Week 6, Autumn Term 2022
Reconciliation Week
Dear Boarding families
I hope you are all looking forward to the long weekend, where most of you get to have your boys back with you for a brief moment to pause and relax together as a family. I hope that all students and staff get a chance to relax and recharge.
This week the College has celebrated Reconciliation Week, leading into the WA Day long weekend. It has been a wonderful time to focus upon strengthening relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and taking time to celebrate the many great things that Indigenous people have done to forge our national identity. Our students have been involved in presentations at Chapel, there has been a mural painted in the Middle School as well as quizzes, assembly presentations and thought provoking short videos that have generated discussions in mentor groups. A number of our Indigenous boarders were also asked to help open a local small business throughout the week and did a great job with an acknowledgement of country and a short dance performance. It is lovely to see the boys grow during their time at Scotch and build their individual and communal sense of identity under the mentorship of Mr Spratt and Mr Jackson and also to be afforded opportunities to grow their leadership skills.
Some other big and exciting news for us is that next week is Boarding Week at Scotch! We have a great opportunity to put our wonderful boarding community at the forefront for the week and a lot of work has gone into planning it. A special thanks for all the help from our Boarding Parent Committee, Mrs Usher in Boarding Admin and Ella Winterbottom from our marketing team. Throughout the past few weeks Ella has been planning content to put up on the School’s social media accounts throughout boarding week. These include interviews with boys and staff, an interview that some of our boarding students recently did with the Hon Mia Davies MLA about her time advocating for the regions, and some of last year’s amazing photos from the 2021 boarding photo competition. I think there is also a “boarders’ takeover” of the schools Instagram page and the filming of it was hilarious! If you don’t yet follow the school on Facebook or Instagram, next week is a good week to start! Last week we had boarders speaking at both Senior School and Middle School Assembly and the boys did an outstanding job, well done to Tyler Messina, Ed Graham, Oliver Gooding, Taigh Hajinoor Fuller and Taka Simon for their confident and thoughtful speeches.
Boarding Week culminates in our annual “Ag Day” which will be on Friday 10 June. I encourage all boarding families to try and get down for Ag Day if they can. It is being hosted down at the Gooch pavilion and there will be senior school marching and the pipe band. The Senior School Boarders have been allowed to march together as an 11th House for that Day, which is something really special. The tune that the boarders will march to is going to be a collaboration between the pipe band and the digeridoo, as a way of honouring our indigenous boarders. We have a special guest speaker on the morning, Mr Ben Macnamara (OSC) who is the CEO of CBH. We also have Ms Mia Davies MLA as a special guest on the day. There is a careers tent to highlight to both the boarders and the day boys what wonderful opportunities there are in the regions and the Ag industry in particular, including opportunities for tertiary scholarships. There are also a range of games for the boys to play, a sausage sizzle raising money for Blaze Aid which is an organisation that help farmers devasted by fire with refencing and other things and then the (soon to be) world famous boarding parents Farmers’ Market! A heartfelt thankyou to all the parents who have generously donated produce or their time to helping with Ag Day, it is going to be an awesome day and we will be kickstarting a wonderful tradition at Scotch. Following the Ag Day morning, we have a boarding parent lunch for those who have come to Perth for the day and we hope that you can join us. Lunch will be provided but if you would like to bring drinks, please BYO. If you are planning to attend the lunch RSVP to Jan at Boarding.Admin@scotch.wa.edu.au so that we know for catering purposes.
The week following Boarding week we will also have our Year 12s walk their final stretch of the Bibbulmun Track, from Peaceful Bay outside Denmark all the way to Albany. The boys will walk into Albany on Saturday 18thJune and one of our boarders, Ollie Wandel, will be there to pipe them in and help celebrate their outstanding achievement. Mr Mecham and Mr Ninkov will be walking with the boys and many of the Year 12 parents will be down in Albany with myself to welcome them in to the Southern Terminus. This is one of the most special days in the boarding calendar and it is remarkable to reflect upon these boys heading off from Perth as Year 7 boarders six years ago and how they have grown from boys to young men during their time at the College. The Bibbulmun Track is so much more than just a series of expeditions, it is a true Rite of Passage for our boarders and these boys should be incredibly proud of their achievement.
On another note, we also have the College’s amazing production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory coming up in the next fortnight and it promises to be a great show. Two of our boarders, Wes Cooper (Yr 7) and Lochie Elliott (Yr 11) will play prominent characters in the show and all have been working hard. Wes got the lead role of Charlie Bucket and Lochie will be playing Grandpa George. I must have read this book to my daughter about ten times and we can’t wait to see the show together. We have also organised tickets for boarders on the Thursday night. If you can get down to watch the show for the Friday matinee performance there are still tickets available.
It was also fantastic to see the Year 11s recently get all dressed up and attend their dinner dance. Thank you to the boarding parents that helped on the night, it was lovely to see you there. The boys put a great show on the dance floor and all seemed to enjoy themselves (photos will be available on Vidigami by the end of next week).
Last Sunday the Year 12s organised a clan game for the senior boys between Blair and Stirling, a game of Gaelic football. It was enjoyed by all and Blair came away with the win! We also had other rec events recently which have included spending time with the girls schools and going to watch AFL games at Optus stadium, which is a wonderful experience for the boys.
I wish all families a safe and restful long weekend and look forward to seeing the boys back in the Boarding Houses on Monday and the parents down at Ag Day on Friday!
All the best
Jordan
Ag Day donation drop offs will be accepted at the Gooch Pavilion on Thursday 9th June from 1pm to 6pm. If you have frozen goods, they can be dropped off at the Middle School Residence or Senior School Residence from 3pm. If this isn’t convenient, let Jan know at Boarding.Admin@scotch.wa.edu.au
Reconciliation Week Assembly
Kalib Dempster-Park, Captain of Boarding interviewed some of our Indigenous students and our Indigenous Student Programme Coordinator, Micheal Spratt, to find out how we can get behind reconciliation week.
Mr Spratt was asked ‘What does reconciliation mean to you?’ and he said it is a chance for us as a society to get behind our First Nations culture to celebrate and embrace it. Dallmyn said it’s a chance for Australian society to recognise indigenous contributions for example Mabo, the Native Title Act and the 1967 referendum.
To celebrate Reconciliation Week the Indigenous boys underwent an art project in the Middle School. Every Junior and Middle school student was asked to make a mark on the mural which will be displayed during NAIDOC week.
Indigenous Dance
The boys were asked to dance at the opening of the Cottesloe Medical Centre on Wednesday 1st June.
Gaelic football
On Sunday afternoon the Clan leaders organised a game of Gaelic Football on the Sacred Turf (Rugby Field). It was an entertaining and enjoyable match, with some of the younger and smaller boys playing well above their weight. Fortunately there were no injuries but a lot of fun was had. Stirling seemed under manned in terms of older students but put up determined resistance.
For Stirling, it was good to see boarding captain Kalib Dempster-Park back running around after recovering from a serious knee injury. Stirling Captain Tom Sounness led by example, and at one stage hit big Blair’s man Coen Livingstone with a big shoulder, folding Coen, and blunting Blair’s attack. It was especially pleasing to have the three new students, Lawson Froenhelt, Kai Fujji and Ben Kay fully involved and representing their new clan.
For Blair, Tyler Messina was lively and through him Blair Clan swept downfield on attack. At the other end Oscar Male was prominent in goal, while Ben Brierly was lively in the mid field. While Stirling’s Henry Dyke was effective at tagging Sam McGuiness, Toby Jones and Oliver Wandel roamed the field and were influential in the game.
The final result was a win to Blair the game was good fun and played in a good spirit.
P.A.R.T.Y Program
The boys also attended the P.A.R.T.Y. program on Wednesday 1st June, with the Stirling Year 11’s, Richard Hales and myself. The Prevent Alcohol and Risk-related Trauma in Youth (PARTY) Program is an injury prevention initiative run at Royal Perth Hospital (RPH). It provides useful, relevant information to young people to help them recognise potential injury-causing situations and make informed prevention-oriented choices about activities. It is also designed to help them adopt behaviours and actions that minimise risk.
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