Pymble Gives Back in 2023

Hello, and welcome to your first edition of The Jacaranda Post for 2023. We hope that, wherever you are in the world, you and your loved ones are safe and well.

Back at Pymble, we kicked off 2023 with a College-wide focus on being of service to others by collecting much-needed items to support the work of the amazing teams at Wayside Chapel, Dignity and The Smith Family. Our students, families and staff donated bags and bags and bags of clean clothing, new underwear and warm blankets to send on to the charities at the end of Term 1. In Term 2, we will continue to give back to these organisations as well as Days for Girls, The Barbara May Foundation, Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Women’s Shelter and several charities supporting those affected by cancer.

Happy 107th birthday to Pymble!

We were grateful to have the opportunity to connect with our alumni at our 107th birthday celebrations in February. More than 22,000 graduates are doing wonderful things in the world thanks to their Pymble education, and it was our great pleasure to welcome seven of you to this year’s Foundation Day Assembly:

  • Margaret Coleman OAM (1946)
  • Margaret Snodgrass OAM (Forsyth,1956)
  • Jackie Farrar (Molyneux, 1954)
  • Helen Booth (Jenkyn, 1954)
  • Hilarie Wood (Orman, 1959)
  • Sue White (Vicars, 1958)
  • Pippa Kensit (2012).

Each of these influential and compassionate women has helped shape our College into what it is today, not only through their time as students but also their work after graduation, as historians, contributors to our First Nations program, careers advisors and active members of our Ex-Students’ Union. It’s exciting to think that some of the students at this year’s Foundation Day assembly will one day attend future celebrations to share their stories and inspire others to leave a legacy that contributes to the ongoing wonderfulness of Pymble.

Thank you to Pippa Kensit, our Foundation Day guest speaker for 2023. Pippa is a truly inspiring and humble young woman who is having a deep and lasting impact on the health outcomes of people in regional and rural Australia.

Celebrating International Women’s Day  

We also enlisted the help of our alumni to amplify what is quite possibly our most significant International Women’s Day message to date. It was an absolute pleasure to work with Melanie Kurzydlo (Cowlishaw, 2001), Chloe Dalton (2012) and Li-Enn Koo (1991) this year to create:

  • a magazine in partnership with The Australian Financial Review to celebrate the unique strengths and skills of inspirational female role models, Pymble girls and alumni.
  • a campaign called Chairs for Change encouraging corporate Australia to remove gender associations from the title of the highest office in business by changing Chairman to Chair. I’m delighted to say this campaign has gone global, with companies all over the world signing up.
  • a new episode of our Speaking of Change podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts featuring the triple elite athlete, Chloe Dalton, who is blazing trails for female athletes. Our latest episode features Melanie Kurzydlo on building a career in construction and the importance of female role models.

A huge thank you to Melanie, Chloe and Li-Enn for stepping so confidently and thoughtfully into these new channels with us to help create a more equal workplace for all girls and young women, including our past, present and future Pymble girls.

Introducing the Pymble Foundation

In other big news, we were delighted to officially announce the formation of our new Pymble Foundation at our annual Icebreaker event for current parents and carers.

The establishment of our Foundation and Board is the result of a great deal of research and work to ensure the College has the right governance, skills and oversight to lead and manage philanthropy among our Pymble community. At the core of our philanthropic aspirations lies our College vision and mission for our students, which of course is supported by our Strategic Direction 2021-2030: Watch Us Change the World.

The Pymble Foundation Board will focus on investment in the people, places and programs that will assist our students in their journey to become compassionate and influential young women who have the hearts, minds and skillset to make the world a better place. This includes new facilities and learning spaces on our two campuses, as well as means-tested bursaries, which will enable our generous Pymble community to continue to give back to students who deserve, but may not be able to access, a world-class, life-changing education. It was with great pride that we welcomed our first Foundation Bursary recipient to Pymble this year from Ukraine, having been displaced when the war began in 2022.

Our highly experienced Pymble Foundation Board is led by Chair, Simon Rothery and Deputy Chair, Rebecca Sullivan. Board members include David Burns, Melinda Graham, James Hunter, Li-Enn Koo, Yehan Koo, Alison Rothery, Jessica Shirvington and me. Together, the team brings many decades of expertise in financial governance, business, philanthropy and nurturing strong community relationships. Our Foundation Board members are also personally connected to the College as alumni or through their daughters and are excited by the opportunity to build a successful donor program that will contribute to the continued delivery of an exceptional educational experience at Pymble.

My sincere thanks to our three fabulous ex-students, Rebecca, Alison and Li-Enn for using their gifts and talents to support our Foundation, and therefore our College, both now and into the future.

We look forward to sharing more news about the Pymble Foundation and donor opportunities as they arise. In the meantime, should you wish to start a conversation, please don’t hesitate to contact our Associate Director of Development, Alexandra Wright, on alwright@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au or +61 2 9855 7792.

Until we connect again, take care.

Dr Kate Hadwen
Principal