Welcome to The Thistle

Welcome back to another event filled term at Scotch. I would especially like to thank the students, staff and parents who supported and participated in a very busy period of school tours to Mt Gambier, America, Indonesia, and Europe. A common element of all of the tours was the way our boys represented Scotch nationally and internationally. As Headmaster it gave me great pride to receive some of the feedback regarding the performance and behaviour of our boys.

There are a number of key parent meetings throughout the year and Autumn Term is critical for Year 10 students and their parents for making decisions about Year 11 courses. I would like to extend a personal invitation to all Year 10 parents and boys to an information session on the 4th June , regarding the IB Diploma, this can be booked through the "Book a Scotch Event" page on the website. I strongly recommend you attend this meeting so you can be sure that you make the best decision regarding your son's course of study. I look forward to meeting as many people as possible on this evening. Further information and details regarding the evening can be found under the Teaching and Learning section of The Thistle.

You will have noticed by now that our fortnightly newsletter has had a facelift (unlike the Headmaster). The review of the newsletter was taken in order to modernize the way we communicate important information to the community but also to examine whether we could resurrect part of our history through the newsletter. This has been achieved through reinstituting the name The Thistle - a title that has previously been used for newsletters and Old Scotch Collegian communications. I have included pictorial examples provided from Archives. I trust you will find the new format assists you in staying better connected with all that we do as a community.

Dr Alec O'Connell

Headmaster