Introducing the
Pymble Wise Phone Initiative
We’ve made the CHOICE to take this CHANCE and affect positive CHANGE for our girls
Great choice!
Dear Parent or Carer
Thank you for your overwhelmingly positive feedback to our Pymble Wise Phone initiative.
We are delighted to confirm we have your support to provide a College-managed phone to all students in Years 4 to 9 from 2025. These are to replace or substitute for smartphones, which are associated with creating so much harm to our young people.
You are choosing a new and courageous path –congratulations on being changemakers!
Often, the most difficult decisions you make in your life are the ones that will reap the greatest benefit.
Will this choice of phone be popular with your daughter? Probably not at first, but it will soon become the new normal for her cohort when everyone commits to the cause, fully and unconditionally.
Will enforcing the change from a smartphone to a ‘wiser’ mobile phone be easy? No, but there is a priceless incentive, who you know well and love dearly. We think she’s worth the effort.
Will it be a challenge to delay (or revoke) your daughter’s access to social media? Yes, but we will do this together with Care, Courage, Integrity, Respect and Responsibility to create a safer and healthier environment for your daughter, her friends and our broader community.
When parents and schools work together, magic happens
We know there will be challenges. We know we won’t always get it right. We also know that your daughter’s wellbeing and safety are not negotiable.
If every single one of us makes the commitment to keep smartphones and social media out of their lives for the next few years, these cohorts will have a unique opportunity to grow and mature in their new learning environment together – face to face, in real life, looking up and at the world in an engaged, inclusive, and age-appropriate way.
We can do this. We will do this. Our girls are depending on us.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for being part of this life-changing initiative for our girls.
DR KATE HADWEN PRINCIPAL
MR JUSTIN RAYMOND DEPUTY PRINCIPAL – STUDENTS (K-12)
The scary research, in summary…
SMARTPHONES ARE:
WHAT IS HAPPENING IN SCHOOLS TODAY:
Dear Parents and Carers of Year 7 2025
» addictive (like ‘pokies’ in your pocket, persuading our children to crave more)
Thank you for your overwhelmingly positive feedback to our Pymble Wise Phone launch at the New Parents Information Evening on Monday 14 October.
» changing the nature of childhood (by 4-7 hours of screen time per day)
» increasing the risk for anxiety and depression
» greater frequency of smartphone issues
When parents and schools work together, magic happens
We know there will be challenges. We know we won’t always get it right. We also know that your daughter’s wellbeing and safety are not negotiable.
» students finding a way to get across platforms without parents’ knowledge
We are delighted to confirm we have your unanimous support to gift Pymble Wise Phones to all Year 7 2025 students. These are to replace or substitute for smartphones, which are associated with creating so much harm to our young people.
» putting children at risk of cyberbullying (1 in 4)
» students making mistakes – but the stakes are so much higher and more public on smartphones
You are choosing a new and courageous path –congratulations on being changemakers! Often, the most difficult decisions you make in your life are the ones that will reap the greatest benefit.
» exposing children to sexual content (from 42% to 66%)
» amplification of exclusionary behaviour
Collectively, we have approximately 600 Year 7 parents and carers, and 300 teachers and staff members to educate and nurture the 294 precious Year 7 students who are about to begin their Secondary School journey. If every single one of us makes the commitment to keep smartphones and social media out of their lives for the next few years, this cohort will have a unique opportunity to grow and mature in their new learning environment together – face to face, in real life, looking up and at the world in an engaged, inclusive, and age-appropriate way.
» interfering with relationships
Will this choice of phone be popular with your daughter?
» students seeing things on their phones that they are not equipped to manage
Probably not at first, but it will soon become the new normal for her cohort when everyone commits to the cause, fully and unconditionally.
» impacting on duration and quality of sleep.
16.2 years This is the age parents and students agree is the right age for access to social media.
We can do this. We will do this. Our children are depending on us.
» anxiety and school refusal
Will enforcing the change from a smartphone to a Wise Phone be easy? No, but there is a priceless incentive, who you know well and love dearly. We think she’s worth the effort.
Will it be a challenge to delay (or revoke) your daughter’s access to social media? Yes, but we will do this together with Care, Courage, Integrity, Respect and Responsibility to create a safer and healthier environment for your daughter, her friends and our broader community.
*Source: NSW Government Report, Have Your Say: Social media use and impacts, September 2024.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for being part of this life-changing initiative for our Class of 2030.
“A mobile device cannot bully another mobile device. It is human behaviour that creates the harm. One enables the other. This is why we are taking a multi-pronged approach.” - DR KATE HADWEN
Making a Wise choice NOT to give your daughter a smartphone will change her world – for better
IMPROVE ACADEMICS
REDUCE CYBERBULLYING
IMPROVE RELATIONSHIPS
DECREASE ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION
IMPROVE FAMILY DYNAMICS
PROTECT FROM HARMFUL AND SEXUAL CONTENT
“Behaviour that used to occur in Year 5 is occurring in Year 3. Behaviour that used to occur in Year 7 is occurring in Year 5. Behaviour that used to occur in Year 9 is occurring in Year 7. Our aim is to stop this slide backwards and regain control of our children’s childhood.” - MR JUSTIN RAYMOND
Wise words of advice from our Year 9 girls
ON HAVING A SMARTPHONE IN YEAR 7 AND 8...
“At times I found myself not being able to stop that scrolling motion. Even when I was supposed to be doing work and co-curricular activities, I found myself thinking of TikTok and just wanting to scroll.”
“Year 7 was a new environment… I had new teachers, new workload, new everything. Social media blocked me at a time when I needed to process everything that was new in my life. If I could have held off social media for longer, I would have.”
“I was pretty addicted to my phone and social media, and wasn’t used to the workload of Year 7. My parents were pretty chill, and I didn’t really have any restrictions on usage, and so it distracted me. A lot.”
ON THE AGE PARENTS SHOULD ALLOW SMARTPHONE AND SOCIAL MEDIA ACCESS…
“15-16 is a great age. Around that time, you are developing social circles, not just within the school and your own friendship group but also with people you meet from co-curricular and competitions, even in other states and countries. It can be a good form of communication then.”
Wise words of advice from our Year 9 girls
ON ADVICE FOR YEAR 7 PARENTS…
“Parents should be more in control of social media use My parents said, ‘Do what you like, you’re in Year 7, you’re responsible,’ which was absolutely not true.”
“Keep screens out of the bedroom and have set times of the day when you can’t have access to your phone. This could be when you first get home after school or catching public transport. Look out the window and live in the moment.”
“I really regret spending my time on social media… I was an avid baker and reading two books a week. Social media took that away from me.”
“I know girls whose parents follow their Instagram accounts so they just make up second Instagram accounts so the parents don’t know what’s going on in their lives.”
“Screen addiction is a real thing.”
Meet the Wiser Phone Choices
Through the Pymble Wise Phone Initiative, students have their choice of:
AN ANDROID DEVICE
Any student participating in the Pymble Wise Phone Initiative has the option to receive an Android phone, free of charge.
PURCHASING AN IPHONE THROUGH THE PYMBLE WISE PHONE INITIATIVE PORTAL
In response to student and family feedback, the College has extended the phone options available under the Pymble Wise Phone Initiative to include an iPhone 16e.
College-funded Android device
What Pymble does
What parents/ carers do
iPhone purchased through the Pymble Wise Phone Initiative portal
BRINGING YOUR OWN DEVICE (BYOD)
Pymble also provides students with the option to have their existing device re-programmed to be compatible with the Wise Phone Initiative.
Bringing your own device
9 Identifies and manages appropriate apps and features students can access
9 Provides technicians to assist with technical issues and repairs (in the IT Hub)
9 Funds the phone – one per student
9 Fund the SIM and the Plan
9 Re-programs the student’s phone to onboard it to the Wise Phone Initiative
9 Work with their daughter(s) to understand wiser phone use and healthy habits
9 Join with all other parents and carers in committing to this courageous change
9 Fund the purchase of an iPhone 16e
9 Provide the phone for conversion
9 Fund the onboarding of the iPhone to the Wise Phone Initiative (one-off charge)