Senior School 

Alumni Contributions - Future Problem Solving

Recently I was fortunate enough to accompany, with Ms Messariti, over 45 Future Problem Solving students in Years 8-11 to the National Finals in Brisbane. The students were amazing, having full days of training and successfully competing. They represented their school demonstrating sportsmanship, intellect, collaboration and creativity. However, what I wanted to share with you in this article are the qualities of our Future Problem Solving coaches who also accompanied us, Katherine Tsingos (alum 2020) and Alice Duthie (alum 2021). What a joy to be able to spend the weekend watching such positive interactions of alumni with younger students. 

I recall both of these students who were exceptional students when at school, and seeing their leadership growth in just a few years was remarkable. To be able to talk to alumni about their current studies and aspirations, to make connections with what they did at school and how that has influenced their thinking and studies was a privilege for me and also of great interest to our students. These alumni, like so many, remain closely connected to Kambala. Interactions with them remind me of just one of the ways that Kambala is unique. 

Alumni support a strong sense of community and suggest students have a strong sense of belonging, even after graduating. We see that at the many KOG celebrations of generations past, but to see recent graduates is also important for our current students. We have a vast amount of alumni who visit classes and forums regularly, who work in co and extracurricular capacities, who come back to judge competitions or offer their time to mentor younger students. Role models with whom students can connect are vital. I am reminded that we are fortunate to have such a resource and am extremely grateful to students like Katherine and Alice as if such young people are the graduates of Kambala, then we are certainly making a difference to our current community and beyond.

Ms Carolyn Gedling

Deputy Principal Academic

AI in Schools: Navigating the Future

Last week Carolyn Gedling, Deputy Principal Academic and Sebastien Knox, Head of Academic Life presented at the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia on Kambala's approach to Artifical Intelligence (AI) in the curriculum. They spoke of how Kambala is embracing the AI technology, with the use of two of the school values Curiosity and Respect, to assist in navigating the way.

A Blended Orchestra of Sounds

As they say, “where words fail, music speaks…”

Recently, the Sydney Chinese Orchestra (SCO) made their largest appearance to date at the Sydney Conservatorium, presenting a program filled with concertos and ensemble works showcasing the different aspects of Chinese traditional and contemporary music.

Since its establishment in 2017, we have worked hard to deliver Chinese music into the community of Sydney through various artistic approaches. For example, we collaborate with several Australian composers to premiere their new works, providing musicians from around the world with a platform to explore and showcase their cultural expressions and experiences. 

As a musician within the orchestra, I would like to introduce some of the unique instruments that were used in our most recent performance:

1. Contrabass Morin Khuur (THERE'S ONLY ONE IN AUSTRALIA!): which directly translates to ‘fiddle with a horse's head’, is a traditional Mongolian instrument that has a horse’s head carved onto the top of the instrument. 
2. Suona (aka. The loudest instrument?!): is a double reed instrument with a shrill sound. This instrument has gradually faded into history and is now less recognized and played…
3. Erhu: is a 2 stringed instrument with an airy sound. This is because its sound box is made out of fragile snake skin!

Our vision as SCO is to “blend the sounds of  the east with the west” and to slowly but surely see both traditions of music intertwine. And as we continue the development of the orchestra, we hope to create a new blend of symphony that’s unique, connected, and new.

Grace Yang

Year 9

UBS Young Women’s Leadership Academy 2023

Every year, UBS, a renowned financial services company and global bank, invites a select few Year 11 students from around NSW to participate in one of their two esteemed courses: the Finance Academy and the Young Women’s Leadership Academy. In the holidays, I had the privilege of being one of the fifty participants in UBS’s Young Women’s Leadership Academy, an enriching course catered toward “emerging female leaders” with an interest in finance. The three full and intensive days of field-based overviews, workshops, activities, guest speakers and interactive pitches successfully provided us with leadership and communication skills, enhanced knowledge and appreciation of financial services and offered many valuable networking opportunities. The program also provided the opportunity for girls across 30 different schools around NSW to interact and connect with. 

At UBS’s Sydney office in Chifley Square, girls were given a taste of what working in a corporate environment was like, learning what a typical day looks like for people across a wide range of fields, further enabling girls to narrow down their interests within the financial sector. While the course focussed on encouraging young women to pursue careers in the finance industry - an industry with historically low numbers of female participants - the leadership and communication coaches employed by UBS work with many large companies and brands to achieve global recognition, thus providing students with an arsenal of skills and strategies that will set them apart across many scenarios. 

Overall, this course was an invaluable experience and is just one of many ways in which young ladies can take steps toward building their professional future. 

Ava Jensen

Year 11

The Investors Club

The Investor’s Club met on the 15th of October, with the aim to improve girls capacity to pitch and judge stocks effectively. Two students from Year 8 won the competition with their fantastic pitch on Sappe, the parent company of the popular Mogu Mogu drink, taking out the competition from Year 7 to 11. We are looking forward to hosting more events over the coming year, continuing to develop financial literacy among Kambala girls. 

In the upcoming Investors Club meeting, we will be having an exclusive interview with Kambala parent, Anthony Aboud, Deputy-Head of Equities at Perpetual. The invitation will be open to all Kambala students, and will be held during lunch in the Library.

Lily Richards (Yr 11) and Talor Taibel (Yr 11)

Founders of the Kambala Investors Club

Mandarin Study Tour 2023

For a large selection of the Year 9 and 10 students who are currently studying Mandarin Elective, the Mandarin Study Tour to Taiwan and Singapore was something we had been highly anticipating as a highlight of 2023. For the students, this meant months of preparation, and for the teachers, several more months. This vision of global connection with our Taiwanese Partner Schools has been long in the making, and on Friday 22nd of September, a dream became a reality. It was two and a half weeks of unforgettable experiences, newfound cultural appreciation, forging relationships, and one step closer to the goal of multilingualism. 

Throughout this trip, we truly fostered all of our school values despite being so far from home. For all of us, huge courage was shown in meeting new people, being highly independent in an unfamiliar environment and taking on new experiences one after another. Curiosity was constantly satisfied through the wealth of new information that we acquired - whether that was in the form of learning about the lifestyle of the Indigenous peoples of Taiwan, completing the daunting task of navigating Taiwan’s complex MRT (transport) system, or simply learning Mandarin colloquialisms appropriate to the conversations of teenage girls. Humanity and respect were at the forefront of everything we encountered during our weeks away - learning to appreciate a different way of life, taking part in cultural practices from dancing, to cooking, to weaving, and celebrating the heritage and language we had the privilege to immerse ourselves in.

On behalf of all the students who went on this trip, I would like to thank both Zhong Shan Girls’ High School and He Ping Junior High School for displaying such generous hospitality in hosting us, Ms Danvers for further extending the hand of friendship that is born from international relationships, and to our parents and carers who supported us to go on this wonderful adventure. Finally, I would like to thank Ms Lin and Ms Yang with so much gratitude, for the endless organisation, commitment and energy they put into making this experience possible.

If you would like to read about our adventures, see this link for our blog: https://sundial.kambala.nsw.edu.au/homepage/20325

Zoe Leibman

Year 9 

Congratulations Elsie Paton Year 9!

Double congratulations to Elsie Paton Year 9 who has not only received the 2023 UNSW Bragg Student Prize for Science Writing but she has also come second in the Senior Division of Poetry at the IGSA Festival of Speech Compeition.