Boarding Captains’ Report

This year was quite an unusual and unique one for our Boarding community. Although COVID-19 was a huge disruption for many of our Boarders – with some girls unable to re-join Boarding and others going months without seeing their families – it was heart-warming to see the lengths to which the staff and girls went to look out for one another.

We were lucky enough to enjoy our annual Wet‘n’Wild trip and our Valentine’s Day breakfast early in the year. We are eternally grateful to the staff for their ongoing support and care of all Boarders. Their dedication and passion for the wellbeing of all the girls is incredible and we will miss them all so much. We were so lucky to lead such a beautiful, humorous and kind group of girls this year in Boarding and we wish them all the best for the years to come.

Isabel Wilson, Madeline Warden and Annabelle Webb, Year 12

Although COVID-19 hindered the Boarding Charity Night, the preparation leading up to it demonstrated how the community can come together to help those in need. The event this year was supposed to raise money for the new Rural Boarding Scholarship Fund which allows for the funding of a student from regional or rural NSW who could not attend school due to the devastating impacts of the drought. With this objective in mind, emails about prizes in the silent auction were sent out, with many businesses giving generously. These actions of kindness meant a lot to the Pymble community and although the night did not go as originally planned, these interactions will be treasured.

Throughout the year we focused on reducing our footprint on the environment in ways such as encouraging the use of reusable coffee cups and reducing excessive packaging. During isolation we held a Compost Week photo competition to encourage the use of compost bins and giving back to the soil; it was great to see everyone’s photos! In Term 2, there were lots of changes in the way our food was packaged as of course it could not be communal. This meant lots of plastic. This led to a soft plastic recycling competition within each Boarding House to reduce our waste and teach everyone how to recycle plastics!

Throughout the year, the Big Sister–Little Sister program was integral in forging relationships between younger and older girls. Our various movie nights, shopping trips and dinner conversations allowed for these blossoming relationships to contribute to a notion of ‘family’.

The Boarders’ Representative Council (BRC) is an integral part of the Boarding community at Pymble and provides an avenue for student voice. In 2020, it was expanded to include two representatives from each year group with each girl’s involvement being greatly appreciated and valued. This year the BRC worked through many suggestions and implemented positive changes to make the Boarding experience better for each one of their Boarding sisters.

Sport and Activities Throughout the year, the Boarding girls participated in the long-standing Angus Cup and Community Days. The Boarding Spirit Houses, Marden, Lang, Hammond and Goodlet, displayed large amounts of House spirit and enthusiasm in their High School Musical performances and a trip to Raging Waters Sydney which pushed girls out of their comfort zones.

Some Boarding girls also had the opportunity to participate in the much-anticipated Boarders versus Day Girls races at both the Athletics and Swimming Carnivals. Congratulations to all the girls who participated, they put an amazing effort in and represented Pymble Boarding with pride.

Isabel Wilson, Boarding Head Prefect Madeline Warden and Annabelle Webb, Boarding Deputy Head Prefects

Sophie Suttor, Emily Lin, Sophie Laing and Mia Croker, Year 7 with Mrs Kathryn Wiedemann (Technology and Applied Studies Assistant)

Sophie Laing, Year 7

Back Row: Paris Hall, Mikayla Zahirovic, Tiarna Williams, Jessica Luo, Isolde Mamo, Courtney Wong, Annabelle Richens, Abbey Lowe, Summer Hall, Niley Woodhouse Front Row: Mrs Carolyn Burgess (Director of Boarding), Alexandria Johnson, Eleanor Buchanan, Madeline Warden, Alexandra Ferguson, Winnie Cheng, Sophie Freedman, Isabel Wilson, Nora Huang, Kailyn Joseph, Jessica Freedman, Jasmine Bowers, Georgia Richens, Esther Hanna, Year 12