"Life is difficult”

“Once we accept life is difficult, life is no longer difficult.” Scott Peck, The Road Less Travelled.

The above quote from a famous psychologist has really connected with me over the last week. Our school community has been faced with considerable challenges, sadness and grief. Before we can reflect on our response to this, I would like everyone to take the time to think of the family who tragically lost a loved one in an accident over the weekend. We can’t imagine the feelings that they would be going through, and the Parklands community’s thoughts and wishes are with them. We have so much respect for how they have responded to circumstances that we can’t begin to comprehend.

In response to the critical incident on the weekend, the Parklands spirit has needed to be evident, and that it has. To see students, staff and parents approach such a sad and devasting accident with empathy and respect continues to highlight how strong our team is. Students, staff, and the wider community have been saddened by the loss of a young person who displayed an admirable approach to life, demonstrated a desire to reach their goals and was truly respected by all those who knew him. Tyler displayed our school’s values, in both words and actions. We know he will be forever missed by everyone.

This incident has been a challenging reminder that we must strive to be our best every day and take nothing for granted. How can each person make the most of the time, opportunities, and relationships that we have? By focussing on our mindset. Below are some points from Ash Barty’s Mindset coach, Ben Crowe:

• Embrace vulnerability – lean into risk, uncertainty, and emotional exposure. Don’t deny your emotions, as they are real. Be willing to share these with people. This creates connection.
• Decisions, not conditions, decide your mindset and attitude - When it’s sunny, some people are happy. When it’s rainy, some people are sad. This mindset will not set you up for success. We can’t let our conditions influence our emotions. We own these, not the conditions. Our decisions control our emotions.
• We are all enough – Everyone deserves to be respected and loved for who they are without judgement or comparison.

This week we have seen many members of our school demonstrate these principles. Our staff have embraced vulnerability by being willing to commit to professional learning and be open to their strengths as a teacher, and their stretch (areas to improve). This was evident when our teaching staff worked with Gavin Grift during our student-free day last Friday.  Staff were able to learn from Gavin the power of strong collaboration and adopting a growth mindset to improve our teaching to create greater and more meaningful learning experiences for our students

So many students over the last fortnight have made positive decisions and put themselves out there to grow and learn. We have seen students embrace Cradle Mountain and stay two nights at the Scout Hut in snowing conditions, participate in the school’s swimming carnival, give their best effort in recent PAT testing and participate in their first Outdoor Ed excursion (some of our 9s and 10s). It’s so easy to just sit there and say no to these events; however, when people make the decision to take a risk they have control over their destiny. Well done, people!

Lastly, so many people on our team continue to treat those around them with respect and care. We all deserve this, we are all worthy of respect, care and love. Please go out of your way to show that each person is important and support them to reach their goals and be there for them when things get difficult.

Over the course of the weekend, I hope that everyone can find some time for some self-care and to look after yourself. Below are some links to some of the messages I have included today:

Scott Peck: Summary of Scott Peck

Ben Crowe: Ben Crowe: ‘We’ve lost the art of just being human’ (smh.com.au)

Self - Care: Self-Care Template