About 2 weeks ago, like all schools, St Luke’s staff were right in the middle of reports, maintaining high standards for the remainder of the 2019 school year and, with ongoing employment of 30 staff for next year, even looking ahead to 2020.
At the same time, I read an article penned by Steve Jobs, after which, I shared an email with staff. It appears below.
Dear Staff,
I provide Steve Jobs Said 1 Thing Separates Successful People From Everyone Else. It is a 2 minute read.
The article resonated with me. One line which jumped out at me… “One of the biggest reasons most of us don’t set out to achieve a huge goal is that we think we first need to develop a comprehensively detailed grand plan, one where every step is charted, every milestone identified — where success is pre-ordained.” My reflection…
- Designing and establishing a new normal for preschool to post school is a very big goal and “success is not preordained.”
- When teaching 2:60 with increased coaching and more to come in 2020, success looks different to a traditional classroom.
- When provisioning for support staff across 5 educational services, it looks different!
When assessing the success of a beginning P-P setting, I look to enrolments as one indicator as to how we are going. By the time February 2020 rolls around we will have grown from 86 students in February 2017 to approximately 1000 students. Yes, this may be explained by the fact that we live in a growth corridor without much ‘competition’, but there are many students travelling past other schools to come to be a part of our community.
Another line which jumped out at me “People who eventually find success start by trying things. Lots of things. They succeed at some. They fail at others. They learn from those successes and those failures.” Through fear of failure, we can sometimes we can feel the inclination to default to what we know. Let’s resist this. Push the boundaries when appropriate. Keep trying. Keep failing!
Just today I reflected with the campus leaders that it is a credit to all of us that many parents, system personnel and external commentators often forget that we are learning community not yet 3 years young, still establishing ourselves rather than a single service established school of many more years – there is a big difference!
The third line which I noted… “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” Whilst there are some days we may not be able to connect all the dots, we will one day in the future!
I know you will stay strong as we enter the second half of Term 4. There is still much work to be done and much joy to be had between now and the end of the year. Thank you for your work and commitment.
Onwards and Upwards
Greg.
LEARN AND LEAD 