Author: Tonie Konig

As we all know a new term means a new beginning, a fresh start for us all. Maybe last term we weren’t as successful as we hoped to be or achieved our academic goals. This reminds me of a story of a scientist, who placed a shark and a few small fish in a tank together. As expected, the shark attacked and ate all the fish. The scientist then placed a fibreglass panel in between the shark and smaller fish, the shark tried to attack the fish but was unsuccessful.

The shark tried several times until it gave up. Then one day the scientist removed the glass panel, but the shark did not attack the fish, he believed that the panel was still there, and the fish swam freely. The moral of this story is that many of us, after experiencing setbacks and failures, emotionally give up and stop trying.

Like the shark in the story, we believe that because we were unsuccessful in the past, we will always be unsuccessful. In other words, we continue to see a barrier in our heads, even when no ‘real’ barrier exists between where we are and where we want to go.  Let this term, be the one where we remove all our old negative views about ourselves and build a new and more positive one. [read more]

We made it through another term during this tough, uncertain time. It has been a long, busy term with all its different activities, but we all came out on the other end.

Our learners have been stars as they were the ones who put in the hard work to do assessments to show what they have got.

A big thanks to all the parents for taking the time and energy to help their children get through the assessment weeks. Thank you for getting them to school and playing an important role in their education.

Our learners can now go relax during their well-deserved holiday. Please stay safe and healthy so that we can all see each other again in the new term. [read more]

One of my biggest beliefs in life is that if people try their best, they will succeed in life. If I give it all and obtain success, I can walk away with the greatest feeling in the world. Many things can go wrong if I do not focus and do a good job.  If I do not try my best, I will get lazy and not care. If I try my best, I will be able to reach my full potential.

Life is about how well people do in what they are trying to accomplish.  Life is about trying and how much people try.  That will determine success.  When I try my best in the things I do, I can achieve whatever I set my mind on.  Achieving is success and success is what makes life good.

The road to success is always under construction – Albert Einstein [read more]

This week has seen the start of the Foundation Phase mid-year assessments and the second week of Intermediate Phase exams. I am sure the learners are eagerly working towards good results that they can be proud of. With this in mind, I would like to share with you some wisdom from a letter written a few years ago – a letter written from a principal to the parents in their school.

They said: I know you are anxious for your child to do well, but please, do remember… Amongst the students is an artist who does not need to understand Math. There is an entrepreneur who doesn’t need History or English Literature. There is a musician whose Chemistry marks won’t matter. There’s an athlete whose physical fitness is more important than Physics. One exam or a low mark won’t take away their dreams or their talent. Please do not think that engineers and doctors are the only happy people in the world.”

 Achievement is important. Setting our children up for a good future is important. It is, however, equally important to understand that mistakes are a great way to learn, and that grit can sometimes be a better indicator of success than intelligence [read more]

“To be loved but not known is comforting, but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of self-righteousness and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.”                                                                                                                                                            Tim Keller

I want to encourage you to get to know your children for who they are and love them fiercely. Our kids struggle with so much self-doubt about who they are and whether or not they will be accepted for who they are. Healing that self-doubt starts by us as parents loving our kids through their doubts, through their struggles, through their bad choices. Love is never conditional. [read more]

Do you know that you are your child’s champion? Do you know that they look up to you and look to you for advice and counselling? This week, in assembly, we were encouraged to have more self-control and Simon the Seal suggested to us to: “Stop, think and breathe.” When we are at the end of our tether with a child, as simple as these words are, we need to stop and remember that the next words out of our mouth may crush or build the child’s spirit. That is when thinking and breathing become so important. A child often automatically thinks they have done something wrong. Have they? Or has their champion just lost a little self-control? Let us keep our champion status…[read more]

This upcoming week will be a busy one for the learners. As we begin our Assessment Period it is a time where we need to encourage the learners to try their hardest and do their best. These children have been superheroes for coping with all that has been thrown their way including the enormity of this pandemic. Their resilience, perseverance and enthusiasm has made us all proud. Thank you again to you as parents who continue to support child’s learning. We have reached the final stretch for the term, and now is time for all the hard work to be showcased. [read more]

There once was a little boy who had a very bad temper. His father decided to hand him a bag of nails and said that every time the boy lost his temper, he had to hammer a nail into the fence. On the first day, the boy hammered 37 nails into that fence.  The boy gradually began to control his temper over the next few weeks, and the number of nails he was hammering into the fence slowly decreased.   He discovered it was easier to control his temper than to hammer those nails into the fence.

Finally, the day came when the boy did not lose his temper at all. He told his father the news and the father suggested that the boy should now pull out a nail every day he kept his temper under control.  The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence.  “You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry, the wound is still there.”

 Moral of the story:  Control your anger, and don’t say things to people in the heat of the moment, that you may later regret. Some things in life, you are unable to take back. [read more]

The following is an extraction of a poem that was written by W E Henley at a time in his life when he felt depressed after loosing one of his legs. He finds himself in mental and physical agony and tries to lift up his courage.

INVICTUS

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how straight the gate
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.

The word Invictus is a Latin word meaning unconquerable or undefeated. It reminds us that life is not easy and that we should find courage in times of defeat, and not loose our dignity despite the indignities that life sometimes holds before us. When we find ourselves in dark situations, when we start to lose hope, when life overwhelms us, we must remind ourselves that the answer lies deep in ourselves. Like the phoenix that rises from the dead, we too need to rise above our challenges.   Others are not responsible for our lives. We are the masters of our own fate. We are the captains of our lives. [read more]