Message from the Deputy Principal 2020 has been a year that has brought out the best of many of our students, teachers and School community. Despite the considerable impact of bushfires and floods in Term 1, which threw our Year 7, 8 and 9 camps into disarray, nothing could prepare us for the complete reimagining of our curriculum delivery that was brought upon by COVID-19.
Deputy Principal, Mr James Walmsley
Unfortunately, in a year where many remarkable achievements have taken place, 2020 will be remembered for remote learning, social distancing, Zoom presentations and a restructuring of many traditional Pittwater House activities. Due to the timings of when this message was written we were yet to know the School’s 2020 HSC results. However, it is appropriate to mention and celebrate the 2019 results of our students. In addition to our school ranking of 85th in NSW, Pittwater House students have achieved 13 ATARs greater than 95, with two students reaching the All Rounders List, 27 students making the Distinguished Achiever’s List and 12 students nominated for Callback – and all from a small student cohort. Geordie Smith achieved the distinguished position of Dux of the Girls College, with a wonderful ATAR of 99.05 and James Pinnington achieved the Dux of the Grammar School with 97.3. We are thrilled that as of October, we already have 50 students from the Class of 2020 receiving early entry into their 2021 University Courses. These early entry offers are based on a range of areas, such as individual portfolios and Year 12 school assessment marks. It is great that so many of our students can be reassured that they have a guaranteed spot, before they even sit an HSC Examination, which is testament to the hard work they have put into their schooling throughout their time at Pittwater House. We are also thrilled to be able to celebrate at this point the great success our students
have achieved in their HSC practical submissions or performances. As of this date, we are aware that Emily Zhou has been nominated for Encore for her HSC Music performance, Lily Briscoe and Shantani Jepson have been nominated for HSC Callback for their HSC Dance performances. Shantani did remarkably well, receiving three Callbacks for Dance. A similar outstanding achievement was the nomination of Matthew Norton’s major Visual Arts Body of Work to NESA’s ARTEXPRESS. NESA holds these events to showcase exemplary examples of HSC student works. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many School activities and has meant we have had to redesign the way we communicate with parents and our ability to be involved in external-school events, in many ways it has resulted in an increased focus on the classroom. The six weeks of remote learning had its challenges, but it was not long before we had a consistent package of lessons being delivered as per the timetable, with the assistance of tools such as Canvas, Zoom and Microsoft Teams. As of October, 5,080 Zoom meetings and 5,068 Microsoft Teams video conferences have taken place at Pittwater House. This has included lessons, meetings and even ‘New Parent Evenings’ and ‘Subject Selection’ presentations. It was extraordinary to see how well our community and especially our students adapted to the shift in learning styles. It was also amazing to see the quality of the work that was still being produced by the students during this period of uncertainty. The 5
