26 November 2018

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to Summer Term 2019, marking yet another start to a school year. I have no doubt that if I surveyed students and staff they would say the break went way too quickly. However, judging from the number of smiling parents I saw on day one, the commencement of school could not have come quick enough! Either way I know how great it is to see all of the returning and new boys breathe life back into Scotch, which, as I have said many times before, is simply a series of buildings in Swanbourne without the boys and their families.

Much was accomplished in the Capital improvement space over the break, thanks especially to our Facilities and IT staff for a very concentrated effort. Major refurbishments were undertaken and have been completed in boarding, music and the chapel. The external construction of the Teaching and Learning building is progressing at a remarkable pace and well and truly on track for our handover timeline.

Also, as a result of the work of teachers and the administration and ancillary staff, Week One went extremely smoothly. Please ensure you continue to read all communication from the College.

I would also like to thank everyone in our residential community who made their way from all over WA and overseas to be here for the boarding orientation before school officially commenced. This proved to be a great success. Furthermore, thank you to our Scotch Parents' who did such a great job with the Welcome BBQ and respective festivities. Such events are the hallmark of our great community and every year we are fortunate to welcome many new families to our community. I sincerely hope all of our new families and staff have settled in and feel welcome.

In commencing this year, I would like to leave the boys with one very simple message based on the word effort, which for me is the essence of achieving "personal excellence", one of the things we promote at Scotch College.

We hear the term effort used in many statements such as 'He put a lot of effort into finishing the project on time', 'it wasn't easy, but it was worth the effort', 'We need to expend extra effort', and 'Our success is due to the combined efforts of many people'.

Quite often the word is used to affirm that a team or individual, while not successful did at least try. If you get an 'A' for effort you are given credit for working hard to do something, even though the result of the work was not successful. The secret is walking away from anything knowing that you couldn't have put in any more effort.

In the classroom effort is everything. We all know that everyone has varying gifts and abilities, most of which we had no control upon. The one thing we can control is our effort and commitment. What I ask of each boy is to work hard, expend extra effort and through this they can achieve their best, which is the very essence to achieving personal excellence. Our recent 2018 results reflect just how much effort the 2018 Year 12 cohort put in to achieve what they did. If you did not see a copy of the bulletin you can access one here.

Finally, no matter whether or not if you are a new or returning family please come up and say hello whether at school or outside in the community. I welcome seeing the boys and families out and about throughout the year.

Once again welcome back and have a great year.

Dr A J O'Connell
Headmaster