You’ve Got What It Takes!

If you have had the time and opportunity to attend a Primary Assembly this term, you would be aware that I set a personal GRIT goal of improving my tennis skills with Brendan. Together, we set a goal, have discussed how challenging it is to persevere when it gets tiring or hard, and have given it our best to improve and reach our goal of successfully completing a 10-shot rally!

Whilst it is good fun demonstrating a practical example of GRIT to the students, what I love is the conversations that stem from our assemblies. Almost every day, there is one student who will ask me “How is your tennis going, Mrs Vaughan?”, or “Have you reached your GRIT goal yet?”. Their curiosity, interest and encouragement warms my heart as I see them using the language and connecting the strategies taught in our chats to their learning.

There have been other GRIT goals around the school too – and I have loved hearing how classes or individual students have set goals, persisted and seen growth over time as they have displayed GRIT in their daily challenges.

Some of our GRIT challenges include:

• 5HF have ‘planked’ for 3 minutes
• 2SH have run up to the DCC cross and back 
• Prep R have been working towards a goal of lining up and being ready for class
• 6YL have intentionally worked on building in 5 minutes of uninterrupted learning that is silent and enhances student focus.

Our focus isn’t really the GRIT challenge itself, rather it is an opportunity to remind our students that developing perseverance, persistence and passion helps them to become more of who they have been created to be, in Christ, as His child. Our GRIT really shines through when we put our hope and trust in Jesus and draw upon the strength of the Holy Spirit each day. How wonderful that our primary students are being reminded of this in everything they do.

In Romans 5 Paul reminds us: 

“we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

As we wrap up our assembly time together, I have reminded the students of this important truth: “when you rely on the Holy Spirit and ask Him to be your help and strength, I know ‘You’ve got what it takes!’”.