Blog
The Pursuit of Excellence
Over the last couple of weeks Valley Park has put our home learning programme to the test.
Both students and staff alike have aspired to adapt and evolve the online learning process so that we can all continue to teach and learn to the best of our ability in the current climate.
This adapting and evolving at school is carried through to our lives outside of school as well. We are making significant adjustments to how we communicate with friends, helping those who need our help, thinking about our mental wellbeing and enjoying that walk around the block, just to breathe in some fresh air and get out of the house.
Communicating virtually has now become a daily occurrence for all of us and last week it was a pleasure to invite our wider community into our virtual worlds as we held scholarship interviews for the current Year 6 students from local primary schools.
Looking back to times before the pandemic, it is clear that being able to appreciate the Arts has often been taken for granted; be it a trip to the theatre to see a show, visiting an exhibition or museum, being able to perform to our community in our school hall, or even just to exhibit our work to friends and colleagues.
I'm sure you'll agree that lockdown highlights that the Arts are not only a necessity, but truly a part of our lives. The Arts bring real joy and happiness into our lives and - more importantly - they allow us to express and explore our emotions. A world without the Arts would be a very mundane world indeed!
Inviting the very nervous, but excited, year 6 students to talk about their exceptional abilities in their chosen field, be it Art, Music or the Performing Arts, made me ponder and pose the questions, ‘What is Excellence? How do we define Excellence?’
I have fond memories of my parents saying, ‘you can’t be good at everything – you can only do your best' and now find myself saying the exact same to my children when at times they have doubts about their own abilities. Apart from me questioning whether or not I have morphed into my mother, I think it actually may be true!
I often call upon my colleagues to help with their expertise in order for me to succeed. I remember when I was at school, I would think to myself, ‘I am only good at Art!’ Was I measuring myself against those who were succeeding in their own fields? They were just individuals working at a different pace or level to myself.
Through discussions in my virtual lessons this week it became apparent that many of us do not know when we have reached Excellence. We are continually aspiring to be better. To have this drive in your favoured subjects is brilliant, but you can still aspire to your own level of Excellence in every other part of your life; that Excellence may just be different in comparison to your friends, classmates, siblings or even your family’s expectations.
The CREATE values we're nurturing and embedding into our school ethos is showing that Excellence is possibly measured by our own individual achievements. Take myself as an example; I didn’t particularly enjoy or try to excel at Maths whilst at school, but in order to obtain my degree to be able to teach, I had to pass my Maths GCSE. At the ripe old age of 27 I passed with a C! To me, I had excelled in Maths – it wasn't an A, but it was my Excellence, a C; I was over the moon!
We met our prospective scholars this week for their virtual interviews. They greeted us with sheer delight and enthusiasm, but how did they measure what they thought was good enough for their submission? What would be the key to unlock their pursuit of Excellence through the scholarship programme?
When I see the wonderful artwork produced in the Art department, the dynamic performances in Dance and Drama, and the extraordinary singing voices emanating from the Music department, I find myself smiling in admiration at their talent and feeling proud of their tenacity in aspiring to be the best they can be, at whatever level.
This core value of 'aspiring to excel' doesn't just apply to school or its academic subjects. It applies in life as well. To aspire to be a kinder neighbour, a better friend, a better listener to those in need; to understand others’ points of view; these are things we should all aspire to in our pursuit of Excellence.
