Kindness and service: How our Junior School girls are leading the way

Small in stature but big in spirit, our Junior School girls have once again led from the front with a multitude of service initiatives in 2024.

What started as a vision of Kate Brown, Head of Junior School, at the start of the pandemic – which she dubbed ‘the kindness revolution’ – to empower children to hold onto their sense of self, joy and hope and enable them to flourish as learners and leaders, has since evolved into a movement where every student in the Junior School is strongly encouraged and supported to show kindness to others, the environment and themselves.

“Kindness is a concept young children readily understand,” she said.

“Through kindness, children not only believe, but know they can change the world and this gifts them the sense of hope they need to flourish in their own world.”

It was this deep dive into the concept of kindness that led to the creation of the inaugural Children’s Kindness Convention in 2022, connecting children from 20 schools across Greater Sydney, giving them the opportunity to ideate solutions to global issues identified by them, through the lens of kindness.

With the theme of the 2023 school year being Pymble Gives Back, as you will read below our Junior School girls have well and truly kept the concepts of kindness and service alive in 2024, proving that giving back to others is more than just a theme, it’s a way of life.

Junior School service initiatives so far in 2024

• Year 6 girls have been making fortnightly visits to Uniting Bowden Brae Gardens aged-care home to connect with the residents and learn together through shared stories and creative projects.

• A group of Year 5 girls travelled to Brewarrina Central School to work collaboratively with their students, 97 per cent of whom are Indigenous, to plant saplings and connect with country.

• Cook2Care is an initiative started by Jasmine Smith (Year 4), which saw hundreds of Junior School families get involved to cook delicious and healthy homemade meals to support local disadvantaged communities. The meals were then dropped off to The Dish of St. John’s at Hornsby by students in Years 3 and 4, who were so appreciative of our help.

“This was an initiative I came up with because I love to cook and I also think it is really important to care and support people during tough times they might have. This is how I came up with Cook2Care and I love the growing support from Year 3 and 4 families who can help our community,” Jasmine said.

• Students in Years 5 and 6 have made fortnightly visits to Uniting Kari Court aged-care home to connect with residents and play them music.

• The four Junior School Kindness Leaders, alongside Mrs Kate Giles and Mrs Shaira Musico, visited Westmead Children’s Hospital to meet with doctors and social workers of the HARK Refugee Clinic to donate 90 satchels of school stationery supplies, kindly donated by families of girls in Kindergarten to Year 2.

• Year 5 girls have made fortnightly visits to Uniting Northaven Turramurra aged-care home to share tech skills with the residents. One resident reported that he has no family or friends who can visit him, as they all live in Malaysia, so having the company of our girls made his week and put a huge smile on his face.

One of our students realised that the resident she was matched with was deaf, so she took initiative and used her iPad to message the conversation, using large font so her elderly partner could read it easily, just another example of the maturity and kindness of our amazing girls.

• A group of Year 5 Robotics girls have made fortnightly visits to St Lucy’s School in Wahroonga to share their robotics skills with their students, who face many varied learning and physical disabilities.

• Girls in Year 5 and 6 have generously supported Pass it on Clothing, a Sydney-based social enterprise which puts apparel, shoes and accessories donations directly into the hands of those who need it the most.

As we speed toward the midway point of the year, we can’t wait to report how the girls continue to be of service for the remainder of 2024.