Week 7, Winter Term 2023
Dear Parents and Guardians
I hope you have had an enjoyable fortnight, this term seems to be racing along. It seems only yesterday I was talking about mid-term break, and now we are looking at only a fortnight left of school! There has been a lot happening across all the year groups at school, in boarding and also on the athletics track!
Today is the inter-school athletics carnival and we are pleased to see many of our boarders having trained over the last little while and make the team, with approximately 20 boarders making the team. Hopefully Scotch can continue its strong showing in the PSA athletics and successfully defend the Alcock Shield.
As well as training for athletics, many of our boys have been involved in various special dinners over the last week. Many of the winter sports had their end of season ceremonies and the Pipe Band also had their special annual dinner. Many of our boys were involved, and the boys who weren’t directly involved still had to share the dining hall, or have the occasional dinner in the boarding house to accommodate these groups, so it was very much appreciated that our boarders were able to be flexible over the last week with their dinner arrangements.
I am very pleased to announce that we have finalised our leadership process over the past week. The Year 11 boys undertake a leadership course throughout Year 11 and it culminates in nominating for leadership positions for the new academic year. We have a very strong group of leaders in this year group and I am thrilled that many of them have been awarded positions throughout the school next year. I am particularly excited to announce our new boarding leaders, starting next term.
Boarding Leadership 2023/24
I would also like to commend the following boys for achieving leadership positions within their Houses in the Day School.
Rohan Bignell – House Captain of Brisbane
Rory Purser – Vice Captain of Brisbane House
Hudson Hammond – Vice Captain of Keys House
Clement Hardie – Vice Captain of Stuart House
We had a very strong field of candidates this year and I am excited about the impact that these boys and their cohort can achieve over the next twelve months. I would also like to take this time to thank our current Year 12 cohort, some of whom have their final official day of school today, for their leadership over the past twelve months. Lochie, Jett, Jensen, Kaymus and the rest of the cohort did a great job this year and pass over the baton to our new crop of leaders with boarding in a great state.
This week I had the absolute pleasure of walking the Bibbulmun Track with the Year 7 group. I took half the boys on the track and Mr Mecham took the other half. It was an incredibly joyful and rewarding experience and I loved getting to know the boys in a different setting. They worked very well as a team and our themes for this walk were the themes of “Connection” and “Gratitude”. After a hard days’ walk, the boys would prepare a meal to share and we would reflect on the day and then on some of the deeper themes. The boys spoke of their parents often and how much love, respect, and gratitude they have for their parents and for their friends. It was really special and I hope they have relayed that home with their phone calls. The previous week, our Year 8s walked the track with Mrs Wilhelm and Gyles Davies. Both staff members thoroughly enjoyed walking the track with the boys. The “camp fire chat” themes for Year 8 was the theme of role models and what qualities make them special. I am sure that many parents would have been discussed in those chats too!
The year 9 boys have also spent time outdoors recently, with the Year 9 camp in Moray in full swing. The Year 10s, 11s and 12s have been preparing for and undertaking examinations, which started for Year 10s this week and get underway for Year 11s and 12s over the next two weeks. I wish all boys well with their preparation and their performance. Just like the athletics carnival, all we ask for is to plan well, give it your best shot and aim for a PB! Next week some of our Year 10s get the chance to undertake our Try-a-Trade programme, which is a three day programme off campus. I hope our boys take up those opportunities to explore possible career options.
Last week we had the pleasure of giving out awards for our world-famous boarding photo competition. The pictures are worth a thousand words, so all I will say is that I hope you enjoy the display of creative talent we have in our community. It’s a very special competition and thank you to Mr Mecham and Mrs Usher for all the work they do in this regard.
I have been travelling a lot recently, having visited Karratha, Mingenew, Geraldton, Dowerin, and Mr Mellor and Mrs Nixon visiting Newdegate this week. Next week I visit Esperance. I love getting to regional communities to visit families and I thank all those who have made the time to see us whilst we are out there. I am looking forward to Esperance soon.
I wish all families all the very best over the next two weeks. Please make sure your son’s Holiday Leave is in REACH so we can best arrange help with transport and other logistics.
Many thanks
Jordan
2023 Photographic Competition Winners announced by Sean Mecham
Hold the press….. like any highly competitive competition, there is always a bit of controversy, but all sorted now….
So, Nick Scotney’s photo of the “Sheep coming home” was in fact, Tom Dennis’ photo (it was unnamed, and he did Airdrop it to me, ages ago). So this is the new and updated results: Tom Dennis will get equal 1st Place with Will Fox in the Junior Division and all other places remain the same in that Division.
In the Families Division, Nick Scotney is eliminated …. His beautiful wife, Nyree Taylor takes 1st Place, Shay Creagh moves up to 2nd and Kate Stoney moves up to 3rd Place.
Family Category:
1st Nyree Taylor
2nd Shay Creagh
3rd Kate Stoney
Staff Category:
1st Michael Ninkov
2nd Kerry Wilhelm
3rd Alec O’Connell
HC Jordan Owenell
Junior Category:
Equal 1st: Will Fox & Tom Dennis
2nd Archie Macnamara
3rd Wesley Cooper
HC: Sim Stoney
Senior Category:
1st Noah McCreery
2nd Ivan Berdychevskyi
3rd Henry Dyke
HC Myles Ross
Middle School Residence
Year 7 Bibbulmun Track walk
The Year 7 boarders have just returned from their walk up Mount Dale. The boys walked in two groups, one with Mr Mecham and the other with Mr Owenell. Looks like they all had a great time in the wilderness.
Year 8 Bibbulmun Track walk
Reflection by Kerry Wilhelm
Boys in great spirits, all food, cooking utensils & gear was distributed out to all boys and staff Callum Rigby and Kerry Wilhelm.
Bus to the start was loud with songs and singing. Clearly the boys were excited.
Ms Katie Guy was our back up, driver & met us on the last day for BBQ breaky/lunch.
Day #1 – Sunny and quite warm which added to the exhaustion we all felt by the time we reached base 1. With3/4 hills on first day and our packs at the heaviest, was challenging to say the least.
Dinner 1 -Shepherd’s Pie 7 bed by 7:30pm. Little rain during the evening but nothing to make us uncomfortable.
Day#2 Bellies full of porridge. Off we set out on our 16+km trek.
There was much talking , games, questions, a lot of eye spy & loads of bartering with snacks.
Was fantastic to see the group show leadership, resilience, team work & compassion to those struggling.
Blisters, Lethargy, Frustration and Emotions were all part of the day. Boys did incredibly well. Some speedy, some steady & some slow. Boys played camouflage after setting up tents, which was fun to watch.
Dinner 2 – Salami Pasta , boys were excited for this, not so much when the veggies were added. Bellies full. We had a circle chat with the talking stick. Base 2 was on a hill. Full moon and chilly.
Day#3 We all could see our breath on waking up! Boys getting good at pack up & fire lighting for porridge. Not many grumbles when items were distributed to packs…
An amazing view on first pack break, was nice to see the boys really appreciate it. Wind was up & still chilly, again we set off over rocks, gravel, sand, through bush trails & up hills. Base 3 was nice and in a low-lying valley. Clear night, more talking stick convo’s around the fire & a quiet last night. Boys were Very excited for BBQ meat and the news of 8km to the BBQ in the morning not 3km … was taken well. Slight mis calculation from Callum!!
Day #4
ALL boys had great attitudes on this last day. Covered in dirt, hungry & tired, all showed strength.
Leaders were instructed to shout their chosen calling “CHEESY” when they got too far ahead, if the back people didn’t reply with ” DIBBLE”, the speedy walkers were to stop and wait. BBQ was a hit, boys ate sausages, burgers and lots of bread! For me MY highlight was the coffee not the bbq. Ms Guy is an absolute legend. Snack’s were in high demand, still lots of bartering going on, which was very entertaining for me. A relatively flat walk on this last day with 26km to walk. But not easy by any means. The last 5 km was a day pack only between two people, with more snacks given at this Dwellingup stop and swap. We pretty much walked to the finish which was Moray camp, as one big family, really lovely feeling to be part of this journey. Fabulous year group, that was enjoyed by the majority. I have seen strong leaders, contributors, care givers and entertainers in this year group. Cant wait to walk again with them in year 9.
Senior School Residence
Jake Ednie-Brown
There were four teams, being two very professional Malaysian sides on their own horses, and two comprised of boys who had flown in from all over the world, who jumped on four strange foreign horses each. (As in, 16 ponies per polo team!)
Jake’s “International All Stars” side were runners up in what was a very close, and fast contest between the international representatives.
Their team was coached by Pakistan’s National Coach Agah Khan.
…..And Jake was awarded Most Valuable Player of the tournament. Congratulations Jake!!
End of Winter Term – Reach entries and Transport
The last day of Winter Term is Friday 22 September and Middle and Senior School finish at 12:55pm.
If you have flights, bus or train tickets booked, would you please add these to Reach or email to Boarding.Admin@scotch.wa.edu.au
Reach – Holiday Travel Arrangements Creating a Leave Request
Information for Year 10s
If your son has either already completed his year 10 Expedition (in Week 3 of the July School Holidays) or will be undertaking one in Week 9 of this term, there are no classes for year 10 students in Week 9.
If your son has already completed his expedition (Sea Kayaking, Dive Expedition), his last day of term is Friday 15th September (end of Week 8).
If your son is attending the New Zealand expedition, it is important to note that the return date for this expedition is Saturday 30th September, at which point the boarding house will be closed for the October School holidays, so we would advise collecting any items from boarding that your son may need before your son departs on his expedition.
If your son is attending an expedition in Week 9 (Mountain Biking, Caving, Horse Riding, Karijini, Surfing or Margaret River Experience) then your son will return to boarding around lunchtime on Friday 22nd September. The boarding house will close for the end of Winter Term at 6pm.
We will use time in the evenings of Wednesday 14th & Thursday 15th September to allow boys to do an end of term pack up.
The boarding house will reopen for students to return for Spring Term at 1pm on Tuesday 10th October, with school resuming Wednesday 11th October.
Could you please make your “Holiday Travel Arrangements” in REACH by 8th September, any questions please don’t hesitate to contact either Andy or Steven.