Plc Offers Choice And Standards
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday March 14, 1996
ASK a PLC girl what she best likes doing and she'll often go blank. Ask a PLC girl what different activities she is involved in and she'll happily reel off a dizzying list. It is this that she likes best and it is this which she'll remember when she leaves the school.
Irrespective of ability, all Pymble Ladies' College students are able to take part in almost anything they select. Sports teams are created by demand rather than limited to a preordained fixed number and the number of sports offered, both indoor and outdoor, is exhaustive. Many a golf course pales in comparison with the school's grounds which present a manicured blend of sports fields, ornamental gardens and majestic tree-lined driveways.
New to PLC this year and new to Australia as well, Stephanie Robertson, a Year 7 student, is clearly still coming to terms with the massive adjustment which her life is demanding of her but when taking in her school environment, she feels both reassurance and awe. "It's so pretty here," she says.
Stephanie was not in Sydney last year in time to take part in a two-day orientation for 1996 Year 7 students. During these two days, the girls in Years 6 and 7 plus girls who were enrolled to join the school in Year 7, spent time together doing intensive group work. Using their laptop computers, they completed a graphic project which showed the differences in school life which occurs at the transition from Year 6 to Year 7.
Alex Mason, having been at PLC since Year 2, was one of the old hands on this occasion and thoroughly enjoyed showing new people around her school while she herself was taking a good look at the senior school with a view to her immediate future. She has, in her first weeks of Year 7, launched herself into a number of new endeavours and is bursting out of her skin waiting for those which are yet to come.
Alex has owned her own laptop since she was in Year 5, the year at which PLC girls are expected but not obliged to acquire this particular piece of equipment. Implemented four years ago, the policy has resulted in the present Year 8 girls being so equipped and by the time they are in Year 12, all students in Years 5 to 12 will have this tool which the school regards as an essential. The school negotiates purchasing agreements with providers, for both hard and software, on behalf of the students. Although their purchasing power results in very attractive prices, families can purchase from whomever they wish so long as the computer matches that of the year group. Part of the package includes ongoing support by the provider who works closely with the information technology manager, computer technician and laptop support teacher, all of whom are full-time members of PLC staff.
The entire school is networked, giving access to the library catalogue, 54 CD-ROMs and the Internet to desktop computers in all learning areas. The network is available to all boarders' desks, and half of all the senior school classroom desks with the other classrooms having multiple access points. Use of the Internet is limited and supervised. For those years where each girl has her own laptop, its use has been fully integrated into all subject areas and computer skills are developed within subject content. Bringing about this change throughout the whole school has demanded considerable professional development of the staff. Sufficient numbers of PLC staff studying computer use in schools for a Masters degree in Education have enabled Sydney University to conduct the course at the school itself.
Any girl who for some reason may not be able to own her own laptop has substantial back-up from the school's facilities. Some parents have shown concern for the idea of putting such a valuable machine in the hands of a very young person and for the future of handwriting. The school however has the same formal lessons in handwriting as before the introduction of computers and girls are trained to care for their laptops in a responsible way. Pymble Ladies' College holds a position at the forefront of education and its determination to keep it is indicated by the number of progressive educational tools it uses, computers being only one.
FEES* (payable in three instalments) Kindergarten and classes 1&2 $3,930 Classes 3&4 $5,160 Classes 5&6 $5,340 Years 7to10 $7,050 Years 11&12 $7,680 BOARDING* $7,860 * A year
© 1996 Sydney Morning Herald
Share This