Week 6, Autumn Term 2023
Dear Boarding Families
First and foremost, I wish you all a wonderful long weekend, hopefully with time to reconnect with your sons. We have had a good start to the term, but there is definitely a sense in both houses that the boys are ready for a break. I know that there will be a mix of chill out time and adventure, but we look forward to the boys recharging their batteries and enjoying the freedoms that come with a long weekend.
When we return, Week 7 will be Boarding Week at Scotch, which is very exciting! There is a huge array of activities for our whole school to celebrate over the week.
Boarding Week
Teachers Dinner – Teachers have been invited to share a dinner with the boarders in the dining hall throughout the week and we have had a lot of teachers RSVP, so that will be a rolling feature throughout the week.
Social Media content – There will be a feature every day next week, starting on Sunday and going until Friday on Scotch’s Instagram and Facebook accounts including a feature on what the boys do at home, what the boys do on weekends, the Yr 7 Bib Track walk, our boarders photo competition, a podcast interviewing boarders and a feature on Ag Day!
Tuesday – Yr 7 Bib Track Welcome to country and northern terminus
Tuesday lunch – Clan Games Tug of War
Wednesday lunch – PLC boarders visiting for a game of netball
Wednesday lunch – 3 point comp and footy skills in the Middle School Quad
Thursday lunch – Senior School Sausage Sizzle lunch and whip cracking display
Thursday after school – Middle School boarders invite a mate to afternoon tea in the Boarding House!
Motor Bike/ Machinery display
Careers Tent with over 13 exhibitors
Special guest speaker
Bubble Soccer Game
Middle School sausage sizzle recess
Free Dress Day and boarders marching together as an 11th “House”
It’s going to be amazing!
Yr 12 Retreat
Also on Friday 9th June after Ag Day we are taking the Year 12 group on a retreat as a way to celebrate their time in boarding and give them a final push towards graduation and enjoying their time as it comes to a close. With so many boys finishing school at different times throughout Term 3 and Term 4, we wanted to have a time where we were all together in a space. We have been lucky to have been offered an amazing space by the Westerman family to take the boys to Amaroo Retreat and Spa, their property in the Helena Valley.
Bib Track
Week 7 see our Year 7s embark on their first Bib Track expedition, a two day walk, starting from the Northern Terminus. We will have a special welcome to country and smoking ceremony by local indigenous elders to mark the special occasion and recognise and respect the beauty of the land on which we walk.
Last week we celebrated the Year 10 and Year 11 walks with a special dinner to honour the boys’ achievements. Many of our Year 10s and 11s have now walked over half of the track and we recognised that at our boarding assembly this week. The boys have been given a special gift to mark the occasion.
Life Skills Programme
Our life skills programme continues to grow from strength to strength in boarding. Key elements of the programme this term have been the continuation of our workshop skills, where the boys have been making amazing things out of timber. We have also been hosting the boys to undergo surfing lessons, which has been a great success. Thirdly, we are just about to launch a set of cooking lessons for our senior boys to help them transition to their life beyond boarding! One of our House mums, Kerry, will take ownership of the programme and we have been given access to the Middle School Food Design classroom to host the cooking lessons. I am really looking forward to seeing what the boys come up with, a good opportunity to develop new skills and passions. This week we also took our Year 11 group to Royal Perth Hospital for the P.A.R.T.Y program, which take a sombre look at what might be the consequences of making some silly decisions in adolescence and early adulthood. We aim to teach the boys to be careful and to look out for each other and help each other make good decisions in that first phase of life after school.
Boarders Ball
Last weekend we hosted the Boarders’ Ball at Scotch, in conjunction with PLC. The boys and girls had the theme to “Dress as the first letter of your name” and they didn’t disappoint with the costumes. The DJ’s entertained them for a few hours where they could let their hair down and have some fun. By all accounts, a great evening.
Kununurra
I was not able to see the Boarders’ Ball in person because I was up in Kununurra visiting our current, future, past, and prospective families in the top end. Chair of Council, Mr Tim Wiese and myself were lucky enough to visit Kununurra and tour the local school with the Deputy Principal and have a number of interesting conversations about building relationships with the community. The discussions were wide ranging and it is fair to say that Kununurra is an exciting place to be at the moment, with a lot of agricultural development and opportunities. It also has a beautiful community atmosphere. Tim and I had the chance to discuss developments at Scotch, such as the new online school that Scotch has launched and how we might be able to link in with regional schools and form strong partnerships. Our online boarding transition programme, the Taigh, is something that Scotch is proud of and has formed a very strong platform from which we can launch other initiatives. More information will soon be available about Scotch Online, watch this space!
Boarding photo competition
I encourage all families to spend some time over the weekend taking some great snaps of home or holiday destinations and adventures to enter our Boarding Photo Competition. We have four categories: junior student, senior student, familities, and staff. Try and take high resolution photos and, a little tip, it needs to be a landscape orientation to be able to get into our annual boarding calendar.
I wish all of our families a wonderful long weekend and look forward to seeing you on Monday afternoon, ready for Boarding Week!
All the best
Jordan
P.A.R.T.Y Program
The Year 11s attended the P.A.R.T.Y Program at Royal Perth Hospital this week to experience the journey of an imaginary trauma patient from the hospital Emergency Department, Intensive Care Unit and Trauma Wards. The knowledge gained from injury to rehabilitation, especially where drugs and alcohol or risk taking behaviour was a contributing factor, is invaluable and could lead to a reduction in related trauma incidences.
Yr 11 and Yr 12 Boarder’s Ball – Scotch and PLC
Lochie Elliott and the leadership group did a great job decorating McKellar Hall with PLC leaders. Below are photos of the event – I’m going to leave it up to you to guess the first letter of their names! Thanks to Mrs Sullivan for being On Call and our wonderful Boarding mentors for the photos.
Year 11 Bib Track Walk
On 14 May, some of the Year 11s walked from Northcliffe to Inlet Road. The boys received their sunglasses before boarding the bus – they look pretty cool. Ms Rochelle Gaudieri and Mr Johann Schroeder walked with the boys, with backup from Mr Rhys Edwards.
PSA Indigenous Round
1st 18 AFL vs Hale round 5
Jett Sibosado and Jaezari Wynne model the Scotch 1st XVIII football jersey for the PSA Indigenous Round. The pitch was painted by our Facilities Team and went by the name Galbamaanup (place of black water, referring to Lake Claremont) for the round.
Mr Micheal Spratt decorated two footballs with indigenous art as prizes for the round. Jett was chosen as Best Player on the day, as deemed by Hale’s 1st XVIII coach. Congratulations Jett!!
Senior School Recreation
The Senior boys have enjoyed some fun recreation activities in the last week. Golf and the driving range are always firm favourites. The boys also went Rollerblading in Morley and the Year 9s played for Subiaco Basketball at Bendat Stadium.
Surfing Lessons
More surfing fun!
Middle School Recreation
The Year 7s and Year 8s enjoyed the Dockers versus Geelong game at Optus Stadium. Dockers won with 106 to 77 points. Go Dockers!
Meet the Mentor
Boarding Photography Competition
Closing 28 July.