From the Principal
Hello, and welcome to your mid-year edition of The Jacaranda Post. As always, we hope that wherever you are in the world, you and your loved ones are safe and well. This feels particularly relevant now as I’m seeing a rebirth of COVID and an outbreak of pneumonia in Sydney and abroad. Please look after yourself.
It fills me with an enormous sense of pride and joy to look back on the term that has been and reflect on the opportunities we have had to connect with our alumni in ways that benefit so many of our past, present and future students.
The official launch of Pymble as an Australian Olympic Pathway School
On Saturday 11 May, we had the great pleasure of welcoming back to Pymble several of our elite athletes including Chloe Dalton OAM (2011), Dr Mackenzie Little (2014), Brittany O’Brien (2016) and Danielle Scott (2007). Our four Olympians joined us for the official announcement of our designation as an Olympic Pathway School by the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) – Pymble is the only independent School in Australia to achieve this recognition.
To be recognised as an Australian Olympic Pathway School, a school must meet strict criteria set by the AOC and have a well-established and successful elite athlete development program that includes Olympic Sports. Pymble currently offers 21 Olympic sports, and of course our Pymble Elite Sportswomen’s Program (PESP) has been supporting the holistic development of our athletes who compete at an elite level since 2007.
The opportunity this official pathway presents to our girls – many of whom are working hard to realise their dreams of competing in front of a home crowd at the Brisbane 2032 Olympics – is truly life changing. Being an AOC Olympic Pathway School also opens other exciting opportunities. Next year, we hope to take our top athletes to the Australian International Training facility in Italy, and we have recently met with a renowned football club in London who are keen to partner with us on development programs in Australia. Stay tuned for more details to follow soon!
We wish our alumni and current staff who will be competing at Paris 2024 all the very best. If you haven’t already seen our Olympic Pathways video on social media, please enjoy this short clip.
Our Annual Alumni Networking Event
Our flagship alumni event for the year, the annual Networking Evening at KPMG on 16 May, was another outstanding success thanks to the good will and engagement of our wider community. A sincere thank you to the 80 amazing individuals who attended the event as mentors willing to share their experience and advice with the 120 alumni who came along as mentees, keen to progress their career journey.
We appreciate your ongoing feedback about the efficacy and value of this program, which continues to guide and inform the next year’s event – so please, keep your feedback coming. In the meantime, our heartfelt thanks go to our amazing host for the evening, ESU President and university lecturer, Dr Rowena Ditzell (1986), and to CEO of Qantas Group Vanessa Hudson (1987) for her thoughtful and engaging keynote address.
We were also honoured to have so many of our Board members generously share their time and knowledge at this event, including our Chair of the Board, Chris Fydler OAM, Kristen Wydell, Eve Clark (1997), Li Enn Koo (1991), Suzi Nicoletti, and Dr Fiona Roughley SC (2001).
Next year’s date will once again be in May, and we would love to see even more alumni at our fifth annual event.
For those who were unable to attend, you might enjoy catching sight of a few familiar faces in this Alumni Networking Event video.
Pymble Foundation Annual Appeal
These two events, and so many more throughout the year, are testament to the lifelong value of a Pymble education and the ongoing care and responsibility we demonstrate to one another as a community.
As work continues to enhance our learning spaces within the main Pymble campus and at Vision Valley, we have been so grateful for the generosity of our community who have been inspired to give back to the College through our Annual Appeal. These thoughtful gifts have been directed to the People, Places or Programs that have great meaning for our generous donors and will have enormous impact on the lives of our current and future generations of Pymble girls.
If you’re interested in learning more about how you can support future generations of Pymble girls and ensure that our much-loved College remains at the forefront of a world-class education, we warmly invite you to click here to learn more about our Annual Appeal. Alternatively, you are most welcome to contact our Director of Philanthropy, Ms Sara Jones via sara.jones@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au or foundation@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au.
Signing off with gratitude and best wishes, until we meet again.
Dr Kate Hadwen