Week 6, Summer Term 2023
Dear Boarding Families
I write this as I am surrounded by the beauty of the Great Southern amongst the farm lands of Katanning, Kojonup and Broomehill where a number of our families reside. This is my second weekend in this region, as last week I spent the weekend with boarding families in Albany, as we welcomed the Year 12 boys into the Southern Terminus of the Bibbulmun Track. This weekend I am spending time with Mr Montgomery and Mrs Nixon as we represent Scotch College at Wagin Woolorama!
The Year 12s walking into Albany on the Bib Track was definitely a highlight for me in the past fortnight. We had 3 brave Year 12s who walked from Peaceful Bay through Denmark and into Albany with two staff members walking with them, Mr Edwards on backup and myself on cheerleading duties! It marks the end of a very special journey for the boys, which began six years ago as Year 7s. As the boys walked into Albany to the bagpipes of Jamie Bowie (Yr 10), it was quite a scene! The City of Albany have moved the Southern Terminus to the centre of town and coincidentally on that morning it was also Albany’s Pride Festival and the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship had also docked in Albany. The streets were pumping and it was quite a diverse crowd dancing along to the bagpipes that morning! It was a great spectacle and the boys finished their walk in front of a big crowd of onlookers. We had one student, Harrison Hammond, complete the track from end to end this year, which is an incredible achievement and we are so proud of him. We are also proud of Azhar and Jett who completed the track with Harrison and both boys have done the whole track except for around 5 days over their six year journey. Lochie also had every intention of walking the track with the boys and completing the journey but unfortunately fell ill after one day of walking and had to withdraw, which was very disappointing for him. We have also had a number of other boys in that year group who have completed over 80% of the track but for one reason or another did not make it into Albany. It makes me think that too many boys feel like if they miss a section at some point throughout their time, and therefore won’t get an ‘End-to-Ender’ certificate at the end. The boys then find it too easy not to persist in years 11 and 12 when it becomes voluntary. I really want to change that mindset and I would love the help of parents to make that happen. We are putting a lot of thought behind the scenes into how we mark milestones for the boys, and the activities that we do in preparation for the track, and on the track itself that will highlight the values of our Bibbulmun Track programme to the boys. I am also considering making the track compulsory for all boarders at Scotch as a part of our review of the programme this year. The reasons why we do the track need to made more explicit.
- We do it to connect the boys to nature and build connection to a sense of place.
- We do it to help them form incredible relationships with their cohort and also with the staff who care for them on a day to day basis.
- We do it because it is challenging. Resilience is built by doing things that are difficult, riding the bumps and seeing it through to its completion.
- We do it as a Rite of Passage, symbolically, from boyhood to manhood. Each expedition is a milestone towards a greater goal, where boys are given more responsibility, and are treated more like adults each time they are on the track.
- An added bonus, it that we disconnect the boys from their online world and help them re-centre themselves and be present within themselves and with each other and with their environment.
This year, with the help of Mr Spratt, we have made the boys some ‘talking sticks’ which they will carry with them and at the campfire setting each night, they will spend some time reflecting on what is really important in life. They will share stories and they will build stronger relationships with each other. We have been working with experts Dr Arne Rubinstein and Rev Gary van Heerden about how to create safe spaces and generate circle conversations about common topics that will help the boys reflect on life’s true values. Topics such as gratitude, overcoming challenges, heroes, celebrating diversity, respect and compassion will be addressed. As we honour the boys and honour their stories, we will create a stronger community. And it is important, with regards to Rites of Passage, that these types of experiences are set up to be drawn upon when boys are separated from their day to day lives, and out in nature – so the Bib Track is perfect. I could write about this all day! I hope that parents see what it is we are trying to do and help us encourage the boys to persist with this wonderful and unique experience. As you can see, even if a boy doesn’t become and ‘End to Ender’, the more of these Bib Track experiences they can have, the better.
Another couple of special experiences have been happening this fortnight for the boys, in a very similar vein. The Yr 9 boys have recently been on their camp to Rottnest, which is a pastoral care camp, designed around exactly the same principles. The boys have just transitioned to Senior School, have been placed in new House groups with a new House Head and the camp is designed to get the boys out in the beauty of nature and to help them form strong relationships with each other as they reach a key transitional point in their schooling. Mr Mellor was over at camp this year for the week and I was lucky enough to visit for a day to spend some time with the boys. The Rottnest Camp is always a key moment in the calendar and a very memorable one for the boys during their time in Senior School. Interestingly, the Rottnest Camp first started as a Yr 8 orientation camp for boarders, started by Mr Greg Peck then Head of Boarding back then. It was such a success that it was adopted as a whole of Year 8 camp to help all boys transition to Senior School and, back in the olden day, I was lucky enough to go be on the first Year 8 Rottnest camp back in 1996 as a Year 8 boy! Mr Peck then went searching for a new unique experience for boarders to transition from boys to men, and he landed on the Bibbulmun Track programme, over 20 years ago!
Another Transition camp that has been happening at Scotch this week is the Year 7 Outdoor Education Camp to Moray. With Year 7 being a huge year of transition for our school, where the cohort grows from around 90 boys in Year 6 to around 160 boys in Year 7. The perfect start for them is to get them out to Moray, away from the daily life of school, and to do complete team building challenges out in nature. Ok, sorry, I’m feeling like a broken record now! I am sure that the boys are having an amazing time in Moray and I look forward to hearing their stories when they get back.
Back on the home front with the boys at School, I have been very pleased to hear reports from our Heads and Assistant Head of Residence that the boys have been working well in prep. In particular, it seems more and more boys in the Senior House are making a concerted effort to utilise our tutors for their homework and assignments. Our boys are incredibly fortunate that they are provided with academic tutors as well as boarding staff to help them with their school work. In the Middle School House, the staff to student ratio is around 1 staff member for every 8 students and in the Senior House it is around 1 staff member for every 9 students, which you would be hard pressed to find at any other school. We have a mix of an ‘open door policy’ whereby students can book a time with a tutor and a targeted tutoring programme where our senior staff identify students who need a bit of extra work, after tracking their academic results and benchmarking it against their Allwell and Naplan data, and then working with boys to build their work ethic, form good study habits (including asking for help when they need it) and trying to get the best out of themselves. If you ever identify a subject area that your son needs help with, please contact your Head of Residence and we can assign him a tutor.
As well as study behaviours, we are also keeping a close eye on the boys’ general behaviour with regards to their levels of respect and their daily routines. For the most part, the boys are fantastic and they represent their families incredibly well. Whenever behaviour is testing boundaries, we will always be in contact because we are committed to emulating the same values in our boarding community as you would expect at home. We know boys are all on a journey and a pubescent boy does not always use his rational brain, but we will work with them to make good choices, everything from the way they treat others to what they choose to put on their dinner plate! As well as our daily routines and expectations, we have programmes in place such as our Tomorrow Man workshops and our weekly circle conversations with our school psychologists to help the boys on their journey to independence. It is also very important that we celebrate the small stuff, and it has been great to see all of the little wins that we have along the way too, which are often written about in our daily duty reports. I have also been really happy to see that our Heads of Residence have been taking year groups away for little rewards dinners and suppers at their houses to get to know the boys a bit better and build connections. I have loved that over the long weekend a lot of boys have been taking photographs for the Boarding Photo Competition of their homes so that we can get them on canvas and hang them up around our boarding house, to give them a special connection to place. I urge all families to keep this up, high resolution photographs of your homes and the things you do on holidays are like gold to us! Please send them through!
Finally, I want to alert families to a few staffing changes in boarding. I am thrilled to announce that we have hired two new House Mothers, who will start in the Senior House later this term, Kerry Wilhelm and Theresa Moss. Kerry is a past boarding parent and has been a committed mum to boarding parent committees and community sport as she has two children that went through boarding school. Originally from England, she settled on a farm near Woodanilling for over 20 years before recently moving to Perth. Theresa comes to us with vast experience in residential care of children and adolescents and with a background in psychology, where she is currently studying her Masters. She has a German background but has lived in Perth with her husband for a long time. They will be excellent additions to our community. I am also very happy to announce that Mrs Pam Seaby has decided to stay in the Middle School House for the reminder of the year, given that she has now met all the boys and parents and helped the Year 7s settle in. Pam and Sean are working very well together and I think parents of the Middle School boys will be as excited, as Mr Mecham is, to hear the news that she is staying. Parents will get to meet all of our House Mums at the Boarding Parent Sundowner on 5th April. I also want to alert families, particularly Middle School Families, that Mrs Mia Sullivan our Assistant Head of Middle School Residence is on Leave for the rest of the term, please direct any questions you would normally ask Mia to Sean Mecham or myself for the time being.
I wish all families a fantastic fortnight and hopefully I get to see a few of you at the Wagin Woolorama this weekend!
Jordan
Scotch on the Road – Albany ‘End to Enders’
Congratulations to Harrison, Jett and Azhar for continuing their journey on the Bibbulmun Track. Also, a big thank you to Amber Flynn, Kelvin Fewings and Rhys Edwards for their support and guidance of the boys during their experience.
Photos from the Track
Beach walking at Torbay
Year 9 Rottnest camp
The Year 9 cohort left on Monday 27 February for four days of fun in the sun and a lot of team building activities to keep them occupied.
Year 7 Moray Camp
The Year 7’s left on Tuesday this week for Moray camp. I’m sure they had a great time. Here they are waiting to board the bus.
Recreation
Some great photos of boys enjoying their recreation options. Bounce is very popular and the boys are having a great time.
Trigg Island Beach with a visit to the Surf Club observation tower.
Stirling Clan Dinners
Steven Montgomery and his wife Paula welcomed the Year 10 and Year 11 Stirling clan to their home for dinners over the last fortnight.
Year 10 Stirling Clan
Year 11 Stirling Clan
Boarding Parent Sundowner
We are holding a Boarding Parent Sundowner in the Gooch Pavilion on Wednesday 5th April from 6:30pm to 9:30pm. Join us for a welcome drink and light dinner.
The event is free and please BYO if you want to have a drink with dinner.
Please register at the link Boarding Parent Sundowner