Language Arts

2020 saw the Language Arts girls speak, write and perform their way into various competitions, despite the Coronavirus barrier.

Due to the pandemic, 2020 marked Pymble’s first entry into online debating competitions. With our Friday Evening Debating (FED) and Independent Schools' Debating Association (ISDA) competitions cut short, Pymble organised virtual social debates throughout Terms 2 and 3 with Redlands, Knox Grammar School, Barker College and St Aloysius’ College. In Term 3, our Archdale season ran virtually. Huge congratulations to our Year 8B team for making it to the finals, and to our Year 7A team for winning their Archdale grand final! This was a wonderful achievement.

In Term 4, we also participated in the new International Debating Competition (IDC), fielding 11 teams, and we entered two Year 8 teams in the North Shore LND Debating Competition. Congratulations to Primary Team 8 for making it through to the IDC semi-finals undefeated and to Senior Team 1 for a great season. Well done LND Team 8A for winning their grand final against Monte Sant’ Angelo. Thanks to all our debaters for maintaining their enthusiasm and transitioning to an online platform.

In April, Chloe Hoang, Year 10, was scheduled to fly to Adelaide for the UN Voice national finals. Instead, due to the Coronavirus, she participated online. Chloe also made it through to the state finals of the Plain English Speaking Award (PESA). Two students from Year 8, Abigail Barfield and Joy Ye, participated in the Legacy Public Speaking Competition, submitting entries online. Both girls spoke well and Joy progressed to the state semi-finals. It was a great year for Zoom public speaking as we also took out first place in both the Junior and Senior sections of the Festival of Speech. Congratulations to Joy Ye and Chloe Hoang respectively.

This year Pymble was due to host the Association of Heads of Independent Girls' Schools (AHIGS) Festival of Speech, but due to COVID-19, our hosting was postponed until 2021. Instead, the competition occurred virtually on 24 October with all our girls achieving fantastic results.

Congratulations to our six finalists; Tara Narayan, Year 11, and Tilly Morgan, Year 9, (Poetry), Chloe Hoang, Year 10, and Joy Ye, Year 8, (Public Speaking) and Amy Jarvis, Year 11, and Alyssa Yee, Year 9, (Readings). Special congratulations to Chloe Hoang, Alyssa Yee and Joy Ye for placing first in their sections from a field of up to 25 girls’ schools. Pymble placed first in the Junior division and was named overall runner-up of the festival. Pymble also assisted in making fun, pink showbags for all participants. Thank you to all parents and students who assisted, your efforts certainly brightened the online festival.

Our Mock Trial team had a delayed start but was eventually able to complete a season virtually. Thanks to Mr Oscar Samios who took over as coach from Miss Ankita Kapoor. Although the Bond University Mooting competition was cancelled, we were able to participate in a modified Kirby Cup Mooting competition. Our two teams created artworks on the subject of ‘The Rule of Law in Times of Crisis’. One of our teams, consisting of June Kim, Jessica Lin, Danielle Cheung, Year 11, and Claire Li, Year 10, won the Creative category and the grand final! Our second team was declared runner-up in the Creative category and received certificates of Commendation. Thanks to Mr Sam Johnston for coaching.

Tara Narayan and Alison Cook, Year 11

After some time in Extended Learning, Pymble Model United Nations (PMUN) has now returned to Language Arts. Thank you to Mrs Olsen for her help over the past year. Also, a big shout out to our team of student leaders for their work in organising the Term 4 conference for more than 20 girls who represented 21 countries. We also had one team enter the UN Negotiations Competition and compete virtually. Congratulations to Tara Narayan and Esther Choi, Year 11, on making it to the semifinals. Thanks in part to our Massive Online Open Course (MOOC), we had 17 girls enter the UN Voice of Youth competition this year. Well done all!

Six progressed to the state semi-final and three to state finals which were held on 7 December. Congratulations to Evelyn Zhu, Year 7, Amy Zhang, Year 7, and Chelsea Shi, Year 8.

This year, Language Arts was incorporated into Performing Arts, and we would like to thank Mrs Turner and the Co-curricular Sport and Activities (CCSA) team for all their wonderful support! We would also like to thank our outgoing Year 12 girls for their participation. Special commendation must go to Lucy Fang, Year 12, on being awarded the Zonta, Young Women in Public Leadership award. All the best, Lucy, as you progress to the next round. In Term 4, we welcomed our new Language Arts Captains, Chloe Hoang and Faye Chang, Year 10. Finally, a huge thank you to Mrs Hubbard and the wonderful Pymble coaches and parents for their help and tireless support.

Though Language Arts certainly looked different this year, there is no doubt that we continued to celebrate our shared love of speaking and to recognise its power to shape our world.

Tara Narayan and Alison Cook, Captains of Language Arts

Chloe Hoang

Danielle Cheung, Lucy Fang, Mathilde Goddard, Shivashankari Kathirgamalingam, June Kim, Lauren Korenblyum, Claire Li, Jessica Lin, Eshvari Puttaswamy, Miranda Stewart, Viveca Tang, Grace Wallman, Madeleine Watson, Joy Ye, Alyssa Yee, Amelie Yee, Evelyn Zhu

Meera Barani, Faye Chang, Esther Choi, Alison Cook, Kirsten Fong, Isabelle Ho, Amy Jarvis, Claire Kim, Annabel Maple-Brown, Tilly Morgan, Tara Narayan

Annabelle Ainsworth, Arshia Bhardwaj, Eisha Bhardwaj, Lara Blair, Holly Boswell, Anny Chen, Kristen Cook, Chiaara De Silva, Lucy Fang, Lara Hogan, Becky Huang, Niduni Jayasinghe, Hana Kassam, Shivashankari Kathirgamalingam, Ashley Ko, Hayley Leighton, Akina Li, Eshvari Puttaswamy, Miranda Stewart, Angelica Tan, Caitlyn Tan, Viveca Tang, Rosanna van Horen, Sreya Vt, Grace Wallman, Amelie Yee, Michelle Yeom

Back Row: Amy Jarvis, June Kim, Tania Jashnany Front Row: Eisha Bhardwaj, Tara Narayan, Tess Rickard, Danielle Cheung

Aliya Yang, Claire Lee, Amelie Matthews Absent: Sameera Dutta

Phoebe Cooper, Amy Zhang, Ang-Ya Koo, Sabrina Cooke

Sreya Vt, Annie Chen, Holly Boswell, Akina Li, Niduni Jayasinghe, Becky Huang

Ashley Ko, Arshia Bhardwaj, Angelica Tan Absent: Hayley Leighton

Miranda Stewart, Grace Wallman, Amelie Yee, Shivashankari Kathirgamalingam, Viveca Tang Absent: Lucy Fang, Eshvari Puttaswamy

Esther Choi, Chloe Hoang, Tara Narayan, Alison Cook, Amy Jarvis, Amber Cai

Joy Ye, Georgia Mandalakoudis, Anna Ward, Chelsea Shi, Emma Parsons

Claire Li, June Kim, Danielle Cheung, Jessica Lin