Editorial – Dr Sarah Loch

Inspiring Women in Science and Health at the San Hospital

To celebrate National Science Week, over 60 Year 10 students from Pymble, Abbotsleigh and Wahroonga Adventist School participated in a program called I-WiSH, which stands for Inspiring Women in Science and Health. The program aims to inspire and stretch Year 10 girls in their STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) interests by introducing them to a range of women working in, researching and leading the way in these fields.

The program was initiated by Matthew Flinders Anglican College on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland under the leadership of Flinders Institute Director, Dr Louise McCuaig. In 2025, St Catherine’s (Melbourne) and Pymble Ladies’ College joined Matthew Flinders Anglican College in holding parallel events.

Pymble’s I-WiSH program invited women to be mentors and they shared their work in hospital emergency departments, palliative care, rural health, heart monitoring fabric development, mental health campaigns, antibiotic resistance and consent education with the Year 10 students. We were especially honoured to have Dr Pippa Kensit (former Head Boarder), Dr Nikki Raftopulos (former Head Prefect) and Dr Abigail Franklin (current Pymble parent) amongst the mentor team, as well as Ms Eliza Johnston (Alumni) and Dr Jim Henderson (the partner of one of our Pymble teachers) as judges. See Dr Nikki Raftopulos’s and Dr Abigail Franklin’s messages below. They’re so inspiring!

The mentor team consisted of an impressive group, namely;

• Dr Karly Turner, Scientia Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology, UNSW
• Dr Amy-Leigh Rowe and Dr Siobhan O’Dean, Research Fellows, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney
• Dr Abigail Franklin, Palliative Care Staff Specialist, Adolescent and Young Adult Hospice (AYAH)
• Dr Pippa Kensit, Junior Medical Officer, NSW Rural Doctors Network Advisor
• Dr Nikki Raftopulos, Basic Physician Trainee, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
• Dr Kim Bunny, Science Teacher, Pymble Ladies’ College
• Ms Phoenix Chick, PhD student in Medicinal Chemistry, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney
• Dr Jawairia Khan, Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney

After an afternoon of speed-dating to meet the mentors at Pymble, the following day was held at the San Hospital, Wahroonga. It began with a design-thinking process lead by Sarah Tyler from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO). Using the ANTSO process, the students worked in teams to design a solution to a challenge posed by each mentor. The San was an ideal location for the program as students had a glimpse of the range of roles in action every day and we were thankful to Judy Tanna, Director of the San Foundation, for making the opportunity possible.

Photos of Dr Amy-Leigh Rowe and Dr Siobhan O’Dean; Dr Karly Turner; Dr Jawairia Khan; Ms Sarah Tyler; Dr Pippa Kensit; Dr Nikki Raftopulos

The winning group tackled the social challenge of how early intervention and preventative public health strategies can be part of consent education, especially in a climate when male influencers are spreading negative messages. Other pitches presented decision making apps for doctors, jewellery to monitor heart conditions, inclusive STEM education strategies, support for renal patients in remote areas and designing palliative care with adolescents in mind.

Congratulations to students from all the schools who worked very hard and presented inspiring and powerful pitches to the judging panel and the Pymble staff team who ran the event.

A short video about Pymble’s I-WiSH program can be viewed below.

What did students say about I-WiSH?

The collaborative program between the three schools was a great way to build teamwork skills amongst new individuals and was a really fun opportunity to deepen our understandings on science and health.

I thoroughly enjoyed this experience and found it valuable to work together with students from other schools as well as receive mentorship from various inspiring speakers

I really enjoyed meeting the mentors and learning more about unique science and health issues in Australia. Even though it was very fast paced, I really enjoyed the challenges we were given.

We look forward to the 2026 program as we continue to work in partnership with Matthew Flinders Anglican College and other schools making a difference to girls’ STEM education through I-WiSH.

Pymble Ladies’ College Alumni and Parents working in Science and Health fields who are interested in being WiSH mentors and judges are warmly invited to contact Sarah Loch, sloch@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au for more information.

Research support drop in sessions

Embarking on postgraduate studies, embracing professional learning opportunities and completing a range of tertiary courses brings staff into contact with research. A new series of research support and tertiary information drop in sessions have begun this term and are bringing Pymble staff together.

Pymble Institute staff, Dr Sarah Loch and Victoria Adamovich, have been joined by Dr Joshua McDermott (History, Society and Ethics Department), and recent PhD graduates, Dr Mariel Lombard (Deputy Head of Upper School and Languages Department), Rev Dr Cass Blake (College Chaplain) and Dr Ryan Stewart (History, Society and Ethics Department) to lead the drop-in sessions, which are held in both the Junior and Secondary schools every couple of weeks.

Staff are welcome to come and chat over lunch and ask questions about university options and research projects. The team also support Pymble staff to learn about the Professional Learning Grants program and opportunities such as the Global Action Research Collaboration with the International Coalition of Girls’ Schools.

Presenting the Pymble Wise Phone results in Philadelphia

The first phase of our in-school research into the Pymble Wise Phone initiative is now complete and Dr Kate Hadwen, College Principal, and Mr Anthony England, Director of Innovative Technologies, with Dr Sarah Loch of the Pymble Institute, recently presented at the International Coalition of Girls’ Schools Conference in Philadelphia, USA. In gathering data to understand the impact of the early stages of the initiative, the Pymble Institute extends a huge thank you to the 1,055 students and 279 parents and carers of Years 4 to 8 who responded to the online survey in February 2025.

In summary, parents are feeling well-supported by the College in its initiative to manage phone use and access to social media for Years 4 to 8 students. Similarly, many students reported that their College-managed phone was helping them to self-regulate time spent on their devices and discover (or rediscover) the joys of non-screen time. Trust was also a big theme to emerge and it was heartening to read that many students don’t want to break their parents’ trust and that many parents have well-founded trust in their daughters.

Other interesting and important findings included:

• More sleep: Students in Years 4 to 8 with a Pymble Wise Phone are more likely (41%) to meet the recommended 9 to 11 sleep hours per night, compared to students with a smartphone (23%).
• Less time spent ‘looking down’: 78% of Pymble Wise Phone users spend less than one hour per school day on their Pymble Wise Phone, compared to 55% of students with a smartphone.
• Better time management: 92% of students in Years 4 to 8 with a Pymble Wise Phone report they can generally get work done and manage time effectively, compared to 85% of students with a smartphone.
• More exercise: 21% of Pymble Wise Phone users report exercising for at least 60 minutes, 7 times a week, compared to 21% of smartphone users who report exercising for at least 60 minutes, 3 times a week.
• Positive behaviour changes are taking place: The table below shows students with Pymble Wise Phones are spending more time on leisure activities and with family and friends, and less time on screens and devices.

We have used the research survey to also identify areas for improvement and to shape future directions. This is an example of how school-based research provides a tool to understand the experiences of a large group of people.

Researcher Spotlight – Dr Mariel Lombard achieves her PhD

The Pymble Institute congratulates Dr Mariel Lombard (Deputy Head of Upper School) on the completion of her PhD thesis, Compassion Fatigue: Prevalence and correlates of compassion fatigue among Year Coordinators in Australian secondary schools. Dr Lombard studied at the School of Education, Western Sydney University.

For Mariel, the journey to complete her PhD was inspired by her own teaching experience:

“It’s so important that teachers who have first-hand experience are able to contribute in the research space.”

Mariel has a great deal of passion about wellbeing for young people, and she began her research by reflecting on the emotional exhaustion that comes from supporting students with high levels of need. Realising there was a gap in research on this topic, she took it upon herself to research the prevalence of compassion fatigue amongst wellbeing staff.

It is an honour to recognise Mariel’s achievement and to congratulate her on her contribution to educational research and scholarship.

Navigating complexity with Associate Professor Simon Knight

A small team of experienced teachers from Pymble Ladies’ College participated in an excellent example of cross-school and school-university collaboration with Associate Professor Simon Knight from the Transdisciplinary School at the University of Technology Sydney and colleagues from Newington College, Trinity Grammar School and PLC Sydney.

Associate Professor Knight is a co-founder of CREDS at UTS, the Centre for Research on Education in a Digital Society, and was awarded an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award (ARC DECRA) Fellowship in 2023. Simon worked with the research leads from Pymble Ladies’ College (Dr Sarah Loch), Newington (Dr Britta Jensen), Trinity Grammar School (Dr Kimberley Pressick-Kilborn) and PLC Sydney (Dr Suzana Sukovic) in late 2024 to design a series of social labs for experienced teachers to explore the tools they use in navigating complexity and uncertainty in the classroom with secondary students.

The social labs involved Pymble Ladies’ College teachers, Ms Caragh Warth (Head of Learning Area Society, History and Ethics); Mrs Kerryl Howarth (Director of Professional Learning); Mrs Pearl Thomas (Religion and Ethics teacher) and Mrs Nikki Wyse (Head of Senior School) and brought together teams from the four schools involved. The social labs were an excellent example of inter-school collaboration and thanks go to Trinity, PLC Sydney and Newington for hosting the gatherings.

At the recent NSW Teachers’ Guild conference, Sarah, Britta, Suzana and Kimberley discussed the nature of the school/university partnership in a presentation entitled, ‘Research partnerships that provoke professional learning opportunities: An approach to engaging multiple schools in a collaborative project’.

A leading teacher in the Pymble Ladies’ College Religion and Ethics team, Pearl Thomas reflected on the experience:

The workshop offered the rare privilege to sit with educators from different schools and disciplines and look at the shape of these big epistemological questions. How do we gently and wisely guide our students to navigate the inherent chaos and uncertainties of the hyper evolving information economy? How do we model a spirit of adventurous enquiry when all the greater market forces ground us as teachers to be just efficient operators who fixate on content expertise? How do we model respectful disagreements in a democratic classroom where the world outside is polarising by the second? And, how do we attempt all this from a place of care for our students to instil in them greater agency and better skillsets to navigate a post-truth world which is overwhelmingly algorithmised.

Photo credit: Newington College

Learning from the partnership includes identification of the productive tension between research and professional learning, and the generosity and responsiveness of all involved which created a culture of collaboration.