will have orientation events in Semester 2 and information about those dates will be shared separately.

Students seeking a place in Year 8, 9, 10 or Year 11 2024 will be contacted in April / May when we are able to advise availability in those years groups.

We look forward to welcoming you all to the College again in 2023.