What is a winner?

Today I saw a whole lot of winners as I moved around Timaru trying to cover as much ground as possible within a short time frame and tick of as many things as I could. I drove past West End Park twice and on both occasions I saw a different field of soccer players, their support crew and their supporters. I went up briefly to the netball and saw 4 of our teams all having a great time playing for the fun of it, it was the final day and dressing up was required!! One of our teams, however did not dress up as they were contesting the final of their grade. I was impressed with the "professional" attitude they were displaying, along with their very supportive followers. I am unsure of the final score or outcome from what I observed it was irrelevant - they were all winners as they were playing their hearts out and thoroughly enjoying themselves knowing how much they had improved and learned over the season. They are the winners. As are all the others who stick at it, persevere to the end and apply themselves because they have the satisfaction of being part something bigger than themselves, by participating and contributing to a team. A team works together to achieve, Together Everyone Achieving More makes us all winners.
Well done to all our team players in whatever you participate in, and contribute to, your effort makes a difference. I think we have a lot of winning teams associated with our school; the team of staff, the team of leaders, the team of parents, the team of students and the Board team who work as a team and achieve a better result by working together. At Waimataitai we are all a team of winners, motivated and reflecting doing better all the time.

What makes a winning team?

I have been thinking about this a lot lately for a variety of reasons; the success of Southland over Otago in the Air New Zealand Cup ( which I was personally thrilled about), the success of some of our school sports teams, the success of our recent ERO review highlighting the teamwork of the Board, the leadership and the staff of our school and the whole notion of being a team player at Waimataitai. I, of course mean winning team in the broadest sense, that of a team that is successful and achieves the result they are looking for. I think the key to it all is having everyone working together for the same outcome, on the same page, all wanting the same thing and knowing what their role is in supporting people to achieve this outcome. I think we try really hard with this at Waimataitai, I guess that is why I believe that student led learning conferences are an essential part of the team work that needs to happen at our school. What I struggle to understand is when parents think these are only worthwhile to them if the child isn't there. I can't think of anything more undermining than having adults talking about my learning when I am not in the room to have input. I find it particularly hard to understand why parents wouldn't want to be there to hear how it is for both their child and the teacher and how we can all work together to achieve something. I guess it would be like having the team talk without the team. If nothing else student led conferences are a time for students to have their time in the sun and show their parents how well they are doing and what their next steps are. It must be really disappointing for students not to have this opportunity and it must be really hard for them to understand why when everyone else is doing it they are not. I guess being part of a winning team is about focusing on what is important, working together to achieve this and having everyone on the same page ( or team). Research strongly indicates the children whose parents who are actively involved and take an interest in their child's education or any involvements are more successful. So what makes a winning team - being there.