Chair of College Council’s Speech Day Report

Leadership

CHAIR OF COLLEGE COUNCIL’S SPEECH DAY REPORT

Mr James Hunter, Chair of College Council

each of you has approached this year with real courage, poise and an amazing strength and maturity.

(As delivered to the College at the Senior School Speech Day, 12 November 2020.) Moderator of the Uniting Church Reverend Simon Hansford, parents and carers, College Council members, Dr Kate Hadwen, members of staff, and our wonderful Pymble girls – it is fantastic that following months of restrictions on school events, we are again able to welcome you in person, to gather and celebrate your daughters’ achievements. In the years and decades ahead, future Pymble girls will study 2020-21 in their history lessons – a year when an unprecedented pandemic transformed our lives, our economy and our society – whether it be the lockdowns, the remote schooling and working globally, the extraordinary stimulus efforts to try to reduce economic impacts and unemployment. The OWP and The Times are stating it is already the most traumatic year on record, and it is hard to contest with the now frightening escalations of second wave pandemic in the northern hemisphere, with Brexit, the social unrest with riots in India and Hong Kong, George Floyd and Black Lives Matter, and the 46th US Presidential elections which have dominated our screens recently – and the first of, I hope, many female US Vice Presidents (and maybe Presidents). Billions of people in every corner of the world have been plagued by widespread suffering and distress. Everyone here today will certainly agree that 2020 will be remembered as a year that has been extremely challenging for girls, and for staff – in fact, for the whole Pymble community. We speak about resilience – girls – each of you has approached this year with real courage, poise and an amazing strength and maturity. In this context it is appropriate that we are here today to celebrate the highlights of the past 12 months and to recognise the outstanding achievements. We started the year with some outstanding HSC results from the 2019 graduating class: • 15 girls received an ATAR of 99 or greater and 70 girls attained a 95 or greater. • Two students were named Best in Subject with 11 girls listed as Top Achievers in their Course. • 28 girls received a mention in the All-Round Achievers list. In February (which seems an eternity ago, doesn’t it?) we welcomed parents to the College at the annual Icebreaker evening and the New Parents' Luncheon. We celebrated Foundation Day, and were honoured to host The Australian newspaper’s Women in Education forum … all this before 19 March, when the girls transitioned to full-time online learning – Pymble Online.

Moving from face-to-face education to an online space was no insignificant task. The key goal was to ensure our girls felt connected, whether they were studying at home just a few streets away, or on the family farm. I would like to extend special thanks to Mr Anthony England, Mr Justin Raymond and our dedicated IT staff members for their incredible effort to make sure students could access Pymble Online with ease – and to our wonderful Pymble staff for creating such engaging learning experiences for our girls. Daily Teams sessions and specially devised programs were implemented so the girls could undertake learning across every subject in an innovative way and tune in to experiences like fitness sessions or dance training online, all while safely isolating in their homes. The diligence and humour of our girls, the patience of parents and carers, and the efforts of teachers were amazing – it was indeed a commendable collaboration.

An important component of 2020 was in the area of service to others. A successful Bushfire Relief Charity Concert Phoenix was organised by some Year 12 Leaders to support those in bushfire-affected areas. This was followed by the Pymble Gives Back program which was implemented in a COVID-safe way and girls, families, staff and alumni drew inspiration from Pymble’s values in considering how they could increase care and connectedness during an uncertain time.

Leadership

CHAIR OF COLLEGE COUNCIL’S SPEECH DAY REPORT

The results were astounding! Our community: • provided enough home-cooked meals to feed seven women’s shelters across Sydney, • sewed fabric hearts to comfort newborns in Westmead Hospital’s neonatal unit, • extended the hand of friendship to residents in aged-care homes with the warmth of a letter, video message or delivery of their groceries, • put the College’s 3D printers to use to create plastic face-shields for frontline healthcare workers, • undertook wheelie-bin duty for elderly neighbours or people with disabilities, and • knitted squares to create colourful blankets for the charity Wrap With Love. The Principal’s Project inspired individual student initiatives such as Cooks Who Care and Hygiene 4 Women. Ladies of the Land and Casual for a Cause were two other worthwhile initiatives (and there were many more!) In Term 2, we commenced a staggered return to campus, with new COVID protocols in place. Staff and students helped to ensure our campus was safe: thank you to those involved for your dedication in keeping our girls and staff safe and healthy.

COVID-19 has demanded innovation. Just one of many examples was thanks to the Director of Co-curricular Performing Arts, Mrs Sabina Turner, who deftly arranged 340 musicians – students, staff, alumni and families – to create a stunning online performance of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, who all did an outstanding job. It was an exquisite performance! Although not all facets of school life have resumed, there have been a number of key developments I’d like to mention.

This year we acquired a new outdoor education campus – Vision Valley at Arcadia. Many of you will know Vision Valley and some may even have visited this wonderful site. The activities and initiatives being developed will help build the girls’ confidence and resilience as well as foster wonderful memories. Vision Valley will rapidly become an integral part of experiential learning at Pymble. Next year’s Year 12 will love Vision Valley, and this year’s Year 12 may be able to come back in assisting staff roles. The College’s newly developed Strategic Direction focuses on developing students in all areas of their lives, with a special emphasis on wellbeing. It covers four pillars: • Empowered to be courageous; • Knowledge for a better world; • Diversity as the path to unity; and • Technologies for a better future. We are also working to ensure our future facilities take into account the changing demands. We are developing practical and inspired learning spaces as well as logical placement of faculties, while enhancing the natural spaces. This Master Plan to 2030 has been deliberately developed alongside the strategy. Pymble’s upcoming brand campaign, Watch Us Change the World, is bold, ambitious and engaging – and inspired by our girls to become influential and compassionate women. Last week we shared with you the terrific news that we will be incorporated as Pymble Ladies’ College, along with our brother and sister Uniting Church schools. Our relationship with the Uniting Church will continue to strengthen. Incorporation gives us the opportunity to modernise our governance structures and to safeguard Pymble’s assets and our future.

In conclusion, 2020 has tested us all in ways we did not anticipate, and to be gathered together in this hall today is a privilege, something I suspect we will all never again take for granted. I’d particularly like to thank our Principal, Dr Kate Hadwen for her excellent leadership. Meeting the many challenges of 2020 has required resolve, sleepless nights and the courage to make tough calls. We have an inspirational and outstanding Principal. To Kate, Julie Shaw, our whole Senior Executive team and all the hardworking staff members of Pymble: thank you. Please all join me in thanking our outstanding Pymble staff. And to you, our Pymble parents, grandparents, carers and families: we thank you for trusting us with your girls’ education and for supporting your girls as you have done. In such a trying year, you have been patient, adaptable and compassionate members of the community. We have been buoyed by your support and encouragement, whether it be through words or deeds – and there has been much of both.

To our Year 12 girls: as you look forward to next year, you are so ready to change the world. 2021 may well have its own challenges. I have a personal purpose statement many I know here will know well – it has four words: Dream Believe Focus Succeed. In essence, your dreams should be aspirational in every aspect of your lives. You, and only you, need to believe it is achievable. Focus involves hard work, commitment and dedication, and succeeding is enjoying the successes – no matter how small along the way. Reward yourself and reaffirm your dreams and self-belief. If you do, you will truly live Dr John Marden’s Pymble motto “All' ultimo lavoro”, Italian taken from Dante, meaning “Strive for the highest”. Strive for your highest, girls – dream, believe, focus and succeed and realise your limitless potential. Do so knowing your Pymble connection does not end here – you will always be Pymble girls and your connections with Pymble and with each other represent a strong and unbreakable bond. We want to see you again and hear of these successes and help with your journeys wherever possible. On behalf of Council, to all those gathered here today, stay safe and well and our very best wishes for Christmas and a very well-deserved break. Thank you. Mr James Hunter, Chair of College Council