With only two weekends to go before the next holidays, it’s that time again to have your travel plans placed into REACH. If you are having troubles please phone through and the boys and I will attempt to edit the details on our end.

Depart: Friday, September 27, 2019

Return: Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Help with Completing Your Holiday Travel Arrangements

If you are traveling by train or plane then the clip below will assist you in completing your Leave. By following these steps it will help us out when we are organizing the transport to and from the Railway Station and Airports!

Scotch College Middle School cordially invites you to attend

Date: Wednesday, 18 September 2019

Venue: Middle School Classrooms

Time: 4.00pm – 6.30pm (Parents are requested to wear your parent name badge)

Enquiries: middleschool@scotch.wa.edu.au

Parents unable to make the presentation:

All presentations will be video recorded and available to parents for viewing via the school’s multimedia sharing platform – Vidigami. Please allow one week for the recordings to be made available.

Join us every Friday evening at 5:30 pm-9:30 pm for Fire Pit Friday!

Enjoy streaming music from local, national, and international musicians 6pm-9pm while you sample our unique selection of locally bought, transported, and opened packets of marshmallows.

Reserve a chair to un-wind with a glass (or bottle) of your favorite water and order Dining Hall fresh favorites off our tantalizing menu.

After you finish, be sure to grab your toothbrush and glass of water before sitting around our fire pit next to our beautiful pine beneath the sometimes starlit sky.

There is no cover charge to attend this awesome weekly event, but reservations required for a guaranteed handful of marshmallows or educational storytellings with little truth.

Oh, Firepit Friday’s!! How quickly you have become a fan favourite with the boys! A big thank you to all the families that have supplied firewood for our firepit – without the wood, our pit would still look nice, however, it may lose some of its allure!

Mr __________ had a terrible day fishing on the river, sitting in the blazing sun all day without catching a single one. On his way home, Mr __________ stopped at the fishmonger and ordered four pink snappers. He told the fishmonger, ‘Pick four large ones out and throw them at me, will you?’
‘Why do you want me to throw them at you?’ Asked the salesman?’ So that I can tell the boys, in all honesty, that I caught them.’ said Mr __________.

‘Okay, but I suggest that you take the salmon.’ Why’s that? ‘Because the boys came in earlier today and said that if you came by, I should tell you to take salmon. That’s what they’d like for dinner tonight’, replied the fishmonger with a grin.

Team “Keepin it Reel” although keen, have been very unsuccessful to date. The weather, time, noise, bait, and tackle have taken their fair share of the blame with staff and students still unable to put the finger on where it goes wrong!

Nevertheless, the boys have appreciated the weekly fishing adventures, albeit without any fish!

For both parties’ sakes, I hope we move past the practicing fishing stage and into the catching fish stage sooner rather than later.

]]> https://home.scotch.wa.edu.au/scotch-boarding/2019/09/02/year-7-8-fremantle-luncheon/ Mon, 02 Sep 2019 04:18:10 +0000 https://home.scotch.wa.edu.au/scotch-boarding/?p=1687 We were very fortunate to be invited to one of our family’s restaurants in Fremantle to enjoy a Chinese Meal at Vivisen’s Tea House.

Jasmine tea, followed by what felt like a never-ending round of Dim Sum, was quickly forgotten once the main meals arrived.
Chopstick skills were then put to the test with the arrival of the main meals. I am sure other restaurant-goers could hear the thoughts ticking over in every boy’s mind when tasked to use chopsticks to eat their meal!!

Food was exemplary, and the social experience of dining out together showed the boys were positively aware of their footprint and noise levels when in a confined public space.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and we are looking forward to our next house dinner. Thank you to the team at Vivisens Tea House.

This year the Year 7 boarding cohort has shown a drive and determination too good not to share.

Three times per week in the summer season and two times per week in the winter anywhere between 5 and 10 Year 7 boys make their way up to the CrossFit gym at Scotch to get their daily dose of fitness in.

What makes this continued accomplishment impressive?
There are no requirements for these boys to get up at 5:45 am in readiness for a 6:10 am pick up. I make my way into the boarding house, and the ever-changing group of boys are there waiting in the foyer, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

Throughout the year the boys have completed sessions with the Senior strength and conditioning squad (Years 11 and 12) and Senior school cross country team.

The senior boys commented on the drive shown by Year 7’s and how their attendance and willingness to work helped inspire further effort during the workout.

Now that winter season has concluded the Year 7’s were determined to continue with their morning workouts, with or without the Senior teams. A very impressive trait!

Please view one of our morning sessions. Yes, the boys will tell you we can only commence once I have picked up and drank my coffee (thank you good shed for your daily support); however, it is refreshing to see a group of boys wanting to be placed outside of their comfort zone whilst being inclusive and supportive of those who may be ‘struggling’ a little with the workout on offer.

Please view the videos and apologies in advance for my voice…..!!!!

Established in 1997, National Science Week provides an opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of Australian scientists to the world of knowledge. It also aims to encourage an interest in science pursuits among the general public and to encourage younger people to be fascinated by the world we live in.

Science week @ Scotch took place on Monday 12^th August concluding Thursday 15th August.

In keeping with the theme of participation Science practicals were scheduled for Monday – Wednesday’s lunch breaks in the Middle School.

Heart and lung dissections, volcanic explosions and water rockets were just a few of the experimental undertakings held over the week.

Given the range of hands-on activities on offer, I was sure that there would be a high number of boys participating from the residential community. I was not left disappointed.

As you could imagine, the Residential boys took control of the dissections and the water rockets with a few asking to run the practicals without teacher assistance the following day!

All had a great week, and it was pleasing to see the boys take opportunities on offer not just in the classroom, yet in their own time at school.

Luckily, the boys have another treatment for those sleepless and homesick nights that’s available to them, isn’t habit-forming, and has no adverse side effects: iPods.

At the commencement of the Autumn term, we purchased 10 x iPods for nightly use. The iPods available from the office, come preloaded with audiobooks and ebooks including the award-winning Resound Tinnitus Relief app, providing access to meditation, music, sounds, and sleep stories.

Those boys who required background noise to sleep were offered the opportunity to trial the iPods and then commented on their effectiveness.

We have found those who listen to 30 minutes of prescribed meditation, music, or sleep stories fall asleep faster, sleep longer, and wake up less during the night. The boys rate their nights as more restful than the nights preceding when they were not using the iPods.

Due to their effectiveness and improvement in sleep quality, we will continue to utilise the iPods for those boys who may require a little help shutting off for the night.

The boys have been kept busy away from school this term with a bunch of fun activities including trips to Scitech, Cockburn Ice Skating, Latitude Trampoline Park, Inflatable World, and Optus Stadium to watch the mighty Freo Dockers!

The year7s went on Bib-Track and the year 8s to Moray camp this term which slowed the boys down for a day or two afterwards. They have also enjoyed movie nights and socials during the term with the girls from St Hilda’s, PLC and St Mary’s.

Winter Community Sport has kept the boys active after school during the week and on weekends. Participation in these sporting activities provides quality time away from the boarding house. A big thank you to all the parents who assist with transport to and from the various sporting venues. Aside from physical activity, Community Sport plays a significant role in the boy’s personal and social development.

It’s been a rather bad year for the flu and the boarding house has been impacted with more than the usual number of cold and flu episodes this term. As a result, and also with boys attending general medical appointments, cooking classes have been less frequent. The boys have however still managed to enjoy making mini quiches, Vietnamese beef cups, cinnamon twirls, orange sunshine muffins and scones.

Afternoon tea is always popular and is a time for the boys to mingle and talk about what happened at school that day. Some new healthy additions to the daily offerings such as hummus and guacamole dip served with fresh vegetables and even mushrooms have been very well received… A variety of my home-made soups to stave off the winter chill remain a firm favourite with some boys regularly coming back for seconds.

At the In-house Tuesday BBQ dinners, this term our boys have been joined by the year 9s and on occasion, the year 12s have dropped in too. This provides a great opportunity to share experiences with the wider boarding community.

Before concluding, I would like to mention that recently we walked together as a group to Upperhand Burgers in Swanbourne for an evening meal away from the boarding house. I could not have been more proud of the boys as their manners towards the Restaurant staff and their general behaviour was outstanding. It felt like we were one big family out to dinner together and it was a very special evening.

Thank you for entrusting your son’s care into our hands. Have a safe and relaxing holiday break. I look forward to seeing the boy’s back next term.

In readiness for Winter Term (Term 3) Cloud 9 Drycleaners located at 2/1 Leura Ave, Claremont (near Bunnings) are offering their dry-cleaning services at a reduced rate for the following items;

• Blazer    – $13.15
• Tie          – $8.65

If you would like to have your sons Blazer, Tie or both dry cleaned can you please contact Kim or myself by Thursday, July 4^th. We will drop off, pick up and have the charges placed on the student’s account. For further information please click the link.