Dear Boarding Families

I hope you all enjoyed the recent long weekend with many of the boys returning home for a chance to recharge their batteries from the business of Scotch life. There has been a bit of illness around lately and I’m sure many of the boys would have appreciated the chance to recuperate.

Without wanting to put unnecessary pressure on busy families, I do want to take the opportunity to remind our Dads that we have our Father’s Day Rec event this coming Friday. We are expecting Dads to be coming to Perth to see their sons for father’s day if they can, and we are wanting to help celebrate our wonderful dads by getting together to watch Friday night Footy down at the Gooch. Some light refreshments will be provided and there is a chance to BYO, similar to the Boarding Parent Sundowner, please register here.

We certainly have a busy end to the term, especially as we near the end of the academic year in Senior School. To mark the occasion, a couple of weeks ago we took the Year 12s out to a final big rec event as a way of giving them a lovely send off to their time in boarding. As early as week 7, some of our year 12s will start leaving boarding, only to return to school for March Out. We also have exams during Week 8 and 9 which means that everyone has their own timetable and people leave in dribs and drabs once their exams finish, without much ceremony to mark the end of their time in boarding. For this reason, we chose a time earlier in the term and took all the boys go karting for one last final adventure as a cohort. The boys had a great time and it will be a tradition that we maintain in our calendar, a chance to celebrate getting to the finish line, pardon the pun!

An important transition phase has also begun, with our Year 11s recently giving their applications and speeches for next year’s leadership positions to our boarding assembly. The Year 11s did a fantastic job in their speeches, and we are very much looking forward to working with these boys in a leadership capacity starting next term. Our student leadership team comprises of a Captain of Boarding, a Vice Captain (Blair Clan), Vice Captain (Stirling Clan) and Vice Captain (Middle School Residence). We also have a wider Yr 12 boarding council where boys are given various portfolios, whether it be event planning or representing a specific year group. The interviews for these positions will be held over the next week, now that the student and staff vote has been counted. Announcements will be made in Week 7.

As mentioned earlier, Week 8 and 9 will be a busy time for our senior boys as they head into exams. Year 10s begin their exams in Week 7. Mr Montgomery, Mr Ninkov and Mr Wood have been working hard with both the boys and the academic tutors to ensure that boys are planning for their upcoming assessments, and accessing the help that is available to them. Please be mindful that there is tutoring, both group and individual, available for boys every night in prep, as well as what the day school offers both before and after school. If you have any specific queries about your son after checking his assessment results in SEQTA and having a conversation with him, please feel free to email Mr Wood (Blair) or Mr Ninkov (Stirling) to discuss your son’s planning and how he is accessing our tutoring. In the day school, our wonderful House Heads are also a great point of contact, and of course, his classroom teacher is always the best source of subject-specific feedback. If you are contacting teachers, if you include boarding staff, we can ensure it is being followed up during prep.

Our Middle School boys are gearing up for a big week on the Bib Track. We have recently joined forces with Notre Dame University in a study of our award winning Bibbulmun Track programme. The premise of the study is that by engaging with outdoor activities other than sport, it adds to the longevity of healthy habits with regards to fitness. As I am painfully aware, by the time we get to our late 30s, it is uncommon for us to continue to participate in team sports due to our ageing bodies and lingering injuries. However, if we have developed a passion in, say hiking for example, this is a pursuit that can continue to provide us a healthy outlet long into adulthood. We are also studying the benefits of the resilience building side of the Bibbulmun Track walk and how the life skills learned on the track through our Rites of Passage program have lasting benefits for our wellbeing.

The other super exciting thing that has been happening in our Middle School House is that four of our Yr 8 boys have recently been on exchange to The Southport School (TSS) on the Gold Coast and we have welcomed four TSS boys to our boarding house. This is a very exciting programme that we can hopefully do every year. What a fantastic experience for our boys! A special thanks to the Scotch Boarding families that took special care of our TSS exchange students, even taking them out to a farm over the long weekend.

As PSA Winter sport has come to an end, we quickly move into our athletics season. A special congratulations to our winning Rugby Team, including Ollie, Donnacha, and Sam for going through undefeated and winning the Brother Redmond Cup. A special mention also to Toby Jones who took home the Cyril Hoft medal for Best and Fairest in the First 18 Football team. We also have our First 11 soccer team in a Cup Final that includes a number of boarders. It is always a worry going down the road of personal accolades and accomplishments because I am sure that I will miss people out, but I do want to acknowledge the hard work that goes into team sports at Scotch and that the boys’ dedication to the team makes our success possible. Our boarders play a massive part in Scotch’s sporting success and culture and the skills and values they learn growing up in the country add a huge amount to the teams they play in.

Finally, this week we celebrated our world famous Boarding Photo Competition! Thank you to all families that submitted entries, there were some absolute rippers! This competition just gets better and better each year. A picture is worth 1000 words so you can see for yourself below how good the quality is. Congratulations to the winners!

I hope to see our wheatbelt families next week in Dowerin! Bring your friends! Dr O’Connell will be there on Wednesday and our new Head of Middle School Residence, Kristian Leeson, will be with me for both days.

All the best

Jordan

2024 Boarding Photography Competition

Congratulations to all the winners of the 2024 Boarding Photography Competition.  These photos are amazing.

Categories included:

Junior (Middle School Residence)

Senior (Senior School Residence)

Families

Staff

Junior Category winners are:

1st – Tom Pascoe

2nd – Seraphim Scotney

3rd – William Bagshaw

Highly Commended – Alex Caporn

 

Senior Category winners are:

1st – Noah McCreery

2nd – Spencer Johnston

3rd – Zac West

Families Category winners are:

1st – Myles Ross (Ollie Creagh’s brother)

2nd – Jane Dyke (Henry’s mum)

3rd – Trena Dennis (Thomas’s mum)

Highly Commended – Shay Creagh (Ollie’s Mum)

 

Staff Category winners are:

1st – Theresa Moss, House Mother – Blair Clan

2nd – Dr Alec O’Connell, Headmaster

3rd – Jan Usher, Boarding Administrator

 

Bibbulmun Track

This term we have our Middle School boys going out on the Bibbulmun Track from 26^th – 30^th August. The Year 7s are walking Mt Dale to the Perth Hills Discovery Centre or the reverse and the Year 8s are walking Gringer Creek to Swamp Oak.

Check out the walks at Bibbulmun Track Map

Key Dates

Winter Term
Thursday 22  August	Middle School Athletics Carnival
Friday 23 August	Senior School Athletics Carnival
Monday 26 August – Friday 30 August	Year 7 & Year 8 Bibbulmun Track
Wednesday 28 August – Thursday 29 August	Dowerin Machinery Field Days
Friday 30 August	Boarding Father / Son function at Gooch Pavilion
Sunday 1 September	Father’s Day
Monday 2 Sept – Wednesday 4 Sept	Yr 10 Exam period
Wednesday 4 Sept – Thursday 5 Sept	Newdegate Machinery Field Days
Monday 9 Sept – Friday 20 Sept	Yr 11 & Yr 12 Exam period
Friday 13 Sept – Sunday 15 Sept	Esperance Function / Farm visits
Sunday 15 Sept – Friday 20 Sept	Year 10 Expeditions South
Friday 20 September	Middle School Highland Games
Friday 20 September	Last Day Winter Term
Spring Term
Monday 7 October	Middle School Boarders return to MSR
Tuesday 8 October	Middle School starts
	Senior School Boarders return to SSR
Wednesday 9 October	Senior School starts

Middle School Athletics Carnival

Some great photos from Mr Mecham at the MS Aths yesterday.  The weather was a bit nicer, with a few downpours.  Congratulations to Bruce House on your win!!

1. Bruce – 2495
2. David – 2209
3. Andrew – 1933
4. Robert – 1797
5. James – 1730
6. Gordon – 1657

Senior School Athletics Carnival

It’s a grey and drizzly day in Perth today, but the senior boarders are ready for the Aths carnival.

Around the Houses

Man of the Week

Congratulations on your well received accolades:

Tom Pascoe, MSR

Declan Crombie, Blair Clan

George Stoney, Stirling Clan

Well done Gentlemen!

Pizza Night

Special night in making pizza with Theresa and Anea.

Mario Kart

Chris Stretch joins the boys in a game of Mario Kart.

Springboks

As a special treat, the Springboks were training on the Scotch Rugby Oval before their clash with the Wallabies last week and Theresa and Will Cooke got to meet them.

Blokus

Theresa played Blokus with the injured boys, which they enjoyed.

Leadership Speeches

The Year 11 boarders who nominated for leadership roles gave their speeches last week at Boarders Assembly.

Best Rec Ever

According to the Year 12 cohort Go Karting was the Best Rec they have ever had.  The photos look pretty awesome and congratulations to Ollie Mac on your win!

Meet the Mentor