“You are competing with the person you were yesterday. And every time you try your best, you are moving forward.”
Students were encouraged to see challenges as opportunities for growth during a recent school assembly that focused on effort, resilience, and the purpose of assessments. The address began with a simple scenario:
I want you to imagine something for a moment. Imagine two students walking out of a test.
The first student says, “That was easy. I barely studied and I still finished first.”
The second student says, “That was hard. I really had to work for that, but I think I did my best.”
Now here’s the question - which student do you think learned more?
Most of the time, it’s the second one.
Because learning doesn’t happen when things are easy.
Learning happens when something is challenging, when you are stretched, when it makes your brain ache.
And that’s really what school is about. Not being the smartest in the room. Not being better than everyone else. But simply being the best version of yourself that you can be.
Every student in this assembly today is on a slightly different journey. You all have different strengths, different challenges, and different goals. What matters is the effort you put into improving from where you are now.
In this semester alone, many of you will face assessments that are part of that journey.
Year 7 and Year 9, you have started NAPLAN. Love it or hate it. NAPLAN simply gives a snapshot of how students across Australia are developing in literacy and numeracy.
For you, the message is simple: turn up prepared , bring a charged laptop, read each question carefully, and show what you know.
Year 8, you might feel like you are in the quiet year. But in reality, Year 8 is one of the most important foundation years in senior school. You get to make the first decisions about what you want to learn. This year is where you develop the habits that will carry you through the rest of your schooling: organisation, resilience, study habits, and persistence especially when learning becomes hard.
The effort you build now becomes the foundation for everything that follows.
Years 10, 11 and 12, some of you are continuing to work toward OLNA which is an important requirement for completing your WACE.
For some students it happens quickly, for others it may take several attempts. And that is completely normal. It is not about being perfect the first time — it is about persistence. Each time you sit it, you move one step closer to achieving it.
Year 11 and Year 12 ATAR students, you are also entering the stage where exams play a bigger role in your learning. Exams are not just about knowledge; they are about preparation, discipline, and learning how to perform under pressure.
And for Year 12 General students, you will complete the Externally Set Tasks, or ESTs. These tasks are completed by students across Western Australia and give you the opportunity to demonstrate what you have learned in your courses.
Now, hearing all of this — NAPLAN, OLNA, exams, ESTs — it can sometimes feel like school is just a series of tests.
But the truth is that these assessments are not the most important thing.
The most important thing is what you learn about yourself through the process.
You learn how to prepare.
You learn how to manage your time.
You learn how to keep going when something is difficult.
And those are skills that matter far beyond school.
For those of you that know me, you know I love a good quote, and there one by Aristotle that says:
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Excellence is not about one perfect test. It is about the habits you build every day.
Turning up prepared.
Listening in class.
Completing your work.
Asking questions when you don’t understand.
Small habits, repeated consistently, create excellence over time.
So when you walk into your next test — whether it is NAPLAN, OLNA, an exam, or an EST — remember this:
You are not competing with the person next to you.
You are competing with the person you were yesterday.
And every time you try your best, you are moving forward.
Thank you.
Mrs Cara Barrett
DEPUTY HEAD OF SENIOR SCHOOL