End of Year Reflection
At the end of each year I deliver a prize-giving speech.
It is a great chance for reflection and to deliver some key thoughts about what
we should be focussing on in the future. I have printed most of the speech
below.
The
fundamental highlight is the tone and culture of the school year. The boys have
been excellent and most have achieved personal bests. The staff has given their
all to support the boys. Our long
awaited school hall/gym/Chapel is well underway. However bricks and mortar and
wonderful facilities do not make a high performing school. In May we had the
Education Review Office spend three days with us assessing how Wellesley stood
up to their well-honed national benchmark
criteria for schools and we were delighted with their critique.
Not
long after receiving the ERO review I attended the annual Independent Schools’
conference where I heard two speakers that made me reflect on our ERO
assessment.
We
often talk to the boys about personal bests, and the habits of resilience,
perseverance, and controlling our impulsivity. One of the speakers spoke about
the importance of building up the ‘grit’ factor in children. I like that word
‘grit’! It’s a small word but it packs a punch and says a lot.
The Outward Bound founder, Kurt Hahn’s quote of ‘we are
all better than we know’ is so true!
Author Jocelyn Glei wrote an interesting article arguing ‘grit is more important than talent’! (The Future of Self-Improvement, Part1:
Grit Is More Important Than Talent) She recounts that, “In the late ’60s,
Stanford psychologist Walter Mischel performed a now-iconic experiment called
the Marshmallow Test, which analyzed the ability of four
year olds to exhibit “delayed gratification.” Each child was brought into the
room and sat down at a table with a delicious treat on it (maybe a marshmallow,
maybe a donut). The scientists told the children that they could have a treat
now, or, if they waited 15 minutes, they could have two treats.
All of the
children wanted
to wait. (Who doesn’t want more treats?) But many couldn’t. After just a few
minutes or less, their resolve would break down and they would eat the
marshmallow. But some children were better at delaying gratification: They were
able to hold out for the full 15 minutes.
When the researchers subsequently checked in on these
same children in high school, it turned out that those with more self-control —
that is, those who held out for 15 minutes — were better behaved, less prone to
addiction, and scored higher on the SAT.”
The children who were able to hang out and not succumb
to the temptation used all sorts of strategies to deflect their temptation such
as singing to themselves or covering their eyes. To use the vernacular, ‘they
guts’d it out’ anyway they could so they could have the bigger prize at the
end.
Since time began, we’ve all known that talent will
only get you so far. The old Aesop’s fable of the hare and the tortoise is an
often told story that powerfully sums up all this up. The hare knew he could
win the race in a canter and chose to have a bit of a lie down on the way.
Meanwhile the gritty and steady determination of the tortoise saw her win the race.
It has been found through research that there is a
strong link between grit and a growth mindset. Those people who have a more
optimistic view of the world have a tendency to sustain effort towards their
goals. (True Grit-Association for
Psychological Science by Angela Lee Duckworth and Lauren Eskreis-Winkler)
Having ‘true grit’ is only part of the story. As the
saying goes, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Dr Tony Fernando is a
consultant psychiatrist and senior lecturer in psychiatry at the University of
Auckland. He also spoke at the conference I referred to earlier. He works with
many of the top students that come out of secondary school. He told us most of
them are keen learners, energetic, enthusiastic, reliable and driven to do well
and what else could a teacher ask for? However despite being gifted
intellectually and a willingness to work hard, a fair number of Dr Fernando’s
students suffer from depression, anxiety, perfectionism, drug abuse, a lack of
self-compassion and generally are not happy. They have the grit but not the
balance! He effectively argued that you can work hard but if you can’t take
some joy from it and view your life through a more positive lens then life can
be tough.
Dr Fernando talked about ‘Mindfulness’ and the
importance of optimism.
He
described mindfulness as a state of active, open attention on the present. When
you are being mindful you are actively living in the moment and not allowing
life to pass you by as you are distracted by negative thoughts, worries or
things that need to be done. (I could learn a lot by this advice) It’s finding
time in our busy world to have some ‘stillness and silence’ to bring us back to
our calm essence. It’s about dealing
with life’s conflicts and challenges in a calm manner, avoiding habitual
responses when life doesn’t go our way. It’s about perspective and the
acknowledgement of the simple pleasures of life including laughter. It’s about being a compassionate person to
yourself and to others. And it is definitely about being non-judgemental, kind,
optimistic and being grateful.
This
concept of gratitude was particularly promoted and Dr Fernando encouraged all
his students to keep a gratitude diary where each day they would find 5-10
minutes quiet time to write down things they were happy or grateful for. He
said the discipline of this can be powerful in training our minds to be
positive. It’s akin to saying prayers of gratitude that some families practice
each evening. Even saying grace before a meal makes us stop and be grateful.
‘For what we are about to receive may the Lord make us truly grateful’ Now your
Lord may be different from my Lord but that doesn’t matter, we are stopping to
be grateful.
I
was taken by these two themes of grit and mindfulness as they are important
‘work in progress’ aspects of Wellesley but yet we have not labelled them as
such. There is a culture at Wellesley where it is cool to learn and to do your
personal best. The culture is strong and the tide carries it in. Of course,
individuals can wax and wane and after considerable effort and commitment, the
occasional boy will ‘slip and slide’ but the big picture is extremely positive.
When
we read the ERO report we were delighted to see commentary that supported
everything we are trying to achieve with the boys. In summary the report said there is a climate at
Wellesley whereby boys are nurtured to be resilient and self-motivated
learners and that the modelling of respect, loyalty and integrity by
students and staff is highly apparent.
The report praised the school for providing ‘high
quality teaching’ and for having ‘high expectations for
learning and behaviour’. That Wellesley’s ‘vision is to promote
intellectual curiosity and creativity’.
That Wellesley is future focused and the team work
in close partnership to promote continuous improvement.
Special mention was made of the very evident learning community and the high
priority given to professional learning.
Wellesley is in very good heart
and we believe that we have a good weighting of grit and mindfulness to ensure
it goes into its second century in excellent shape.
I
want to thank all our staff, teaching and non-teaching for working together to
create an environment where it is not good enough to lean on the past but
strive for continuous improvement.
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