Links - Term 2, Week 1 2020 Dear Friend of PLC A Message From The PrincipalAs we commence Term 2, it would be very fair to say that this year has not panned out as we had hoped it would. In saying that, it was Albert Einstein who is credited with saying “in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity”. I am not being flippant in referring to COVID-19 as a ‘difficulty’, it is certainly a situation that has provided every person with great challenge, but I do think we can also view some aspects as ‘opportunity’. One of the greatest opportunities I believe that it has afforded each of us has been quite simple – the ‘opportunity’ to be the best version of ourselves. Last week, a member of our community sent me an article that referred to a woman I greatly admire, a woman who has inspired many throughout her career, Madeleine Albright. Madeleine Albright did not start life with great privilege. She was born in Prague in 1937 and, as a toddler, she and her family fled Czechoslovakia shortly after the start of World War II. They then took flight to Denver, Colorado in 1948. Her father, Josef, who had worked as a journalist and a diplomat, became a distinguished professor at the University of Denver. Albright grew up learning much about world affairs from her father and earned a scholarship at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She graduated with Honors in 1959. After studying at Wellesley College and Columbia University, Albright entered politics. In 1993, she became the American Ambassador to the United Nations, and three years later, she was appointed the Secretary of State in the Clinton administration, making her the first woman ever to hold this position. Albright served in this capacity until 2001. In the article I read last week, Albright sought to encourage collaboration rather than division over COVID-19. She called on nations to work together, rather than to seek to blame. She also encouraged readers to look for the opportunities in a situation where they might seem hard to find. She said, “I do not see darkness, I see opportunities to do things differently”. Since this situation began to unfold, I have tried to encourage the girls to focus on what they can control, and we can each control how we view this situation and whether we choose to focus on the darkness or the opportunities. Please don’t get me wrong, as I am well aware that some of the opportunities are not necessarily the opportunities you might want for yourself or your daughter right now. I do believe though that in a difficult situation, the capacity to reframe a challenge as an opportunity can have a great impact on creating positivity and a sense of hope. There is much that is beyond our control at the moment, but I do believe that the most important aspect of life remains within our control – how we choose to view this situation. Darkness or opportunity? Right now, school does not ‘look’ as any of us had hoped it would at the beginning of this year. The girls, our staff and parents have experienced disruption and members of our community have been significantly impacted. None of this is ideal and if we had a choice, we would not choose it. We could get stuck in everything that has gone wrong this year, but we need to ask ourselves about whether or not that is going to be helpful. For me, to focus my energy on what I can control and the opportunities in front of me, will be far more effective. This year, we have had the opportunity to truly test the capacity of our online systems, and for the most part they proved highly effective. Staff and students have had the opportunity to develop new skills, many of which will remain effective post COVID-19. While these opportunities were not planned, they certainly proved worthwhile. Back to Albright. She refers to her family and how they managed fleeing a country at war. She says, “They couldn’t control the bombs coming down on them, they could control their mood and the way they felt and what they were going to do about it”. In reference to the current situation she says, “I think at the moment, we the ordinary people don’t have control over the virus. We do over our mood. I think that’s the very important part”. We are navigating a situation that has divided opinion and has created a level of uncertainty greater than the world has seen in decades, certainly in my lifetime. It is challenging, it is difficult and it is frustrating. Despite the challenges though, I believe it is important that we remain grateful that there are things we can control. I would agree with Madeleine Albright, the greatest of those is how we choose to approach it. I choose to look for the opportunities and to be grateful for the options that we have – whether they are exactly the ones that I want or not, I am grateful that life affords me options at a time when many others in the world have none. I do hope that all families are well and please know that we very much look forward to the return of students to school. We have greatly appreciated the patience of our families, students and staff as we have navigated this changing landscape and we remain fully prepared for any future changes that might still be to come. - Cate Begbie, Principal A Message From The Deputy PrincipalI have just finished reading a book by Benjamin Zander which was co-written with his partner, Rosamund Stone Zander and titled The Art of Possibility, which I have very much enjoyed. The book led me to think about the rhetoric I hear in the corridors at exam time. Mostly it is fear and self-doubt, even though the majority of our students have worked hard in their preparation and will go into the exam room and give their best. I can personally relate to their feelings as a few years ago I made the decision to enrol in Masters of Educational Leadership degree and found myself in the first lecture defaulting to the negative of “will I be able to write an academic essay?” The book draws on the premise that “many of the circumstances that seem to block us in our daily lives may only appear to do so based on a framework of assumptions we carry with us and if we draw a different framework around the same set of circumstances new pathways come into view”. An example used in the book is to think about how you might react, respond and perform if you were given an A up front and you were allowed to either live up to the A or reject the assumption. The essence of the book is that having a positive attitude improves performance. So, to all PLC students about to sit exams, remember you have the power to replace the narratives that may be holding you back by inventing wiser stories that can disperse your stumbling blocks. I wish you all the very best for the upcoming exams. - Chris Robinson, Deputy Principal A Reason To Smile?“For me, every hour is grace. And I feel gratitude in my heart each time I can meet someone and look at his or her smile.” Elie Wiesel survived the Holocaust and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. His perspective on feeling gratitude in something as simple as seeing someone smile is refreshing and powerful in times where much of the world are living in isolation and protecting themselves with masks. As we as a community slowly return to some form of normality by the lifting of some social isolation rules and the school term starting, we are thankful for the flattening of the curve. In WA, many could once again spend time with friends and family, though still in small groups. May we be grateful for the opportunity to see loved ones smile in person or through electronic media and may we remember those still gripped in the staggering impact of the COVID-19 virus. A warm smile and kind word might be much needed by those around us! - Rev Manie Strydom, Chaplain We had a wonderful start to term, both online and on campus. Having so many of our Pre-Kindy, Kindy and Pre-Primary students back on campus brought a great deal of life to the Junior School. It also brought a huge smile to the staff members. A school with too few children lacks the energy and life that we, as educators, thrive on. I understand that over the past few weeks and months, every industry and facet of our lives have changed. I know the community appreciate the pure volume of work the staff have invested during a time where external expectations and compliance have been constantly changing. The staff have done an exceptional job in learning completely new skill sets and ways of facilitating and leading learning. I would want to thank them for the professional manner in which they have approached these challenges. - Richard Wright, Head of Junior School Welcome back to Term 2! This term, we continue to navigate a slightly different schooling experience due to COVID-19. I know that this has created some uncertainty for families. We will continue to communicate any changes as soon as we can, whilst also trying to make sure there is normality to life at PLC. Where possible, we are looking at how events that our girls look forward to can go ahead in alternative formats. Our PE staff have done a fantastic job arranging an Inter-house Cross Country for our students to participate in while they are in isolation. While things might look a little bit different this term, I encourage all our Senior School students to focus on their academics and to look after themselves. Finding the right balance between studying and self-care is very important, and our bi-weekly student newsletter, The Panama, has lots of helpful suggestions. I wish our Years 11 and 12 students good luck with their upcoming examinations. I know that our VET students will also be hard at work on their courses as they complete their qualifications. - Rebecca Watts, Head of Senior School Enviro News: Environmental Committee NewsletterEnvironmental Captain, Claudia has started a great new newsletter about all things environmentally friendly. In this week's edition, you'll find out how to start a veggie garden, and even how to turn orange skins into candles! Click the button below to read it. |