Invicta Vlogs
As I walked around the school site last week, it was clear that we were in ‘full swing’ for the public examinations.
As I walked around the school site last week, it was clear that we were in ‘full swing’ for the public examinations. Rooms have been much quieter, with a real sense of purpose, as our girls have been completing last minute revision prior to a whole range of examinations. So, as we embark upon this week, I have no doubt that this will be even more evident, because it is Examination Week for the whole school. I have always promoted the fact that we are very proud of our examination success at Invicta, but we do equally recognise the importance of the very important balance between academia and extracurricular. However, at this time of the year, it is essential to acknowledge the fact that examinations are a key aspect of our preparation for life and as such, we need to ‘drill down’ to what we need in order to do succeed. What are the secrets of success? I do not profess to know them all, but I did see a lovely analogy last week which linked pencil cases to an understanding of the need to know your limitations. I thought it worth sharing with you:
Everyone has limitations. We cannot be brilliant at everything; we may not be suited for everything. But finding our limits is a really good thing. It is nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed about.
‘Shouldn’t we be telling students to find their strengths?’ Well yes, but if we tell students to look only for what they are really good at, they will go down a pretty narrow path – when they find something, they may stop looking.
Consider this simple analogy: Coloured Pens. Imagine you have a large pencil case, full of many different coloured pens. And we tell you to find the one that does not work. This one represents your limits. As you look for it, the chances are you will find many other pens that do work; you take each one out of the pencil case, you test it, find out that it works and put it to one side. Eventually, you will find that useless one, but during your search, you will have encountered many other working pens – great colours, that work. If that useless one represents your limits, then all those other pens are the things that you can do. They each have something for you, and once your search is done, you can go back and make the most of them. If we had instructed you to find a pen that works, the likelihood is that you would have found one straight away and stopped searching. You would never have discovered the other pens that worked even better.
Therefore, to find your limits, you have to ‘be active’. I liked this analogy, as I firmly believe that in being active, you discover your potential and give yourself the possibility of success. As I therefore walk around school and am aware of how quiet it is, I know our students will be encouraged to be ‘active’ in their search for success! Good Luck to everyone!
