As the year draws to a close my thoughts keep returning to the characters in Feisty Girls. As Rapunzel, Cinderella and Red Riding Hood created their own happily ever after by using the skills they had developed through their learning and their perseverance - with some creative problem solving thrown in, our feisty students at Ivanhoe Girls’ have more than matched them this year.

The feistiness of our students was certainly tested from very early on. In the early days of the COVID-19 restrictions, I observed the ELC girls as they left their parents outside the gate. They were greeted by masked teachers brandishing a thermometer to their forehead to have their temperature taken, and then with a look backward to wave goodbye to their parents, they turned and skipped into the Centre, taking it all in their stride as if this was all they had ever known.

What about the Prep students who were determined to go on with their Word of the Week so they would be able to read and write by the end of the year? They even invited Michelle Hutchison from SMART Spelling to join them in one of their Zoom lessons! This feistiness has been forced on them early, and with a growth mindset like this these students can only succeed. 

It was a different experience for different students at different times but I did notice a pattern. I noticed the students who coped best were not always the girls I had expected to cope. It was a surprise to me that the students I thought would sail through unaffected were challenged in a different way. 

This brought back to me some work I did with Carol Dweck on developing a Growth Mindset. We are all born with the ability to learn, but the mindset we develop plays a critical role in whether or not we keep learning in our school years and throughout life. Only those who believe in a growth mindset, where intelligence can be developed through hard work and strategies (and struggle), can truly grow.

This challenging year saw a lot of feistiness in our students who persevered, worked things out, and did not give up just because everything seemed too hard. Not only did they hand in work, but they often went the extra mile to create something way beyond what was asked of them. Hula hooping whilst reading a story; honing yoga skills in PE with a pet dog as a partner; camping in their own homes on Camp Week; incredible achievements in virtual cross country and athletics; the beautiful poetry (some of which was acknowledged in a competition) in the optional poetry lessons; students who never sought extra help in the classroom eagerly taking advantage of the virtual office hours; the incredible fairy gardens created in art...not to mention the Future Problem Solving team’s determination to compete (rewarded by being the only Victorian school in their division to get to the Nationals).

None of this was easy and our students needed to develop some psychological flexibility in order to develop their resilience.

With the support of the whole community they battled through and it is lovely to see them back at School undaunted by it all. Move over Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Red Riding Hood! Our girls have stuck with it and through their problem solving skills, resilience, perseverance and technology expertise have made it work and got to the end of the year as determined as ever.

Those with a growth mindset love what they are doing and continue to love it in the face of difficulties. They do not just seek challenge, they thrive on it. I saw quite a lot of this among staff during the year. Despite the rather steep learning curve, we Zoomed together as a team; innovated, and shared things that worked. Not only did we weather the crisis, but we reached the end of the year gratified by what we achieved. I am incredibly proud of the Junior School team not only because of how they coped, but the creativity, the mindset that evolved to teach and connect in a way that none were trained or prepared for. Equally, I have enormous respect for our parents who not only had to learn how their daughter’s learn, but in many cases balance that with working from home too.

What a feisty community we have in the Junior School and what great role models too.

Mary Bourke
Head of Junior School