Dear Boarding families

I hope you have all had an enjoyable fortnight. As normal, our community has been buzzing with action and, although it is busy, we love it!

On Wednesday evening we had our fortnightly boarding assembly led by our Year 12s and it was great to see the boys taking control of the agenda. We had a lovely sports report from Loch Mactaggart who gave an insight into what the boarders are doing on the sporting field across the College. We had an interview with Hudson Hammond asking Flynn Macnamara  to give a summary of the Year 7 Moray Camp and we had our presentations of ‘Man of the Week’ which goes to boys who have displayed the quality behaviour that we all aspire to. These are behaviours that do the right thing by others and help make our community a much happier place.  Congratulations to Gilby Lodge, Noah McCreery and Jacob Haeusler who are our men of the week!

This week we also promoted National Boarding Week which is coming up next week. Many schools around the country celebrate their boarding week during this week. Scotch celebrates boarding week later in the term, after the mid-term break. However, we are still doing some things to celebrate National Boarding Week. We have invited a lot of key staff over to our home for either an afternoon tea or a dinner with us at some point during the week. Our student leaders are also organising several other activities around the house. Also, next Thursday I am taking a group of Year 12 boarders over to PLC for a lunchtime game of netball to help our sister school celebrate their boarding week. We also celebrate our Boarders Ball during National Boarding Week, next Saturday 18 May. All year 11 and 12 boys are required to attend, and they can take a partner along for $30. Parents have been emailed details. The dress up theme for the Boarders Ball is “Movie Duo’s/Groups”.

Scotch’s Boarding Week will be held in Week 8 and I have spoken to the boys about how we can contribute to this week. On Monday there will be a Social Media promotion of boarding on Scotch’s pages, showcasing our amazing Boarding Photo competition and a few other things about life in boarding. We will also have a number of activities in the day school throughout the week. On Friday 7 June we host our annual Ag Day down at the Gooch Pavilion. Boys will march together as a boarding house, and we have an amazing Welcome to Country ceremony planned by our Indigenous boarding students alongside the Pipe Band. We also have a machinery display, a farm animal petting zoo, and a careers tent to highlight to both the boarders and the day boys the wealth of opportunities to live and work in regional WA. We welcome all boarding parents to attend where possible and help us celebrate the day. As part of the day, all exhibitors and boarding parents are invited to a long lunch in the dining hall in the afternoon. This will be our first Ag Day lunch and we hope that you can come along. Please register here Boarding Parents Ag Day Lunch – Dining Hall

The Year 11s are lucky this weekend to celebrate their Yr 11 Dance. Thank you to the parents who help set up this event. The Year 11s and 10s then go on the next week to walk the Bibbulmun Track. The year 10s are walking around Donnelly River and the Year 11s are walking near Northcliffe. The forest around this area is absolutely stunning, as the boys walk through the Karri Forest. In my opinion, this rivals the Denmark area as the best section on the track. I really encourage parents to urge their boys to persist with the Bib Track. It teaches so many life lessons that you can’t get in a classroom. Especially for Year 11s who have just finished an exam period, it’s good to get out from behind the study desk and take some time to get out in nature. For the year 10s, this is the journey in which they cross the half-way marker, which is a great achievement, and it is important to celebrate milestones which help boys persist and show resilience when the going gets tough. Good luck to all the boys walking the Bibbulmun Track next week.

I thank families who have provided firewood for our boarding houses, now that it is getting colder, and we are having fire pit nights for rec activities. We would love any donations that we can get from families over the next term or so.

I am excited to announce to families that we will soon be advertising for a new Head of Residence in boarding, to replace Mr Mellor who left in Term 1. We hope that a successful candidate can be ready to begin by Winter term in July. I would like to take this time to extend my heartfelt gratitude again to Mr Montgomery, Mr Ninkov, Mr Wood, and Mrs Wilhelm and Mrs Moss who have done a fantastic job stepping up to cover for us in the interim. I will keep parents informed as to the process, as required. We certainly acknowledge how important the position is and how fortunate we are to have the privilege of helping you care for your sons whilst they are at Scotch.

Finally, I want to extend my very best wishes to all the mothers out there for their upcoming Mothers’ Day on Sunday. We love our mums, and we hope that we can make them proud and spoil them on their special Mothers’ Day. We also acknowledge and support all our families who, for whatever reason, are not able to celebrate with their mums on Mothers’ Day.

Kind regards

Jordan

Man of the Week

This week we congratulate Jacob Haeusler, Yr 8 in the MSR; Noah McCreery, Yr 12 Blair Clan and Gilby Lodge, Yr 11 Stirling Clan on becoming ‘Man of the Week’.  Great work!!

Year 7 Moray Camps

We have some great photos of the Year 7 boarders setting off for Moray for their first camp.  The climbing rock wall looks fun!

Marching – 3rd May 2024

Last Friday the Year 10s led the marching with Cooper Messina out front and shaking the Acting Headmaster’s hand.

Year 7Bs Football

Captained by Cormac Creagh with Darcy Stratford and Luca Stoney in the team, Mr Mecham’s coaching skills were on point last week.  Scotch College 104 points defeated Trinity College 6 points.  Congratulations boys, well done!!

Around the Houses

A huge thank you to Nick and Paula Bagshaw, parents of Will in Yr 7 and to Hamish and Naomi Purser, parents of Rory Yr 12 and Joe Yr 9, who brought in firewood for the boys to enjoy firepit nights.

Boarding Photography Competition

Don’t forget to get your entries into the 2024 Boarding Photography Competition.  Entries must be received by Mr Mecham no later than 26th July.