A vibrant and optimistic School
Monday 30 May 2011
A vibrant and optimistic School community certainly makes for a happy workplace and, most importantly, a great deal of opportunity and interest for our students.
I congratulate staff and students for the continuing debating season which encourages a large number of our students to learn this most important skill; all those involved with our latest Drama production It was a Dark and Stormy Night which was enjoyed by enthusiastic audiences and the cross country teams who competed so willingly and happily last week.
Twice a term, we open up our School for morning tours in order to assist families who are looking to educate their young people with us. Last Thursday was a particularly happy and interesting time. Not only did we have a large number of prospective families with us but we were also having one of our many tours of The
Marigold Southey Centre. Our past students were as excited as our prospective students with the new Sports and Aquatic Centre.
Two weeks ago, there was a short report in The Australian newspaper under the heading of a Good Week for…This referred to an important study published in the paediatrics journal that had followed 5,600 Australian young people, aged between 12 and 14, for a reasonably long period of time. One of the main concerns of the research was the importance of an optimistic outlook on general wellbeing. “The 25% who were the most optimistic thinkers had a much greater chance of avoiding depressive illnesses than the lowest 25%....High optimism was also linked to a definite reduction in both the use of addictive substances and anti- social behaviour”.
It is a wonderful thing when schools have the opportunity to provide young people with a rich co-curricular program. It is always our hope that we can not only talk about the benefits of a positive outlook in life but, along with our families, demonstrate this.