Dear Burleigh Community,

As we enter the New Year, after a season of giving, I’ve been reflecting on those intangible gifts we give our children, and the children of our community. We know our kids are often under a level of pressure that is more intense than that which we faced growing up; it’s more focused, and magnified by an ever-present social media influence. What skills, or habits, or beliefs, help our children use that pressure for good and leverage it as a positive force in their lives?

If there’s one gift we can give our young people, let it be the permission to be human, to make mistakes, and to fail spectacularly without giving up. Mistakes build success, build resilience, and inoculate us against that pressure to be perfect. A healthy approach to mistakes is ultimately a fundamental key to happiness and finding our own path, and if there is one gift we can give our children in the New Year, let it be that.

Some very wise people shared this quote with us this week, which captures our wish for our students, and each other, for this upcoming year:

“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever.”

― Neil Gaiman

We hope you have a wonderful Winter Break and a fantastic New Year!