Perseverance pays off!
By Elaine Kelly | Posted: Tuesday September 19, 2023
"It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” Albert Einstein.
This week in junior assembly, it was clear that our boys had wholeheartedly embraced the concept of perseverance during term three and had been doing the hard work.
A big thank-you should go to the teaching staff who took the time to write positive postcards and award house points. The staff recognise that giving these out helps to improve relationships with boys, which in turn leads to better learning in the classroom.
Rewarding students for espousing the school values fits in well with the concept of working together and building relationships to improve outcomes. The values badges are one way for us to do this and the school values are front and centre of the work we do with boys at the school.
Year 10 students retained the lead over Year 9 again this term, collecting 55% of the badges. However, Year 9 should not be disheartened as they were successful in a number of special categories.
● Highest GPA for effort in the junior school is Matthew Chiles, Year 10 (4.76).
As well as winning Student of the Term, this is the second term in a row that Matthew has had the highest GPA. He also won the highest number of positive postcards in Term 1. However Lawrence Bielski-Cook, Year 9 is nipping at his ankles with 4.73!
● Highest number of house points is Simon Zhang, Year 9 (14 points).
● Highest number of positive postcards is 4 with four students tied for this honour. They are Matthew Campbell Year 9, Toa Ratima Year 9, Sunny Jiang Year 10, Chase Nicolaou Year 10.
As for the House Competition, Park House had a convincing victory, coming first with 57 badges. Aspinall were second with 50 badges, McIndoe 48 and finally Saxton in 4th place with 45 badges.
As Thomas Edison once said, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up”. We are delighted to see that many more boys persevered than gave up this term. It is an attitude that will serve them well going into the final term of the year as they aim to win their badge for Excellence.
What does excellence mean in terms of boys’ learning? It means a lot of different things. Some boys mistakenly think that excellence only applies to their academic work, but they forget that we are all intelligent in different ways. Some people achieve excellence through academic pathways, that’s for sure. However, others display levels of emotional intelligence that mean they are able to achieve excellent outcomes in the group work that they do or in their relationships. Others strive for personal excellence on the sports field or through other cultural pursuits.
So, next term, boys, try some of the following:
● STRIVE to be the very best that you can be as individuals.
● DON’T SETTLE for “good enough”.
● AIM TO BEAT your own records in class or in sport.
● Give your BEST PERFORMANCE in classwork, assessments and in extra-curricular pursuits by putting in the hard work ahead of time.
All boys can find some area in which to pursue excellence. Parents and caregivers can support by setting goals and checking in with them regularly to keep up the momentum. As always, the brotherhood at Otago Boy’s is there to support you. This is how all great teams achieve excellence by supporting, encouraging and challenging each other.
Term 3 Perseverance badges were awarded to:
Maddox Adamson, Hamza Al Bdewi, Radhwan Al Sa'ad, Tupou Alesana, Zac Baillie, Lucas Bannister, Lawrence Bielski-cook, Izak Birtles, Sullivan Blaikie, Harry Bond, Coby Booth, Carter Bracewell, Lukas Braun, Coen Breen, Lucas Brenssell, Daniel Brockway, Angus Broderick, Sam Brophy, Scott Brown, Hugo Buitenhek, Alex Bull, Leo Burgess, Mathew Campbell, Ethan Carr, Lucas Carr, Zach Cashmore, Vincent Cavanagh, Matthew Chiles, Tristin Clark, Noah Clarke, Toby Coatham, Tom Collie, Will Cone, Xavier Connell, Finley Cooper, Ben Couling, Samuel Crump, Daniel Cuthbert, Todd Darling, Randika Dassanayake, Liam Davis, Archie Davison, Elliot Deaker, Carlos Dean, Charlie Deedman, Jash Deo, Fred Dowling, Sam Drake, Levi Dykstra, Caleb Ede, Caleb Elder, Joseph Flutey, Louis Fyfe, Sasmin Gamage, George Garden, Leo Garden, Joshua Geddes, Agape Genet, Alex Glover, Sam Goodchild, Phoenix Haddow, Ethan Haines, Flynn Hall, Mason Hansen, Wajih Hasan, Fletcher Hawken, James Hay, Joshua Hayes, Willem Hilgeholt-Martyn, Toby Hill, Sam Hobbs, Henry Hodgson, Sam Holborow, Cru Holland, Charlie Hore, Riley Horne, Ali Hussaini, Hugo Iida, Lochie Ing-aram, Josh Jackson, Oliver Jamieson, Mai Jearadisak, Sunny Jiang, Sanjaiiram Kannan, Ruben Karawana, Oscar Kenny, Callum Kenton, Michael Kirkland, Hoani Kiwara, Thisun Kuruppuarachchi, Afe Lale Sululoto, Nathan Lau, Roinga Lawrence-Kokaua, Jonathan Lea, Marley Leevey, Charlie Leyser, Wilson Li, Enzo Lira Ralston, Robert Lloyd, Jayden Lu, Jack MacAskill, Mateo Machado, Mikah Machado, Ega Mackenzie, Harry Macknight, Quincy Makiiti, Alex Marshall, Hunter Martin, Chris McArthur, Max McCaul, Toby McClean, Deegan McCormick, Mason McCreanor, Grevel McFarland, Conor McIntyre, Nikau McNeilly, Luke Milburn, Logan Millar, Luca Mirosa, Oliver Morgan, Fin Mouat, Shabir Nabizada, Charlie Nichol, Robbie Nichol, Adam Nicholson, Chase Nicolaou, Haruma Ogawa, Toby Ollerenshaw, Keyaan Oquendo, Alexis Owen, Toby Paris, Nevin Peiris, Jack Phillips, Jack Power, Xavier Preedy, Will Pyper, Toa Ratima, Harry Reger, Flynn Richards, Matty Richards, Luke Ritchie, Zakariya Rizwan, Kase Robertson, Hunter Ruxton, Neo Salomonsson, Henry Savage, Blake Schofield, Ollie Scott, Oscar Sharpe, Hossein Shirzad, Matt Sinclair, Tanveer Singh, Jude Smillie, Ethan Smith, Jonty Smith, Josh Smith, Lachie Smith, Maddix Smith, Ryan Smith, Tyler Smith, Connor Stevens, Munro Stuart, Shreyas Sunil, Kapish Syal, Mouhammad Ali Taha, Alex Tavendale, Aidan Taylor, Jackson Templeton, Lachie Thompson, Oliver Thompson-Henderson, Harrison Thurlow, George Tisdall, Harry Townsend, Dade Tredoux, Kaedyn Trow, Eli Tucker, Brody Turner, Toni Tuuhoko-Pole, Mason Twemlow, Joseph Uehara, Keagan Usher, Rahui Valli, Oscar Velenski, Oban Voice, Adam Wagstaff, Ryan Walker, Caleb Wayne, Jesse Weir, Jack West, Finlay Williamson, Talvin Williamson, Jesse Willis, Kace Wilson, Noah Wilson, Will Workman, Kannin Yahya, Jack Yeoman, Dustin Young, Simon Zhang
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