Open Day Success
On the 14 March we held our Open Day; a day that simply encapsulated what it means to be part of the Scotch community. Why? The answer is simple. Our boys took front of stage through speaking, hosting and conducting information tours about their School. Since Friday we have received lots of feedback from current and future parents. The atmosphere of the day and the way the boys represented our College was simply outstanding. I would particularly like to thank the three Heads of Schools, Mr Stewart, Mr Ledger, Dr McEwan and all of their staff for doing what they do best; that is, deliver a world class curriculum and provide numerous co-curricular opportunities for all of our boys. At Scotch, Open Day is not a special show and tell. It simply reflects a normal day in the life of the College.
While it is primarily an opportunity for current and future parents we have noticed that some Old Scotch Collegians also take the opportunity to visit the College on Open Day. We were pleased that Mr Lance Clark (94) who attended Scotch from 1933 to 1936 decided to visit us on Open Day to 'take a walk around'. I would also like to thank Ms Di Moran and Ms Kim Quinlivan in Admissions for their planning of Open Day activities.
Last year we commissioned a sustainability report through the generous support of our Parents' Association. The reason for this is to identify sustainability strategies from a holistic perspective. We are currently completing a whole of school analysis of power usage and costs.
A new initiative resulting from our review of sustainable practises is that of Electronic Fee Statements. Like most businesses today, Scotch College is moving towards reducing our carbon footprint. Consequently, commencing with the April fee billing you will receive your fee statement electronically rather than a hard copy in the mail. The fee statement will be sent to the usual email address as provided by you. If you would like the fee statement to be sent to a different email address, please let us know by email to accounts@scotch.wa.edu.au. In time we will also be introducing the ability for parents to review their statements on line via Parent Connect.
On the weekend we participated in what is one of the premier events on the sporting calendar, the Head of the River. While there is a lot of public focus on the Head of the River and its connection with the First VIII race, the Hamer Cup is a true representation of how a whole rowing club performs. The consistent performance of all crews was reflected in our club taking out the 2014 Hamer Cup. On behalf of everyone I would like to congratulate Mr Ford, Master in Charge of Rowing and all of his coaches, parents and rowers. The boys were outstanding in all sense of the word.
At the same time many of our boys were representing the College in a range of sporting fixtures over the weekend, we also had 8 teams compete in the World Scholar's Cup regional event. The Scholar's Cup is a global event that brings some of the brightest young minds together in a team based event where students compete in collaborative writing, team debating and a Scholars' Bowl. With strong performances from our boys, three teams from the regional event have now qualified for the global round to be held in Singapore in June of this year. Congratulations to teachers Mr Sam Sterrett, Ms Deb Mullins and Dr Rob McEwan for taking up this initiative which I am sure will go from strength to strength.
Once again, the array of weekend sporting and academic activities reinforces why it is so important to maintain a balanced programme for our boys.
Have a great fortnight.
Dr A J O'Connell
Headmaster
