Principal's News
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle.
If we teach our students one thing, it has to be that they are the masters of their own destiny and always will be. Whilst circumstances can sometimes overtake us and we can find that we are facing odds stacked against us, there is always a way for us to dig in and overcome even the most daunting obstacles.
The idea that excellence is not something that is in the DNA of a select few is something that lies at the core of our work at Ballarat High School. By accepting that excellence is relative to the individual and based on a thousand different decisions and actions that each of us take, results in excellence being something that is attainable to us all. That is why we measure success by the growth that our students make and not the grades or test scores that they have attained. Inherent in this is the belief that mistakes, challenges and set-backs are what feed this growth towards personal excellence and should be welcomed as a key part of learning.
We become better at something because we learn from not getting things right; we do things better by evaluating where things went wrong, taking on feedback and going again and again… Therefore, by design, everything that we do at Ballarat High School must provide an opportunity for our students to learn and grow. Frustrations and disappointment, when channelled in a positive way, can be the difference between giving up and improving. The picture above of our rowers out on Lake Wendouree over the long weekend illustrates the ideal that set-backs lead to positive outcomes when we process them productively. Every member of that crew had every right to give up when faced with the agonising reality of losing a key rower in the build up to the Head of the Lake. Instead, they chose to persevere; they chose to remember, when defeatist thoughts rose up, why they started in the first place. The improvement that they have made over a relatively short period of time speaks to this idea that success is relative and excellence is attainable. It should never just be about medals or trophies; it is about being the best that we can be and seeing that as the success that we should chase.
Whilst our rowers act as a perfect analogy of this ideal, there is evidence in every classroom, in every performance rehearsal, in the astounding quality of the art work produced by our students, on the yard, sports field and classroom of students from Years 7-12 striving to improve and to be better than yesterday and with the belief that they can be even better tomorrow. The incremental steps that each student makes on a day-to-day basis matter over time.
It takes bravery to commit to a life of self-improvement; giving up can sometimes feel like the easy option. Listening to the voice of self-doubt that can amplify mistakes and misconceptions as evidence of failure can prove overwhelming. This is why we need to be surrounded by others who are brave enough to reframe failure as a prerequisite of success. We need our classrooms, training sessions, rehearsals and day-to-day interactions to be opportunities to encourage and to celebrate each little success and to always move forward. At Ballarat High School, we have a strong tradition of students who have overcome the odds; who have learnt from mistakes; and who have overcome setbacks to achieve the personal goals that mattered to them.
Our shared high expectations of ourselves and others must mean more than the final outcome: together, we must strive to create a culture in which personal excellence is celebrated at each stage of the journey and not just at the finishing line, for the select few. At Ballarat High School, success belongs to every student willing to be the best that they can be.
Stephan Fields
Principal