Week 2, Autumn Term 2022
Dear Boarding Families
I write this from my sick bed at home, as my delicate dance to avoid contracting the virus has finally come to an end! I am in a similar boat to many of you, trying to juggle sick family members and working from home. Unfortunately, another of our staff members, Mr Mellor, is also away from school at the same time. A big thanks to Mr Mecham, Mr Hales, Mrs Usher, our House mums and the rest of the boarding management team for holding the fort whilst we try and contribute as much as we can from our sick beds! We have had a similar issue in the Health Centre recently with Mrs Richmond, who has been a rock for us during this covid situation, also contracting the virus and having a week off work recently. I will be holding an online parent meeting for the parent committee this afternoon (Thursday) and ask that you please excuse my casual clothes and occasional whimpering as I struggle against my man flu!
This will be the second Boarding Parent Committee meeting in quick succession after we had a productive meeting at the end of last term. I am pleased to hear that each of the parent reps for the different year groups has established a chat group for parents to discuss issues. As we spoke about at the meeting, the aim of the Boarding Parent Committee is two-fold. It is an avenue to give feedback on the various operations and initiatives in boarding and also a forum for parents and myself to discuss ways in which the parent group can support or create initiatives in boarding.
One of the exciting initiatives that we are discussing at today’s meeting is the upcoming Boarding Week at Scotch and the annual “Ag Day”. Ag Day has been running at Scotch for several years now and is a great way for our boys to showcase boarding to the rest of the school. In the past we have held activities in the senior school at a lunchtime, including the now famous lamb and gravy rolls. This year we are working to turn this day into a whole school event and, with support from the Head of Sub Schools, we are hosting it on Friday 10 June in the morning, incorporating marching with the pipe band, some market stalls to showcase the WA regions and career opportunities as well as fun and games in a “country show” festival atmosphere. We are topping it off with a boarding parent lunch in the dining hall to celebrate our hard work on the day! We would love our parents to help us organise the event and also to attend on the special day. Your parent reps from the committee will have more information on the chat groups soon and hopefully a call out of helpers. I really want to make this an amazing annual event to showcase boarding to the rest of the school community.
It has been great to finally ease some of the restrictions in boarding, especially the mask wearing, the increased options for rec activities and also the reopening of the Bibbulmun track. We hope that we can continue to function with this level of freedom from now on. I must say that the lack of mask wearing increases the risk of boys contracting the virus, and we have had a number of cases this week, but please remind your sons that they are able to voluntarily wear a mask if they wish, particularly the older boys who are going through exams at the moment. We have been able to host our first interschool recreation activity for quite a while with the St Hilda’s Year 7s and 8s coming over to our Middle School boarding House over the weekend for a fire pit, hot chocolate and a movie. It is great to be able to do these sorts of activities again and give our boys some of the great benefits of boarding school, one of which is to increase their social network.
I am very much looking forward to the Yr 12 Bibbulmun Track walk going ahead this term with our boys finally able to complete their final leg of the journey, walking into Albany. This is planned for 12-18th June. Let’s hope the weather gods are kind! We also have almost every other year group off on the bibby this term at various stages.
I wish you all a good weekend and look forward to more exciting times ahead in boarding at Scotch!
All the best
Jordan
Northam
We will be making a visit to Northam on Thursday 23rd June at the Farmers Home Hotel from 5pm to engage with prospective and current families and Old Scotch Collegians to launch the ‘Welcome to Scotch’ programme. Mr Mike Valentine will be joining us to give an overview of the programme, whilst Jordan and Catriona Nixon will be on hand to discuss boarding. Nadia Sierakowski will be on hand to welcome any OSC attending. Please join us if you are able or if you know someone that would be interested, please let them know. RSVP’s to Boarding.Admin@scotch.wa.edu.au
Middle School Residence
Some great photos of our Middle School Boarders in their nice new winter uniforms. Congratulations to Van and Archie on their Excellence Awards and it looks like Dylan is being well cared for after a nasty accident involving his leg.
Senior School Residence
Stirling Clan Breakfast
Mr Hales took the Yr 9 Stirling Clan boys out for breakfast to C Blu in Cottesloe. Beautiful view and looks delicious.
Year 9 and 10 Team Building
On Wednesday the Year 9s and 10s didn’t have classes, so to keep them busy a range of activities were organised. Stirling looked smart in their teal coloured shirts and Blair in the regal purple. Looks like they thoroughly enjoyed trying to outdo each other, especially in the pole climb.
The Outdoor Education teachers got in on the action and had the boys in the pool. There was also a Lego Masters/chinese whispers activity which saw the boys bringing out the Duplo.
There are more photos in Vidigami through the link Boarding Team Building – Yr 9 & Yr 10