Assistant Principal
Aaron Cox
Assistant Principal
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”
Embracing Independence is something all humans want to do. Even very young infants want to do it their way or give you a very big ‘No’ when you ask them to do something they don’t want to do. As children get older they will take incredible risks to prove or develop their self-sufficiency.
Concerned parents will attempt to eliminate all risks by removing any perceived sharp objects, move furniture, shut doors to deny access and nearly pull out the bubble wrap to ensure their child does not hurt themself. There is only one problem with this strategy: you can never remove all risk. Sure they will fail but what is wrong with that? To fail is the First Attempt In Learning (FAIL). If you never fail how do you learn? As your child falls over or out of a tree for that matter, they will learn over time that there are consequences for actions and they will start to learn to assess situations and weigh up their options.
Sure parents should intervene when there is a real perceived danger or when your child’s play transgresses the rights and peace of others, but otherwise let your child go. They will pick themselves up, brush themselves off and go again and again until they succeed. This all forms the natural progression of learning and building resilience. Developing an awareness of self and the environment comes about through making mistakes. When building self-sufficiency; hurt, frustration, fear and pain will not to be far away. What is wrong with that? Nothing.
I grew up in a period, and many before me, where numerous sayings were built on resilience. “Get back on your bike”, “Brush yourself off”, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, “Life doesn’t get any easier or more forgiving, we just get stronger and more resilient”, “You have to go through hard to get to easy”. Many of these sayings might appear to be outdated. Most current parents' relationship with resilience would be considered tenuous at best and nonexistent at worst.
We all want children to develop resilience but this will not occur if they are over indulged, have their problems solved for them and are not exposed to either resilience strategies or failure. These are the by-products of helicopter and lawn mower parenting. Over the Christmas period, please evaluate the immediate real dangers and eliminate them but give your child the chance to fail and build self-sufficiency, character and resilience.
Michael Gross has been the catalyst for many of my posts this year. I find he has numerous valid points and documented strategies to help us, help our children be better people. I have spent a life time making mistakes with a fair bit of tough love along the way. Do I think I am a more resilient person for it? No question. Am I psychologically damaged? I suppose it depends on which generation you ask.
Professional Development
Teachers and support staff are currently completing their end-of-cycle annual performance and development plans. To those in other industries, this is where staff are expected to have met documented KPIs. Staff are expected at the beginning of the year, to set ambitious or stretch goals over a school year which should be achievable. High standards are expected and delivered. Although the process has yet to be completed, we have witnessed wonderful growth this year across our teaching staff as we consistently strive for excellence.
The professional learning at Kingswood this year has been extensive but extremely targeted. The school is more than happy with our areas of improvement for 2017 including our impact on student learning. We look forward to our challenges for next year and the years to come. Make no mistake, Kingswood is a school of excellence and is recognised as such within the profession. Kingswood has experienced an increase in visits from other schools this year as we showcase what we do as leaders in education. Parents should take comfort in the fact that Kingswood knows what it is doing.