Week 8, Autumn Term 2021
Dear Boarding families
I write this as I tour around the beautiful Pilbara region on a trip to engage with our community up here. I’m excited to see Karratha for the first time this afternoon!
It has been another eventful fortnight in boarding, and we have a big week coming up. Next week at Scotch is Boarding Week and we had the opportunity to present at this morning’s assembly where members of our Year 12 Boarders’ Council addressed the school. Next Friday, we will also have a couple of our Year 8 leaders presenting to Middle School assembly. The central feature of Boarding Week is our annual ‘Ag Day’ on Thursday 17th June where the boys will have a free dress day and our Boarders Council will be putting on a special lunch of spit roasted lamb and gravy rolls to raise funds for the Royal Flying Doctors Service and for the Lord Mayors Appeal for Cyclone Seroja. A huge thank you to the Purser family for donating two lambs for our special lunch, we are extremely grateful, and it couldn’t happen without this sort of support and generosity of our current parents. I had the unexpected pleasure of visiting the RFDS Headquarters at the Port Hedland Airport yesterday, the largest in Western Australia and I was reminded of the great work Scotch Boarding has done for RFDS since the inaugural Ag Day in 2016. Another big feature of our Boarding Week is that our boarding photography competition will be featured throughout the week up on our screens within the school and on our social media accounts. At our recent Boarding Parent Support Group meeting, we looked at ways to plan for an even bigger event next year, incorporating Friday marching down at the ovals in front of the boarding house with the Scotch Pipe Band in full regalia followed by a farmers market style atmosphere and special parent lunch in our Dining Hall. I think it is really important that we find ways as a boarding community to expose and advocate for our wonderful boarding community at the college and it’s been fantastic that we have been receiving the full support of the Heads of School, Marketing department and Headmaster with our initiatives in this regard.
Another notable thing that occurred this week in boarding was the Year 7s embarking on their first walk of the Bibbulmun Track from the Northern Terminus in Kalamunda. They were Welcomed into Country by respected Noongar elder Neville Collard as a part of a special ceremony to mark the occasion. The boys braved some woolly weather but by all accounts, they took to the challenge like absolute champions and enjoyed the experience. Thank you to the Outdoor Education department for their continued support and organisation of our award-winning programme. The boys were taken out for a special dinner by Mr Mecham and Mr Edwards on Wednesday night to congratulate them.
We hope that all families enjoyed the long weekend and were able to take the chance to connect. It had been a long time for some families, with the mid-term break coming at the end of week 7 this term and, with the earlier Anzac Day long weekend being a period of three-day lockdown, some of our boys have been waiting a long time for a cuddle from Mum and Dad!
I hope all families enjoy their weekend and look forward to a few social media posts promoting regional WA over the course of the next week! Remember, entries for our 2021 photo competition are open until August!
All the best
Jordan
Middle School May Orientation
Head of Middle School Mr Gill enjoying a catch up on the balcony of the Dining Hall with some of our incoming Year 7 students for 2022.
Scotch on the Road – We are in the Region, come say Hi!
Pilbara Tour 10th – 15th June
Karratha Friday 11th June – TONIGHT
The Conservatory
Karratha International Hotel
Cnr Hillview & Millstream Roads
Karratha
6:30 – 8:30pm
Tom Price Sunday 13th June
Tom Price Hotel
Central Rd
Tom Price
6:30 – 8:30pm
Newman Monday 14th June
Seasons Hotel Newman
77 Newman Street
Newman
6:30 – 8:30pm
Please refer to and share the booking link for all our Scotch on the Road events:
https://www.scotch.wa.edu.au/view/admissions/scotch-on-the-road
We hope to see you there!
Boarding Photo Competition
Medical Online Updates
Our boarders attend a lot of excursions, tours and Bibbulmun Track walks throughout the year. To make it a smoother process for our administration teams, may we suggest that at the start of each term could you please visit Home.Scotch to update the boys online medical details even if they have not changed.
Holiday Travel Arrangements
I know, we’ve just had the boys return from the recent Mid Term Break and now we are requesting End of Term 2 leave. Life sure does go fast here on campus.
Please consider arrangements over the weekend and have Holiday Travel Arrangement leave entered as soon as you can so that our administration and residential staff can assist you and the boys during a busy time.
We thank you for your ongoing support and wish you a wonderful weekend.