This week's Taylor's value was all about 'Excellence', described as 'striving for excellence'. So how does that translate into every day (school) practice? I am sure that many of us will think about the effort that is being put in to achieve the highest result possible; paying full attention when new learning is introduced, engaging fully in activities that help us to learn, dedicating time to practise and practise with a hundred percent commitment. Not to forget the mental effort to reflect on your performance and the desire to constantly improve.

For me, when I think about the phrase 'Striving for Excellence', I very much connect this with approaching everything you do with a healthy or a helpful mind-set. The attitude towards any challenge makes a real difference on the outcomes you can achieve. Ironically, that might well start with the acceptance that excellence could be something you strive for but that the goal to achieve it might be an improvement for now, with a state of excellence possible at some point in your journey.

In her book called 'Grit', Angela Duckworth, a Professor of Psychology, comes to the conclusion that what we can achieve in our life greatly depends on our passion (another Taylor’s core-value) and our perseverance. She calls this 'grit'. She states that we place too much value on the notion of talent where in fact your drive, your resilience and your ability to ‘stick with it’ are often deciding factors in whether you will reach your goal or not. How one deals with set-backs, when things don’t work out, makes a big difference when it comes to achieving your goals in the end and the level you are able to achieve.

Coming back to 'striving for excellence', it's not just about paying full attention and putting in an enormous amount of effort into everything you do, it's also about your ability to persevere and to look upon failure as another step towards success. Angela Duckworth is convinced that ‘grit’ can be developed and that teachers and parents can help children to grow more ‘grit’ as they learn from their experiences. So, in our children’s journey towards ‘excellence’, may we wish (and help develop) huge quantities of 'grit'!

A number of our children were certainly striving for excellence when they entered the International Singapore Maths Competition. It was a great experience for all of them which they really enjoyed. Our children performed exceptionally well and the list at the side shows us the level of excellence they achieved!



Mr. Marco Damhuis (Head of Primary)
Email Contact: marco.damhuis@pc.tis.edu.my