Stanmore The potential of potential Dr Anne-Marie Singh is the High Potential Coordinator at Newington. Holding a PhD in Educational Psychology, she joined the College at the beginning of 2018 from UNSW, where she worked as an academic and educational advisor. We often talk about the potential of our students and how to help them realise it in diverse contexts. The opportunity to captivate the audience in Guys and Dolls. Investigating the entrepreneurial aspects of managing and marketing art as a living. Or being completely absorbed in the process of composing musical sounds, unaware of time passing. The common denominator is that realising potential is correlated with growth mindsets. World-renowned psychologist Carol Dweck explains it’s not just our natural ability that brings success; rather it’s the power of our mindset1.With a growth mindset, potential can be developed through hard work and dedication, taking risks and learning from feedback. ‘Potential can be developed through hard work and dedication, taking risks and learning from feedback’ Potential is not just limited to traditional academic pursuits; rather, it draws on multiple disciplines to provide the foundation of knowledge. Successful learning and teaching environments do not always operate in a linear pattern, and that informs the ways we work with our high-potential students. The Dr Anne-Marie Singh. Photo: Daryl Charles enrichment streams in our Mathematics programs push laterally into deep our classrooms. Both the Maths Olympiad College provide a platform where applications of concepts, rather than or the OzClo Language Olympiad intellectual capacity can grow. just rushing through things at a faster competitions provide an enriched learning There is no one-size-fits all approach to pace. The Challenge-Based Learning experience where like-minded students realising potential. We all grow in our program in Year 7 gives students the are challenged by the very people who own way. What is common, however, is chance to explore new fields outside the share their passions. Each year, teams the flexibility of mind and outlook that is bounds of traditional curriculum. of boys participate in the DaVinci inherent in a growth mindset that is Targeted development of our exceptional Decathlons and similar events that pit always asking us to look for new ways of writers and creatives paves the way for their criticial thinking skills against succeeding. Taking these opportunities growth and challenges the way learners experts and students from across the allows boys to discover the possibilities think to fulfil their potential. state. With intrinsic motivation as the of what their potential might look like. Boys understand their own potential with driver for both personal and academic Dr Anne-Marie Singh a breadth of other experiences outside growth, experiences outside of the High Potential Coordinator 1 Dweck, Carol S. 2006. Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York: Random House. 24| NEWS AUTUMN 2018| OPPORTUNITY