Principal News
Cultivating a Growth Mindset
I have always liked the mantra: Be All You Can Be. It doesn’t mean you want to be the best or that you have to come first at whatever you do. It means that you are reaching your potential whenever and wherever you can by activating a growth mindset. It is vital that our learners see learning success through this frame. We cannot all be the smartest, we cannot all be first and we cannot all be the best. What we can be is the very best version of ‘me’.
Significantly, this attitude may be most important for those who are the smartest or best in their small sphere. If they are content to just be the best in a small pond then they are not reaching to be all they can be, nor are they reaching their absolute potential.
In class, there are some basic principles for students that can help them with a growth mindset. It includes recognising that:
- We all have the right to be safe and able to learn at all times.
- We have responsibilities that correspond with those rights. In particular, the need to maximise attendance and come organised with our laptop and other learning materials and a ‘ready to learn’ attitude.
- Comparing yourself to someone else in your class is not as powerful as comparing yourself to your own development of knowledge and skills. The real question is: are you improving?
As our learners learn how to be the best version of themselves, they are sure to hit roadblocks and obstacles. Instead of getting discouraged, we need to redirect them and help them cultivate positive emotions like passion, curiosity and flexibility. Teaching them and ourselves for that matter to look at obstacles as opportunities instead of defeats. By staying positive, they will find creative solutions that would be missed if they had remained bogged down in self-defeating thoughts.
Our challenge as parents and teachers is to make sure each learner in our care does focus on being all they can be. Whenever my nephews and nieces let me know they don’t need my help or advice, I think of the following quote from Anthony Hopkins, smile, and persist:
When I was a young guy, I knew everything. Now, I know very little. I know less and less as the time goes on.
Other matters:
- As we enter the shadows of Term 2, our students in Year Prep to 6 are encountering various forms of assessment. It is important to note that there is much less end of term, or end of semester, assessment as teachers are making ongoing judgements about student progress throughout this period of time. Assessment creates a powerful motivator for some students as well as an undue pressure for others. Where you have worries for your child at this time please encourage them to seek out their teachers for assistance or contact their teachers yourself, if necessary.
- There are to be no students on the school grounds before 8a.m. each morning unless they are attending a school organised activity or Before School Care. There is no supervision of students until 8:10a.m. and for their safety it is imperative that this is adhered to by all parents and caregivers.
- Year 1 will relocate to the following rooms as of Week 1, Term 3 in readiness for the new classrooms being built in Term 3: 1S - Room beside the Library; 1W - Drama/Music room; 1K - Top level beside Yr 5L.
- Tuckshop will be operating from the Mercy Centre from Week 10 Term 2.
Many blessings,
Madonna Sleba