Your Personal Best Can Empower Others to Succeed

Success looks different for everyone. Celebrating and honouring personal success, is equally important for children as it is adults. One of the best parts of being a Principal is celebrating the best efforts of others, children and adults alike.

This year, I’ve been fortunate to connect with a range of former St Andrew’s School ‘legendary’ long-term leaders, including David Woolnough, Dorian Black, and Peter Smith. We have warmly reminisced about their decades of successful impact in our community and their rich leadership legacies at St Andrew’s School.

I hold ‘Connecting the Network’ lunches in my office, with five different staff each week. This is a wonderful time for staff to sit together, enjoy some delicious food, share experiences and stories together. I also love the unexpected moments during lunch when a team member honours another with some specific, measurable encouragement on their success within our community.

Just this week, I’ve been able to celebrate success with some of our younger learners who have made significant progress in their learning journey. Among them are our Year 1s who have confidently progressed in their understanding of the letter combination of ‘ew’ and its application in the creation of fun sentences involving words such as cashews. Our Mid-Year Reception classes are also learning to construct words like ‘sat’. It’s remarkable to see such passionate and engaged learners, especially considering many of them have only been at school for nine weeks!

When I think about personal best, success in action, it’s hard to look away from Marianne Williamson’s, ‘Our Deepest Fear.’ According to Williamson, when we strive for personal best, it can empower others to succeed:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Marianne Williamson