Being better than our best and reaching our potential

At the beginning of this term I spoke with the all of the boys about a couple of key messages that I wanted them to take on board in their learning throughout Term 4. The two messages were the importance of taking risks in learning and being better than they think they are.

Risk taking is a concept that is often discussed in the context of learning and rarely understood or practiced. It is the ability and willingness to place yourself in situations outside your comfort zone in order to have new learning experiences. For this to occur, students need to feel safe, encouraged and prepared to fail. Failure, after all, is essential for learning. Without failing, we will never reach our potential because we will always operate within a ‘safe’ zone that doesn’t stretch our existing boundaries.

Risk taking is very closely connected with the idea of being better than you think you are. Recent research by John Hattie, a New Zealand academic who has conducted vast research into the effects on students learning, indicates that students who aim for what they believe they can do fail to reach their potential. He concludes that students are very good at delivering to teachers and parents what is ‘expected’ rather than pushing themselves to deliver unexpected outcomes.

At Lindfield, we want to aim for excellence not merely mediocrity, but even more important than results, we want our boys to be their best in all areas of school life, academic, co-curricular and pastoral. Ultimately, this requires them to give their best at all times and to push themselves beyond their own expectations.

I look forward to our boys surprising us through their risk taking.

Prize Giving

At last week’s P & F Meeting I discussed the changes that are being made to awards for this year’s Prize Giving. In redeveloping the awards we considered parental feedback and discussed the importance of highlighting effort, particularly in the Junior Primary years.

A summary of the changes can be found at the following location on Newington Spaces https://spaces.newington.nsw.edu.au/lindfield/articles/111-prize-giving-changes-for-2012

If you would like further information please contact your son’s class teacher or myself.

Newington Spaces

I hope by now that many parents have accessed Newington Spaces to read my weekly updates or the other material that is populating the site. If you haven’t done so already, can I strongly encourage you to do so?

To access Newington Spaces you’ll first need to activate your personal login. Visit https://mylogin.newington.nsw.edu.au and enter the email address the College has on file for you – the system will email you a link to choose a password and activate your account. Because you’ll be logging in as an individual with distinct access rights, if the College lists the same email for multiple members of your household please contact the Lindfield office so that we can sort that out. Once activated, login at http://spaces.newington.nsw.edu.au to begin. If you require support with this process please contact the School Office.

Enrolments

We are in the fortunate position to have a few vacancies for next year. If you know anyone who might be interested in enrolling their son in Years K, 1, 2, 3 or 4 for next year, please encourage them to call the School Office on 9416 4280.