It feels amazing to be full swing into our routine again, only now it’s 2021!  What I love about returning after the winter break (after that inevitable initial apprehension that always presents itself at end of a break), is that feeling of starting fresh, but also with a solid foundation in place.  Intentions become clearer,  as it’s much easier to put all that we’ve learned so far into perspective, which leads to the realization of just how much we have actually accomplished from September to December, arguably the most grueling, emotionally demanding months of the year, especially this particular year.

For the first week back, we spent some time reflecting about the year behind us and thinking about our hopes and dreams for the year ahead.  We asked ourselves these questions:

  • What do I need?
  • What do I want?
  • What gets in my way?
  • What do I need to focus on?
  • What do I want to do this year that I haven’t done before?
  • What do I want to do better this year?

We had special guest Livia Chan, Gilmore’s very own  Teacher Ambassador, Head Teacher, and  Division 6 teacher, visit us to share her insights about the concept of giving “today’s best” and how she came about discovering her one word this year and last year.  She reminded us that we want to be “better today than yesterday and better tomorrow than today” and encouraged us to make a 1% improvement every day in order to see an incredible difference by the end of the year.  She also presented us with these three questions, that we now ask ourselves several times a day:

  1.  Am I doing the right thing? (INTEGRITY)
  2. Am I giving TODAY’S best?
  3. What will I do to SERVE others?

It was a truly inspirational visit and we were all eager to continue delving into our own searches for that one word that will really ring true to each of us for all of 2021!

Here is a link to our Celebration of Learning Assembly, which includes a video that showcases our one words.  Our video can be found at 19:55.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaqnSLQ8hQM&feature=youtu.be