Imagine the possibilities! Exciting new education business partnership
Friday 31 July, 2020
Pymble Year 10 Elective Geography students have been given a world-class opportunity with an education partnership that was agreed with Celestino, the creators of Sydney Science Park.
The education partnership with Pymble Ladies’ College is part of the park’s successful collaboration with CSIRO to deliver Australia’s first Urban Living Lab.
As a designated CSIRO Urban Living Lab, Sydney Science Park aims to challenge business-as-usual urban development by improving the resilience, sustainability and liveability of Australian cities and towns. In particular, it provides the platform to build a city that is fit for the future with places to test and monitor innovations and new technologies under real world conditions.
Pymble will be the first independent girls’ school to partner with Sydney Science Park, with students working on real-life challenges including urban greening, energy and water demand, future mobility considerations and community wellbeing.
The girls are really excited to challenge themselves in this new and exciting way. “I’m really looking forward to working with Celestino at Sydney Science Park, as we haven’t done anything similar to this in the classroom. It will be great to get hands on and get a deeper insight on our chosen topic, such as transport. We can assist with finding efficient ways to travel in and out of the city,” Georgia Year 10 said.
At the launch event held on Wednesday 22 July, Stage 6 Geography Co-ordinator, Mr Liam Hume, challenged the girls to ‘Imagine’ the possibilities. “The project you will be participating in over the course of Term 3 is no ordinary school project. This is the most real project you could possibly be involved in, where your actions, your decisions, your ideas could change the way future generations live, work, socialise, survive and more,” Mr Hume said.
Principal Dr Kate Hadwen said the partnership gives students the opportunity to practise field work in urban planning, architecture, science, health, energy and water.
“The girls will meet with industry specialists and participate in activation events, industry panels, mentoring, think tanks, research in the field, ideation sprints and a solution festival,” Dr Hadwen said.
Dr Hadwen said that through the partnership, the school will align with industry experts to better understand the transferable skills Pymble students need to be successful in their future careers, and realise their hopes, aspirations and true potential.
“Our long-term vision is to collaborate with industry and other educational institutions to co-create micro-credentials that could be entry points for university or offer opportunities for internships with employers,” Dr Hadwen said.
“As Dr Hadwen has said many times before, ‘We are Pymble, watch us change the world…’, well here is your chance and we know you will!” Mr Hume said.