Season’s greetings from our very quiet campus! With our girls now on school holidays, I wanted to take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
In what has been a challenging year for our local, national and international communities, my hope is that you and your family are safe and well and that you have all the supports needed to sustain you during this time.
We look forward to an exciting new year at Pymble and – hopefully – many more opportunities to connect with you in person in 2022. For now, please enjoy this short Christmas message from our Pymble family to yours.
Warmest wishes for a wonderful festive season.
Dr Kate Hadwen
Principal
From the Enrolments Managers
As we finish off a year that was filled with COVID-related disruptions to visitors onsite, we are grateful that our community remained safe and that we are now able to meet with girls and their families face-to-face and no longer via video screen!
We were able to have parents come and celebrate with their daughters the end of another successful academic year through our Celebration of Learning events for students in Kindergarten through to Year 11 over three days. Pymble students are now on holidays.
Students entering in 2022
With the opening of Australian borders and the easing of restrictions, we welcome our overseas families who have been able to relocate or return to Sydney and prepare for a new start at Pymble in 2022.
We look forward to the buzz of our Orientation program at the end of January and to a fabulous 2022. Thank you to our 2022 parents who have had to wade through a great deal of emails and ‘to dos’ in getting their daughter ready to start with us next year.
All pre-commencement information we have shared will remain on the MyPymble parent portal until your daughter starts. Dates for orientation are included under the relevant school micro-website.
We encourage all new parents to join the Pymble community at our Parent Icebreaker event on Friday 18 February 2022.
Students starting in 2023 and beyond
Families who have applied to Pymble for their daughter in Kindergarten to Year 7, and who hold a provisional place, will have an interview to confirm their place two years prior to entry.
This means that interviews for 2023 late enrolments and 2024 students will begin in March 2022 through Pymble Mornings. During this process we share Pymble’s academic and wellbeing programs by offering information sessions and tours with Pymble students, as well as an individual interview with our respective Heads of School.
Students on the waiting list for Years 8 to 11 in 2023 will be contacted in April to advise of availability and interview arrangements.
The Enrolments office will be closed from 17 December until 10 January 2022. We wish all our families a happy festive season and look forward to meeting many of you at Pymble next year.
Mrs Clair Stock
Enrolments Manager 7-12
Mrs Victoria Adamovich
Enrolments Manager K-6
School Tours
School Tours have started again!
We are pleased to again welcome prospective students and their families for small guided College tours during our summer school holiday period. Although our students and staff will not be onsite, families still have the opportunity to explore the academic, wellbeing and co-curricular programs we have on offer at Pymble, while discovering our world-class facilities set on 20 hectares of beautiful park-like grounds. Tours run for 90 minutes.
Tours will continue into Term 1 2022. Full College tours, which are held on Tuesdays and Fridays, will take you around the entire College, including our Junior and Secondary Schools. Secondary School College Tours are held on Thursdays and will exclude the K-6 Junior School.
Bookings for tours of the College are essential. Please contact us directly should you require a tour of our Boarding facilities.
We look forward to assisting you with your specific enrolment questions and to discuss your daughter’s educational needs.
Open Event – 16 March 2022
Prospective families will be welcomed to our next Open Event to be held on 16 March next year. From 4.00pm, school tours with our students along with a presentation by Principal, Dr Hadwen, and senior leaders of the College will share what Pymble can offer your daughter. The evening will give families a chance to tour the College, meet our students and ask questions about Sport, Performing Arts, Boarding and more.
Virtual Tours
The virtual tour of Pymble is a wonderful way to see our campus and girls in action from the comfort of your home. Click here to get started.
2021 at Pymble – watch now
Learn to Swim Holiday Program
Summer School Holiday Program
An intensive week of swimming will help your child relearn important skills, rebuild friendships, and reinforce important water safety measures, which will ensure they are better prepared for the many aquatic activities you may enjoy over the Christmas break.
January Program
The program will be held Monday to Friday, between 8.00am and 12.00pm.
Week 1
4 January 2022 to 7 January 2022 (four-day week)
Week 2
10 January 2022 to 14 January 2022 (five-day week)
Week 3
17 January 2022 to 21 January 2022 (five-day week)
Cost
$78.00 per child (four days) or $97.50 per child (five days)
Vacation Care caters primarily for children attending Pymble Ladies’ College, however our future enrolled Pymble students may also attend.
The centre offers quality childcare in a safe, stimulating and supervised environment throughout the Winter holiday period.
For information on our Winter Holiday Program in 2022 from Monday 27 June to Friday 15 July- click here.
HSC 2021 – Congratulations to our Year 12 Girls
Our Year 12 girls might have had a different HSC experience to the one they were expecting, but they made everyone at Pymble proud with their composure and ability to adjust to completing their Trials online as a result of COVID-19 restrictions, before returning to campus for their final exams.
Head Prefect Priya Mehra said: “We were lucky that the transition to online exams was done really well by the team at Pymble – Ms Stanfield (Director of Student Learning 11-12) and Mr Raymond (Deputy Principal – Academic K-12) were amazing. When questions would pop up about the new process, they were straight back on email, replying and helping to make things easier.”
Our wonderful Ex-Students’ Union had a special gift for the class of 2021 when they finished their first exam.
The girls will return to the College in January 2022 for a final Chapel service and awards ceremony.
Celebrations of Learning and Final Assemblies
It was wonderful to welcome parents and carers back onsite to celebrate the achievements of their daughters in 2021.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions we could not hold these events in the Speech Day format, however, it was a joy to celebrate the end of the year in a COVID-safe way with our girls and families across three Celebrations of Learning and seven Final Assemblies.
It was exciting to watch the girls grow throughout the year and we congratulate them on their fantastic efforts.
Launching our Vision Valley Long-stay Program
In Term 4 last year, our Year 9 girls were the first to trial our long-stay residential program at Vision Valley. These students were the first in what we hope will be many generations of Pymble girls to complete a long-stay program at the site.
During the residential program, alongside their academic program, girls participated in a range of expedition, fitness and relaxation programs.
By spending an extended period in the beautiful natural surrounds of the Vision Valley Campus and Berowra Valley National Park, the girls had the opportunity to create a lasting relationship with both their peers and the natural world.
Year 9 student Shanya said:
“We had groups of Year 9 students stay at a ten-day residential stay at Vision Valley. Participating in a range of activities such as high ropes, craft-noon, journalism etc., we were challenged to face any doubts/fears we had as individuals, along with using skills such as teamwork and problem solving to overcome tasks successfully. Many of us made new connections with the people around us alongside strengthening current bonds with friends. Each student had a different experience, growing in our own ways.”
2022 will also see the introduction of an exciting new Outdoor Education offering for Year 10. Girls will have the option of attending one of two programs, a five-day multi-activity adventure or an epic nine-day hike.
As part of our growing Outdoor Education Program, we will be offering the ‘Namadji Pilot Program’ – a challenging nine-day hike traversing Australia’s highest peaks and most spectacular mountain scenery. Accompanied by an expedition leader, select girls will form independent groups of no more than 16, and will take on a huge challenge on the roof of Australia. Students will take responsibility for group leadership, navigation and equipment while walking along ancient Aboriginal songlines in a remarkably special part of the world.
During the same time frame, girls will also have the choice of attending a five-day program at the beautiful Murramarang National Park on the South Coast. This program will provide the opportunity for girls to engage in snorkelling, surfing, stand-up paddle boarding, hiking and coastal navigation.
Welcome Turi!
We were thrilled to welcome tiny Turi, our second College dog, in Term 4 2021.
Turi is the biological niece of Archie, our first College dog. Like Archie, she is also an Australian Cobberdog, bred especially for their gentle temperament and often used as therapy dogs.
Turi is named after inspirational athlete Turia Pitt, and lives with our Deputy Principal – Academic, Mr Justin Raymond.
Follow us on Social Media
Join our Pymble family online and keep up-to-date with the latest school news, student achievements and fun things happening around the College.
Written and produced by our Boarding staff and students, Keeping up with our Boarders is a termly publication sharing the latest news from inside the Pymble Ladies’ College Boarding houses.
Illuminate
This journal shines a light on Pymble teachers as designers and innovators of education, and the creative, connected and engaged practice in our community of learners.
The articles will take readers into classrooms from Kindergarten in the Preparatory School to Year 12 in the Senior School, from Drama to Science to the Library. We invite you to enjoy this insight into the depth and diversity of innovation in our learning environments and our commitment to sustainable capacity building.
Perspective – Student Research Journal
We are proud to share with you Perspective Student Research Journal, showcasing the work of several of our high-achieving Year 12 girls from 2020.
Dr Kate Hadwen
Mrs Clair Stock
Mrs Victoria Adamovich
