This year, I have jumped the fence! I have now joined many educators who experience schools from both sides of the fence- as an educator and as a parent.

Recently Dave Ramsey spoke about “excellence in the ordinary”. He introduced me to the phrase: doing work that matters with excellence and joy.  As an educator, does our work really matter- You BETCHA! And I can think of literally hundreds of teachers who do the meaningful work of education with excellence and joy.

One major challenge we face as educators is that not all students walk through the classroom door optimised and ready for learning in each subject. Teachers do their best, but the soil is not always fertile. The minds of our students are not always available for learning. By investing time in SEL / Pastoral Care / Wellbeing / Life Skills in schools, we are endowing students with the skills they need to thrive in each of their subjects. These skills are useful during their time at school, but students can also apply these skills to every area of their lives outside, and beyond, their time at school. How can we help students to cultivate these essential skills for a good life?

Legendary basketball coach John Wooden once said “you have to apply yourself each day to becoming a little better. By applying yourself to the task of becoming a little better each and every day over a period of time, you will become a lot better.”

Huge improvements don’t happen over a day, week, month or even a year. They take time.