Pymble Staff in Profile

Dr Sarah Loch – Director – Pymble Institute

Sarah is the Director of the Pymble Institute, the College’s hub of research, innovation and professional learning. Her work in education spans primary to tertiary, with specialisation in the middle years of schooling, wellbeing and girls’ education, as well as educational research.

The Pymble Institute, or PI, as it is known, provides students and staff with opportunities to make a positive impact in the lives of girls, women and communities through driving thinking forward with research. The PIs programs include Sokratis (research-based passion projects for Years 3-11), publishing in Illuminate and Perspective, and the Pymble Ethics Committee, which has staff and student members. This provides Pymble students with research-focused learning which would not otherwise be accessible until university. It encourages staff to improve their practice with targeted professional learning and research engagement.

Sarah attended a performing arts school and loved combining academics with ballet and theatre and enjoyed all the subjects in her Bachelor of Arts degree; English, Anthropology, Philosophy and History. Her first job was in social work where she supported adults with disabilities in learning key skills. From there she completed a Master of Teaching and a Master of Education Studies and balanced teaching English and History with roles as a Year Coordinator and Dean of Middle School at Meriden and Abbotsleigh, respectively.

A drive to look deeper into how education saw Sarah also work at the Gifted Education Research, Resource and Information Centre (GERRIC, UNSW), in the International Research Centre for Youth Futures (UTS) and in teacher education degrees and postgraduate programs across a number of universities. Her PhD research delved into how young adolescent girls plan for their futures through the subject and co-curricular choices they make and she was awarded her PhD in Education from the University of Queensland in 2014. Sarah is an Honorary Associate with the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at UTS and continues to publish and participate in academic education community.

As well as leading the Pymble Institute, Sarah oversees the College Libraries, the Careers, Futures and Partnerships team and the College Archives. She leads the Social Intelligence pillar and the Intercultural Student Committee and loves working with the many students and staff connected to these initiatives.

Sarah loves her family, cats and garden, and sets aside time for creative rejuvenation through weekly ceramics classes and going to the theatre as often as possible.