Our 2022 HSC Results Booklet provides an overview of the outstanding academic and co-curricular success of our students, as well as some personal stories of achievement and their future learning destinations. Congratulations to our Class of 2022 for the completion of their personalised education at Pymble and for their exceptional HSC results..
Here we invite our staff to share some details about themselves and what brings them joy in their work at Pymble. Mrs Kate Brown, Head of Junior School shares her Pymble journey so far below:
“I grew up in the south of England and spent a lot of my younger years moving around the country due to my father’s job. I started my career as a family and criminal lawyer and continued in this profession after moving to Sydney in 1999.
It was not until my eldest daughter commenced kindergarten that I decided to retrain to become a teacher, much to the delight of my family who joked that I ‘saw the light’ as I come from a long line of educators. In fact, I’m the fourth generation of Heads of Junior School on my mother’s side of the family!
I chose teaching as I was seeking more joy in my everyday life and wanted a career that would give me more opportunities to be creative and a greater sense of optimism – things I’ve certainly found here at Pymble.
The greatest joy in my role no doubt comes from the girls. It is wonderful to see our girls discover their passions and their sense of self as they choose their own adventures and embrace the inevitable challenges they face through the school. I love the enthusiasm the Junior School girls bring to each opportunity and their ‘have a go’ mindset inspires and energises me. Most of all I love the powerful sense of sisterhood in our community and the joy the girls feel in celebrating one another and the strength they find through collaborating and supporting one another when things are tricky. I feel so lucky to be surrounded by such kind and compassionate young people every day – there is no better job! The future is in very safe hands with these amazing young women.
Pymble is a dynamic community where you can dream big knowing that you will be supported in pursuing those dreams. Our girls and staff are empowered to celebrate themselves, to explore and develop personal strengths and then use those strengths to change the world for the better.”
Mrs Kate Brown
Happy new year from all of us here at Pymble. We have enjoyed a great break after a fabulous year and our students have returned with great enthusiasm!
2022 was the year we focused on taking a creative approach to learning. Our theme, Let’s Get Creative: Dream. Think. Make it happen, inspired Pymble students and staff to design, launch and engage in a wide range of future-focused learning opportunities, including:
It was such a joy to see our girls continue to excel academically throughout the year.
In the prestigious da Vinci Decathlon, our Year 5 and Year 6 teams both placed second overall, and our Year 8 team won the national competition. Our brilliant mathematicians in the Junior School entered the Investigating with Mathematics competition where our Year 2 team won the group category and one of our Year 5 students won the Individual Category. In the Mathematics Olympiad, our Year 6 Extension Group placed in the top 10 per cent of junior teams overall.
In NAPLAN testing, most results for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 fell into the top two bands, which is impressive.
Long before HSC results were released in December, our Class of 2022 received 411 early entry places at university and, for their practical work in Drama, Dance and Music, 47 nominations to showcase their work at the post HSC exhibitions of the best work in the state.
When official results came in, we were delighted to see our Dux of School, Chloe Hoang, was one of only 48 students in the state to receive the top score of 99.95 – Chloe also placed first in the state for English Extension 1. Nine students placed in state rankings for one or more subject, and 28 students made the state’s All-Rounder List for having achieved Band 6 or E4 in 10 or more units studied.
Pymble is on an upward trajectory academically; this has been a strategic focus of ours and the results are paying dividends. It was exciting to see the College rank 20th in the state in the Sydney Morning Herald list of HSC 2022 Top Schools. We are proud of all our students for their commitment to their studies, their contribution to life at Pymble and for embracing the call to be creative in their approach to learning.
Click here to read our HSC highlights
This year, our College theme is Pymble Gives Back and we look forward to creating a series of opportunities for our Pymble family to be of service to those in need in our community. We will be supporting several charities, including Wayside Chapel, Dignity and The Smith Family and, most importantly, we will continue to develop our college-wide focus on giving. Through these experiences, we hope to develop in our students a life-long habit of using their gifts and talents to be of service in the world.
We take the responsibility of developing our students into influential and compassionate women who will change the world with the utmost seriousness. Thank you for considering Pymble for your daughter’s education, and please let us know if you would like to be involved in some way with our giving back initiative.
Signing off with our 2022 Year in Review video, which is a true delight to share with you. Please enjoy!
Dance as an academic subject was introduced at Pymble 15 years ago. Since then, we have seen a wealth of talented, passionate and engaged students study Dance as an artform. Dance is thriving at Pymble and our new Dance Academy will further elevate our world-class dance programs.
A key part of our Strategic Direction is the ongoing delivery and maintenance of first-class facilities and programs that make it possible for our girls and staff to achieve their best.
The Grey House Precinct is a world-class educational and co-curricular facility that will foster leading pedagogical practices, prioritising student and staff health and wellbeing in spaces that embed flexibility to accommodate future developments in learning and teaching methods.
The Precinct will include new classrooms for Years 5 and 6, Out of School Hours Care (OSHC), an Early Learning Centre (ELC), a Health Care Centre and the new Pymble Dance Academy.
Pymble Dance Academy, will be located on Level One of the Precinct and include six state of the art dance studios including a spectacular multipurpose studio with retractable seating for 100 people.
In 2023, Pymble students, staff and families will be invited to ‘give back’ in a series of voluntary events, activities and initiatives that encourage and celebrate humanity, kindness and care in our community,
There are myriad reasons to be of service to others, starting with our College values, our heritage as a school of the Uniting Church in Australia, and a ton of research that shows helping other people improves your health, happiness and sense of purpose and belonging. Being of service also has a knock-on effect, inspiring more acts of kindness, which in turn helps make the world a better place.
Our primary Pymble Gives Back partners in 2023 are Wayside Chapel, Dignity and The Smith Family. We will also be working with additional charities and organisations to give students opportunities to be of hands-on service to those in need.
Last year, we had the joy of presenting a cheque for the incredible amount of $36,973.60 to the Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Women’s Shelter (HKWS). This represents the sum of funds raised through our Garden Party, Mother’s Day Morning Tea and various student-led initiatives throughout the year. This will go towards paying for a case worker to support the women who arrive at the shelter seeking refuge from unsafe homes, according to the Chair of the HKWS Board and Pymble alumna, Mrs Catherine Knox (1977). By supporting HWKS, together we are making a difference to these women at a critical time in their lives.
We are proud to present This is Pymble by contemporary Aboriginal artist and proud Yuin woman Rheanna Lotter. This stunning piece of art represents our College community and adorns one of the walls of our campus cafe Archie’s. It also features on the cover of our 2023 student diaries.
Rhe explains the meaning of this piece below:
“The artwork that I have created represents Pymble Ladies’ College. Focusing on the College’s five core values, I have designed five circles that represent care courage respect responsibility an integrity. The U shapes are a representation of people, all different sizes to showcase the diversity of the Pymble family. Our hands are placed in each circle as we create change in our school and the wider community. Using the stars, we navigate our journey to change the world and through the boomerangs we show our resilience and strength. Understanding that we live and learn on Aboriginal Land, we will always remember those who paved the way. The outside circles are our Aboriginal ancestors who protect and guide us on our journey at school and into the world”
See more of Rheanna’s work at www.ngandabbaa.com.au
Pymbulletin is our magazine-style publication covering student, staff and College news, initiatives, events and achievements.
The Ex-Students’ section of Pymbulletin reports on the achievements of Pymble alumni, news items and engagements, weddings, births and vale notices.
From day one, Pymble has forged paths for women where there were none.
We have educated scientists, artists, community leaders, politicians, doctors, lawyers, musicians, athletes, entrepreneurs, Olympians and countless influential and compassionate women. Read about our past, present and future as we celebrate 105 years.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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What was life like when you were a Pymble girl? “
I was a Boarder and absolutely loved it (most of the time, of course at times I would be homesick, a universal Boarder experience I would say). It was a chance to get out of my comfort zone and push my resilience, particularly coming from a smaller town.
What was a highlight of your time at Pymble?
The last day of school was a memorable moment. I enjoyed being able to share the milestone with friends, but also teachers who had made a great impact. I still remember us all together in the auditorium enjoying the last moments of school together.
Did you always know what you wanted to do?
Yes and no. I initially started to think about pursuing a career in health after noting realistically that I wasn’t going to make it professionally in tennis. This thought crossed my mind in about Year 10. However, when I was in primary school, I had completed an assignment titled ‘What do you want to be when you grow up’ and had chosen to interview a good family friend who was a doctor.
Tell us a little about your journey?
I am an Arrernte/Yankunytjatjara/Wangangkurru woman on my father’s side and Bundjalung on my mother’s. I was born and grew up in Mparntwe (Alice Springs). I was scouted by Evonne Goolagong-Cawley for a tennis scholarship to Pymble. Although sport was a big part of my life, so were my academic aspirations, which made Pymble the perfect fit for me. After completing Year 12, I attended The University of Adelaide and completed my Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery in 2018. I am now working as a General Practitioner at a Central Australian Aboriginal Congress.
Who inspires you?
My mother, Donna Ah Chee.
What do you know now that you wish you had discovered earlier?
To be authentic to yourself. Say yes to opportunities that will push you while also knowing your limits and saying no when you’re stretched too thin.
In 2022, Pymble’s visual and performing arts students and technology students were nominated for a record number of HSC showcases and exhibitions.
Art Express is an annual series of exhibitions of exemplary artworks created by HSC Visual Arts students.
Nominations
Ashley Dhanu, Joye Fu, Isobel Gosper, Bomy Kim, Hayley Leighton, Georgina Makeham, Chloe Moore, Emilie Palme, Tiah Shaw
Selections
Ashley Dhanu, Joye Fu, Isobel Gosper, Bomy Kim, Hayley Leighton
A record number of nominations were received for OnSTAGE by Pymble drama students with 75 per cent of the Drama class of 20 girls nominated for their group performances. Seven students were double nominated for both their individual and group performances.
Individual Performance Nominations
Chloe Tedesco, Amelia Fantham, Sophie Coughlan, Annabelle Ainsworth, Antoinette Boxall, Kate Falconer-Flint, Annika Johnson,
Group Performance Nominations
Amelia Brown, Sophie Coughlan, Amelia Fantham. Chloe Tedesco, Tahmara Thomas, Antoinette Boxall, Ciara Gibson, Kashika Goswami, Kate Falconer-Flint, Annika Johnson, Annabelle Ainsworth, Alisha Behl, Anna Mufford, Rosanna Van Horen, Tessa Webster
Exemplary individual projects by HSC Drama students will be on exhibition in the upstairs foyer of the Seymour Centre from Monday 14 February to Friday 18 February 2022. Projects include costume and set design, promotion and program, and theatre review.
Nominations
Ciara Gibson, Tahmara Thomas, Rosanna van Horen, Tessa Webster
Selections
Alisha Behl, Ciara Gibson
ENCORE is a showcase of performances and compositions by HSC music students. This year, Pymble has five students nominated for inclusion and Isabel Dean has been selected to perform at the Sydney Opera House in February 2023.
Nominations
Lara Albany Music 2 and Music extension
Isabel Dean Music 2 and Music extension
Cindy Yingyan Hu Music 2 and Music extension
Annika Johnson Music 1
Christina Wu Music 2 and Music extension
Selection
Isabel Dean
An exhibition featuring a selection of students’ exemplary HSC major projects from Design and Technology, Industrial Technology and Textiles and Design.
Nominations
Sarah Charlotte Atkinson, Nina Breckenridge, Lara Davis, Emilia Duncan, Claudia Johnston
Textile is an exhibition of a selection of exemplary Textiles and Design projects from the HSC.
Nominations
Rosie Le
CALLBACK is a celebration of the outstanding talent of our HSC Dance students. In 2022, all three Dance students were double-nominated in two categories and two were triple-nominated. Jessica Tse has been selected to perform her Major Study Performance at The Seymour Centre in February next year.
Nominations
Core Performance Fiona Fu, Jessica Tse, Delta Zarafetas
Core Composition Jessica Tse, Delta Zarafetas
Major Study Performance Fiona Fu, Jessica Tse, Delta Zarafetas
Selections
Major Study Performance Jessica Tse
Pymble Swimming offers Learn to Swim preschool swimming programs in a world-class swimming facility with small class sizes, caring and experienced swimming staff and convenient on-site parking.
We help your child learn new water skills, reinforce water safety, make new friends and prepare them for a life of fun as a confident and strong swimmer.
The learn to swim pool is heated between 31 and 33 degrees and the air is kept warm to ensure children never get cold during their lessons. Our pools also feature state-of-the-art, ultra-fine filtration systems ensuring the highest quality of water.
Whilst much emphasis is placed on the learning that takes place within the classroom, the learning of life and safety skills outside of the classroom is just as important.
Research led by Griffith University indicates that children who attend an early years swimming program have been found to develop social, emotional, physical and intellectual capabilities more quickly than those who do not participate in swimming lessons. Researcher discovered that children who took swim lessons before the age of five years were six to 20 months ahead of their peers in many different areas:
Both boys and girls are welcome at Pymble Swimming. The advantages for future Pymble students is connecting into a network of future Pymble families with shared interests and a community that supports active, happy and well-balanced girls.
Pymble Swimming welcomes your family to try our specially designed Learn to Swim program by offering your first lesson free. Call Pymble Swimming today to arrange a time to begin building your child’s water safety and life skills.
Book on (02) 9855 7460, or email swimming@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au
Website: pymbleswimming.com.au
Pymble’s Centre of Excellence is a state of the art initiative, which aims to unlock the potential of exceptional students to excel in diverse fields and make their mark on the world. It utilises the rich offerings available to students at the College to facilitate a research-informed Talent Development program for select High Potential and Gifted Learners, beginning initially with students in Years 7 and 8 2023.
Each student, selected for Talent Development, will embark on a guided journey, throughout their time at Pymble. Partnered with a trained Intellectual Domain Leader, the student will have access to opportunities and experiences, which will equip them to excel in an area of expertise and passion, such as academics, arts, business and entrepreneurship, citizenship and leadership, and science and technology.
By addressing the unique needs of Gifted and High Potential Learners in this way, Pymble’s Centre of Excellence will demonstrate leadership, best practice and research, significantly influencing the field of Gifted Education.
Mrs Clair Stock
Mrs Melinda Clements