The Stanford Pre-Collegiate International Institutes invite schools and organizations from around the world to bring academically talented high school students to Stanford University for a two-week introduction to American college life. Scotch College was fortunate enough to have been invited to be one of 12 participating organisations to take part in this enrichment opportunity.

Each year boys in the Year 10 Enrichment Programme attend a tour of ICRAR (International Centre for Radio Astronomy). Boys have an audience with the Director of the centre, Professor Peter Quinn, and attend lectures with astrophycists sharing cutting edge research in the field. Boys also get the chance to use a solar viewing telescope, a spectroscope and a Tiny Radio Telescope to measure the sun’s corona.

The Innovative Schools Consortium is a Curtin University partnership with innovative schools to build deep learning and teaching partnerships that identify and develop high ability students. Scotch College is a member of the consortium and has been invited to participate in the ‘Innovative Schools Scholars Program pilot’ in 2019. This initiative offers our high ability Year 10 students the opportunity to engage in authentic tertiary learning and have a genuine Curtin University student experience. Students are currently taking units of study in Planetary Science, Astronomy, Accounting and Human Structure and Function.

Woodside, in collaboration with the Cisco Internet of Everything Innovation Centre at Curtin University hosted Year 10 Enrichment students and their parents for a night of innovation and pizza! Also on the menu was the role of big data and artificial intelligence in the modern era. Boys and parents collaborated on a design challenge to come up with a technological innovation that would increase student engagement.

This collaboration has seen students in the  Year 9 Enrichment Programme travel to UWA’s School of Computer Engineering to partake in a bioengineering design challenge. The boys are introduced to exciting new research involving the development of new technological tools for breast cancer surgery. Boys are taught the basics of optics and engineering and given insight into post-school careers in this exciting multi-disciplinary field. Most importantly, this offered the boys the very human experience of designing a product that can be used to improve people’s lives in a global context.

The Perkins Profs program kicks of every April with a group of our most scientifically able and curious Year 10 science participating in extra curricular classes in the Lotterywest BioDiscovery Centre. The classes take place once a week, after school hours and involve hands-on research activities with a Perkins scientist.

This partnership sees, Modus Movement’s, Mark Bernacchi, challenge the boys to learn the vocabulary of movement via the now famous Ido Portal method, testing the resilience of students and staff.