Last week's assembly focused on an inspiring tale about perseverance. Dr Edmonds spoke of a former pupil, Maya. She was a Year Six girl, who - despite many accomplishments, including climbing the highest mountain in southern Britain, Pen y Fan, at the age of 11 - was quite shy and found public speaking a very uncomfortable experience. 

She was invited to give a TedX talk about how she climbed that mountain, by dividing her ultimate goal into smaller, more manageable segments and reaching one after the other, while never losing sight of her ultimate aim. And yet, when she was on that stage, beneath those lights, and aware of all those thousands of people watching her, the prospect of actually delivering that talk seemed even more impossible than reaching the mountain summit. 

In the video, we watched as Maya used the very same perseverance technique she had used to scale that mountain to give her talk. Though she was clearly terrified at the prospect in the talk’s opening moments, as she kept going, little by little, she gained confidence and, by the end, she was brimming with determination. 

We can understand perseverance as a continuous drive to reach our goals and improve our skills and performance through persistent effort. It is a form of purposefulness and goal-orientation, which requires long-term commitment and discipline. It is fuelled by passion and belief. The experience of a girl like Maya shows that however daunting a prospect, however impossible a task, it can be achieved with self-belief and a clear purpose. 

Watch the film yourself here:
https://video.link/w/5piYb