From The Principal

Do our girls know that they are enough?

Thank you to all those who attended last night’s presentation by Dr Justin Coulson. Through the support of the P&F, we were most fortunate to have Justin present informative and engaging sessions for staff and parents.

Justin’s presentations centred around the theme of ‘enough’ and the paradox of perfection.

Perfectionism is characterised by:

  1. Excessively high personal standards and striving for flawlessness in combination with
  2. Overly critical self- evaluation

Perfectionism is linked to depression, anxiety, eating disorders and a range of mental ill health and physiological impacts. More women than men exhibit perfectionist tendencies, making it an issue that we as parents and carers of girls need to take seriously.

Justin contends that social media is having an enormous impact as it ‘sells’ the belief that perfection is both essential and attainable. If one is to believe what is portrayed online, all it takes is the right serum, exercise program, clothes, diet, or lifestyle.

Our girls are also surrounded by judgement and measurement, their educational results, body shape, choice of clothes, popularity and co-curricular achievements are often compared to what others achieve, their expected performance or whether they ‘won’.

We can also unintentionally contribute to them feeling that “I must be the best, but I never am”. When our conversations focus on achievement, girls can develop an aversion to making mistakes and feel guilty when they do.

So, what can we do?

While it is very hard to summarise all that Justin covered in his two presentations, my key take-aways were as follows:

  1. Focus on progress, mastery, and process.
  2. Encourage risk taking, allow mistakes and reduce guilt.
  3. Acknowledge feelings and disappointments and encourage your child to reflect on what they would like to achieve and what they might need to do to make that happen.
  4. And most importantly, make sure that they know that you love them, no matter what.

If you’d like to learn more, there are many helpful resources available on Justin’s Happy Families Website and he also has a highly regarded podcast of the same name.

Your Feedback is Important

Thank you to those parents who have responded to the MLC School – Perspectives: Your School in Focus Survey being run by the Association of Independent Schools NSW (AISNSW).

I understand that the busy-ness of daily routines sometimes means it’s hard to find 15 minutes to complete a survey, but I would urge you to help us to benchmark where we are at and how we can plan for improvement. The survey closing date has been extended until 8am Tuesday morning, 2 April. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Easter break that includes time together as a family. We look forward to welcoming students back to school on Tuesday 2 April 2024 for the final weeks of Term 1.

– Lisa Moloney
Principal