Principal's Reflection

… Next time you're found
With your chin on the ground
There a lot to be learned
So look around.

… Just what makes that little old ant
Think he'll move that rubber tree plant
Anyone knows an ant can't
Move a rubber tree plant.

… But he's got high hopes
He's got high hopes
He's got high apple pie
In the sky hopes.

So any time you're gettin' low
'Stead of lettin' go
Just remember that ant

… Oops, there goes another rubber tree plant
Oops, there goes another rubber tree plant
Oops, there goes another rubber tree plant.

‘High Hopes’ was popularised by Frank Sinatra and complemented by a simple, catchy tune, it is still heard today offering a simple message that promotes positive, hopeful thinking. A common discussion point during our morning school assemblies is what makes an ‘A’ student? Students have heard the message often enough for many hands to instantly be raised and provide the response, ‘Attitude + Application = Achievement.’ For the purposes of our school assemblies, such simple mantras are sufficient in allowing students and staff a ‘tangible leverage’ for gentle prompts when the intrinsic desire to engage in learning wanes, concentration is diminishing and output and achievement decreasing. However, as adults, we are only ‘too aware to be aware’ of relying too much on simple mantras for motivation and hope.

I am reminded that whilst, like the ant immortalised by Sinatra over sixty years ago, our positive attitude and dedicated application may well not result in achieving our goal;  regardless of our best intentions, we could not lift a heavy weight if we are only equipped with a ‘thread of cotton’. Our staff – teachers, teacher-assistants, support workers – do a disservice to a student if we do ‘the heavy lifting’ for a student; rather, we endeavour over the course of a student’s time with us, to add to the threads that a child has at their disposal to undertake the ‘heavy lifting’ that often accompanies learning, hoping that over time the student’s thread becomes a rope that is capable of the heavy lifting in many and varied contexts; this transferability of knowledge, understandings and skills is a key indicator of having mastery learning. Life-long learning is as much about appreciating the need to develop learners to engage in a ‘load-bearing’ life, as it is about key curriculum areas.

Load-bearing principles in engineering have enabled architects and builders ‘build up’ without fear of catastrophic collapse. Early examples of buttresses are found on the Eanna Temple (ancient Sumer), dating to as early as the 4th millennium BC. Education and learning involve students, which implies all of us, seeking the support of others, (which also implies all of us) in both taking on some of the load of responsibilities for the learning of others and equipping others to take on increasing responsibility for learning. My six-month experience working as a farmhand last year taught me an enormous amount about learning, especially through the conceptual lens of ‘load-bearing’ and turning ‘threads into ropes’ – all learning takes time, involves repetition of often simple skills and mastering them before moving onto incorporating new complementary skills, and is encouraged by patient teachers and colleagues who share and support realistic and timely goal-setting.

I am grateful that I work within a school community that is reflective of such principles and supportive of the important educational tenet of avoiding blame and baseless complaint, whilst supporting an optimistic and hopeful future that is based on reality for each learner whose current learning load is characterised by a willingness to accept the challenges of ‘adding threads’ to the rope. From the perspective of learning and the reality of attitude, application and achievement in the perspective of individual capacity to ‘lift heavy loads’ associated with learning, I am reminded of a quote by the nineteenth century social philosopher, William Ward who said, “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.”

Regards,

Rod Linhart

Principal