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Pymble was represented by five students at Monday evening’s screening of Q & A on ABC Television.

The program, ‘High School Showdown’ featured Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia as the sole guest accompanying host Tony Jones with representatives from secondary schools throughout Australia in the audience. Year 12 students Alexandra Baker, Mia Stone, Eleanor Katelaris and Keziah Morgan and Year 11 student Sally Judson were invited to participate in this exclusive event after they submitted a video to promote why they would like to appear on the program.

This Wednesday, five Pymble teams from Years 11 and 12 competed against a wide range of schools in the Macquarie Cup, with three rounds of intensive debating. All schools prepared the first topic, ‘That we should abolish the UN Security Council veto’. On the day, a coin toss decided if teams would take the affirmative or negative side. Other topic areas debated on the day included democracy and bioethics.

Two Pymble teams were undefeated after three rounds, with the Year 11 team (Florence Fermanis, Phoebe Lind, Mannat Malhi and Shani Wijetilaka) announced as the top scoring team out of the 28 teams in the competition. They then debated Barker College in the Grand Final. The team affirmed the topic ‘Where perpetrators are below the poverty line, and no physical harm to others is caused, we should not prosecute theft.’ In an outstanding debate Pymble won the cup in a 4/1 split decision and Shani Wijetilaka was named speaker of the tournament. Congratulations to the winning team on this wonderful achievement and to all the girls who participated in this event.

Pymble Ladies’ College students have achieved outstanding results in the 2012 Higher School Certificate (HSC) with two students achieving a perfect Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) of 99.95, five students topping the State in five HSC subjects, and a sixth Year 12 student topping the State through the Saturday School of Community Languages.

Pymble was the only school in NSW to achieve first place in five subjects. The first in the State in HSC subjects were achieved by Christine Tan in Agriculture, Janet Jin in English Extension 1, Hannah Chong in Japanese Extension, Matilda Howard in Latin Extension, Lilian Zhu in Textiles and Design and Shoushan Sariyan in Armenian Continuers (through Saturday School of Community Languages). Joy Jin and Matilda Howard achieved a perfect ATAR.

An additional 10 students earned a place in the best in subject lists in a wide range of subjects: Agriculture, Biology, Classical Greek Continuers, Classical Greek Extension, English Extension, Earth and Environmental Science, Latin Continuers, French Continuers, French Extension, Modern History, Senior Science and Italian Extension (through Open High School). Thirty-six students were named in the all-round Achievers lists for achieving Band 6 results (90 or better) or a Band E4 result (45 or better) in an Extension course in 10 or more units.   

Ten percent of students achieved an ATAR of 99+, 33 percent of students achieved an ATAR of 95+ and 52 percent of students achieved an ATAR of 90+.

On The Sydney Morning Herald Honour Roll, which acknowledges students who earn 90 or above in one or more subjects, 173 Pymble students earned 586 places.

Pymble students’ success in the HSC was also recognised in Visual Arts with four students selected for ARTEXPRESS 2012 out of the eight students nominated for the exhibition. In dance, five students were nominated and one selected for Callback 2012. Five music students were nominated and one was selected for ENCORE 2012. Three drama students were nominated for inclusion in ONSTAGE 2012 and two students were selected to exhibit their Major Textiles project in the 2012 Texstyle Exhibition.

“The excellent HSC results of 2012 have been achieved through the application, dedication and hard work of our students and their teachers and the support of their families. The results cap a year of excellence at the College in spectacular fashion,” said Mrs Vicki Waters, Principal of Pymble Ladies’ College.

“The Pymble Year 12 cohort of 2012 has achieved incredible results and is to be congratulated for their outstanding academic and co-curricular achievements. For many students, their academic focus and commitment has been complemented by wonderful achievements across a range of co-curricular programs in areas such as sport, the performing and visual arts, leadership and community service.”

A team of Pymble girls from Years 9 and 10 girls has won the state competition for ‘Write a Book in a Day’ for their book The Murrumbidgee Dreaming. The girls competed against 17 other teams from across NSW, many of them Years 11 and 12 students, to take the title. The books were judged by JC Burke, an award-winning Australian Young Adult Fiction writer.

‘Write a Book in a Day’ is a literary and fundraising initiative that requires students to write and illustrate a book in one day, based on a set of provided criteria.

Congratulations to Rebecca Dodd, Roshana Kanagaratnam, Phoebe Lind, Shelley Cheng, Rhea Darbari Kaul, Emily Kerrison, Loretta Chung, Devna Luthra and Vasya Tai. Their book will now represent NSW in the National competition.

The 2012 Young Australian of the Year, Marita Cheng, inspired Pymble Ladies’ College Secondary School students when she spoke about her passion for engineering and the need for more prevalence of females in the industry on 18 September.

Marita received the 2012 Young Australian of the Year Award for her dedication to encouraging young women to become interested in a career in engineering. She spoke with the Pymble students about her excitement of receiving the award and the many ventures she has undertaken in her career to foster a greater participation of women in engineering.

Marita also shared her study tips with the students and urged them to follow their aspirations. “Marita is an inspirational young leader and has achieved some amazing accomplishments and acknowledgements as a young adult,” said College Principal, Mrs Vicki Waters. “She is a wonderful role model to our students and proof that young women can achieve greatness if they follow their dreams.”

Marita founded Robogals in 2008, as a response to the traditionally low levels of participation by women in engineering and technology. Since its inception Robogals has conducted robotics workshops for 3,000 girls across 80 schools in Australia and now has 17 chapters across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Marita has been named as one of the top 30 under 30 entrepreneurs in Australia in 2009 and 2010 and is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards including the Herald Sun Pride of Australia Young Leader medal, the Anita Borg Change Agent award and she was also acknowledged as one of top achievers under the age of 30 from across the world by the Sandbox Network 2010.