On Thursday 22 April, Newman students from Years 7 – 10 were fortunate enough to have Jan Robinson and Bernadette Bentley from Sydney Catholic Schools come in to deliver a workshop about Giftedness and Perfectionism. The workshop was a safe and comfortable environment which permitted students to realise that it’s okay to make mistakes, as long as we learn from them, bounce back and continue to strive for our personal best rather than perfection.

During the workshop, students were taught about healthy and unhealthy perfectionist behaviours through engaging stories and activities, as well as how to become a healthy perfectionist.

During the session students:

• Listened to realistic and eye-opening stories that changed our view on perfectionism and how it manifested a parent’s perspective on their child’s failures
• Engaged in discussions on the shocking behaviours of perfectionists
• Experienced a range of activities that highlighted perfectionism in everyone’s lives
• Learned about what type of perfectionism to avoid in order to achieve excellence 

We hope to implement the lessons taught during this workshop into our mindset and our everyday lives. We as Newman students, hope to become more resilient and to achieve excellence and our personal best in all that we set out to do rather than focusing on achieving perfectionism.

Daniella Louis and Emily Bathis, Year 10 Newman Students