From the Principal 

Determination is about not giving up

This was the sage advice that Millie Mould shared with the Myrniong community at our Junior School Learmonth House Service last week.  I encourage all adults to watch the service and seek inspiration! https://stream.hamiltoncollege.vic.edu.au/2b86c211-35ad-42e0-8051-ac8d599d38af 

We certainly need determination and purpose in a perpetual pandemic.  We also need to remember that our character comes to the fore in such demanding times.  But the question remains: how do our students rise to the continued demands of COVID-19 world and how can we as parents best support our young?  The answer I firmly believe is to “prioritise positivity”. Simple steps like planning your days and intentionally scheduling time with people, places or activities can and will lead to naturally-occurring ‘positive’ emotions. 

However, if you are languishing because of the prolonged nature of COVID-19 and the sustained fear and grief that accompanies it, find comfort in the wise words of Teddy Roosevelt, 26th President of the United Sates, when he concluded:   

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” 

We walk this journey together. 

Dr Andrew Hirst