Issue 04 / 6 December 2013
From the Principal Excellence is Never an Accident Currently I am in the middle of reading and signing each student’s report. Whilst a very time consuming exercise, for me it is an important one, as it gives me an insight into each child’s academic growth over the previous semester. Numerous things stand out when I read the reports, but the thing that stands out the most is summed up in a quote I particularly like - “Excellence is never an accident; it is the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, skilful execution and the vision to see obstacles as opportunities.” Soon our students will be enjoying a well-deserved break and a time to recharge their batteries. Over the course of the semester our children and young people have encountered challenges, and the way they have dealt with them tells us a lot about the sort of person they will become. If they have prepared well, made a plan and stuck to it, then they have probably performed very well in terms of achieving Personal Bests. They have no doubt learnt lessons about time management, chunking or breaking big tasks down into smaller pieces and taking on one challenge at a time, and a lot about the importance of perseverance. In a sense, our students has been given an insight into what might be referred to as the ‘hidden curriculum’ or the acquisition of qualities necessary to succeed in life. Each and every day we encounter new situations and through these experiences we learn. Sometimes we try and we fail and then we need to learn from these mistakes. Sometimes we need to change course and adopt a different strategy, but we must never lose sight of our goals, of where we want to be and what we want to achieve. I would encourage parents to
spend time reviewing their child’s report with their son or daughter, and discussing their goals for 2014, and the strategies, processes and work habits needed to achieve them. Without this, the reports are nothing more than words on a piece of paper. The Arts Over the past month I have had the privilege of attending numerous end of year functions and celebrations. At many of these celebrations the Arts featured prominently. This is itself not surprising when you consider we had some 500 students undertake some sort of Performing Arts lesson, outside the set curriculum, this year at St Andrews. For those of us in the audience the quality of performances at these events was uplifting. What may be surprizing to some is the strong positive benefits studying the Arts has on a person. Studies show that engagement in the Arts benefits students not just in the classroom, but also in life. Students who are involved in the Arts have higher school motivation, engagement in class, selfesteem, and life satisfaction. Findings, published in the Journal of Educational Psychology, found students who participate in Dance, Drama, Music, and Visual Arts showed more positive academic and personal wellbeing outcomes than students who were not as involved in the Arts.
The Arts are not so much a result of inspiration and innate talent as they are a person’s capacity for creative thinking and imagining, problem solving,