Junior School

Week 4 Update

It is hard to believe that the halfway point of Term 2 is already rapidly approaching! The second term of the year is always an eventful one in the College calendar, punctuated by Semester One reports and Parent/Teacher Interviews held towards the conclusion of the term. With that in mind, our Junior School teachers will continue to work in partnership with our parents/carers to reinforce the aim for every student to reach their individual potential in all aspects of their education at St Patrick’s.

There is no doubt that effective teachers promote excellence in student achievement by setting aspiring goals and enabling young people to achieve their personal best. Effective teachers also understand the difference between high expectations and high pressure and can encourage and support students in achieving individual learning excellence without overloading them with pressure.

High expectations are geared towards helping a young person reach their potential, to be their best. On the other hand, high pressure focuses on expecting a young person to be the best. Undoubtedly, it is a fine line at times. It is obviously important to have expectations because if you have no expectations then people don’t strive for anything. High expectations can also have a significant impact on a young person’s attitude and self-worth, as well as a likely increase in their overall level of motivation and self-confidence.

So, if high expectations help young people to feel confident and capable, what are some key strategies that parents/carers can adopt to reduce pressure on their children whist maintaining certain standards?

1. Adopt a growth mindset

A growth mindset is the key to success. It involves focusing on the value of the process that goes into things, rather than the final outcome.

With a growth mindset, a young person will have high expectations of the effort that goes into their learning, whilst a fixed mindset may put high pressure on consistently getting top marks.

Parents/carers can support a growth mindset in young people by emphasising the importance of hard work, the key to better outcomes, and also as something of value in and of itself.

2. Make expectations clear, realistic, and reasonable

Many young people become overwhelmed by pressure because they don’t know exactly what is expected of them. Parents/carers obviously want their children to do well at school, but what does this actually mean? To be at the ‘top’ of the class? Or to acquire new knowledge and skills at an individual level?

It is important to set achievable expectations for children and to make sure they know exactly what they are, and how you expect them to reach these. This again places the focus on the process, rather than the outcome.

3. Aim for personal bests and fulfilled potential

Not every child can get into the top sporting team. Nor can every student top the class. However, they can still play sport or learn, seek to improve in areas of weakness and even excel.

Therefore, it is reasonable and beneficial to expect fulfilled potential, but putting high pressure on numbers and ranks can be unproductive and often detrimental to an individual’s development.

4. Let them make mistakes

Young people might seek out help with their homework or assignments, and this is entirely acceptable, but it’s important to remember that they are expected to be competent enough to independently fulfil all of their set school obligations.

By helping them too much, parents/carers can send the message that their expectations are low, and that a student can’t meet those set by the teacher. Even if they do struggle, ‘setbacks’, in their many forms, are an inevitable part of life.

We must remember that children grow to be motivated by their mistakes, to discover where they went wrong, and to strive to fix them in the future, often on their own.

5. Offer support and encouragement through the process

Let children know that we have faith in their ability, that we believe they are confident and capable, and that importantly, hard work is what’s needed to get good results. Parents/carers are encouraged to offer their children whatever emotional and practical support they can in order to achieve their goals. This could mean offering them a sympathetic ear when they’re feeling stressed, or listening to them go over what they learnt in school during dinner.

However, it is important to be restrained with both reassurance and praise in the face of disappointment. For example, praising a child simply to comfort them over a disappointing outcome may send the wrong message, not only can it suggest you have low expectations, it may also negate the impact of genuine praise.

Similarly, excessive reassurance in times of disappointment can be just as problematic. It can suggest that you have a lack of confidence, and therefore low expectations of your child’s ability, and it can be an ‘easy out’ from addressing setbacks head-on as learning experiences.

All in all, the best emotional and practical support we can offer children is during the process, not after the outcome, and one of the best ways we can support children, boost their confidence, and increase their motivation, is to have appropriate high expectations.

As always, if you have any queries or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me via email (glenn.stephenson@spc.nsw.edu.au) or phone (8705 9247) and I will endeavour to assist you in any way that I can.

May God bless you,

Glenn Stephenson

Director of Junior School