Week 6, Spring Term 2020
Dear Boarding families,
Another two weeks have whizzed by and we can now see the summer break on the horizon! I am sure that all parents are looking forward to having their boys back for some quality family time in the lead up to Christmas. I’m sure you can do with a pair of helping hands around the place so feel free to put them to work!
A special mention to the parents of our recent graduates who have been getting their boys back over the last week or so as they finish their exams and they cross their fingers to make sure the boys are safe as they look to go out for leavers’ celebrations starting on Monday. Unfortunately, I am unable to make this year’s Valedictory dinner next Saturday, but I wish families all the best for that incredible evening.
I had the honour of presenting our annual report to the School Council this week and it was a very special occasion for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it was great to reflect upon the year of 2020 in boarding and to reiterate some of our key focuses for next year. Secondly, it was wonderful to be in the room and to hear of how much love the School Council has for our boarding community and the resolute support that the Council has for boarding at Scotch. It was great to hear the opinions of Council members and the Headmaster about how we can grow our boarding programme. It is certainly a tough market out there but our best advocates are our current and recent past parents who have amazing experiences at the College and are proud of the way in which their son has developed into a man of excellent character, empathy and a strong work ethic. If we as a Boarding College focus on providing an excellent service to our families, then word of mouth in communities is still the strongest marketing tool that any organisation can have. To that end, we always welcome feedback from our families and we invite you to engage with our community whenever you are in Perth or whenever we are out visiting the regions.
As I was preparing for the meeting, I was thinking of just how much change has been brought about this year and I was a bit in awe to be honest. There have been a lot of staff changes as well as a long-lasting and very disruptive pandemic to deal with, which brought about travel restrictions, boarding house closures and then quite tight leave and recreation restrictions upon our reopening. As well as that, there were changes to our dining hall routines and food choices, showering and hygiene protocols. The boys had to deal with these changes as well as the ones that were happening in the day school. I spoke to the boys about these changes on Wednesday night at our fortnightly boarding meeting in the Dining Hall, just to say how proud of them that I am and how impressed I have been with their patience, flexibility and adaptable approach. The ability to be adaptable, flexible and resilient are some of the most important 21st century skills that will help define a person’s success in the world of tomorrow and I have been very impressed with the way our boys have handled it. I extend that warm thanks to our parents who have also had to endure a lot of change this year and have done so with such good grace.
I would also like to reiterate that I think a lot of the changes that are coming in next year are going to make Scotch boarding better, I speak mostly of our boarding restructure and the move to two Residences and a vertical pastoral care system in the Senior Residence. I was listening to a presentation from Dr Donna Cross this week at a pastoral care retreat where she was the keynote speaker. Donna is at the forefront of pastoral care research and a revered figure in Western Australia. One of her key messages about the pastoral care and mental health landscape for adolescents is the importance of peers as pastoral carers and how trusted peers generate the most powerful response when a child is in distress. It is so important that we upskill our older boys in mental health first aid so that they know how to calm a friend in distress as well as how and when to pass problems on to trusted adults. It also reaffirms to me the advantages of a vertical pastoral care structure whereby older student leaders are more integrated into our boarding system to be there to help guide the younger boys on their boarding journey and give them good role models.
We will be having our Senior School Clan allocations in Week 8 of this term. We have spent a lot of time working on allocating and balancing the clans, considering boys relationships with each other, the strengths and influence that boys could bring to the groups, and connections with staff. We have done our allocations of boys and have generated names for the clans and we look forward to sharing these with our families soon. If you have concerns or questions about our structure please get in touch.
Also in Week 8 we have a special dinner to farewell our outgoing staff. Grant Bennett, Matt Bradley and Ashley Keatch will all be leaving our boarding community for various reasons and a special mention to Ashley who will also be leaving our school as he takes up an exciting position as Head of Boarding at Launceston Grammar. At our dinner, Grant Bennett will be the keynote speaker who will pass on a message to our boys and staff and share some stories about his 30 years in boarding at Scotch. It will be a very special night and one to look forward to.
On the staff movement front, I am thrilled to announce three positions that have been filled for next year. We recently advertised for Assistant Head of Residence in both the Senior and Middle School Boarding Houses. Mrs Mia Sullivan has accepted the position as Assistant Head of the Middle School Residence. Mia has worked in the Middle School boarding House for a number of years, helping the boys with their prep every week. She is also a Year 8 teacher in the Middle School and a very experienced professional. Mia has always expressed a keen interest in boarding at Scotch and she will be a fantastic addition to our team. Mr Alex Wood has also been appointed as an Assistant Head of Residence in the Senior School Boarding House. Alex has also worked in our boarding set up for a number of years in the Year 9 Residence as an assistant Head of Year to Sean Mecham and he will be moving across to the Senior House as of next year. Alex has a strong background in teaching Science, Marine and Maritime and Psychology, as well as having previously worked as a lawyer. Alex has also been an integral part of Scotch First XV Rugby as coach for the last few years and has run an incredibly successful programme. Thirdly, Mr Michael Ninkov has also accepted the job as an Assistant Head of the Senior School Residence. Michael is an enthusiastic and highly skilled young teacher who has been thoroughly impressive during his short time at the College. He is an Economics teacher and has previously worked at both Hale School and Christ Church. He will be another fantastic addition to our community. We congratulate all three on their promotional positions and welcome Michael as a new member to our boarding community.
Finally, as a highlight of the past fortnight, I was able to take the Year 7s and 8s to the Middle School drama production last night to see the story of Kicker Thompson – a young rural boy who struggles to overcome his homesickness as he moves off to boarding school. It was a great play for our boys to watch and I was most impressed with the performances of our three boarders in the play. A special congratulations to Rohan Bignell, Lachie Gooding and Will Fairclough for their fantastic performances. I hope that they can inspire more boarders to get involved in the production next year.
I wish everyone a safe and happy fortnight and look forward to seeing you over the next few weeks to celebrate the end of term and a well-deserved summer break for our families and staff. If you are in the South West region this weekend, we have a function in Bunbury tonight and in Dunsborough tomorrow morning and would love to see you there. Please feel free to pass on to any prospective families that you may know in the area, all information is on our Facebook and Instagram pages.
Kind regards
Jordan
Farewell Mr Keatch
Thank you Mr Keatch for 16 years of service to the Boarding Community from your 2020 Year 10’s.
New Year 12 Cohort
Mr Hales and his 2020 Year 11 group.
Middle School Drama Production – Kicker Thompson
Congratulations to Rohan Bignell, Lach Gooding and Will Fairclough on being part of the Middle School Drama Production. Well done boys!
If you would like to see more photo’s go to home.scotch and Vidigami and check under Middle School Drama.
REACH – Voyage – Holiday Travel Arrangements
Please follow the below process in Reach to add Holiday Travel arrangements for boys that travel by plane, bus or train.
When in Manage Leave, and you are wanting to add a New Leave Request do the following:
- Add your son’s name from the drop down list under Boarder
- Add the date and time your son is leaving Scotch Boarding
- Under Leaving Transport Details, go to the bottom of the drop down list to VOYAGE TRANSPORT TYPES and choose how your son will be travelling. This is to be used instead of the Standard Transport Types.
- The second picture shows you the fields that need to be filled in for eg: if travelling by plane, or by Bus (see the last picture)
- Always choose HOLIDAY TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS for Mid Term Breaks and Start and End of Term.
- If your son is travelling on more than one flight or train/bus, then you can add another leg of his journey, by clicking on Add Leg + at the bottom of the drop down list.