Community and Service
Tanzanian Teachers
During the first week of term Scotch had the pleasure of hosting three teachers from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. They had been brought here by the Australia Tanzania Society as part on an ongoing programme to strengthen ties between our countries. In 2012 Scotch teacher Jordan Owenell was part of a team of Western Australian teachers who travelled to Dar es Salaam to run professional development workshops for Tanzanian teachers. Scotch College and Presbyterian Ladies' College have been going to Tanzania since 2004 to undertake service activities in a village, climb Mt Meru and go on safari to Ngorongoro Crater.
While they were with us, the Tanzanian teachers, Steven Kialembo, Hadija Nguzo and Mary Shayo were provided with training on collaborative learning techniques and observed the application of collaborative methods in classes across all three sub-schools in the College. They hope to be able to use some of the techniques in their own schools and to train their colleagues in Dar es Salaam. The student group from Scotch and PLC will visit at least one of their schools during the Tanzanian Expedition in July.
The photo below shows the three Tanzanian teachers with Dr O'Connell, Mr Cordner and the Honorary Tanzanian Consul, Didier Murcia AM.
Round Square
During the last holiday, Middle School teacher Deborah Mullin travelled to Auckland to take part in the Young Round Square Conference, held at Kings College. The trip paves the way for the first group of Year 8 students to attend a similar conference during 2015. Next year will also likely see the first group of Year 10 - 12 boys offered the opportunity to attend a Senior Round Square conference. The most likely conference we will target in our region will be the International Round Square Conference to be held at the United World College South East Asia (Singapore) in September. Information about both the Junior and Senior conferences and the application process will be available early next term.
Student Exchanges
One of the reasons that Scotch College has joined the Round Square association of schools was to more easily facilitate an exchange programme. The College is now a Regional Member of the association and will gain full Global membership within two years. Most of the 100 or so Round Square schools offer global exchange opportunities to their students in Year 10, and regional exchange placements to Year 8 students. Membership of the association provides a network of schools having a similar ethos around the world. Schools offering exchange places do so in the knowledge that reciprocal schools have been through a rigorous membership application process to ensure that they meet the standards required. Scotch went through this process late last year. Many, but not all Round Square schools are also International Schools running IBO programmes. All strongly believe in experiential learning and the importance of internationalism.
Current Year 9 boys have been the first cohort at Scotch College to be offered an exchange experience. Information was sent to parents by email last week. Exchanges would take place during 2015 while in Year 10 and provide a unique experience for the boys who are successful in gaining a placement. Many schools in Western Australia - including Presbyterian Ladies' College - offer exchanges. The other two Round Square schools in Western Australia, Bunbury Grammar and Geraldton Grammar have been facilitating exchanges for their students for many years and are our mentor schools in this current process. So far, schools in Peru, South Africa, Romania, India, Canada, Kenya and the USA have expressed interest in hosting Scotch boys for periods of between 5 and 10 weeks. Welcoming boys from the partner schools on to the Scotch campus for similar periods would be exciting and enriching for our students. You are invited to an Information Evening on the Exchange programme to be held on Thursday, June 5, at 6.30pm in the Bunning Resource Centre. The Round Square Representative from Bunbury Grammar will at the meeting to talk about their exchange experience. Please email Anne Thompson AMThomson@scotch.wa.edu.au to indicate your attendance.
ICEA
The ICEA (Indigenous Communities Education & Awareness) Foundation has become a Scotch service partner and will run a 'Marja Mob' leadership-training course as part of the Year 10 Community and Service programme. Scotch has supported ICEA for a number of years with Cameron House in the Senior School fundraising and collecting books for the Foundation. This recent initiative strengthens the relationship and offers boys an opportunity to become role-models and mentors in the reconciliation process. Kimberley Benjamin, former PLC Head Girl and OSC Tom Joyner will run the programme. The course should provide boys with the background and skills needed to engage other students in discussions about reconciliation with indigenous Australians.
