Community and Service

Winter Appeals

At this time of the year there is a heightened awareness of the plight of Perth's considerable homeless population. Service agencies such as UnitingCare West (UCW) and Salvation Army send out requests for food and clothing to provide comfort as the cold and wet of winter approaches. Scotch College has long supported these agencies and we are set to do so again in 2014. While the UCW Winter Appeal officially commences on June 1, now is the time to start setting aside non-perishable food items for the appeal during you weekly shop. Food Bank WA has also approached the College for support, so there is plenty of need for items. Information about where to drop off food will be provided in the next edition of The Thistle.

The harsh reality of winter is most acutely felt by those forced to sleep rough in Parks and sand dunes around Perth. For the past six years, Scotch College boys have assisted to provide some comfort through the Street Swags project. These swags, fabricated by Bandyup prison inmates are provided with a foam mattress and rolled by boys. At the end of last term, the Order of St John distributed the swags completed by Scotch this year to St Patrick's in Fremantle and Ruah Community Services.

Student Exchanges

Now that Scotch College is a member of the Round Square group of schools, opportunities for student exchanges have emerged. Two exchange places have been offered for this year to current Year 10 students - to St Andrews College in Christchurch New Zealand and De La Salle College in Vienna, Austria. Both these places need to be taken up as soon as possible.

So far there have been seven offers of exchange places for Year 10 boys in 2015 from other Round Square schools in Chile, USA, South Africa, India, Romania and Canada. This is an exciting development for Scotch as we strive to provide international experiences and connections for our boys, as well as have the benefit to our community of a rich mixture of visitors from all over the world.

This term the call will go out for current Year 9 boys to express an interest in going on exchange for periods of up to a term during 2015. An Information Evening for parents and boys on the exchange programme will be held towards the middle of the term.

Many schools in Perth offer exchanges to their students. Scotch has now made this a priority. The Round Square organisation provides the assurance of quality and an exchange mechanism that is well established. The two other Round Square schools in Western Australia, Bunbury Grammar and Geraldton Grammar have been sending students overseas to member schools for years and will provide the guidance needed to get going on what we hope will be a year feature of the Year 10 programme.