From the Principal - OGA eNews Issue 2, 2026

It is just as important as the first goal, ‘Future Focused Learning’, as high achievement at school, although very important, does not always translate into future career success. Therefore, it is ideal for young people at school to develop important life and employability skills as well as achieve success in classroom learning.

Unlike academic outcomes, it is less easy to measure the development of soft skills. Of course, we do regular surveys – student surveys, early leavers surveys, new arrivals surveys, graduating surveys, and parent surveys – to measure our success in student wellbeing and to gain information about how students are feeling. We also give Years 10-12 students access to what we refer to as St Margaret’s Plus, a spider graph indicating how they have developed while participating in the rich extra-curricular life of the school and the opportunities outside the classroom.

It is the latter that provides evidence of how an enriching student experience is helping St Margaret students to develop these important employability skills and measures, namely: Critical and Creative Thinking; Community Engagement; Initiative; Communication; Teamwork and Collaboration; and Inclusivity and Awareness of Diversity. The development of these mainly non-cognitive skills can be much more predictive of students’ longer-term success than test scores.

With these skills, our young students should be able to graduate resilient and optimistic. Psychologist Shawn Achor, author of the book The Happiness Advantage (2010), tells us that only 25% of job success is predicted by IQ; the other 75% is predicted by one’s optimism level, social support and ability to see stress as a challenge instead of a threat.

Achor (2010) also claims the external world counts for only 10% of our long-term happiness and success. Ninety per cent of happiness and success is about the way our brain processes the world. It’s not reality that shapes us, but the lens in which we view the world that shapes our reality. If that lens can be changed, then we can change (Lotto, 2017).

Therefore, the work we do on our school theme each year is vital, and this year’s theme, Optimism and Gratitude, has caught the imagination of students and staff.

The importance of a focus on student wellbeing and an enriching co-curricular program as a measure of a school’s success in graduating highly productive young people not only reflects the research but also reinforces the view that Australia is not just an economy, it is a society, a community and one where we want everyone to thrive.

No one expects everyone to be happy every day of their life, and there is inevitable sadness and disappointment. However, happiness is about being, on balance, positive and optimistic. Any research on happiness will tell you it can boost productivity by anywhere from 12-31%, depending on the study. It would be no surprise why. Positive emotions can help you feel more energised and invigorated; happy people are more co-operative and have better social relationships; and positive emotions translate into greater persistence at tasks and better cognitive functioning (Achor, 2010).

Not everyone has the best school experience. We know that, but sometimes it is less about the school and more about ‘mindset and attitude’.

I love this quote (some of us will remember it being infamously shortened by Malcolm Fraser) from George Bernard Shaw’s play Back to Methuselah. In its entirety, it is much more helpful. Shaw’s entire quote reads: 

"Life is not meant to be easy, my child; but take courage: it can be delightful."

This is the message we need young people to hear.

Most people continually look to the external for happiness (for example how many friends they have on social media); yet, the secret is that it must come from within and requires certain skills and outlook. Therefore, a successful school is one where graduating Year 12s are able to make themselves happy and are prepared to look at life through a positive and optimistic lens.

Per Volar Sunata

Ros Curtis AM
Principal

References

Achor, S 2010, The happiness advantage: The seven principles of positive psychology that fuel success and performance at work, Crown Business, New York.

Lotto, B 2017, Deviate. The science of seeing differently, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London.