As the mother of five adult children and principal of one of the leading girls’ schools in Australia, Dr Kate Hadwen shares her top 10 reasons for considering Pymble Ladies’ College for your daughter.
An all-girls’ learning environment will best support your daughter
While it is important to have choice in the market, we firmly believe in the enormous amount of data from Australia and all around the world showing that a single-sex learning environment leads to better outcomes for girls than a co-educational school. This data comes from excellent research by highly regarded academics and has been brought together by the International Coalition of Girls’ Schools (ICGS), of which I am a board director.
Essentially, compared to girls in co-ed schools, girls in single-sex schools achieve higher academic results, which we routinely see in Australia in NAPLAN, HSC and PISA testing. They also have a greater sense of social and emotional wellbeing, confidence and self-esteem, competitive spirit and willingness to take risks with their learning, participation in STEM subjects, and participation in sport and physical education.
Put simply, a girls’ school offers the best learning environment for your daughter because every facet of the educational experience is designed strategically with her in mind. In this environment, she is unreservedly the focal point, encouraged to develop and voice her opinions, explore her identity and follow her dreams without limitations.
We offer authentic opportunities to work alongside boys
While we remain proudly and resolutely a single-sex school, we are committed to encouraging our girls to develop healthy social skills and mutually respectful relationships with their male peers. We intentionally partner with boys’ schools to create a series of authentic and meaningful opportunities for our students to learn and grow together over the years – more so than just a one-off end-of-year social.
Just a few examples of our co-educational programs include Billycart Making and Racing for Year 5 with St Ignatius College, Riverview; our four-week, tech-free Year 9 Residential Program at Vision Valley in partnership with Anglican Church Grammar School (Churchie) in Brisbane; and our combined Swimming Club with Knox Grammar School boys.
wellbeing, with greater confidence, competitiveness, STEM engagement, and sport participation.
Our second campus is a game changer
Vision Valley is our 100+ acre Outdoor Education campus located in a bushland setting just 45 minutes away from our main campus on the North Shore. It is also home to our Outdoor Education Continuum (OEC) for K-12, a series of progressively more challenging outdoor activities and adventures, starting in Kindergarten and building up over the years, to encourage teamwork, relationship skills, resilience, courage and independence.
The Year 9 Residential Program is our flagship OEC program at Vision Valley where students live communally in designated girls’ or boys’ lodges under the supervision and care of our experienced Outdoor Education team for four consecutive weeks, including weekends. Without phones (and therefore social media), students live, learn, play, explore and discover how to make friends and relate to one another in a face-to-face, real life, natural environment. We think it’s an absolute game changer in terms of the character development of our young people, with research showing that students who participate in this program report a greater sense of self-efficacy, belonging and confidence than they had prior to attending.
We know and care for each individual student
Pymble is known for its excellent pastoral care. We are blessed to have capacity to resource the school in a way that ensures our teachers and co-curricular staff are well supported to expertly care for your daughter. We see it as part of our mission to understand the individuality of each student and to enable her unique gifts and talents to shine.
Our wellbeing teams are highly skilled and trained professionals who work tirelessly to support positive outcomes for all our girls. We work alongside a Mental Healthcare Advisory Committee who guide and support decisions regarding policies, procedures and the programs we implement.
It would be our pleasure to show you in more detail how our wellbeing support structures, which include nine psychologists and five registered nurses, will support the care of your daughter from her youngest years through to Year 12.
We’re with you, every step of the school journey
Speaking of our youngest learners, we have a limited number of places currently available for Kindergarten 2027. Our Junior School is a cosy and supportive K-6 community where every girl is met with kindness and an invitation to belong. Kindergarten classes are intentionally kept small to maintain a high staff-to-student ratio, which ensures each student has the support and guidance she needs to grow as a confident learner. We even have a Kindy Club in January, run by our wonderful Out of School Hours Care Centre team, to ease your daughter’s transition to ‘big school’.
With our explore-make-create framework to grow her STEM mindset from day one, strong focus on social and emotional growth, and an extensive program of extended learning and co-curricular activities, Kindergarten really is a special place for your daughter to begin her Pymble journey.
Our co-curricular opportunities are endless
We are proudly a big school that’s divided into smaller, bespoke precincts to support engaged academic learning at each stage and a close focus on each student’s academic progress. Having resources second to none also allows us to offer an enormous range of co-curricular and extended opportunities.
We have an incredible 57 co-curricular options on offer, including 33 sports for girls who wish to participate at entry or elite level (and all levels in between), and are the first Independent School in the country to be designated as an Australian Olympic Pathway school. Over the years we have established partnerships with the Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy in Mallorca, Tottenham Hotspur Football Club in the UK, and Australian Basketballer, Lauren Jackson AO, to launch the Lauren Jackson Basketball Academy for students in Years 3 to 12.
If Performing Arts are more your daughter’s thing, we have a highly successful Dance program offering more than 130 Dance classes per week in our incredible new six-studio Dance Centre, an outstanding Music program that saw students recently tour Spain and Portugal, an extensive Language Arts program, Drama groups, Art classes and so much more.
Our Centre of Excellence also offers a wide range of academic co-curricular opportunities, including competitive programs like the Da Vinci Decathlon, where our girls compete with great gusto and achieve incredible results.
If STEM is her ‘thing’, we are your school!
STEM learning is now considered an essential part of the mix for building future-ready skills in our young people. At Pymble, my goodness we make it a compelling offer!
Across every year level in the Junior School, from Kindergarten to Year 6, our students are immersed in purposeful, creative and challenging STEM experiences that build curiosity, capability and confidence. Pymble’s Junior School is a lighthouse for STEM globally – and our girls are rising spectacularly to the challenge.
Our new Junior School STEM Lab, opening in 2026, will propel our pioneers to even greater heights by delivering a purpose-built space and the latest equipment to support their leadership in Drone technology, Electric Vehicle engineering and racing, and Robotics.
With more than 360 participants, we have one of the biggest all-girls Robotics programs in the world, starting with the basics for students in Years 1 to 4, and building up to our global competitors in the Secondary School, who routinely qualify and compete at the annual First World Robotics Championships in Houston. Hot on their heels, our inaugural Junior School EV engineering and racing team has been invited to compete in the F24 International Finals in the UK, following their highly successful debut at the Formula Goblin Greenpower EV Challenge in 2025 – and the team has recently been invited to become a Greenpower Centre of Excellence. Meanwhile, our inaugural Drone Academy class of girls in Years 4 and 7 recently competed in Korea where they made it through to represent Australia in November.
STEM at Pymble is definitely a mindset not a moment, and there really is something for everyone to try at every level.
Our girls have the hearts and minds to change the world
Setting our students up for life requires much more than an ATAR. Our vision is for Pymble girls to flourish as individuals with unique gifts and talents, as learners with different passions and pathways, and as compassionate and influential young women who have the hearts and minds to make the world a better place. This is reflected in our Watch Us Change the World strategic direction, which defines four focus areas for learning and development:
Academic Intelligence – Pymble inspires students to explore what matters to them and to see themselves in futures they may not have imagined by continually adding new innovations to the curriculum, including:
- International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) courses, thanks to our certification as a Cambridge School in 2025.
- BioTechnology course in partnership with the Centre for Curriculum Redesign.
- Whole-school Aviation and Space Expo.
- The Junior School ‘Dream Diploma’ in Years 5 and 6.
Emotional Intelligence – We nurture courageous, resilient and determined learners who approach new challenges, such as the Year 9 Residential Program, with a sense of optimism and excitement.
Social Intelligence – Pymble fosters collaborative environments where different perspectives, faiths, beliefs, cultures and identities are encouraged and valued through events such as our Sharing Stories Festival.
Digital Intelligence – We are responsible and engaged global citizens who use the power of technology for good purposes. One of our most ambitious launches to date is the Pymble Wiser Phone Initiative, which gives our students in Years 4 to 9 the tools to stay safe, feel connected, and develop healthy digital habits, while safeguarding their mental and emotional health. Proudly backed by our parent community, our aim is to preserve our girls’ childhoods and make their online world a better, safer place.
Our values mean the world to our Pymble family
Everything at Pymble revolves around our College values of Care, Courage, Integrity, Respect and Responsibility. Just as your family has defined values and expectations for behaviour, we have consulted widely with our family of students, staff and parents to create a set of statements to clarify what our values mean to us, and how we expect to see them in action everyday within our community.
- Care: I am kind to myself and others.
- Courage: I am open to new experiences to learn and grow.
- Integrity: I do the right thing even when no one is watching.
- Respect: I value diversity, my worth and the worth of others.
- Responsibility: I take ownership of my actions.
Part of being a values-based community is our ongoing commitment to being of service to others, and this extends way back into our history as a school of the Uniting Church in Australia. Our Junior School and Secondary students proudly support a host of local and international charities, schools and organisations in an intentional program of practical, hands-on, and age-appropriate service activities throughout their years at the College. Our wider, adult community has a big, warm and open heart that has extended to funding several refugee students from war-torn countries, and a highly successful and well-supported First Nations Program now in its 18th year. Our Pymble family is truly special.
If I had a school-aged daughter, I would be proud to send her to Pymble
As the mother of five adult children, I know what a big decision this is for you. I was fortunate to attend an amazing school like Pymble and I know what a profound impact school can have on your life. My experience certainly has shaped my career path and guided my leadership in schools all over Australia, and now here.
Yes, we have brilliant academic staff who consistently guide and challenge our students to gain outstanding academic results. Yes, we continue to launch incredibly successful programs, such as our Mind-Body-Spirit Wellbeing Curriculum and the Pymble Drone Academy. Yes, we have a stunning main campus, an incredible outdoor education campus at Vision Valley, and world-class facilities that will support all your daughter’s passions, from the Arts to Dancing, Robotics, AFL, Rugby, Swimming, Gymnastics, Music, Performing Arts, Fencing or Filmmaking. “Yes” is a word you hear often here.
The truth is, you’ll find lots of independent schools have outstanding teachers and facilities, as we do. The real clincher for me is our values-based community and our collective vision to raise compassionate and influential girls and young women who have the courage and wisdom to use their education to make the world a better place for all.
If you share our values and vision, please drop by. We’d love to meet you.
