Perseverance pays off!
By Elaine Kelly | Posted: Tuesday September 27, 2022
"It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” Albert Einstein.
This term a total of 183 boys received Perseverance badges. This is an increase on the 135 Courage badges handed out in term two and the 128 Respect badges that were given in term one. As Newt Gingrich, American politician, historian and author said “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.” 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 Mana Ōrite work that staff are busy doing behind the scenes during professional development sessions. At the heart of Mana Ōrite is the concept of working together and building relationships to improve outcomes for students. The values badges are one way for us to do this.
Year 10 students have resoundingly retained the lead over Year 9 again this term, after being outdone in Term 1. In fact they left Year 9 in the dust winning an impressive 69% of badges awarded. However, Year 9 should not be disheartened as they were the year group to take top honours in all of the following categories:
Highest GPA for effort in the junior school is Caleb Wayne, Year 9 (4.76)
Highest number of house points is Jonty Smith, Year 9 (13 points)
Highest number of positive postcards is Sunny Jiang, Year 9 (5 postcards)
In all three categories boys either equalled or outdid last terms figures, with Caleb Wayne’s GPA for effort being the highest we have seen in the junior school this year!
As ever, the House Competition rages on when it comes to these badges. Again, it was a close run thing but Park house prevailed, coming first with 50 badges. McIndoe second with 49 badges, Aspinall on 45 and finally Saxton with 39 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 what they perceive to be the “brainy” or academic boys but they forget that we are all intelligent in different ways. Some people achieve excellence through academic pathways, 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 again 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.
AIM TO BEAT your own records whether that be a test score or in a sporting or cultural performance.
REDRAFT your work until you get it right - close enough isn’t really good enough if you want to be excellent.
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 them by helping them set some goals and checking in with them regularly to keep up the momentum. As always, the brotherhood at Otago Boys' is there to support you. This is how all great teams reach excellence by supporting and encouraging each other.
Term 3 Perseverance Badges were awarded to:
Nirbighna Acharya, Hamza Al Bdewi, Moetaz Al Ghanem, Tupou Alesana, Otis Allan, Samuel Asher, Lucas Begg, Noah Bell, Harry Bezett, Hayden Black, Harry Bond, Coen Breen, Angus Broderick, Sam Brophy, Cameron Brown, Louis Brown, Hugo Buitenhek, Alex Bull, Jake Butler, Vance Butler, Thomas Cargill, Ethan Carr, Josef Chamberlain, Joseph Chen, Tyson Cherry, Matthew Chiles, David Cole, Will Cone, Ben Couling, Benjamin Crump, Samuel Crump, Max Cutfield, Flynn Dalley, Liam Davis, Sean Davison, Cormac De La Harpe, Elliot Deaker, Luis Deaker, Charlie Deedman, Oliver Devereux, Will Ding, Sam Drake, Levi Dykstra, Caleb Elder, Liam Elder, Fou Eteuati, Percy Ferguson, Jeremy Frei, Izaak Fruean, Louis Fyfe, Sasmin Gamage, Joshua Geddes, Lucas Gibson, George Gilchrist, Alex Glover, Ben Glover, Matthew Glover, Jonty Graham, Charlie Greco, Hamish Grindlay, Ethan Haines, Flynn Hall, Zach Hall, Oscar Harris, Wajih Hasan, Shaun Hasler, Fletcher Hawken, James Hay, Harley Higgs, Sam Holborow, Charlie Hore, Harry Humphrey, Archie Hyslop, Ruie Hyslop, Jack James, Oliver Jamieson, Sunny Jiang, Emil Johnson, Mikko Johnston, Toby Kerr, Michael Kirkland, Noah Kitto, Hoani Kiwara, Afe Lale Sululoto, Freddy Lambert, Nathan Lau, Kade Lawrie, Alexander Lea, Jayden Lu, Henry Lucas, Flynn MacGill-Brown, Ega Mackenzie, Tom Maley, Finn Marshall, Hunter Martin, Max McCaul, Toby McClean, Deegan McCormack, Grevel McFarland, Conor McIntyre, Jackson McLennan, Nikau McNeilly, Yoash Mirisagie, Luca Mirosa, William Munro, Shabir Nabizada, Yusuf Nagdee, Robbie Nichol, William Nichol, Chase Nicolaou, Toby Ollerenshaw, Alfie Omelvena-Flame, Toby Orchiston, Charlie Ottrey, Alexis Owen, Gunha Park, Matthew Parker, William Parry, Drew Passey, Angus Perkins, Jordan Pinn, Archie Potter, Yash Prasad, Will Pyper, Amir Rasoli, Harry Reger, Muhammad Rhamadian, Matty Richards, Luke Ritchie, Zakariya Rizwan, Kase Robertson, Dylan Robinson, Neo Salomonsson, Henry Savage, Henry Savage, Naman Sharma, Leo Shields, Rupene Skipper, Jude Smillie, Eden Smith, Isaac Smith, Jonty Smith, Josh Smith, Lachie Smith, Ryan Smith, Ali Soltani, Kai Sugiyama, Ashish Sujith, Max Sutherland, Ethan Suttie, Tuakare Taana, Mahmood Taha, Mouhammad Ali Taha, Dawa Tamang, Alex Tavendale, Nicholas Thom, Ben Thompson, Brayden Thorburn, George Tisdall, Harry Townsend, Dade Tredoux, Kaedyn Trow, Eli Tucker, Ollie Turnbull, Joseph Uehara, Jack Ussher, Oscar Velenski, Luca Verheul, Oban Voice, Charlie Wang, Caleb Wayne, Zion Wikio, Finlay Williamson, Talvin Williamson, Nate Wilson, Noah Wilson, Jury Wirihana, Itay Wishoof, Kannin Yahya, Aaron Young and Dustin Young.
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