Clan | Edition #133

UNITING THE SCOTCH COMMUNITY

Another close shave

Edition 133 | May 2022

7

Foundation

14 Service

16 March Out

18 Junior School

21 Middle School

26 Senior School

30 Boarding

34 Sports

38 Old Scotch Collegians

In this issue…

3

Headmaster

14

Vice-Captain of School

5

Chaplain

16

March Out

6

Council

18

Junior School

7

Foundation

21

Middle School

Editor: Samantha Leung

8

Teaching and Learning

26

Senior School

Design: PaperScout

10

Wellbeing

30

Boarding

11

Co-Curricular

34

Sports

12

Teacher Feature

38

Old Scotch Collegians

13

Captain of School

47

Archives

Clan is a periodic news pictorial for the Scotch College community.

Clan © Scotch College 2022

Front cover: Harry Miels (Year 12), Mitch Williams (Year 8) and Toby Evans (Year 12) at the World’s Greatest Shave

UPDATE

Dr Alec O’Connell

Headmaster

Leadership is about letting go Complacency is a clear and present danger for all leaders. As a leader who has been in my current position for some time, there is always the danger of becoming too comfortable in the mental space within which I operate, leading to decision making by rote and, more critically, missed opportunities to renew, grow and envisage future strategic changes.

The past few years have been a time to reset one’s priorities, to rethink what you care about.

For many, this has been influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, but for my family and me, in the midst of dealing with COVID-19, we also underwent a moment of personal reassessment and challenge.

In early October, I was diagnosed with cancer.

My family’s and my life drastically changed as we rapidly had to adapt to a world of chemotherapy, medical tests and hospitals and far less work-related responsibility than at any point in my adult life. The cancer was discovered via a relatively routine health check – I was experiencing some breathlessness – and I am incredibly lucky and owe my life today to how quickly my female GP identified it. Many are not as fortunate as I have been with the outcome. Furthermore, the pandemic has demonstrated the great inequality that exists in our society today, both in Australia and globally.

you deal with the new environment. People, practices and experiences come out of it that you would never have encountered without the unexpected contextual shift.

I sat in the chemotherapy ward waiting room, listening to the conversations of people who have spent 20 years receiving chemotherapy treatment. It’s moments like these when you self-evaluate. I didn’t choose to be here, but I see people who have been going through this for years, and I feel gratitude. In Australia and at Scotch College, we are incredibly lucky to have the privilege of choice. It is a privilege, and many throughout the world do not benefit from the smorgasbord of choices available to us at Scotch and in Perth.

COVID-19 has demonstrated how much we take for granted: the ability to travel, to have relatively easy access to work, and to spend face-to-face time with family and friends. It’s not until our choices are taken away that we miss them and realise, belatedly, how much they mean to us.

What do you do when you can’t choose?

COVID-19 is not a choice; cancer is not a choice; being separated from family and

friends or being unable to work is not a choice. But these are experiences that many in our society do go through because of, or outside of, the pandemic. When you don’t have options and autonomy, you hand over. It has been my privilege to work in education since 1982, but when faced with my own health crisis, I had no choice but to hand myself over to health specialists and oncologists; my years of educational leadership and academic qualifications suddenly meant very little. I went from being the so-called leader and expert of my chosen field to the participant; having to rely on somebody else with different expertise.

In many ways, losing agency can be liberating. I was able to move into this space where my health and recovery became my primary focus and away from the College because of the systems that I’d put in place.

I still cared greatly about the College, but I didn’t worry about it because I trusted the people I’d left behind to steer the ship. This is what you must do; it’s the reality of a crisis.

You go from being the so-called expert, from deliverer to receiver, provider to user.

Headmaster Dr Alec O’Connell and James Goldsmith at 100 Days of Pre-Primary, 2021

When you’re challenged with personal health, you refocus; your values require revisiting, and your connections become different as you meet others in similar situations. Often, we talk about issues in the third person; you might have empathy, but these issues are kept at a comfortable distance from your own life. Once you’re embroiled in something, the playing field is level. Once you’re hooked up in the ward, who cares what you do for a living.

You need to reassess: what do you love to do versus whom you love? And how do you balance those? You open the door to another world, very much a The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe moment; suddenly, the game is played within a new and very much unfamiliar context. You might still live and play in the original arena, but you must leave it behind as reports | 3

Humans are incredibly resilient, and my experience has only cemented this knowledge. I don’t mean myself, but others that I have met throughout my life and since being diagnosed. Having no choice drives other forms of decision making. With limited options, you must look closely at what you value in life and appreciate them and reflect on them in ways you might never have done previously. A lack of choice can bring out the best in some and the worst in others. It exposed me to quality people in an entirely different industry; the nurses and other medical staff in the chemo ward are incredible. I commend the work they do and the challenging circumstances in which they persevere. We say we’re busy at Scotch, but I think many people would struggle to survive a day in the Hollywood Hospital Starcevich Ward. The staff there are running. Only one person can press the go button for your infusion, and the ward operates and delegates on trust and, most importantly, ability.

If I compare our organisations, we share in that space where you must be able to delegate and trust the people you work with and where there must be trust by the end-user. I’ve often said to parents, “Do you trust us? Then, why are you making the phone call if that’s the case?” As a leader, trust is imperative. Empowerment and trust are the most important tools you can give to people, and as a leader and manager of many, you need to be able to trust the people who work for and with you.

So, what happens when you give up your leadership? In a hospital, my expertise is not worth a cracker. In many ways, leadership itself is about letting go. Everyone at Scotch College is working at different levels and stages. Teachers and students alike need the agency to test new learning strategies and try new projects. Almost a decade ago, I sent Philosophy Teacher Sam Sterrett on an AISWA (or Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia) trip to explore where Scotch could take our gifted and talented programme.

Now, Sam is our Head of Enrichment, and we have multiple staff dedicated to enrichment programmes across disciplines. Sam, alongside Enrichment Leader – STEM, Steve McLean, is also the co-instigator of Studio Scotch – our dedicated podcasting studio, which has seen the rapid development of podcasts by current students, in and out of the classroom, and by our Old Scotch Collegians.

If you lead by letting go, you empower others.

Students should be free to make their own mistakes, and as a teacher, if you’re not allowing them to do this, you’re failing to teach problem-solving and resilience – skills they will need in their lives. Culturally, this filters down. If the Council starts interfering with the day-to-day operations of the College, I’m in trouble. If I interfere with everyone else’s job, we’re in trouble. You’ll always have pockets in an organisation that don’t work, but ultimately you need to delegate authority to the right places and the right people. This is why the concept of subsidiarity is so important within all organisations. This social organisation principle holds that social and political issues should be dealt with at the most immediate (or local) level that is consistent with their resolution. Explicitly, do not micromanage.

Headmaster Dr Alec O’Connell with graduating students Samuel Bennett and 2021 Captain of School Joshua Ledger at March Out 2021, photographs: Derren Hall

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In life, you won’t like everyone you meet, and you’ll gravitate towards the people you do.

Like naturally gravitates towards like. However, whether you like someone or not, it’s important to show them respect and respect the role they play. A student may not like their teacher, but they must respect them and behave appropriately. You must have faith that that person knows what they’re doing. Therefore, I wasn’t worried when the oncologist and other

specialists were managing my treatment. Their jobs are to know what they’re doing; my job was to trust and listen to them.

At a school, you must have faith that the institution and those within it know what they’re doing. And that’s empowering; to give someone trust and responsibility for your life and health, or for your child. There is great solace in doing that. It’s cathartic for the individual and those you’re trusting; it’s empowerment and recognition. When you imbue others with this trust, you invite them to step up and demonstrate exactly what they must give. The relationship between teachers and students is very much one of trust. Teaching is a relationship-based process where both parties have something to give. Teachers offer their knowledge and expertise, and students reciprocate with a willingness to learn.

Choice is a privilege, and we should not become complacent, nor should we assume that they are necessarily normal.

If I have learnt anything through the pandemic and my diagnosis, it’s that our choices are not infinite. Opportunities that are open to you now will not always be there. If you fail to exercise the choices you have, that’s your decision, and you must take responsibility for that. You can’t fall into a mindset of helplessness and victimhood if you have the privilege of acting and the ability to change your life.

Students at Scotch are lucky in that they have a lot more choices than most, and maybe more than even they realise. Choice is a privilege, and we should not become complacent, nor should we assume that they are necessarily normal. COVID-19 has undoubtedly demonstrated this and reminded us how much choice is about perception. If you view the world as one where you lack control, you’ll always be a victim. It’s essential to reflect on the lives of those around you and more widely. Have a look at yourself.

Have you become complacent about what you are given? Have things that were once a privilege become an expectation? This is how entitlement forms.

Be grateful for the opportunities you have in life because, in the Scotch community, there are so many available to you. And, above all, take them. As I have learned, nothing is certain, and life is not something you should wait for; otherwise, in the blink of an eye, it may well pass you by.

Revd Gary van Heerden

Chaplain

Circle conversations: providing a space to be heard We live in a world in which we are increasingly time and attention poor. Despite having two ears and one mouth, we talk more than we listen. Disconnection and isolation from others are endemic. Indeed, being truly listened to and feeling understood is a rare gift.

In an effort to create a deep listening experience for our students, Rev Gary has conducted Outsider Witness Groups (dubbed ‘circle convos’ by the students at Presbyterian Ladies’ College). This has provided a forum of acknowledgement as stories are shared by a group of witnesses.

These ‘circle convos’ can be traced back to the work of cultural anthropologist Barbara Myerhoff (1982) with an elderly Jewish community in Venice, California. As elderly immigrants, they felt invisible (no one knew about their past lives or culture). Meeting in their day centre, Myerhoff observed the practices and processes they engaged in to acknowledge and affirm each other.

“Unless we exist in the eyes of others, we may come to doubt even our own existence. Being is a social and psychological construct; it is something that is made, not given.”1 – Barbara Myerhoff Circle convos consist of three parts: 1. An interview of the participant by the facilitator (myself), circled by ‘witnesses’ to the conversation.

2. A reversal of participant-witness roles, whereby the participant sits outside the circle and listens to the facilitator interviewing the witnesses on aspects that have touched and resonated with them.

3. A final swapping of roles so the facilitator and participant once again sit in the middle of the circle and reflect on what has been evoked in the participant as they listened to the witnesses speak about their story.

The role of the witnesses in circle convos is vital. Witnesses are meant to be exactly that – to provide a respectful space for conversations to be heard. They are to refrain from giving applause, advice and debate and should try not to impose their values on what is shared.

Ideally, circle convos provide a sacred space not readily accessible in everyday life.

Last year, each of our six Year 8 classes took part in a circle convo in which I interviewed Akram Azimi, former Young Australian of the Year and Scotch’s Scholar in Residence, about his experience of being bullied after arriving in Australia as a refugee. In these circle convos, the Year 8 witnesses listened attentively.

Akram’s story led many of them to reflect on their own experiences of struggle and dealing with obstacles, which reduced feelings of isolation. Akram spoke afterwards of a strong sense of being connected to the boys’ stories.

Throughout these circle convos, the framework was provided to ensure the witnesses kept on track. Not giving applause was particularly hard for the Year 8 students to grasp, particularly as Akram’s story is very powerful. One slips so easily into pointing out positives. Of course, applause has its place, but in circle convos, the aim is to enact different practices of acknowledgement – acknowledging the positive effects others’ lives have upon our own and why.

We are currently working with PLC on a potential new project where PLC and Scotch student leaders would engage in circle convos. In Autumn Term, I also will introduce circle convos into the Senior Boarding House, giving boarders the opportunity to experience these conversations.

Scholar in Resident Akram Azimi participating in a circle conversation with Year 9 students

Feeling seen, understood and accepted are vital to individual and community wellbeing.

1. Myerhoff, B., Stories as Equipment for Living, Michigan, The University of Michigan Press, 2007, p. 31

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Mr Mark Paganin

Council

The Boat Shed upgrade in progress

A hive of activity A beehive is the closest analogy to reflect the breadth of activities that take place at Scotch on a daily basis. The campus certainly resembled one when staff welcomed students at the start of this year, with an extra kick in their step as we have much to celebrate: our 125th anniversary.

educational and co-curricular activities whilst having a fundamental focus on students’ health and safety. We welcome the recent relaxation of those restrictions enabling our students to have greater social interaction, which is so much a part of their learning experience.

As an institution that has been a part of the educational fabric of Western Australia over the past 125 years, it is not lost on the students, the value of heritage and the significance of the Old Scotch Collegians community that awaits them after school.

It was tremendous to see our Headmaster, Dr Alec O’Connell, return to campus in midMarch; energetic and with a lot of initiatives.

On behalf of the Council, I would like to recognise Peter Burt, Head of Senior School.

During Alec’s absence, Peter stepped into the Acting Headmaster role and led from the front in a manner that the students, staff and community greatly appreciated. It gives the Council great comfort that the Executive leadership group has strong capabilities to adapt and lead.

The Council greatly respects the College’s history; we are custodians for the period of our tenure and, in every decision we make, are mindful of the values that form the pillars of the College. On that note, I am pleased to announce the most recent addition to the Council, Professor Harlene Hayne, the ViceChancellor of Curtin University, who will bring her global educational experience to our deliberations. Welcome, Harlene.

I hope your families have not been too significantly impacted by the pandemic, and things are getting back to a new normal during the year. The Executive and staff have performed admirably in navigating the practical restrictions imposed on delivering 6 | reports

I thought I would share a recent initiative by the Independent Schools Association of Australia: ChairConnect. The purpose is to connect the chairs of independent schools throughout Australia to share common experiences, challenges and governance issues, which are then relayed to the councils and principals of those schools. On the Master Plan, the redevelopment of the Boat Shed is on track, and we expect it to

be completed mid this year, with an official opening soon after. The Foundation must again be acknowledged for its continuing financial support of the College.

I am sure you are all experiencing the recent inflationary pressures and rising living costs, a phenomenon in Western Australia and globally. The Council has managed to maintain a minimal increase in school fees over the past five years. However, we will no doubt need to consider for the first time in that period the rising salary and operational costs we are facing. We will continue to maintain a prudent balance between a financially responsible approach and focus on minimising internal expenses while striving to deliver exceptional educational offerings and value to our students.

On behalf of the Council, I wish you and your families an enjoyable year through your connections with the College, particularly that your sons and, in some cases, daughters thrive in what Scotch has to offer. To my fellow Council members, thank you for making yourself available and engaged as we collectively seek to make decisions in the best interests of the College and its students.

Mr John Flecker

Foundation Planning, agility and flexibility Whilst most places around the world are now accustomed to living with COVID-19, Perth is just starting to experience it this year. Initial signs indicate that we will get to grips with it relatively quickly. Certainly, the College has planned for all scenarios and is proving to be agile and resilient in its operations to the benefit of students.

Other than COVID-19, Australia has seen some extreme weather events. The world has witnessed the terrible situation in Ukraine.

Financial markets are volatile; inflation is rising, with interest rates expected to follow.

The low unemployment rate is great, but even that brings challenges.

Having said all that, Perth is still a pretty good place to be. However, it is a tough time for making business and investment decisions.

We are drawing on all the hard-earned experience of the Foundation’s Investment Committee in these circumstances, always with a long-term view.

It is an excellent time for the College to know it has a sound Foundation supporting it.

The Foundation is committed to supporting the College’s aspiration to provide the best education and whole student experience possible while remaining value for money. To that end, the College can confidently proceed with its immediate priority refurbishment and capital works programmes, in line with its master plan and budget, with the support of the Foundation.

In recent years, the Foundation’s support has increased as needs arise, from providing loans supporting essential capital works to financial support for student scholarships and teacher development and funding the Office of Advancement and Philanthropy. However, the Foundation’s eye always remains on the future, focusing on growing funds to enable us to respond to prevailing circumstances.

The balance between now and the future is always a key consideration.

Game-changing bequests The game-changer for most foundations here and overseas comes from receiving bequests. Such philanthropy makes a real difference, and donors can feel secure knowing that the funds will be managed by a safe pair of hands and used appropriately. If you are considering a bequest to offer others the opportunities you may have benefited from, please get in touch with Mel Colling from the Office of Advancement and Philanthropy at philanthropy@scotch.wa.edu.au.

A wonderful example of this powerful generosity is a recent $850,000 bequest from the estate of Harry Weedon (OSC 1958).

Such substantial philanthropy can make such a difference in bolstering the Foundation to continue providing the necessary support for the College. All our work is ultimately for the benefit of students, now and into the future.

Chair of Foundation John Flecker and Chair of Council Mark Paganin visiting the Boat Shed upgrade

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Mrs Cara Fugill

Teaching and Learning Choosing the right curriculum The International Baccalaureate vs WACE Scotch has now offered the globally recognised educational qualification, the International Baccalaureate Diploma, for over a decade with our first cohort graduating in December 2011.

The IB programme often attracts interest from prospective parents, Old Scotch Collegians and our current students who are making the tough decision between which model of education will suit them best. So, what is the IB? How does it compare with the Western Australian Certificate of Education (known as WACE) and what kind of learner would benefit from each programme?

Firstly, the IB Diploma Programme is still relatively new to Western Australia with just five schools offering the choice in Years 11 and 12. Comparatively though, the IB is the fastest growing education model in the world with 1.95 million students aged three to 19 completing one of the four programmes on offer, this year alone. As of February 2022, there were 7,500 programmes offered worldwide, across

Left to right: Year 12 students Luca Datodi and Jack Rigg; Kyle de Bruin (Year 11) Opposite: Mathematics Teacher Mr Scott Duncan with Year 12 students (kneeling, left to right) Kalani Locke, Cooper Stanley, (standing, left to right) Brodie Haywood, Dylan Falkiner, Patrick Stewart and Mac Baddeley; photographs: Silvertone Photography

5,400 schools in 159 countries. At Scotch, approximately 40 students (roughly 20%) each year choose to study the IBDP in their final two years of school.

Firstly, it is important to recognise that the IBDP is an education qualification separate from WACE. If a student chooses this programme, they no longer need to meet the WACE requirements as the DP has its own standards the students must work towards. However, graduating from this programme will guarantee you entry into several universities since the programme is specifically designed to prepare students for a tertiary pathway. Similarly, WACE Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank, or ATAR, courses also prepare students for university.

However, it is possible to graduate from this programme without qualifying for university.

The IB is the fastest growing education model in the world.

Curriculum structure A key point of difference is curriculum structure. WACE students make up their programme with six courses in Year 11 and may drop to five courses in Year 12. They can choose any subject combination they want, so long as they take one course from English, Humanities or the Arts (List A) and one course from Science, Mathematics or Design and Technology (List B). The only compulsory course is English. If a student wants an ATAR score required to apply for university, they must take at least four courses that are considered university preparation courses (ATAR courses).

This offers students the ability to mix and match, creating a breadth of study that is as broad or as narrow as they like. They can also combine the harder ATAR courses with general courses to balance their workload or degree of difficulty. Additionally, TAFE certificate courses can also contribute to WACE graduation or, if a Certificate IV is completed, the student can use this to enter university.

Conversely, in the DP, the student must select one course from six different groups: English, Humanities, Mathematics, Foreign Languages, Arts and Science. The only adjustment that can be made to this rule is that a student may choose two subjects from one group to replace an Arts subject. This is permitted to assist students who need to meet certain prerequisites for university. Once a student has selected six courses to study, they must then choose three to be studied at a Standard Level (SL) and three at a Higher Level (HL). Both levels are considered university preparation courses, however, the HL course takes 240 instructional hours to complete over two years while the SL course only takes 150 hours. The SL course gives them additional time away from the classroom that assists them in completing the other components of the course. This includes a subject on the theory of knowledge (TOK) and a written 4,000-word extended essay on a research topic of their choice. Finally, they must participate in creativity, activity and service learning (CAS), similar to the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.

[WACE] offers students the ability to mix and match, creating a breadth of study that is as broad or as narrow as they like.

Calculating the final score Another significant point of difference is the way the final scores for students are calculated. Year 11 WACE results do not count towards the ATAR score. The final score is a fifty-fifty combination of Year 12 school assessments and the external subject exams, where the exam only assesses Year 12 content. The school score is moderated against the external exam to ensure equity between schools and the subject is then scaled to handle the variation in difficulty between courses. Finally, the sum of the top four ATAR subjects for each student is used to rank all students across the state.

This makes it hard for schools to accurately predict final ATARs. Some subjects receive harsh scaling and others, favourable, although this varies from one year to the next.

The IBDP results are mainly based on the final examination which includes Year 11 and 12 content, except in the Arts where there is often no examination at all. This means that over the two-year period, students’ results are only indicative of how they are progressing, allowing students to improve their performance unimpeded. School results contribute roughly 20% towards a student’s final score and consist of project-based assessments completed over a longer period of time. This style of assessment is unique to the IB and is one of the reasons why the programme is recognised for its ability to improve independent learning strategies.

The content is assessed in the final examination and then sent off for external marking. Each subject results in a grade out of seven, giving a maximum potential score

of 42, with up to three bonus points for the additional programme requirements, making the final score out of 45.

This means there are 2,000 possible scores an ATAR student can receive, but only 45 degrees of separation for a DP student.

In theory, every student could receive the maximum point score, unlike ATAR where students are ranked. The IB is marked against predetermined criteria and every subject carries the same worth; there are no high or low scaling subjects.

Pedagogical differences At Scotch, we offer the IBDP because we believe the Diploma’s strong focus on critical and creative thinking and conceptual understanding are of greater value to students than content recall. These skills have growing relevance in the workplace and we have found that our IBDP students are well prepared for university.

Having said that, we also recognise that the IBDP is not for every student which is why we offer three pathways. The IB Diploma is deliberately broad, whereas WACE is more flexible. It can be broad or narrow, and also offers students the chance to refine their subject selection by being able to change a subject they do not enjoy. WACE also offers much better preparation for vocational pathways with a very flexible approach to achieving graduation.

Scotch recognises the differences in students learning styles and, to honour this, we offer the three pathways to promote engagement and a sustained passion for lifelong learning.

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Mr James Hindle

Wellbeing

Schools should be people places The importance of building mental health The longer I work in education, several things become clear: firstly and fundamentally, that we are recognising the existential importance of emphasising wellbeing for and in young people. We are providing them with the skills to cope with the social and emotional challenges they will face in their individual and collective futures. In time, this will become the number one priority of education, although we still have some way to go.

Secondly, wellbeing is different for each of us, and it is largely our own responsibility. It is not just something to be provided in Wellbeing lessons – although that is a key ingredient – but it filters into a young person’s life via the multitude of experiences they have.

And thirdly, life is relational: we come to understand ourselves and our capacities and abilities in relation to the world around us. Hopefully, we manage to find a place within this world based on our relationships with those around us and, most importantly, our understanding of ourselves. As Bill Dickinson put it: “Schools are, or should be, people places.

Their primary purpose is to help young people to develop their potential to the full – that is, to nurture them as they grow and change.”

This remains the great challenge for schools, a challenge exacerbated by the events of recent years.

Short bursts of stress (eustress) can be beneficial, driving humans to meet deadlines or goals or overcome difficulties. However, prolonged stress (distress) is known to have profoundly negative effects on people’s health. We are living in a time of prolonged stress (COVID-19, floods, fires, the invasion of Ukraine, climate change), which has an impact on us individually and collectively, even if we are not directly involved. Young people may not be fully aware of this stress, but it can proliferate through a sense of being powerless to alter things around them.

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How we respond collectively in these circumstances is instructional; what young people see us doing and saying stays with them. At Scotch, we remain focused on building positive relationships between staff and students, students of different ages and school and home.

Our role is to build mental ‘wealth’, which can be most effectively done by exposing young people to a variety of experiences – not all of which should go exactly as planned or be comfortable. These can be small, everyday things or larger events. It can also be built by providing time for reflection – asking what has gone well, getting them to think about how they have dealt with difficulty or what they have seen work for others. This is really about developing a capacity to be honest and a willingness to share how they are feeling.

Two powerful examples of this at Scotch are the Tomorrow Man programme we run with our Year 10 and 11 boarders and the new Dose of Stillness programme. During Tomorrow Man, students explore how we deal with loss and hardship, express our emotions and can help others as they face their own difficulties. I have witnessed many students share some of their hardest moments, and the peer support offered to them is something we would not have seen 10 years ago.

Dose of Stillness enables staff and students to take a few moments to pause and check-in with themselves at the start of each lesson. It is based on the following three short practices, designed to develop awareness and greater control when we may feel out of control.

• Grounding: anchoring the attention of the mind back in the body with gentle movements • Engaging: engaging the nervous system to draw the mind in – literally by drawing on a post-it note • Focusing: using simple breathing techniques to further calm and focus the mind

In a time of increasing polarisation, perhaps the most important skill for young people to learn is the ability to network: to speak with strangers, listen to others and try to understand their perspectives. This requires flexibility and adaptability, skills which are the lifeblood of schools, practised when people speak with their friends and others in class, homeroom, mentor groups or their Houses. This is extremely important for developing empathy.

Understanding that others experience the world differently is integral for social harmony and progress. It is something that is fostered when reading a text in English – students are asked to put themselves in someone else’s position. It occurs in Drama, where they step into another’s life and act that out in front of an audience. This should be a daunting yet humbling experience as they come to appreciate that how they see the world is not the only way of seeing. It can also foster a sense of gratitude for what they have.

The Arts have a crucial part to play in enabling us to come to terms with the world: they help us express our pain and sorrow, enable us to understand the suffering of others, and empower us to find a way forward. They are where the essence of humanity resides and where hope is enshrined.

In difficult times, it is important for young people to have a sense of something solid in their lives. Strong and positive relationships provide this stability, as well as the protection required for young people to explore who they are. This is the essence of wellbeing. It is found in all the places I have described above and many others. This is what schools must continue to provide.

Year 10 Service students painting the Blue Tree at Lake Claremont as part of The Blue Tree Project – a suicide prevention programme that aims to grow conversations about mental health

Mr Richard Foster

Co-Curricular

Front row: Harry Gilchrist (OSC 2019), Rohan Dick (OSC 2018) and Matthew Moore (OSC 2019) performing in The Wedding Singer

From the rugby field to the stage Our society and work culture have undergone a massive shift. We no longer have one job or stay with one company for our entire careers, and we don’t expect to. Young people entering the workforce today need to be adaptable, they will have many careers, interests and passions, and they will succeed and fail at many things. Life has become about curiosity and discovery, and, at Scotch, we embrace that.

Our Co-Curricular programme is part of the all-encompassing education we offer at the College. It provides a breadth of opportunities that lead to personal growth and development. We offer students the chance to connect and collaborate. They are given great avenues to discover new passions, build and develop skills in these areas, and learn through action and reflection. Through these experiences, they develop many essential life skills, including but not limited to: • • • • • •

leadership, collaboration, risk-taking, problem-solving, teamwork and time management.

There are so many Old Scotch Collegians who demonstrate this breadth and agility in their careers, but I would like to recognise just three of them who are following their own unique paths. Past student and 2022 Sculpture by the Sea Cottesloe artist Sachio Ingrilli (OSC 2017) was awarded the EY People’s Choice Prize of $5,000 after visitors voted his work, Perspective, their favourite out of 70 artworks by Western Australian, interstate and international artists. The 23-year-old is studying Honours in Mechanical Engineering and Physics at UWA and applied his engineering skills, including 3D modelling, computer programming and manufacturing, to create his first-ever artwork in an unconventional way.

For Perspective, Sachio arranged 3.2m-high stainless steel posts that combine to display two distinct words – ‘yes’ and ‘no’ – when viewed from different vantage points. At school, Sachio was on the Student Council, a member of the Pipe Band and Drumline, and played Badminton and Volleyball. He was very strong academically and received Academic Honours and Colours and the FG Medcalf Proficiency Prize and WR Dickinson Leadership Award.

Taigh van Schouwen (OSC 2019) is another past Scotch student who embodies this

dexterity in aptitude and interests. A talented rugby player and athlete, Taigh seriously injured his ankle when he was in Year 11.

The unfortunate accident resulted in multiple surgeries and squashed his dream to become a professional rugby player. Undergoing rehabilitation, Taigh began teaching himself guitar through YouTube and writing songs.

Skip forward to 2022, and he’s won the TikTok-based music competition UNDSCVRD, is supporting The Veronicas and has signed a three-year management deal, under his stage name, Taigh Wade. It’s an impressive transformation when you recall that the first time Taigh sang publicly was at the Inter-House Singing Competition in his graduating year.

Recently, Rohan Dick (OSC 2018) was cast as the lead in WAAPA’s musical, Mack & Mabel, to be presented from 10–16 June at His Majesty’s Theatre. As a student, Rohan was an all-rounder, willing to give everything a go and is one who has pursued his passion for performing arts in a big way.

These are the stories we need to be telling as we encourage our students to try new things and explore new avenues. You don’t have to be just a footballer, musician, debater or drama student. You can be more than one thing. And how do you know what you like if you don’t try? Imagine if Taigh never sang at Scotch – in what was the winning performance of the competition. Imagine if he’d never been encouraged to.

As Scotch Director of Co-Curricular, I want to emphasise how important discovery is for young people and how a big part of this is being given these opportunities. Opportunities like performing arts showcases and music soirees; junior to senior inter-school sport programmes, STEM programmes; community service opportunities; local, interstate and international tours; outdoor education offerings; chess tournaments; mock trials, debating, public speaking; and Round Square experiences and exchange programmes.

These are simply not opportunities that all young people are afforded. They’re a privilege that we hope our students will take every advantage of as they seek and pursue their interests and passions.

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Teacher Feature Get to know Year 3 Teacher Markus Munday

Why did you choose to become a teacher?

Ever since I was young, I knew I wanted to be a teacher. At school, I loved helping my peers. My teachers were supportive and enabled me to discover a love for learning. I still remember many of my teachers and feel their impact today. So, choosing a career in teaching was simple! I know that school can be challenging for some, but my number one goal is to make sure my students love being at school each day.

How would you summarise your teaching vision in one sentence?

Empowering students to take ownership over their learning, achieve their personal best, and celebrate all successes, no matter how big or small.

Tell us about one of your favourite memories as a teacher.

There are too many to count! I think the best times are when a student grasps a concept or makes an achievement.

In my previous role in Victoria, I spent many weeks teaching online throughout the COVID-19 lockdowns. I’ll never forget the sound of cheers and excitement as my students lined up at the door to return to the classroom. Not only were they eager to learn but to reunite with their friends and me as their teacher too. The connections we build each day at school make it a special place, and it’s hard to maintain these relationships when we’re only communicating across screens.

How do you build links between classroom lessons and real-world implications?

What motivates you to get out of bed each morning?

Incursions and excursions are a great way to broaden students’ learning experiences.

A recent virtual incursion with our local MP, Celia Hammond, gave our students a peek into the importance of communities, roles and responsibilities.

My students are my biggest motivator.

Being part of their learning journey is such a privilege.

In each lesson, I create activities for my students to practise their new skills at home.

They recently measured the size of their toys, ordered by scale, and took a photo to present to the class. Without linking topics to real-world implications, it’s easy for students to lack a meaningful understanding of what they’ve learned.

I also find opportunities to demonstrate examples of what we’ve been learning in class. While baking a cake for my nephew’s birthday, I took photos as I finished each step. As a class, we looked at the pictures to unpack how we can create ordered instructions and segment information.

By connecting classroom lessons to things students do every day, they absorb what they’re learning and feel empowered to apply their skills.

“My number one goal is to make sure my students love being at school each day.”

With the long list of tasks and demands teachers face, it’s easy to forget the little things. Moments like these underline why my job is so important.

What do you remember most about your teachers and school experience?

My teachers got to know me as a person – the things I liked, didn’t like, my family, strengths and weaknesses. I felt truly cared about and, therefore, motivated to learn.

As a teacher, I know that building relationships and trust with students is critical. When students feel understood and supported, they are empowered to be their best selves and motivated to learn. I’ve made it a priority to understand my students, and I know about their families, their dogs’ and cats’ names, what they do on the weekends, the foods they like and dislike and their motivators and triggers.

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Markus Monday with Year students, photograph: Susie Blatchford

I’m lucky to be part of a team that encourages innovation, and I always look forward to bringing new ideas to life with fellow Year 3 teacher Nina Eleftheriou.

Each day at work, I’m fortunate to learn from the best – our Head of Junior School Maria Hodges, Deputy Head of Junior School Amanda Richie and Dean of Teaching and Learning – Junior School Warwick Norman.

You’ve told us all about your teaching life – what do you do with the rest of your time?

I’m very family orientated, so I love spending time with them. I love cooking – Mexican food in particular. I’m also a bit of a bookworm!

Each fortnight, I read one book for enjoyment and the other to learn something new. Student wellbeing is a topic I like reading about and is where I’ve gained many valuable tips, from classroom strategies to emotional regulation.

I’m currently enjoying Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. Although, my all-time favourite read is probably Hillary Clinton’s memoir, What Happened.

Banjo Harold

Captain of School A future forged in maroon and gold The following abridged speech was given at the Senior School Assembly on Friday 22 October 2021.

Good morning Headmaster, staff, parents, Old Scotch Collegians and boys. Welcome to the first Assembly of the new academic year.

My name is Banjo Harold, and I am privileged and honoured to be the Captain of School for 2022. I would like to begin by saying how grateful I am for the opportunity, along with the other new student leaders and all of the Year 12 cohort, to lead this school in 2022.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the Old Scotch Collegians returning to the College today for the very special occasion of Founders’ Day. After much debate by the Year 12 cohort on this year’s theme, it is now my pleasure to introduce the theme of 2022: ‘A future forged in maroon and gold’. We hope it is something that we as a College can collectively strive towards.

So, what are we hoping that this statement will capture about our school?

We believe it captures the essence of what this school is, which is a marriage between the past and the future. The past is a torch to light the way forward. This theme symbolises us using our past heritage and traditions, that being our Scottish roots intertwined within our House system. Like the tartan, which is a part of our past and present. These tartans symbolise the Scottish clans, which connect us all to our school’s proud Scottish heritage.

These notions of tradition only add to this great College’s culture, which helps us, as young men of Scotch, continue to forge the legacy and future of this College, which will have a lasting impact on the next generation of Scotch men.

The first section of the theme ‘A future forged’ is about not stagnating during your time at the College. Forging something takes effort – it takes energy. In this sense, our hard work is what will forge our reputations, individually and as a school.

Our legacy is about a group of individuals all with different interests, uniting collectively under one banner, the Scotch banner, to progress and move forward as one. To strive for a better future for this College.

But before we forge our future, we must first look to the second part of the phrase, ‘in maroon and gold’. The College’s two colours that we wear every day define us and distinguish us at inter-school events.

Founded in 1897, the year 2022 marks 125 years of tradition and culture built by men of good character, never wavering from our Scottish roots through their blood, sweat and more than just a few tears. ‘In maroon and gold’ symbolises the College’s past, our traditions, heritage and culture. Maroon and gold is a reminder of where we have come from and how important our past is for this College.

The way I see it, we can all contribute to this theme via three strands of that tartan through: • Culture, • Tradition and • Legacy.

Culture is really about the welcoming feeling you get when you walk around the yard; it is intangible – but you know that it’s there. You can feel that connection to the College as an individual; you can sense the immense pride that Scotch boys feel when they pull on the maroon and gold for that Public Schools Association game. As current students, we must take on this stewardship and continue to set the bar even higher in terms of kindness, compassion, respect and empathy and work hard, as the All Blacks rugby team would put it, “to leave the jersey in a better place”.

Tradition refers to the 125 years of Scotch boys before us who sacrificed so much for us to be here today. Tradition stands for our Scottish roots and our unwavering commitment to these roots, the tartan, our hardy spirit and our pride and honour. Tradition is what defines this College; it connects us to our past but also links us to our future and symbolises the passing of the baton and our commitment to honouring the past.

Legacy refers to the lasting impact the Year 12 students leave on the school when they cross the threshold, become part of the OSC and officially pass on the baton. So I urge you to create your legacy, and by doing that, you will forge the school’s legacy. To quote Andrew Burvill, Captain of School in 2017, “How will you ever leave your own mark if you pursue others’ footsteps?”

I distinctly remember the impact of Harry Gilchrist and Benji Steinberg’s legacy on the College and on me. These two senior leaders knew my name and would say hello as I passed them in the corridor, and for a Year 9 student, that was something that had a lasting impact on me. The legacy those two great men imparted to me was to be kind and treat those around you with respect, regardless of your relationship with them.

In the next 12 months, I challenge you to try something new but, if not, continue to strive for excellence within your passion. Take the opportunity that has been given to you by your parents, make memories, learn, progress and strive for a better future.

“How will you ever leave your own mark if you pursue others’ footsteps?”

– Andrew Burvill, Captain of School 2017 Use your talents to create something unique – forge your own reputation because one day, your time at the College will come to an end, and no one will remember what sports team you played in or how good an athlete you were; what will be remembered is how you treated others.

To finish, I will say this: always try to be kind, be courageous, don’t be afraid to try new things, be proud of the College, embrace the good and the bad. And just like Josh Ledger said 12 months ago, “Don’t remember this year as the year that you didn’t; remember it as the year that you did.”

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Nelson Hegge

Vice-Captain of School (Service)

Middle School students after the World’s Greatest Shave

Braving the shave On Wednesday 23 March, Scotch College hosted our annual World’s Greatest Shave event. It was hugely successful, despite the restrictions we had to work around.

The shave supports people suffering from Leukaemia, a disease also known as blood cancer. Shaving shows solidarity with those who lose their hair due to the chemotherapy they must endure to stand a chance against this deadly disease.

As well as promoting the fundraiser through assemblies and emails to the Scotch community, the Presbyterian Ladies’ College Service Captain, Indah Jenkins, and I made a video explaining the event and cause.

To explain the cause, Indah and I spoke to Year 12 students Harry Clark and Elijsha Blackburn, who have both fought and won battles against Leukaemia. The stories they shared about their experiences and their insights about life with this disease were striking and emotional and gave meaning to this event and cause.

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Harry explained how his “whole life was flipped upside down” through the disease.

He spoke about how “support was everything”, and he wouldn’t have made it through this experience without the people around him.

Elijsha shared how the “World’s Greatest Shave helps fund parents being able to be near their kids in hospital”. Harry reminded us of the research the Leukaemia Foundation supports and how “20 years ago, there’s no way you would’ve survived cancer”.

The day of the event was an enormous success. The Middle School’s shave was first and took place on their quad before school, with many students volunteering to say goodbye to their hair for this great cause. A massive thank you must also go to Mitch Williams in Year 8, who raised more than $6,000 for the Leukaemia Foundation, making him the highest fundraiser out of the entire school.

Next was the Junior School, where classes took turns to have their hair coloured with an assortment of different shades and patterns.

The colours looked amazing, and all the boys were very pleased with their hair. Some Year 5 students also raised money towards the Head of Junior School, Mrs Maria Hodges, having her hair coloured, which showed great initiative by these boys.

In the afternoon, the Senior School boys had their heads shaved in House groups, which was a huge success, and all of the buzz cuts looked phenomenal. There was a great atmosphere around the event, and everyone was excited to shave their heads for this great cause.

In total, we had 170 students shaving their heads on top of all the junior students who had their hair coloured. We raised over $90,000, a record for Scotch and an exceptional amount that will make a huge impact on those suffering from the disease.

Clockwise from top left: Junior School students at the World’s Greatest Shave; Harry Miels (Year 12), Mitch Williams (Year 8) and Toby Evans (Year 12); Harry Nicholls (Year 8) having his hair cut by Harry Jenour (Year 12); Jarrah Withers (Year 12); Luca Niardone (Year 8); Captain of School Banjo Harold (Year 12); (centre image) Ed Graham having his hair cut by Oscar Rogers (both Year 12); Elijsha (Eli) Blackburn having his haircut by Harrison Pateman (both Year 12)

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March Out On Friday 15 October 2021, our annual graduation ceremony March Out also marked the reopening of Scotch’s iconic Gooch Pavilion.

Thanks to generous donations from a remarkable number of our community, the beloved pavilion was the proud backdrop as our Class of 2021 marched across the grounds for the final time.

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Opposite (clockwise from top): March Out 2021, Captain of School 2021 Joshua Ledger; Headmaster Dr Alec O’Connell and Head of Senior School Peter Burt with Tom Lynch and Isaac Gold; Captain Nicolas Le Page leading Anderson House Clockwise from top left: Julie Dickson and Headmaster O’Connell; (left to right) Will Hudson, Ben Ramsden and Ruan van der Riet; 2022 leaders handover; Year 12 Pipe Band falling out; Reverend Gary van Heerden, Head of Senior School Peter Burt, Headmaster O’Connell and Joshua Ledger; James Macgeorge and Herc du Preez

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Left to right: Joseph Edwards, Stewart Palassis, Zachary Lee exploring the mTiny coding robot with Mrs Olivia Harnwell in Kindergarten, 2021, photograph: Susie Blatchford; Chase Young (Pre-Primary)

How to use digital technology creatively in early learning We approached with caution when introducing digital technology into our early childhood learning programmes.

We were concerned that our children may already be over exposed to digital technology and that adding more to our early childhood spaces might not enhance the learning programme. As we undertook an action research project with Presbyterian Ladies’ College, our view shifted, and we recognised the opportunity for children to use digital technology as a form of creative expression rather than passive consumption. Through Project Pink – a project that aims to develop the digital pedagogy and policy within our early year programmes – we saw the potential to embrace digital technology as one of our children’s many languages.

In Kindergarten, we explored ways to empower children to tell their own stories through iPads. We set about honouring an image of a strong, capable and empowered child, handing over an unlocked iPad and tripod stand to three- and four-year-olds.

Throughout the year, we joyously supported

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the children in their journey to explore and create with timelapse videos, ChatterPix Kids, iMotion, mTiny and Draw and Tell apps.

We empowered them to capture their own learning journey through their lens and not the educator’s lens.

When creating, children were charged with the responsibility of starting and stopping the timelapse video. It was a beautiful celebration of the process. A moment in time, captured by each child to showcase their thinking, their pencil grip and the way they meticulously added each stroke or dot with a pen when mark making. When using an iPad as a documentation tool, we discovered that our youngest learners are far more capable of leading learning experiences and capturing their own learning journey than we ever thought possible. We can proudly say that our image of strong, capable and empowered children is truly visible in our classroom.

“We discovered that our youngest learners are far more capable of leading learning experiences than we ever thought possible.”

In Pre-Primary, we began our iPad learning with how to take a photograph. Together we developed an understanding of consent and the importance of asking before taking a photo. Children explored form and perspective and how to define a subject clearly. Together we investigated how the iPad functions and how to use the home button to return to a safe and familiar page when navigating apps and the internet. The class quickly became skilled at independently using two creative apps, Keynote and Draw and Tell.

Throughout the year, we progressed to more complex creative apps such as iMovie and Do Ink using green screen technology. We created learning spaces where children could play and explore technology with their friends and call on adult support when needed. Using these apps, our Pre-Primary children could represent their ideas and learning with growing independence. It was such a pleasure to see control of the iPad move from the adult to the child’s hands and, as a result, to witness children develop agency over their learning.

Mrs Racquel Cumming and Mrs Olivia Harnwell Kindergarten and Pre-Primary Teachers

Clockwise from left: Benjamin Bloch (Year 6) with his Exhibition piece; Scholar in Residence Akram Azimi presenting on the UN Sustainable Development Goals; Benjamin and Preston Rogers (Year 3)

The problem with wastewater During Year 5, our class studied the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for the Primary Years Programme Exhibition.

The process started with familiarising ourselves with the goals. Luckily, I already had quite a good understanding but was interested to learn more. There are 17 goals that came into effect in 2016, including no poverty, zero hunger, good health and wellbeing and quality education, just to name a few. The goal I wanted to focus on was Goal 14 – Life Below Water: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development – because I have a big interest in the ocean.

Part of the Exhibition is coming up with a solution to a problem. The idea I had was about how could we stop wastewater from getting into our waterways. I wanted to fix the aftermath of wastewater treatment, which is ocean outfall (how treated wastewater is returned to the ocean), to be more sustainable. My dad has a friend at the University of Western Australia, Research Fellow Dr Bede Mickan, who is studying this as well. He had found that there were some

dangerous chemical traces coming out of the Point Peron ocean outfall.

The first step of the Exhibition was to research my topic. I went to UWA to catch up with Dr Mickan. He is a world expert on treating waste materials like wastewater and urban waste for purposes of cleaning the environment. He gave me lots of information that I used in my report, which brings me to the second step: writing the report. I had to write a descriptive report filled with lots of information about my problem and how it affected the environment.

After completing the report, I was on to the stage of planning and building my Exhibition statement piece. I drew a few detailed plans, and after choosing the best one, I had to get the right materials to build my statement piece. For me, this consisted of spending many hours at Bunnings and sometimes guessing the size of a bit of pipe and working out how much I needed. My idea was to build a replica filter for the ocean outfall pipes using biochar (a charcoal type substance), which my dad helped me source. Biochar removes dangerous chemicals from wastewater before it reaches the ocean.

Once the biochar has filtered the wastewater, it is used as a super fertiliser to grow trees and crops, capturing carbon. We are trying to help the environment.

It took many shots and many attempts to get the right amount of biochar, the right pump and pipes, and not get the biochar mixed into the water. This was very hard, and I easily spent nearly half of my building time perfecting this. Once I had finished my statement piece, it was time for us to present it to visiting audiences. Luckily, it was not too hard at the start because I got to present to the Junior School kids. But after I had finished with them, it was time for the real deal, the parents.

I really enjoyed the Exhibition showcase because the parents and other guests showed so much interest in my piece and asked me lots of questions. I enjoyed talking to them about my research because they really thought about the importance of my piece. They also found it very interesting.

My favourite part of the Exhibition was the building. It was fun to design and create my statement piece. The Exhibition is quite different to regular schoolwork because it is challenging, real-life and rewarding.

Benjamin Bloch Year 6

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Engineering the future with LEGO In 2019, Scotch established our FIRST LEGO League with an excited team of Junior School students.

The LEGO League Challenge is an international competition for primary and middle school students organised by FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). After a highly successful first year, our Challenge groups have grown to include students from Pre-Primary through to Year 8 for the 2022 competition.

Since its establishment, we have had several original members who have participated each year since joining. The popularity of this Co-Curricular club and all it offers students has also seen its inclusion into the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) curriculum across all year levels in Junior and Middle School. Students are engaged and empowered in these handson, authentic learning experiences where they are inspired to experiment and grow their critical thinking, coding and design skills.

The international competition is highly regarded and encourages students to think globally in response to the year’s LEGO Challenge. Working together, students research and provide a solution to a theme-related problem and work through robotics challenges on the challenge board. The Challenge’s core values are key to the team’s success, encouraging collaboration, recognising team members’ skills and talents, and sharing ideas.

In 2022, we look forward to inviting teams to participate across all year levels:

FIRST LEGO League Discover This playful introductory STEM programme ignites their natural curiosity and builds their learning habits with hands-on activities in the classroom and at home using LEGO Duplo bricks.

FIRST LEGO League Explore In Explore, teams of students aged 6–10 focus on the fundamentals of engineering as they explore real-world problems, learn to design and code and create unique solutions made with LEGO bricks and powered by a LEGO education robot.

FIRST LEGO League Challenge Friendly competition is at the heart of this challenge, as teams engage in research, problem-solving, coding and engineering to build and program a LEGO robot that navigates the missions of a robot game. As part of the Challenge, teams participate in a research project to identify and solve a relevant real-world problem.

“Over the past three years that Scotch College has competed, we have won multiple awards at both a regional and national level.

Last year we got second overall in the state and will be representing Australia and the College at the Asia Pacific Championships, held remotely over three days. We are keen to finish this season off and have another go next year.” – Zachary Blakey, Year 8 From top: Year 6 students Lucas Kwan and Zachary McManus; James Christensen (OSC 2007) helped our Year 6/7 Challenge team with their research into natural disasters; Year 7 2021 students Guillaume Daoud, Luca Regli, Leon Hugo, Zachary Blakey and James Stephan celebrate their overall runner-up trophy at the Nationals; Year 5 2021 students Hugh Twaddle, Saxon Clout, Lucas Kwan, Lachlan Gillett, Jacob Ferguson, Oscar Seaburne-May, Benjamin Roberts and Zachary McManus celebrate their overall win at our regional qualifying event

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Mr Andrew Wells STEM Teacher

Recipes

Healthy Muffins

Burger Challenge

Jack Keys and Oscar Robinson Year 6

Thomas Kitchen and Charles Reed, Year 7 Year 7

INGREDIENTS

METHOD

INGREDIENTS

METHOD

2 ½ cups self-raising flour

1. Preheat oven to 200°C.

Patty

1 cup sugar

2. Place the milk, vinegar, vanilla essence, oil and egg into a measuring jug and mix with a fork.

100g beef mince

1. Student 1 must lay down the non-slip mat, place the chopping board on top and begin to cut the vegetables, making sure to dice the onions.

3. Sift flour into the large silver bowl.

1 egg, beaten

4. Add the sugar into the bowl and mix together with a spoon.

¼ white onion

1 egg 1 ¼ cups milk cup vegetable oil 1 tsp vinegar 1 tsp vanilla essence ¾ cup raspberries ½ cup white chocolate chips

“I’ve learned how to bake muffins because I lived in Bali for four years, and we would never make food, and now I want to make muffins every Sunday.”

Oscar Robinson, Year 6

5. Pour the white choc chips and raspberries into the mixing bowl and combine.

6. Add the liquid ingredients from the jug to the bowl.

7. Fold all the ingredients gently with a metal spoon so the gas doesn’t escape making the muffins flat and chewy.

8. Place the muffin mixture into paper patty pans in the muffin tray using an ice cream scoop (fill to about 1cm from the top).

9. Bake at 200°C for approximately 15 minutes.

½ tsp crushed garlic ¼ cup breadcrumbs

Burger ½ tomato, sliced 2 lettuce leaves 2 slices of cheese 2 pineapple rings 2 tbsp tabasco 2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce 2 sesame seed buns Pinch of salt

“We fused sweet and spicy while still making it healthy.”

Thomas Kitchen, Year 7

“I’ve learned what a good muffin tastes like!”

“It tasted really fresh.”

Jack Keys, Year 6

Charles Reed, Year 7

2. While Student 1 is chop, Year 7ping, Student 2 can crack the egg in a bowl and beat it until it is one solid colour.

3. Once Student 2 has finished beating the egg, they can combine the meat, breadcrumbs, garlic, tabasco and onions in another bowl.

4. Now mix the patty mixture together and separate it into two patties.

5. Cook the two patties in a medium-sized frying pan over medium heat.

6. On either side of the patty, place a cheese slice on both patties make sure the side you put the cheese on is already cooked.

7. Make sure both sides of the patty have been cooked through and have no pink raw meat.

8. Now assemble the patty with the other ingredients and sweet chilli sauce and enjoy.

Left to right: Jack Keys and Oscar Robinson making muffins; Thomas Kitchen and Charles Reed with their recipe

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Creative Writing We showcase students’ prose and poetry in our online literary publication, The Raven, and have recently launched a new Middle School iteration. The following short stories by two Year 7 students are a window into the vivid imaginations of our emerging writers. Visit home.scotch.wa.edu.au/theraven for more original work.

The Dawnstone Dilemma Oliver Patterson Year 7 The morning arrived slowly for the Dawnstone family. The priest spoke, “We are here to mourn the death of Clive Dawnstone, beloved of many.” The words were like a blade to the heart. The weeping of many echoed through the cemetery. “Clive lived a full and rich life,” voiced the priest. As the words escaped his mouth, you could see almost everyone stopped crying. Instead, yearning broke through their façade of despair.

Many hours later, the sound of clinking glasses and chatter filled the halls of Dawnstone Estate. Being Clive’s, it brought sorrow to many. A tall lady with hair the colour of oak and wearing a dress as dark as night stood out; her makeup was impeccable, and she laughed boisterously. Meanwhile, in the corner of the room sat Melissa, a young girl no older than 15. Her auburn hair was a frizzy mess. Clive had been her grandfather, and she cared for him ever so much. Tears leaked down her face like a waterfall.

“Now to read the will of Clive Dawnstone,” announced the priest, brandishing a white envelope. The tall lady’s eyes shone like the moon. A man wrapped in tattoos was ready to leap out of his chair. A podgy, wrinkly woman with a dress that looked like a dog had vomited on it stared intently. The priest opened the envelope, lowered his spectacles and stared in disbelief. People muttered, then went silent as the priest squeaked, “Th-the w-w-will is gone!” Chaos ensued. Gasps swept through the room like a tidal wave.

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“No!” spat the fat woman.

“Preposterous!” screamed the tall lady. The tattooed man grunted.

“SILENCE!” The priest shocked the crowd as they fell silent. “The closest family members of Clive shall meet again tomorrow to decide which one of them will take the fortune.”

Half of the guests had already started to leave. “Eloise,” the tall woman’s grin spread up her face.

“Kirk,” the tattooed man shouted, “HELL YEAH!!!” Many stared at Kirk as they began to siphon out the door.

“Helda and Melissa,” the fat woman chuckled.

Melissa thought to herself: “I don’t want the money.” She contemplated declining the offer, “But I definitely don’t want those greedy pigs to receive the fortune.”

The next morning came quickly, for Melissa at least. The others had a restless night, waiting, waiting. Melissa walked up the marble stairs to the Estate and knocked on the gargantuan double spruce doors. THUD! THUD! THUD! The doors swung open, and she was met with Helda’s spiteful face, her eyes glued to Melissa.

“Only Eloise left. Kirk is just having some coffee in the living room,” Helda snarled.

Melissa could smell something gross from the room, like cigarette smoke. Helda was like a tiger protecting her children. THUD! THUD! THUD! “FBI,” a gruff voice spoke. A grim look sprawled along Helda’s face. “It was a car crash; her engine failed.”

Images of demolished cars, a blazing inferno and wails for help filled Melissa’s mind. She was gone.

“We have reason to believe that one of you made this happen. Where is the criminal?”

Without a second thought, Helda pointed a finger at the living room. As the FBI profiler marched in, a horrible stench seeped out of the room. The others tumbled in; then, they stared in astonishment. They stood in silence until, “Probably a drug overdose; he was involved with some bad people,” the profiler spoke solemnly.

“Yes, I think that’s right,” announced Helda, a bit too happily. Her body seemed to jerk in excitement.

“When did you arrive?” quizzed the profiler.

“At-at t-t-ten—,” replied Helda. She never finished that sentence. Helda collapsed with a thud. Then her body convulsed, and she started screaming. Silence. That was all that was left.

“A heart attack, or so it seems,” said the profiler, unfazed. Melissa’s face was painted with horror. “You did this,” exclaimed the profiler, whipping out a pair of cuffs.

“It was me. It was all me,” croaked a deep voice, “I was trying to protect my fortune.

Now leave before something unfortunate happens to you!” the voice rasped.

He was alive.

The Lost

approach Billy as he shouted at them in rage, bombarding them with questions.

Blake Atkinson Year 7

“Where is my mum?” he screamed into their faces. “Who are you?” he screamed in anger.

One by one, they disappeared. Gone.

Lost. There was no explanation. They just disappeared. The population of Helen dropped from 800 to 500 in one year. It was unexplained and unexpected.

“Wow, settle, kiddo. We’re here to help,” the tallest of the three detectives explained. “I’m really sorry, kid, but your mum is now one of the lost,” he explained in a solemn tone.

Billy Houston was one of the few unlucky kids to be born in this horrible time. Born in Helen Hospital, Billy was taken straight home to bed because of the fear that he’d disappear along with the other half of this small German town.

Helen wasn’t big with all 800 of its citizens, but now, with only 500, it was minuscule. The hospital was so underused that the mayor didn’t have the money to run it anymore, and there wasn’t really any need to; no one wanted to have kids in these horrible times.

The first disappearance happened on 16 November 2009. It was a Friday night, and the man was drunk, walking home from the local pub. On his way, it was said that he “flickered” before disappearing entirely, never to be seen again.

On 31 January 2009, Billy woke to a heavy, sudden downpour of rain on his old musty window on the right of his bed. Being in the middle of winter, he really did not have any motivation to get out of bed and go to his nogood, dirty, old school with only around 100 students. But his mum made that decision.

Billy heard his mum, Miranda, running up the stairs, probably ready to crash tackle him to the ground in hugs and kisses. He was right. His mum, almost bounding in like a happy puppy, jumped onto his bed and smothered him in wet, sloppy kisses. After escaping her grasp, he ran downstairs to the bathroom to do his business and then to the kitchen to have his breakfast. He quickly got dressed into his starched uniform, ran over to the shed to grab his bike, and then rode to school. School was something else entirely.

It sucked. And to be honest, Billy wasn’t that good at school in general. But after school, he was free.

Happy to exit the school gate, he rode home to find his mum and do his chores. Even they were better than his homework. He pulled the house key out of his school bag and turned it in the lock. The door squeaked on its rusty hinges, and he pushed it open. He called out to his mum, but there was not the usual reply. “Mum?” he called again. Again, no response. “Mum!” he shouted as he ran toward the kitchen.

As he burst through the kitchen door, he saw three black-clad detectives in long black trench coats and hats with tinted glasses covering their eyes. They began to

“No! No!” Billy ran straight down the hallway and out onto the street, trying to process what had just happened. He turned around, looking at his house. So many memories.

So many…

He sped down the street towards his hangout in the abandoned mayor’s house to talk to himself to calm down. Approaching the rickety old house, he saw the tall bell tower in the centre of the building, the rotten wood somehow covering the manky, rundown interior, and the one light in the far-right corner of the house. He carefully walked through the rotten door and into the reception room. He took a right up the spiral staircase, and on the second level, he climbed through a hole in the wall into a small room with a massive door leading to darkness. “Oh, I must have taken a wrong turn,” he said to nobody. But he still pushed forward through the door.

On the other side of the door was the same as the room before – the exact same. The

The first disappearance happened on 16 November 2009. same hole in the wall, but the only difference was that the hole was behind him and the big door was in front. Almost as if he went back in time. Curious, Billy walked through the door again and again; he began to notice small differences in the appearance of the room. It was getting newer and newer, and after a minute of walking through his time machine door, the house was brand new.

Shiny polished wooden floorboards and white painted jarrah-lined walls.

Billy walked out of the door that had been recreated behind him. He walked outside to see the town bustling with people, and all the houses looked shiny and new. It looked just like the town in the old photos before the lost. Before his mum was gone. At first, there were rumours of a curse that was cast upon the town because of its greedy mayor, Mayor Kleinschmidt. He was nice and thoughtful on the outside, but he was a greedy old toad on the inside. He only had the job because it paid the best in town, not because he cared about the people. He then disappeared as one of the first of the lost. Ever since then,

people, rich and poor, nice and mean, have been disappearing all around town, and it has run into a state of disrepair and disgust, veering well away from the cute little town that it once was.

As Billy walked through the streets of the town of the past, he saw his house standing bright and tall in the shimmering sunlight.

Wondering how it looked before, he started to walk in through the front door, forgetting entirely that it was not his house at this moment in time. He strolled straight in the front door and into the kitchen, only to be affronted by a woman in her mid-fifties dressed in an apron and mitts, flipping rice in a frypan. The women screamed in fright as Billy walked in. Billy also screamed in surprise, finally realising that it was not his house. He ran straight back out the door, chest heaving and out of breath.

He continued down the street, trying to keep in mind that it was no longer the same town that he’d lived in for the last 12 years of his life. As he walked down the footpath, he saw a flyer swaying in the afternoon breeze, reading “Vote Kleinschmidt for mayor!”

Glancing ahead, he spotted a large crowd forming around a small stage with a tall man with slicked back, shiny jet-black hair and an expensive suit giving a speech in the middle of it all.

“I, Mathew Klienshmidt, promise my wonderful people that I will al…”

“Blah blah blah,” thought Billy. “What a nutter!”

He walked up to the people and tried to convince a few of them not to vote for him, being careful not to tell them that he was from the future. And while he was at it, he asked when the election was. He jumped in surprise when they all looked at their watches and said the vote was only 20 minutes from now. Billy thought of the rumours about the curse on the mayor and, therefore, the town.

For the first time in his life, he believed it. He thought that if the mayor was not voted in, then the curse would never have happened.

“He cannot, should not and would not be voted in,” he said aloud to no one in particular. So, Billy, the boy who travelled to the past, set off to change the future.

middle school | 23

Breaking the bias In conversation with the Honourable Mia Davies for International Women’s Day On 11 March 2022, Year 7 students Ethan Bartholomaeus and Obi Rogers spoke to the Honourable Mia Davies, WA Leader of the National Party, the first woman to ever hold this role. The following conversation was the first in a new Middle School podcast series and reflected on this year’s IWD theme #BreaktheBias and the importance of amplifying diverse voices.

Ethan Bartholomaeus: Welcome to Conversations at Scotch College Middle School. I am Ethan Bartholomaeus, and today I am warmly welcoming the Honourable Mia Davies, Member of the Legislative Assembly, Opposition Leader and Leader of the Nationals WA and Member for Central Wheatbelt.

Obi Rogers: We welcome you just after an important day on the calendar, International Women’s Day. As a woman in politics, how important is this day to you?

Mia Davies: It’s very important. There’s a real moment where, every year, we pause to reflect on the progress that we’ve made as women and the fight for equality and talk about what we can do to actually continue that fight. So, you need to celebrate the things we’ve achieved and always remind people there’s always more to be done.

Obi: I’m sure you’ve done a lot for the world of females, but what’s your favourite achievement?

Mia: I think it’s hard to choose one. I was quite young when I entered politics, and I’m not sure that it was at the forefront of my mind that I had a role to play in being a role model for other women. When I was elected, in my electorate, the agricultural region, there were 10 members of parliament in the agricultural regions. Out of those, I was the only female. So, 50% of the population in that area looked to the people in parliament to represent them and didn’t see someone that looked like them, spoke like them, or debated like them.

It showed me that it makes it very difficult for people to actually aspire to leadership positions if they don’t even see others like themselves in those positions, so just that very fact of being elected allowed me to be a representative, to show people that you can be a female member of parliament in an area that hadn’t seen [a woman elected] previously for a long time was, I think, one of those achievements.

I think consistently, in my 14 years of being a member of parliament, the most rewarding part is when I come to schools. I speak to young

24 | middle school

people about the opportunities available to them through a life of public service and inspire them to think, ‘Perhaps that’s something that I could do.’ Ideally, I would like to do myself out of a job. I want so many young men and women putting their hands up and saying that I want to be part of making sure we can shape the future of Western Australia; that means everybody gets a fair go.

Obi: Is it at all fair in a group mainly dominated by males. Is it demotivating or more motivating?

Mia: I’m very lucky in the sense that I think it’s both. That sounds like a very political answer, doesn’t it? A bit on the fence. It’s both, and sometimes it drives you to say we can do better, and other times, you know we are surrounded by, I guess, the vestiges of a very maledominated society. And, where I come from, the Central Wheatbelt, the agricultural sector has traditionally been dominated by men. I am in a position where there have traditionally been men in those decision-making processes. But I have also been elevated and supported by men in my professional life as well.

I grew up being surrounded by people in my hometown who took on leadership positions, whether they were male or female. So, whether it is was my Nanna, who is involved in the senior citizens and the CWA [Country Women’s Association], or whether it was my Grandfather or my next-door neighbour or my Mum or my Dad, they all pitched in and got things done. I think coming from a country community, that was just something that was built into us.

To answer your questions about whether it has been motivating or demotivating, there are moments where I think this makes me really angry, and I am going to do more to make sure no one else has to go through the same thing.

But equally, you have to reflect on the fact that there are people who are prepared to support women, and I am very lucky I’ve had lots of men in my life who have been there to support and elevate and give me a little push when I’ve needed it as well.

Obi: Is there anything for International Woman’s Day that we as a school or individuals could do to support this cause?

Mia: Well, I think having this conversation is a great start, absolutely! And you know I’ve told a number of people that I was coming to have this discussion at Scotch College, as one of the functions that I have done this week, as part of IWD. Their eyebrows raise, and my response to that is that we don’t achieve change without everyone pitching in. So part of achieving equality in workplaces is making sure women are afforded opportunities where they deserve them – equal pay, all of those discussions

they get thrown into this basket – comes from everybody understanding that they are part of the solution and making sure that you are having conversations like this.

When you’re all sitting around a table in a decision-making room, it’s not leaving it to the women to start those discussions; make sure you understand why it’s important. Many business people will tell you that if we take it from a purely economic perspective, it should be about equality. [They’ll tell you] that if you have a diversity of decision-makers sitting around your table, your business will do better.

So, there is an economic rationale now for making sure you have balance and equality.

But, absolutely, just from my fundamental human base, it isn’t good to think that people aren’t treated the same when they’re doing the same thing, or they are not afforded the same opportunities simply because they are male or female.

Obi: Do you think it is getting better? Females joining male-dominated jobs?

Mia: Yeah, absolutely! I think we make progress every day, but it requires consistent effort, and so that’s why days like International Women’s Day are just one day. But I think it regenerates and reinvigorates people who have been having this fight for a very long time, and it changes every year how we approach it.

The more people we bring into wanting to be part of this conversation, the better it will be in the long term.

Some people have been fighting for women’s rights forever, and you know they feel like they have spent their whole lives doing that. I’m very grateful that there are men and women who have done that because it made it easier for me to step into the role that I was in. Part of my responsibility as a leader now is to make sure that I continue that, so hopefully, one day, we don’t have to have that conversation; that we can see the merits of an individual as opposed to their gender and that it doesn’t matter. But I’ve absolutely seen change, even in the time that I have been a member of parliament. There are more women on boards, more women in parliament, and more women involved in traditionally male-dominated industries, which certainly hasn’t come about accidentally. That’s come about by having good policy and intent and people persisting in pushing and making sure that we keep having that discussion, and so it needs to be done on purpose as opposed to just letting it happen.

Obi: As you said, there have been other females that have helped push equality forward. Is there anyone that you looked up to?

at the moment. It is a pretty demanding job; I spend a lot of time on the road. When I get an opportunity, I prioritise spending time with my family, who I don’t get to see a great deal of.

If you ask any politician, no matter where they are from, but particularly if they are a regional member of parliament who has a very big electorate, they spend a lot of time on the road away from home. So, you have to make sure that you’ve got good structures in place to provide that balance.

If you’re sitting in the room and you see discrimination occurring, it’s right then and there that you call it out Mia: Oh, many! Many people. There’d be too many to list, and that’s a really good question.

I think the people and the characteristics I admire in people – particularly in women – are people who are prepared to speak even when it is uncomfortable. So, it is an uncomfortable conversation to be the only person in the room raising the question when you are surrounded by a table of men, and you say, ‘Well, what about diversity? What about the women’s issue? What about a gender balance?’ And, as a woman, you feel like sometimes you are the only one always saying that.

I can give you a really good example – Christina Matthews, the CEO of the WA Cricket Association. She is a fantastic cricketer in her own right, but as an executive who runs the WACA, she has done amazing things in bringing men’s and women’s cricket to the fore.

The women and men are treated exactly the same when they are promoted and marketed in career pathways and training. All of those things, it’s not an add on. They have built their business around making sure that men and women are given equal opportunities. Christina is fearless in how she approaches that, and she does it professionally, but it is sometimes difficult to be that person who is always talking about that. And so our task is to bring more people in to that conversation and create those champions of change, men and women.

Ethan: Life balance has become a challenge for everyone, given the demands of modern life.

How do you strike a balance between your role as a politician and your personal aspirations?

Mia: That’s a very good question. I’m not sure that I’ve actually achieved life balance

When talking about work-life balance in a more general sense and from a policy perspective, issues like access to childcare and affordable childcare mean that women and men can participate in the workforce equally.

It’s something that we need to do better on.

Certainly, particularly from my perspective in regional Western Australia, it is one of the big inhibitors of people being able to return to work and contribute to their community, so affordable childcare is something that would absolutely change the opportunity for women to participate in the workforce and have a better work-life balance.

Ethan: Have you experienced any gender bias or inequality in your climb to political leadership, and how have you overcome this to become so successful?

Mia: Yes, I think that everybody that is in this role, as a female politician, has at some point in time been in a situation where there’s been gender bias. I have been incredibly well supported and one of the things that I always say to people if they are in roles like this, whether it is in politics, business, community leadership, even if you are the P and C chair, is to find people to surround yourself with who will always give you honest feedback and also who will support you when you get to a point where you are having a real challenge.

I’ve been lucky to have good people around me. We get back to being fearless. Sometimes those conversations are difficult, and when you’re experiencing it, and it’s being directed at you, it’s very difficult to separate yourself from it. You can see injustice easily when it is happening to someone else. When you are in the middle of it as a female, sometimes you don’t always respond how you would like to in that exact moment. When I have discussions with other women, I sort of say, well, we need to learn to trust that intuition and at that moment call it out, and International Women’s Day this year is about breaking the bias.

We don’t think racism is acceptable. We actually call it out these days, and that’s changed in my lifetime. It still exists, but people are more ready to say we don’t accept comments like that, that are derogatory. It’s the same thing with gender bias or discrimination; we need to make sure everybody is calling it out and making it uncomfortable for people if they think that it’s appropriate.

Ethan: What would be your advice for young boys, like us at Scotch College, and young girls aspiring to be a politician or have any other job in the public eye within this current genderbiased environment?

Mia: Well, I think getting involved. So, where there are opportunities for you to take on leadership positions, sometimes young people, particularly women, tend to take a step backwards. So this is really important for blokes, as much as women in their own processes, to understand that quite often when women make decisions about whether or not they want to take a job or pursue something, they will look at everything and say ‘I can’t quite do all the things that I need to do on that list. I’m not quite confident; there might be someone that’s better. I might wait’, and so they take a step backwards. This is a broad generalisation, but blokes tend to look at the same list and say, ‘I can do most things; I reckon I’ll just have a crack at it.’ And that’s why we tend to see more men in leadership positions than women.

There is also such a thing called unconscious bias, where decision-makers choose men over women, but women also take themselves out of the running.

As a younger person, [when] you sometimes doubt whether or not you are ready to take that next step, say, ‘I’m going to have a crack at, it I’m going to put myself forward’. The reason you should do that is because [it’s important] to have a diversity of voices sitting around the table, whether it’s a young person, male or female, or someone from a different socioeconomic background or Aboriginal [heritage]. All those diverse backgrounds give a better outcome, and we are all the better for it. So, my advice to everyone is, when you get offered a leadership position, take it and then find a way to make it work by surrounding yourself with good people who will support you because you will be better for it, and your community will too.

This interview transcript has been edited for length and clarity. Watch the full interview on www.youtube.com/ScotchCollegeWA.

We’ve talked about the fact that if you’re sitting in the room and you see discrimination occurring, it’s right then and there that you call it out. It’s important to say that it’s not acceptable.

middle school | 25

Cognitive load theory and how to make things stick!

“Why can’t you remember how to write an essay?

You wrote one last term!”

This is an all-too-common frustration voiced by teachers. From the teacher’s perspective, it can seem as if students understand something in a lesson, only to forget it by the next. So, how can we ensure our students remember what we teach them? Cognitive load theory may hold the answers.

First devised by University of NSW Professor John Sweller and considered by famed British educationalist Professor Dylan Wiliam as the “single most important thing for teachers to know”1, the theory is built on the assumption that working memory, while varied from person to person, is extremely limited. In fact, it is even more limited than we once thought (we can hold two to four pieces of information at one time as opposed to seven), and this fact has profound consequences for teaching and learning.

We can define learning as the “long term retention of knowledge”2. In short, nothing is stored in long term memory; nothing is learnt. Cognitive load theory is concerned with how we can best increase long-term memory knowledge. To do this, the theory informs how we can most effectively design instructional techniques that ultimately reduce unnecessary working memory load3.

We can think of our working memory much like RAM (random access memory) in a computer. When a computer is fitted with

Middle School Teacher Mrs Sarah Sekulov with Year 7 students (back row) Foxx Douglas, (front row, left to right) Oscar Denniss, Angus Crawford, Noah Keevill and Samuel Evans, photograph: Susie Blatchford

lots of RAM, it can run multiple applications like Chrome, GarageBand and OneNote simultaneously without ‘lagging’, slowing down or producing the so-called ‘spinning wheel of death’. The brain works in much the same way; only unlike a computer, there is a hard limit as to how much we can process in our working memory at any given time.

While we must impose a certain amount of necessary load or ‘stress’ on our working memory when learning any task of sufficient challenge, too often, this is accompanied by an ‘extraneous load’ that can often quickly overload working memory and dramatically inhibit learning. In an age in which students may be simultaneously trying to process a teacher’s verbal instruction, an incoming email and phone ‘pinging’ in their pocket while navigating multiple digital platforms all in one lesson, cognitive ‘overload’ is all but guaranteed without careful consideration.

So, what are the effects of cognitive overload, and how do we mitigate against them to ‘make $hit stick’?

Well, there are two particularly harmful effects researchers have found in our increasingly technologised teaching environment, namely the ‘redundancy effect’ and ‘split attention’.

Let’s start with the redundancy effect.

As Sweller notes, “most people assume that providing learners with additional information is at worst harmless and might be beneficial”4. However, the redundancy effect shows us that it can, in fact, be detrimental to student learning as it essentially ‘chews up’

working memory space by attempting to take in too much irrelevant information. According to Mayer and Moreno, teachers need to get into the habit of removing redundant information in their lesson design that may detract from the desired learning outcomes5.

Streamlining digital instructional resources through various processes, including “weeding”, “aligning words and images more effectively” and the counter-intuitive act of “replacing the combination of narration and onscreen text” with “narration and visual imagery” are just a few of the design changes that increase long term memory retention.6 Split attention occurs when a student is asked to process two or more sources simultaneously. This may be across two digital learning platforms, such as OneNote and Seqta or within one medium, such as a PowerPoint slide. In these situations, the learner’s working memory is placed under an unnecessary load as they must attempt to integrate information. Where possible, information must be physically integrated to reduce splitting the learner’s attention.

In this age of information overload, cognitive load theory shows that it is increasingly imperative we do the careful work of curating our teaching resources and the learning environment in line with what the research tells us about memory and learning. The result is better learning outcomes, not to mention happier teachers.

Mr Sam Sterrett Head of Enrichment

1 Cognitive load theory: Research that teachers really need to understand, Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation, September 2017 2 Webinar 003 | What Teachers Actually Need to Know about Cognitive Load Theory (with David Didau), Ed Tech, YouTube, 16 October 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAsbOens270 3 Veronikas, S. M., Shaughnessy, M. F., Le Doux, T. & Sweller, J., ‘Interview with John Sweller’, Educational Technology, vol. 46, no. 3, 2006, pp. 69–72, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44429304 4 Sweller, J., ‘Story of a Research Program’ in S. Tobias, J. D. Fletcher, & D. C. Berliner (series eds.), ‘Acquired Wisdom Series’, Education Review, vol. 23, 10 February 2016 5

Mayer, R. E., & Moreno, R., ‘Nine ways to reduce cognitive load in multimedia learning’, Educational Psychologist, vol. 38, no. 1, 2003, pp. 43–52, https://doi.org/10.1207/S15326985EP3801_6

6 Mayer, R., Bove, W., Bryman, A., Mars, R. & Tapangco, L., ‘When less is more: Meaningful learning from visual and verbal summaries of science textbook lessons’, Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 88, no. 1, 1996, pp. 64–73

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Year 10 students Thomas Mengler, Rory Fleming, James Winch and Alec Prendiville with Kav Temperley

In the studio with Eskimo Joe’s Kav Temperley Last year, 11 of us Year 10 students had the privilege of taking part in a songwriting workshop with the lead singer from Eskimo Joe, Kav Temperley. The workshop ran over two school days, with the aim being to produce a finished song.

We started the first day with an exercise to get the creative juices flowing where we just wrote whatever was in our minds down on paper and were not allowed to stop writing.

After this exercise and a bit of inspiration from Kav, we split into three groups and went into our own rooms to write a song.

Although, it wasn’t as simple as just writing a song.

Our group was made up of Alec Prendiville playing keyboard, James Winch on drums, Tom Mengler, a cello player who picked up a bass guitar for the first time, and me on vocals. We had a slow start at first, trying

to figure out what type of song we wanted to write. Eventually, a line popped into my head – “I don’t know where I’ll be ten years from now” – and it all went very quickly from there. Tom and I worked on the rest of the lyrics while Alec and James worked on chords. Kav rotated through the groups, helping when we were stuck or unsure, and giving suggestions for lyrics. By the end of the day, we had finished most of our lyrics and had some structure to the chords. To finish the first day, each group performed, and everyone provided feedback.

The second day involved finalising our songs and recording them. As Kav could only record one group at a time, and with our group being last, we had a lot of time to improve our song. We also took band photos during this time, and Kav’s assistant gave us some insight into a band’s inner workings. We then recorded our song,

which was an awesome experience. With Kav’s expertise, our song slowly came to life as we recorded each part and added them together one by one to make a complete recording.

Once we finished our scratch demo (the first recording of a song), we all came together to end the day by listening to each group’s song. It was amazing to hear what we had all achieved in just two days!

This concluded the songwriting workshop, leaving all of us completely creatively and mentally exhausted.

Thank you to our Enrichment Leader – STEM, Mr McLean, for organising the workshop. It is not every day you get to write and record a song!

Rory Fleming Year 10

senior school | 27

We learnt together in a structure that lacked the usual hierarchical norms. In a true design thinking approach, someone would try something; if it worked, we copied it; if it didn’t, we modified the approach. I was more of a facilitator than a teacher, and the boys were never forced to be there.

By its definition, project-based learning is “a student-centred pedagogy that involves a dynamic classroom approach in which it is believed that students acquire a deeper knowledge through active exploration of realworld challenges and problems”.1 But in my opinion, there is a critical factor that helps to achieve success: there needs to be a shared passion between the teacher and student to make this activity viable. A lot of time is invested in these projects, and when the passion is not there, the project can become a chore.

Hugo Oakey and Noah Matthews (OSC 2021) with Steve McLean

Making waves in and out of the classroom Imagine doing a course with no assessment, no specific outcome, no timeline, no structured classes, virtually no plan and not even a teacher in the traditional sense of the word.

This is exactly what a small group of avid Year 12 ‘foilers’ and I set out to do in 2021.

Getting this project off the ground took a group of people confident enough to delve into the unknown with the freedom to explore contemporary education. Thankfully, Scotch provided these boys with the independence and space to explore something they were interested in and see how far they could take it.

If you have driven down the coast, you might have seen surfers seemingly pumping their boards out to sea without a wave in sight and wondering how they are doing it, if there is some sort of new hovercraft technology.

There is a fair chance that you are watching someone ‘prone foil’.

Foiling is the latest development in extreme sports that uses a hydrofoil [a lifting surface that operates in the water] to keep the board and rider hovering above the surface in a feeling better described as flying than surfing. Foils can be used in many different applications: with a wind wing, on a windsurfer, on a stand up paddleboard, but the style of riding we are talking about is ‘prone foiling’, which is essentially paddling onto a wave (or ‘chipping in’) and pumping around, catching wave after wave after wave and treating the ocean like an endless skatepark.

When I was in the surf, attempting to ride my new hydrofoil, I noticed some Scotch students doing a far better job at ‘foiling’

28 | senior school

than me. I had a chat with the boys, and we discussed making our own foil boards. They loved the idea and began researching design and construction methods, looking into the costs and logistics of making these boards.

During the pandemic, a time when there was so much confusion for Year 12 students regarding online learning, exams and early entry to university, maintaining student motivation was at the forefront of every teacher’s mind. I thought this was a perfect time to explore a course that relied purely on intrinsic motivation and give some Year 12 students a break from the routine of study and day-to-day classwork.

There was no roadmap … we had to work this out together.

And the motivation was definitely there. Nearly every day after school for about six to eight months, there were between three and eight boys in the design workshops designing and creating their boards. They did not rely on their teacher to give them instruction because I did not know how to make these boards.

There was no roadmap … we had to work this out together.

Traditional education often relies on the teacher being the content expert. In this model, the student would take notes on the subject and perform pre-determined exercises and tests. Project-based learning gives a much more hands-on, authentic, inquiry-based approach to education that allows students to take control of the problem-solving process and fail many times on the learning journey. It gives students the confidence to make mistakes and not be afraid to try something that has never been done before … to become a designer, engineer or inventor.

There were many occasions when the boys had planned to work on their project, but other things got in the way. In other words, there were good waves, and they wanted to go foiling. Having this freedom was important because it meant that only the people that wanted to be involved were involved.

They have learnt so much about the physics of hydrofoiling by being part of this project.

They have listened to guest speakers from the industry, spoken to professional foilers, got tips from board designers and spent months making and testing their boards.

We have all become even more passionate about the sport. Originally, I thought this might kickstart the boys into starting their own foiling brand, but, as it turns out, they have begun a successful podcast called The Foil Project, filmed at our podcast studio, Studio Scotch.

The point of this project is not really to focus on foiling but to consider the potential of project-based learning, discover your passion and find like-minded teachers who can help you on the journey.

Mr Steve McLean Design & Technology Teacher | Enrichment Leader – STEM 1

Design & Implement Project Based Learning, Intercultural Development Research Association, San Antonio, Texas, http://www.idra.org/images/stories/ IDRA_Project_Based_Learning_flier_0716.pdf

Nicholas Lovegrove (Year 9), Simon Pocock (Year 9), Tane Croon-Hargraves (Year 10), Adrian Garbowski (Year 10) and Aidan Marstrand (Year 10)

Should nudity be tolerated in public?

The Ethics Olympiad requires students to take an in-depth look at a multitude of issues facing society.

Following months of exemplary coaching from Scotch’s Scholar in Residence Akram Azimi, we encountered many schools, issues, and contrasting opinions on the day of the competition. To take one of the cases we found particularly controversial: ‘Should nudity be tolerated in public?’

To tackle this question, we took a utilitarian and rights-based approach. For those who do not understand what utilitarianism means, it claims that an action is morally justifiable if it maximises the total happiness of the most amount of people.

When going into the philosophical discussion, it was important to remember that it was not a debate aiming to undermine or ‘beat’ the other team. Instead, the discussion was used to build on each other’s ideas to form the most sensible conclusion. As for the discussion itself against the very formidable Presbyterian Ladies’ College, we were ultimately weighing up the rights of the individual versus the rights of the collective.

When understood in a utilitarian framework, we argued that public nudity should not be tolerated in almost all settings. This question asked us to consider the extent to which we can allow someone to be publicly nude and, in doing so, infringe on others’ cultural and social expectations to be free from uninvited exposures. In short, when in public, keep your pants on. In our response to the question, we wanted to emphasise that the desired outcome should be to maximise the happiness of the majority of people who do not wish to be publicly nude or witness displays of public nudity and weigh this against the relatively small number of public nudists. This position contributed to Scotch winning the state competition and placing eighth out of 32 schools in the national competition.

Overall, the Ethics Olympiad was an engaging, stimulating and worthwhile experience for everybody involved across all teams and all schools. Throughout the process, our methods of reasoning,

philosophical knowledge and the way we tackled arguments all changed. It was particularly worthwhile, giving students the necessary confidence and conversation skills to interact with anyone of any view.

So, as prior Ethics Olympiad finalists, we would like to give a huge thank you to Head of Enrichment Mr Sterrett and Akram Azimi for guiding us through this experience. Finally, we would strongly urge any up-and-coming Senior School boys to seize the opportunity and take on the Ethics Olympiad for 2023.

Tane Croon-Hargraves and Alastair Walker Year 10

Year 10 students Alex Hudson, Xavier Balnaves, Oliver Spurling, Oscar Ho and Alistair Walker

senior school | 29

Easing into boarding: our transition programme Boarding has been a cornerstone of Scotch College for well over a century, and the transition to boarding is only getting simpler as we significantly expand our Welcome to Scotch programme.

We have redeveloped our boarding transition programme using technology to overcome the historical challenges associated with boarding. Over the past decade, this programme has been proven to boost boys’ optimism and confidence while reducing homesickness.

Our improved programme will be rolled out in July, offering future students and families the opportunity to connect face-to-face through a dedicated orientation camp and online with peers and staff in the six months leading up to starting at Scotch.

Building genuine relationships with families before students arrive at boarding school is essential to ensure that their education and time away from home is a close partnership between their parents and the College.

We want boys to know that the boarding house and school will be a safe, inclusive place for them to grow and develop. Before they even arrive at school, our Welcome to Scotch programme helps boarders feel comfortable about joining Scotch, recognising the College as a place where they can reach their potential and make lifelong friendships.

In late 2021, we welcomed one of Western Australia’s leading professionals in online learning and online boarding transition programmes, Michael Valentine, to expand Welcome to Scotch.

From top: Year 9 boarders Henry Dyke and John McGinniss in the kitchen; Kody Waters (Year 12); photographs: Susie Blatchford

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Clockwise from top left: Year 8s Brodie Stratford and Te Akauroa (Taka) Simon with Assistant Head of Residence – Middle School Mia Sullivan; Year 8s Tom Falconer-Radford and Oliver Gooding; Benjamin Simpson (Year 12), Edward Graham (Year 12), Nick Chadwich (Year 9) and John McGinniss (Year 9) outside the Senior Boarding House; photographs: Susie Blatchford

Michael developed Hale@Home, which intended to get future boarders accustomed to working on a personal computer identical to the one that awaited them at school the following year.

It quickly became apparent that these lively weekly connections fostered a high level of engagement with both boys and their families. The focus of the weekly sessions shifted to the boys, their families, where they lived and their local communities.

Michael understands that transitioning to boarding life has been part of many remote families’ lives for generations.

“The first months and years of boarding life have inspired timeless family anecdotes about the hardships and joy that can characterise such a momentous shift,” Michael said.

“Technology in our city schools allows us to connect students with their future housemates and college in a rich, memorable way before they leave home.”

In education, technology moves rapidly, and students are required to use personal computers and cloud-based software daily in their education.

“I noticed this was a significant challenge for some country kids who didn’t have this level of exposure to the technology, so I developed an online programme to help solve the issue,” Michael said.

“After a decade of working on such programmes, I realised our medical staff had

started reporting a decline in homesickness among the boys involved with the programme.

“We soon recognised there were greater benefits in the programme than simply teaching the boys how to use tech. Welcome to Scotch will take this concept to the next level.”

The transition programme also offers opportunities for parents to connect. Jade Stoney’s son Sim Stoney (Year 7) joined boarding this year and she shared how confident and excited Sim felt after attending orientation.

“I still worry that he’s going to be away from home but parents who have already been through the boarding experience are always available to chat,” Jade said.

“We’ve had a lot of interaction with the College staff through the weekly catch-ups.

Michael said the online Welcome to Scotch programme was just the beginning of Scotch’s plans to provide great opportunities for rural students.

“Rural communities deserve better resources for education and technology, but passively waiting for governments to solve these issues isn’t the answer,” Michael said.

“We use conference technology to connect with some of the most remote communities in the world, and it’s like they are sitting right here in the classroom.

“This technology will transform rural education, and Scotch College will continue to expand its footprint to give country kids the opportunities they deserve.”

Mr Jordan Owenell Head of Boarding

“Scotch has a really good group of people looking after boarding, so that’s made all the difference.” boarding | 31

How to master boarding life My name is Declan Crombie, and I come from Babakin, a town in the Wheatbelt [that is roughly three hours east of Perth].

When I first got to Scotch, I got very homesick for the first two weeks. I started to settle in, getting used to the routines, and after I realised that this was going to be kind of like a second home, I started to enjoy the boarding experience. I met a lot of day boys in my first few weeks, and all the boarders started to bond as we began to talk and tell stories.

I was always going to go to boarding school, but I didn’t know which one. My dad was a Scotch old boy, so that helped, and he started telling me stories about what it was like when he was here, so I started to think that it would be a great opportunity. Mum and Dad looked at a couple of other schools, but then we ended up choosing Scotch as the best place for me to be.

Our House Parent, Mrs Hannington, was a very good help. She would check on us every morning and make sure we were feeling good. If we were a bit homesick, she would help us through it. I started making more friends through sport, and that helped distract me from feeling homesick. The only real time that I became homesick after the first two weeks was for a couple of weeks after the July school holidays, just because it had been a long time since I had been boarding and I had forgotten what it was like, so it took me a week to get back into my rhythm.

In the term before I got here, we did online lessons where we got to meet the other boys coming into my year in boarding, Mr Mecham, Mrs Hannington and Mr Owenell, and some of the current students. We got to ask a lot of questions and did some activities that got us used to using our iPad.

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Some advice that I would give the new Year 7s would be to branch out and try and make as many friends inside and outside of the

“My main bit of advice is to just be yourself, and people will like and respect you for who you are.”

Boarding House as you can. Get involved in activities on the weekends and sports outside of school. It is good to be busy on the weekend and stops you from thinking of home.

My main bit of advice is to just be yourself, and people will like and respect you for who you are. Don’t be afraid to ask for any help if you’re having trouble because the teachers and boarding staff are very understanding and will try their best to help you.

Declan Crombie Year 8 Above: Year 8 boarders Tom Falconer-Radford, Taigh Haji Noor-Fuller, Te Akauroa (Taka) Simon, Oliver Keamy and Oliver Gooding, photograph: Susie Blatchford

My name is Joe Purser, and I come from a small town called Piawaning which is a place near Moora.

I have two older brothers, one who went to Scotch, and the other is still here. They both enjoyed boarding and met lots of friends, so it made sense for me to come to Scotch. Since I only had 19 kids in my old school, it was quite a change moving to a school with over 1,500 kids. Even though I have my brother here, it was still a hard thing to do, leaving the farm behind.

The orientation to boarding at Scotch helped a lot because I met lots of people, and I learned my way around the school.

The orientation also helped me know that I wasn’t alone, being new to Scotch.

One tip I would have for any new boarders is you should do community sport because it allows you to meet new friends, not necessarily from Scotch. It also gives you a chance to get out of the Boarding House and helps you to forget about any stress in school.

Another great thing about being a boarder at Scotch is the great rec activities. Rec activities are recreational things that you do on the weekends. Like this year, we have been to Adventure World, mini-golf, BOUNCE, the driving range and laser tag.

Sometimes, the activities are with other boarding schools, and you can catch up with old friends you haven’t seen in a while.

Joe Purser Year 8

My first week at Scotch was really fun because I got to meet a lot of people and make new friends. The work in the first week was easy but got a lot harder and surprised me as I went along. I was really lucky not to get homesick at all yet. In the first week, I met too many people, and it was hard to remember their names, but over time I got there, and now I’m great friends with all of them.

Clockwise from top left: Oliver Gooding (Year 8), Henry Dyke (Year 9), playing basketball; Nicholas Chi (Year 9) and Brodie Stratford (Year 8) playing guitar; Boarders in the Middle School Residence; photographs: Susie Blatchford

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A sports season of passion and pride Julius Kain Vice-Captain of School (Operations) Additional First teams reporting by Captain of Basketball Brodie Hayward, Captain of Cricket Rory King, Captain of Rowing Seb Salt, Captain of Swimming Matt Galjaardt, Co-Captains of Tennis Jurie Terblanche and Ben Walsh, Captain of Volleyball Nelson Hegge and Captain of Water Polo Jake Marshall.

The 2021/2022 Summer Sport season has been fantastic. Overall, the boys played with great passion and fought in very hot conditions against solid opposition in the Public Schools Association.

Playing Sport at Scotch in the summer season is always a treat; wearing your Scotch kit with pride and passion, working with your mates, and enjoying it at the same time. It’s always a pleasure for boys to be able to play on Scotch’s pristine sporting facilities, whether it’s the incredible Memorial Oval or the Scotch Gym. A big thanks goes to the grounds staff who work very hard to get the grounds ready for the fixtures every week.

A massive thanks also goes out to all Summer Sport coaches and managers, and Mr Gault, Mr Bridle, Mr Mitchell and the Sport Department for their fantastic work organising teams every week.

Left to right: Marco Ghiselli (Year 12); Year 12s Brodie Hayward (Year 12); Fletcher O’Connell (Year 12) bowling; photographs: Tom Campbell Opposite: Scotch rowers; Scotch students at the PSA Swimming Carnival; Ben Simpson (Year 12) competing in the Open B Medley Relay PSA Swimming; photographs: Tom Campbell

Basketball It was another strong year for Basketball at Scotch, yet again heralding several teams at every year level and being the most popular Summer Sport amongst students from Years 7 to 12.

Our younger years, in particular, showed major promise, with the 9As and 8As on top of their respective competitions and the 7As coming second.

When the First Team came together at the beginning of preseason, there were a lot of fresh faces eager to earn one of the 10 positions. After lots of conditioning and practice, Head Coach CJ Jackson and Assistant Coach Alex Wood organised a practice match against Hale School and Willetton Senior High School.

Both games were a great opportunity for new players to settle into the Scotch style of basketball before the season.

The season commenced with a win against Guildford Grammar School, which had boys’ spirits high. Unfortunately, the rest of the term didn’t meet the standard we expected, and after losing the final game of the term to Trinity College, the team entered the summer holidays having lost some hope.

At the start of January, training commenced once again to prepare us for the second term of Basketball. Following some changes and with a new team identity, the boys were ready to turn the season around. Using newfound team chemistry, a well-fought win against Trinity gained the team some momentum which continued into wins against Wesley College and Guildford. Although the season finished with a loss to Aquinas College, it was a display of how the boys had come together as a team and worked with and for one another to create a fun and memorable season.

Cricket This season, Cricket wielded some great culture. Numbers rose from previous years in the senior group, and we were able to have four full teams playing most weekends. Temperatures were high, sometimes hitting 40+ degrees, but this didn’t stop the great enjoyment and love for the game every boy playing had.

We had great performances in younger teams, with the 9As going undefeated throughout the season, an incredible achievement.

The Firsts’ season set out to be a tough one: defending the Darlot Cup. The boys played an attacking brand of cricket throughout the season, putting the team into great positions to win games. The first half of the season didn’t go quite to plan, winning three out of the six games, losing two games we should have won, and the other in the last over. Term 1 saw some great cricket from the boys.

The bowling unit performed consistently, bowling sides out for low totals and some good batting to follow on occasion. We finished fifth on the ladder. However, this does not reflect the talent and ability of the cricketers in Scotch’s First XI. If a few games had gone our way, we would have been right in competition for the Darlot Cup once again. A huge thank you must go out to all the coaching staff for helping us throughout the season. Overall, it was a successful season, further establishing the platform for future years to succeed.

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Rowing Scotch rowers worked hard and performed well across the board this year, with boys not shying away from the early morning starts and intense training. Special mention goes to the Year 10s, who had encouraging results and the Year 8s, who won many races out of their regattas.

The Firsts’ season has presented many challenges for the club to overcome.

Coming into it, rowing in a different shed with a whole new set of staff, the boys were sceptical about the season ahead.

After the first three regattas in Term 4, it was clear that the season was very much alive,

Swimming We had a massive challenge ahead to follow last year’s Swimming Team – one of the strongest swimming groups the school has ever seen. We’d lost a solid Year 12 group, thinking they were irreplaceable, but the Year 7s proved otherwise. The solid numbers and mixture of younger and older boys throughout the summer training sessions were good to see.

With the Inter-School date moved forward, most schools were rushed in their selection. However, we were ready. We thought the atmosphere would be dead with no cheer squads or chanting without the masks; however, all the boys got around it.

and the club culture was strong. With Head of the River being moved forward, the boys adapted and prepared well. Although the day was not successful regarding results, it was clear that every boy who entered a race had poured their heart and soul into it, making us all proud. After the Head of the River, the three remaining regattas created a unique opportunity for next season’s crews to jump the gun and get some race experience together.

We couldn’t be happier with the way the shed came together in a time of change and challenge to welcome our new coaches and boys and make the most of the 2022 Scotch Rowing season.

Having come in second place last year, we were eager to pip Christ Church Grammar School. However, they and Hale School proved too strong on the day. Our next mission was to come third and beat Trinity College.

Being neck and neck throughout the individual events, it was up to the relays. With Head of Swimming Ryan Steenkamp pestering us all summer on our relay changeovers, we were more than ready. This skyrocketed us in points, with the younger years, in particular, dominating.

We placed third to a well-earning Hale and Christ Church at the end of the day. It was great to see the future of Scotch Swimming dominating their year groups. The future ahead of us looks bright.

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Tennis This year, Scotch Tennis from Years 7 to 12 remained a strong force, winning almost all fixtures against other schools most weeks.

Special mention goes to the Thirds Team, who went undefeated, and the 10As, who also finished without a loss.

The 2022/21 Tennis Team, which included boys from Years 9–12, defeated a passionate Guildford Grammar School side, 20–4. This proved to be a catalyst as our success continued, resulting in an undefeated Spring Term with victories over our fierce rivals at Christ Church Grammar School (17–7) and Trinity College (14–10).

After the summer break, the first game saw a dominant victory against Hale School (22–2), proving that the hard work over the holidays paid off, driving the team to a 9–0 win-loss record. Unfortunately, we were outplayed against solid Christ Church and Wesley College teams. However, coming into our last match, the team united with

Volleyball Overall, Scotch Volleyball teams had a great year, playing and enjoying a fascinating and entertaining sport. A special mention goes to the mighty Seconds Volleyball team, who went undefeated throughout the whole season – an awesome result for Scotch Volleyball.

For the Firsts, pre-season began with a couple of training sessions with new coach Kevin and many new players getting a handle on some basic skills and rotations before we entered the West Australian Schools Cup competition. The competition served as a good benchmark to judge ourselves, get an idea of our ability, how we performed in a game situation and expose some flaws in our game. We worked on all these skills until the beginning of the PSA season against Guildford Grammar School. The Guildford game was a challenge with the coach

a greater sense of determination; a must-win fixture was needed to secure the Corr Cup outright. With our passion thundering across the Jenkinson grass courts, we achieved a resounding victory against Aquinas College, sealing the Corr Cup for the second year in a row.

All the boys in the team are grateful for the efforts of our coaches, Mr Trid Woodhouse and Mr Scott Webster, and Mr Bradley, our Team Manager, who played an important role in motivating us.

out, and with not much game experience, rotations and technicalities became a challenge, but we managed to come away with the win.

The season continued with each week’s training session focused on the skills that needed working on from the last game, and the improvement from week to week was clear. Highlights from the season include our 3–1 win against Trinity College, where we came back from 8–18 down in the final set, and our five-set match to finish the season against Aquinas College, historically the strongest Volleyball team in the PSA. These games were a testament to the team’s hard work and ability to keep fighting when the odds were stacked against us.

Throughout the season, the First VI was also able to take part in three tournaments, two on the beach and one indoors. The two Scotch teams secured gold and silver medals in the first beach tournament and bronze in the indoor.

Water Polo This year, Scotch Water Polo had solid performances from all teams across the board.

The 2021/22 Firsts’ season was full of ups and downs, with great games often succeeded by disappointing ones. The youthful First Team saw seven debutantes throughout the season, some of whom still have seasons to come. The whole team would love to thank Mr Tibor Seress and Mr Peter Tresise for their coaching efforts throughout the season.

From top: Archie Murdoch (Year 12); Oscar Warner (Year 12); Isaac Smith (Year 10) playing Water Polo; Firsts Volleyball Team; photographs: Tom Campbell

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Junior Sport: A highlight of the week Often the highlight of our boys’ week is the trip to opposition PSA schools, where the boys get to test their skills against their counterparts in Basketball, Cricket, Tennis, Volleyball and Water Polo as part of the Junior Public School Sports Association Summer season.

On these afternoons, boys engage in sports that challenge and improve their sporting ability. All our students enjoy them, and we are lucky to have a passionate and knowledgeable staff who contribute to this exciting time of the week.

The JPSSA Summer season has been enjoyable for all students who have competed with great commitment and enthusiasm. A special mention to our JPSSA Cricket Team, who went through the season unbeaten and demonstrated great skill and application in their training and match days.

The Summer season also includes the extra-curricular activity, Swimming, which our students are exposed to via our early morning swim squads on Monday and Friday mornings. This leads into our Inter-House Swimming Carnivals, hotly contested events enjoyed by all. Select students represented the College with distinction in the Inter-School Carnival, with Scotch coming a respectable fourth.

This Summer season, we took two European Handball teams up to North Woodvale Primary School for the All Schools European Handball Competition. European Handball is another game the students compete in for Inter-House competitions. It is a game loved by all for its all-action, fastpaced nature. Scotch competed well and won the Champion Boy School Trophy for the second year in a row.

Mr Scott Whiston Head of Junior School Sport

Clockwise from top left: Year 6 students Daniel Maginn, Lawson Wedding and Augustus (Gus) Neo receiving the trophy for Gordon House; Thomas (Tom) McCarter (Year 4) finishing his race; Year 4s Oscar Bolton and Dylan Vytialingam

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Mr Aaron McDonald

OSC President

By the time you read this article, the Old Scotch Collegians’ Annual General Meeting 2022 will have occurred virtually.

Regrettably, at the time of writing, the height of COVID-19 cases in Perth has prohibited our Association from running many of its great events help that keep our members connected (including our Business Directory Launch and Beverley Dinner, which Scotch was to host this year). If current projections can be relied on, we can expect a return to normalcy in the second half of 2022.

I am pleased to report that: • We recently surveyed the OSC membership for feedback on how the organisation can better serve members’ interests. These responses will arm the OSC Committee for a strategy day to

be held later this year. The responses received were encouraging and broadly consistent with “keep doing what you are doing”. This was especially the case in relation to providing regular updates of OSC successes and keeping old boys connected. One trend that emerged from the survey was a desire to better promote members’ businesses. To that end, if your business is not yet included in the Scotch Business Directory, I encourage you to get on board. All you need to do is register at scotch.wa.edu.au/scotchbusiness-directory. The Directory is free and contains great offers and opportunities for fellow OSCs. • We recently held the Tartan Lawyers event for high school students, law school students, graduates, solicitors and members of the judiciary from both PLC and Scotch. Attendees heard from The Hon. Neil McKerracher QC (OSC 1968) and Jenny Thornton (PLC) on practical skills derived throughout their careers.

Headmaster Dr Alec O’Connell, The Hon. Julie Bishop and OSC President Aaron McDonald (OSC 2001)

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• The Seniors’ Lunch is scheduled to go ahead on Friday 27 May, and the 2021 Leavers’ Reporter Collection for Friday 29 July.

• We are currently bedding down the details for Founders’ Day and will share them shortly. Watch this space.

Lastly, I would like to acknowledge the recent successes of Dr Neil Warburton (OSC 1973) and Tim Bunney (OSC 2005). Neil was awarded an honorary doctorate from Curtin University for his leadership in helping young people discover career paths in the resources sector, and Tim was recently appointed Managing Director of Euroz Hartleys Limited.

If I can assist you, please reach out to oscpresident@scotch.wa.edu.au

Harry ‘Mick’ Gayfer AM

Iain Grandage

Akshay Venkatesh

A legend of the Australian grain industry, Harry ‘Mick’ Gayfer (1925–2021) left Scotch in 1942, after spending his final year as Head Prefect. His final Reporter editorial spoke of service and duty – values that he continued to embody throughout his life. Mick was the longest-standing chairman of the CBH Group and served as a grower director on the board for 37 years (1959–96), 25 years of which he was chair. As a Member of State Parliament (1962–89), he was a highly effective spokesperson for the industry. Mick was awarded the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977, a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 1991, a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1997 and the Centenary of Federation Medal in 2003. At the College, we emphasise serving and contributing to the community, and there is no greater example than Mick.

Iain Grandage (OSC 1987) is an awardwinning Australian composer and music director. Joining the Perth Festival as Artistic Director for 2020 to 2024, Iain is one of the nation’s most highly regarded artists. He has received multiple Green Room Awards, the prestigious Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award for an Individual, and the APRA/AMC Award for Vocal Work of the Year for his opera, based on Tim Winton’s novel, The Riders. He has also won multiple Helpmann Awards for theatre, opera, silent film and as a music director.

An artistic powerhouse with a history of collaborating with Indigenous artists across the country, we are privileged to have him leading Australia’s longest-running arts festival.

Former prodigy Akshay Venkatesh’s (OSC 1994) mathematical talent was already evident during his time at Scotch. By the time he graduated from school at age 13, Akshay had won medals at the International Physics Olympiad and International Maths Olympiad (at ages 11 and 12). He remains the only Australian to have won medals at both. Since then, Akshay has gone on to be only the second Australian to be awarded the Fields Medal, considered the Nobel Prize for mathematics. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from UWA, having graduated from the same university with honours in mathematics at age 16. Known for his profound contributions to an exceptionally broad range of mathematics, Scotch could not be prouder of Akshay’s achievements.

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Old Scotch Collegians Celebrating Lives

OBITUARIES

Dallas Hamilton

1933

Gordon Renner

1940

Harold Clough

1942

Richard Roach

1943

Geoff Holmes

1945

Nick Broun

1945

John Francis

1947

David Eyres

1947

John Giles

1947

Donald Westlake

1948

Paul Elliott

1949

Donald Pritchard

1949

John Leonhardt

1949

Ronald Adams

1950

Ben Curwood

1950

William Grono

1950

Owen Lowth

1950

Dieter Grant-Frost

1952

Ian Nicholas

1952

Alasdair Courtney

1953

Edmund Dickson

1953

David Goodall

1955

Richard Knox

1955

Peter Browne

1956

Douglas McKiggan

1956

Bob Millett

1956

John Sansom

1956

Eric Emmott

1957

Murray Forbes

1961

Rodney Wood

1963

Kenneth Richardson

1964

Anthony Rutherford

1964

Colin Shaw

1964

Alan McCreery

1965

Kenneth Orr

1966

Alexander MacKenzie

1966

Kenneth Wallace

1967

Warren Smith

1979

Rex Twogood

1980

Patrick Ho

1981

Mark Kailis

1982

Sam Randall

1998

Dallas Hamilton (OSC 1933) Born in East Fremantle in March 1916, Dallas was the eldest of three brothers and two sisters.

His family moved to Swanbourne in the early 1920s, where he described Collegians’ House as being “the outstanding building” of the suburb.

Dallas attended Scotch as a day student in what would now be the equivalent of Year 9, starting in 1930. He recalls the biggest change was that he “had to wear shoes and socks every day, which was a big burden to most young West Australians!” At the time, Scotch had approximately 400 students and, along with the rest of the country, was suffering through the effects of the Great Depression.

In 1931, Dallas received the Gordon Gooch Scholarship, enabling his family to send his brother Beverly to the College. Beverly also won a scholarship in 1933, so his youngest brother, Murray, joined them. Dallas was a keen rower, and when receiving his scholarship at the 1932 Speech Night, Headmaster P C Anderson described him as “a very fine type of boy”.

All three Hamilton brothers were members of the Scotch College Cadets and enlisted to serve in World War II. Beverly was sadly killed in the war, and Dallas came home injured.

Dallas credited his love of education and learning to his teachers, particularly Leigh Jenkinson and George Campbell. He studied at university and had a long career afterwards, as a meteorologist and travelled extensively with the Air Force.

Both Dallas and Murray (dec.) had sons and grandsons attend Scotch College.

In 2016, Dallas addressed the Senior School Assembly on his 100th birthday. He leaves behind a remarkable legacy centred on his deep love for his family and our College.

Harold Clough (OSC 1942) Old Scotch Collegians extend our deepest sympathy and best wishes to the family of Harold Clough.

In 1942, at the age of 16, Harold enjoyed a year at Scotch College where he was a Cadet Sergeant and rowed in the Second VIII. After only a year at the College, Harold began an incredible journey that saw him become one of Australia’s most successful businessmen.

“I guess I’ve had a fortunate life and been extremely lucky. I’ve also learnt the secret that the harder you work the luckier you get. So, I think the two things are associated.” – Harold Clough (from Memoirs of William Harold Clough by Mimi Packer)

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Calendar 27 May 2022 Seniors’ Lunch Scotch College, Dining Hall 24 June 2022 1992 Thirty Year Reunion 29 July 2022 Reporter Collection Scotch College, Chapel Lawn 12 August 2022 1982 Forty Year Reunion 25 August 2022 Wine Tasting 2 September 2022 2002 Twenty Year Reunion Tom Hill (OSC 2002) and Nick Hill (OSC 1999)

BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT

Juniper Estate Juniper produces premium wines in the heart of the remote, environmentally pristine Margaret River wine-growing area. Planted in 1973, and together with Vasse Felix, Cape Mentelle, Cullen, Moss Wood and Woodlands, Juniper is one of the region’s founding vineyards.

Juniper was established in 1998 by the late Roger Hill and his wife, Gillian Anderson. Since 2017, Gillian and Roger’s sons, Nick (OSC 1999) and Tom (OSC 2002), have run the business, staying true to their parents’ ambition to produce great wines from their three sustainably farmed vineyards. The brothers’ deep respect for the region’s history and desire to push boundaries drives them to create wines that speak to time and place.

Visit scotch.wa.edu.au/scotch-business-directory to find other OSC businesses and community offers.

16 September 2022 1962 Sixty Year Reunion 13 October 2022 New Members Function Varsity Bar 21 October 2022 Founders’ Day Dinner Scotch College, Dickinson Centre Save the date as we celebrate 125 years of Scotch.

28 October 2022 1972 Fifty Year Reunion 25 November 2022 2012 Ten Year Reunion 30 November 2022 St Andrew’s Day Vale Scotch College, Chapel To book, visit calendar.scotch.wa.edu.au

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Events New Members Function We welcomed around 60 OSCs from the Class of 2017 to 2020 to Varsity Bar to catch up with their fellow classmates.

Charlie Bevan (OSC 2020), Mitch Clarke (OSC 2017) and Lachlan Phillips (OSC 2018); OSCs at the New Members Function

Founders’ Day Dinner More than 130 OSCs attended the annual Founders’ Day Dinner on Friday 22 October 2021. Headlined by The Hon. Julie Bishop, guests were given an insight into her formidable career in national and international politics.

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Clockwise from top left: Charles Robinson (OSC 1956) and Gary Cotterell (OSC 1956); Max Silbert (OSC 2016), and Michael Silbert (OSC 1979); Fred Pryor (OSC 1955) and Duncan Stewart (OSC 1953); Reece Grant, James Simpson, Chris Simpson, Lach Pethick, Tyron Haberland, Jacob Coulson and Charlie Grant (all OSC 2014 leavers); John Peirce (OSC 1963), Duncan Warren (OSC 1963), Ian Randles (OSC 1979), Christopher Mews (OSC 1963) and Robert Grieve (OSC 1963)

Class of 1971 Fifty Year Reunion Guests enjoyed pre-drinks in the newly refurbished Gooch Pavilion before they were piped up the Playing Fields to lunch in the Dining Hall. Thank you to the organising committee, Peter Rees, Greg Peck, Richard Manser and Alan Yandle.

Clockwise from top left: Ryan Shiner piping the Class of 1971 to lunch; Roger Hearn, Richard Manser and Greg Peck; (back row) John Shadbolt, Brian Walker, Greg Peck, Graeme Ellis, Rupert Richardson, (front row) Alan Yandle, Colin Knigh, Geof Williams and Mark Newbold; Class of 1971 reunion; Al Millar, John Shadbolt, John Murdoch, Cary Kailis, Alan Yandle and Graeme Stephen

Class of 2011 Ten Year Reunion The Class of 2011 celebrated their first reunion, joined by Dr Alec O’Connell who was celebrating his 10-year milestone as Scotch Headmaster. Thank you to Rowan Fitch and Nick Hobson for organising a great sundowner in the Gooch Pavilion.

Clockwise from top left: Tom Shackles and Nicholas Carter; Jay Collard, Nick Hobson and Rohen Stone; Class of 2011 reunion; Mitch Creagh, Michael Alcock, Sam Reynolds and Jakeb Holland; Julius Firkins, Jem Smith, Alexander Bruce and Judd Shepherd

old scotch collegians | 43

Class of 1961 Sixty Year Reunion The Class of 1961 celebrated their reunion at the Cottesloe Golf Club with a relaxed summer lunch. Thank you to Phil Thunder, Kim Newman, Lindsay Dry and Kim Stewart for putting together a great event.

Clockwise from top left: David de Vos, Bob Bruse and Tony Doncon; Gerard Lloyd, Ian Saggers and Peter Stewart; Ray Sebo, Brian Humphreys and Lindsay Dry; Kim Newman, Roger Lewis, John Lindquist and Errol Crawford; Class of 1961 reunion

Tartan Lawyers Breakfast Held on 17 February 2022, this annual event, hosted alongside Presbyterian Ladies’ College’s Old Collegians Association, was a great insight into the profession for aspiring and current lawyers.

Thank you to our esteemed guests The Hon. Justice Neil McKerracher and respected practitioner Jenny Thornton.

Left: Jenny Thornton and The Hon. Justice Neil McKerracher presenting at the Tartan Lawyers Breakfast Above: Kalani Locke, Ben Walsh, Banjo Harold, Rory King, Sam Beattie and Fletcher O’Connell

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What have they been up to?

Peter Browne (1962)

Jeffrey Haworth (1972)

John Kirkwood (1962)

I retired in 2001 as the Director General of Education. I then took up a posting as an adjunct professor at Curtin University before moving to BHP as a consultant in educational needs. I was honoured to be awarded an OAM for services to education. I served as a City of Claremont Councillor for 10 years, four as Deputy Mayor. I remain a serving Justice of the Peace. After leaving Scotch, I trained as a teacher, teaching secondary in country and city schools. I met my wife, Barbara, also a teacher, in Merredin. She went on to be Head of Senior School at PLC. We have two children and three grandchildren.

Since leaving Scotch in 1972, I graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Mining Geology) degree from the WA School of Mines and have worked in nickel, diamonds and, in 1979, a career in petroleum. This led me to work in Australia, New Zealand, the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, the Arctic Ocean and the USA, where I did research and published papers.

I studied optometry at UWA from 1963 to 1966 and worked in Victoria Park in 1967 and Mount Hawthorn for about five years. I finally joined Abernethy Owens (formerly Manning & Abernethy) in 1972, becoming a partner in the late 1970s. Joy Dalley and I met in 1964 and were married in 1968. We have two children, Nicolle, born in 1970, and Jaimie in 1973.

Nikki is married with three children and is a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney vet school. Jaimie (OSC 1990) is married and is the offshore legal manager for Santos. We moved to Baldivis in 1991 for the semi-rural lifestyle, breeding alpacas until 2010. I retired from my practice in 2010, having sold out a few years earlier. We were avid travellers until two years ago and look forward to starting again soon.

Joining the WA Mines Department in 1991, I have been working in developing their petroleum databases, leading the basins and energy study group, and research into greenhouse gas storage on a national level. Notably, I was the Head of Petroleum Regulation from 2012 to 2018 and am currently the Executive Director of the Geological Survey of Western Australia.

Working for government has involved me in many things, including policy setting and research into battery minerals, hydrogen and climate change mitigation. I have had an exciting and enjoyable career and have met some inspirational people during my time.

Roger Hitchcock (1982) I left the College and completed an apprenticeship as a chef. I used the trade to travel, drifted around Australia for several years, then worked in exploration as a chef field worker in the territory for a few years, lived in very remote bush camps, travelled overseas and lived in Scotland for a couple of years. I returned and went back to TAFE for a new career. I spent 10 years with WA Child Protection, then moved to my house in Narrogin last year as a counsellor after completing a bachelor’s degree with ECU. I married twice and divorced twice. I’m now working with Rural Aid Australia, covering the Great Southern and South West regions.

I have been married, divorced, have one daughter, two grandsons, been a bush firefighter, lived with my partner in the hills and am now looking to retire this year to enjoy exploring Australia and the world.

Ben Leishman (1992) I graduated from UWA with a mechanical engineering degree, then completed a PhD in aerodynamics at the Whittle Laboratory, the University of Cambridge, funded

by UWA’s Robert and Maude Gledden Postgraduate Scholarship. I worked for Rolls-Royce Civil Aerospace in Derby, UK, designing aircraft jet engines for widebody commercial and military aircraft, supporting engine development and test programmes throughout the UK, Europe and US. I returned to Australia in 2010 as a rotating equipment engineer with Woodside working on turbomachinery equipment, spending the first five years thawing out in Karratha working on LNG facilities before returning to Perth in 2015 with the same company. I’m still using my old Texas Instruments TI-36 calculator from my Years 10 to 12 maths classes. I enjoy competing in long-distance triathlons and marathon running. However, the bike is currently hanging in the shed, and the running shoes are in the bin with any spare time now spent with my young children (Alexander, three years, and Isabelle, four months) and wife Katie (an artist). We met while living in the UK and married in 2016 at an old Norman era church (built about 1120) in Melbourne, Derbyshire. old scotch collegians | 45

Liam Nuttall (2012)

Grant Posell (2012)

James Woods (2002)

In December 2021, I fulfilled a milestone that I set for myself whilst a student at Scotch; I graduated from the Royal Military College – Duntroon – and was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Australian Regular Army. I am now progressing through the pilot training continuum to fly Black Hawk helicopters.

Shortly after graduating from Scotch, I moved back to the US to attend university at Blinn College and Texas A&M University to finish my undergrad with a bachelor’s degree in communications. After three years of recruiting, I transitioned into tech by completing a full stack web development bootcamp while also marrying my wife, Jennifer. Recently, I have rounded off my educational background with a Masters in Analytics and have been building my cloud experience to eventually do more in tech.

As a new dad to a boy named Cooper, I can see why parents are drawn to send their kids to Scotch College. I still have friends 20 years on, and for me, Scotch was such an accepting and friendly, open experience to make of it what you want.

Steve Whalan (1982)

Tom Percy (1972) After leaving Scotch in 1972, I attended UWA and was admitted to the legal practice in 1978. I was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1997 and practise primarily in the area of criminal law, specifically jury trials and appeals. In 2006 I received the Community Service Award from the Law Society of WA, and in 2007, I was awarded the WA Civil Justice Award by the Australian Lawyers Alliance. In 2013 I was awarded the Law Society of WA’s Lawyer of the Year.

I have been an occasional columnist with The Sunday Times and The West Australian and last year released my first novel, The Curate’s Egg. In my spare time, I still like to go to the football, races and cricket. I am a current board member of the WACA and the East Perth Football Club, where I was awarded life membership in 2006. I am also a long-suffering member of the Fremantle Football Club.

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Forty years – time flies. During that time, I drifted aimlessly for several years after leaving Scotch, working a gazillion unskilled jobs.

I eventually found an aim and commenced a degree in valuation and land economy at Curtin University with George Ventouras (OSC 1983), Andrew Rankin (OSC 1981) and Richard Hagon (OSC 1982), graduating in 1990, followed by several years of working as a property valuer (Hooker Corporation and the Valuer General’s Office). I failed to find any satisfaction in this profession and wasn’t really that good at it, so I decided to pack up and move to Townsville (along with my patient wife) to study marine biology at the ripe old age of 32.

Eight years later, with a newly minted PhD, I commenced a career in marine science researching marine ecosystems (primarily for conservation and aquaculture outcomes) in Scandinavia, the Caribbean, Asia and Oz. I’m currently an associate professor at a regional NSW university, researching intelligence/ cognition in brainless animal models (corals and sponges). It’s a wacky pursuit but keeps me busy and interested in going to work.

These days, most of my spare time involves hanging out with my wife Stephanie Windsor (Penrhos 1982) and my grown daughter, Zoe, when she’s home.

Since Scotch, I have enjoyed university and extensive travel around the globe, working as a bosun [a petty officer or deck boss] on the superyacht of a British billionaire. I met my wife on board, and after we finished a fouryear lap of the world, we decided to jump off in Sydney to start a life in Perth together.

I started a company called Four Stripes, which pays homage to the ‘four stripes’ you might find on a ship captain’s shoulders, but in this case, it’s the name of a creative agency in Subiaco. We are a small, specialised team focusing on high-quality outcomes for mostly B2B clients. We’ve been operating for 10 years, and we look forward to many more.

Archives Ms Yasmin McDonald Archivist

Clive Addison Clive Addison (OSC 1960) gifted memorabilia belonging to his grandfather Cecil Valentine Addison (OSC 1932) and items from his time at school. Cecil attended the College from 1929 to 1932 and the donation includes 1931 newspaper clippings listing Junior Examination results, 1930–31 Speech Night programmes, 1930s textbooks, a 1930s stitched Scotch crest belonging to a Cadet pith helmet and a remarkably preserved 1920s striped woollen blazer with gold buttons with the crest featuring tape name “C.V.A.”. Clive also donated 1953 book editions awarded for merit prizes, gifted by Headmaster Maxwell Keys for the youngest exhibition in the Nature Studies competition and the 1956 Addison Kilpatrick Prize for Nature Study for Form 3M, as well as 1970s photographs of a younger Bill Dickinson, prior to becoming Headmaster, with Headmaster Keys.

Simon Devitt

Mike Fairclough

Simon Devitt (OSC 1959) donated memorabilia from his time at the College including textbooks published in 1954 and 1960 by the University of Western Australia, titled Manual of Public Examinations, 1988–97 Clan editions, 1997–2005 PSA Head of the River programmes, a 1988 mass booklet celebrating beloved music teacher Marjorie Wyndham (1948–72) and The West Australian newspaper clipping celebrating her commitment to students titled, ‘Teacher devoted her life to music’.

Mike Fairclough (OSC 1981) donated two postcards belonging to his great-grandfather John Fairclough (OSC 1917). The sepia photographs capture sporting teams from the 1910s, including the Athletics and Football teams alongside Headmaster P C Anderson.

The Fairclough family are a fifth-generation Scotch family.

Alexander Robert Eadie Alexander Robert Eadie (OSC 1957) donated a 1951 Scotch College school prospectus, containing the booklet This Year at Scotch, a 1949 52nd Speech Night programme.

Additional memorabilia included the Dramatic Society programmes for the 1951 school productions You Never Can Tell and Let’s Make an Opera, a 1950–51 council of governors and teaching staff pamphlet and 1952 PSA Sport fixtures booklet.

Jeffrey Hopkins Author Jeffrey Hopkins donated his book, The Headmaster Frederick Charles Faulkner’s Story, based on the Hale School Headmaster.

The book includes research drawn from the Scotch Archive on page 520. He also donated his work, Alaric Pinder Boor – A Life Reimagined, which references Charles Craig (OSC 1912), Headmaster P C Anderson and Master Lieutenant William J H Emmott.

Fiona Lang Fiona Lang donated her son James Lang’s (OSC 2011) Cadet uniform.

Michael Lance Michael Lance (OSC 1972) donated a Scotch banner, featuring College crests, created for the 1970 PSA Athletics Carnival. The banner was resourcefully constructed by stripping apart the mattress protectors from dormitory two to reveal a cotton canvas that Michael painted.

Michael donated an accompanying 1970 photograph taken on the evening of Scotch College’s Athletics win. He remembers: “We had a great day and celebrated with the caped crusaders banner taken from some boys at Christ Church [Grammar School]. A few Guildford [Grammar School] boys had their boaters unceremoniously destroyed in the grandstand with the Headmaster Mr David Prest dressing down students at Assembly in Memorial Hall the next day.”

1970 boarders with painted Banners ‘SCOTCH’ and ‘Porridge Power’ and ‘Scotch’ in senior dormitory two; 1970 House Heads with the banners in Memorial Hall

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Brian Latham

John Lindquist

Bob (Robert) Pidgeon

Past teacher and Head of Art Brian Latham (1977–84) donated thirty slides. The images were taken during the 1977 pioneers school camp at Boddington and the 1980 Year 9 camp at Peel Inlet. Slides feature students and staff participating in ropes course exercises, first aid, fire building, billy tea making, canoeing on the Hotham River, the old railway bridge, raft making and campsites. Teachers Bob Andrew, Brian Waterer, John Brooksbank, Gary Jacobs, Greg Williams, Greg Bunney, Greg Wain, Simon Murray, Fred Roberts, Angus Greenhalgh and Brian are featured.

John Lindquist (OSC 1961) donated a 1946 signed dinner programme belonging to his father Harold Geoffrey Lindquist (OSC 1931).

The Old Scotch Collegians hosted a dinner at the Perth Town Hall on 8 February 1946 to farewell and celebrate Headmaster P C Anderson and W A Gardner’s contribution to the College. The face of the programme features an intimate 1940s portrait of Headmaster Anderson.

Robert Pidgeon (OSC 1955) donated 1952–60 Reporter editions from his time at the College and two copies of the 1964 PSA Head of the River programme. The publications accompany his former archival donation.

Ian Lindsay Ian Lindsay donated his eulogy (see page 50) commemorating the life of Alasdair Courtney (OSC 1953) that he delivered at Alasdair’s funeral service held at Brown Chapel on 10 February 2022.

Tony Robinson Tony Robinson (OSC 1956), who boarded from 1950 to 1955, kindly donated photographs taken with a Box Brownie camera. Images feature students near the top oval steps, aspects of Collegians House, the Gooch Pavilion and students playing handball in the quadrangle. “Beady Eyes” Master Don Thomas’ Austin7 “batmobile”, affectionately called “Aggie”, is also pictured, decorated in streamers outside the main classroom block following their 1954 PSA Athletics win. Tony’s grandmother Daisie Robinson ran the Mothers’ Auxiliary in the mid-1920s. Daisy was the mother of Thomas (OSC 1932), Angus (OSC 1924) and Charles Robinson (OSC 1925). Charles was tragically Western Australia’s first shark attack victim, taken at Freshwater Bay near the Scotch Boat Shed.

Top and right: Scotch College students near top oval M-Block Building, 1954–56 Bottom right: Anthony Robinson (OSC 1956)

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Allan Murray Alan Murray (OSC 1981) donated a letter written on 18 December 1919 by Headmaster P C Anderson addressed to his grandfather Alan Murray (OSC 1919). The handwritten character reference commends Alan’s achievements and was presented in the final months at school.

Robert Quinn Robert Quinn (OSC 2010) donated a 1960s Cadet training rifle originally used at the College. The generous donation was made after a long loan to the Scotch College Heritage Centre. The rifle features in the Cadet display in the Malcolm Cotterell (OSC 1976) room in Memorial Hall and was acquired at auction when the school decommissioned firearms on campus. The carved wooden rifle with the maker’s stamp completes the exservicemen and Cadet display.

Richard Schonell Richard ‘Dick’ Schonell (OSC 1952) donated a brilliant photograph of his father Carl ‘Henry’ Schonell (OSC 1920) who participated in the 1933 OSC Hockey Club A2 Grade Runners-up Challenge Cup. The image was likely taken at the Claremont Showgrounds field and features Lynden Dunstan (OSC 1929), Eric McLean (OSC 1922), Earnest Alnutt (OSC 1931), Carl Robertson (OSC 1924), Captain Jack Wade (OSC 1917), John Sands (OSC 1926), William Cullen (OSC 1926). In the front row are Henry Schonell (OSC 1920), Harold Carson (OSC 1920), Donald McLennan (OSC 1929) and Norman Fraser (OSC 1929).

Dick’s father Henry played in the 1920 First XVIII Football Team and joined the Old Boys Hockey Club after returning to Perth from Beverley, where he completed his article training, to commence work with the law firm Dwyer and Thomas.

Old Scotch Collegians Hockey Club A2 Grade Runners-Up Challenge Cup featuring Dick Schonell’s (OSC 1952) father Carl Henry Schonell (OSC 1920), 1933

John Silcock John Silcock (OSC 1964) donated a custom pair of Athletics sprinting shoes discovered when packing up the family farm, Kennondale Farms, near Donnybrook. John is “very pleased the school can use this little piece of history which, on reflection, was a milestone in my life”.

The shoes were handmade by Mr Dreske of Dreske Store Fremantle, a German specialist shoemaker “who made Herb Elliot’s running shoes”.

John Silcock (OSC 1964) with his grandson Tom Anderson (OSC 2021) holding his famous running shoes on the Playing Fields outside Gooch Pavilion at March Out 2021

Hayden Shenton

John and Mary Silcock

Hayden Shenton (OSC 1981) donated coloured slides of the 1978 Highland Games. The images, featuring students and spectators, are taken from the Gooch Pavilion looking outward to Memorial Grounds and feature tossing the caber, the jumping sack race, tug of war and traditional Scottish dancing.

John (OSC 1964) and Mary Silcock donated images that celebrate their son Jeremy’s (OSC 1987) graduating year, taken on the evening of his 1987 Valedictory Dinner. The images feature Jeremy and include a Year 12 portrait and family snapshot of John, Mary and Jeremy and his good friend, Jeremy Graeme (OSC 1987), who hailed from Yearling.

They were worn in the 1964 PSA Athletics Carnival, where John won the B division open 100 yards with a time of 9.9 seconds. This was the first time the 10 second barrier was broken by a schoolboy in Western Australia.

After the astonishing win, Headmaster Keys had to counter the other PSA headmasters who questioned why Scotch had placed their best runner in B division.

John recollects: “Unfortunately for me but fortunately for the Headmaster this record only lasted a few minutes. Division A runner John Foster (OSC 1962–64) won easily and recorded a slick time of 9.8 seconds, gaining maximum points and vindicating Dr Keys’ position.”

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EULOGY

Alasdair Courtney (OSC 1953) David Thom David Thom (OSC 1957) donated an album containing memories of growing up on the land and boarding in 1950 at the age of 10 through to his leaving year. Hailing from the Murchison region, he grew up on Wydgee Station, 90km from Mount Magnet. Wydgee raised 16,000 to 20,000 sheep and David recalls how the drive home during the Christmas holiday took a full day.

David recalls: “The Boarding House was diagonally opposite the main entrance called Drummond House. The housemaster was Mr Houston. His nickname was ‘Chisel Guts’. In 1951 we moved from the main school to a dormitory that was quite near the school kitchen.

The dining room was up near the front of the school and sat about 150 boarders and several masters. The food could be described as terrible. You ate everything on your plate and were always hungry. When the meal finished, you often waited till most of the others had gone and you would hunt around to see if any bread and jam had been left.”

Photographs of particular interest include the 1950 prep school, Collegians House, 1951 Junior School wing, Campbell House garden, basketball ring, Cadet Parade on Memorial Oval, 1957 First XVIII Football Team, 1957 Prefects’ Dance at Memorial Hall, the 1957 Football Team’s Adelaide Tour, the 1957 Head of the River Rowing crew passing the Swan River Brewery taken from Kings Park and the winning crew, the 1957 presentation of the George Campbell Shield and the 1957 prefects with Headmaster Maxwell Keys.

David also donated his work, Kimberley – The End of an Era. Published in 2021, the book is his personal account of the Kimberley cattle industry, narrating changes that took place for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people of Western Australia.

Clockwise from top: Ian Duckham (OSC 1958) ‘going in’ after the 1957 PSA Head of the River; The VIII Rowing Crew after winning the 1957 PSA Head of the River, featuring Ric Richardson (OSC 1958) (bow), David Thom (OSC 1957) (2), Bruce Mayberry (OSC 1957) (3), Lee Anderson (OSC 1957) (4), Jerry Knowles (OSC 1957) (5), Geoff Shilkin (OSC 1956) (7) and Don Mazzuchelli (OSC 1957); Cadet Marching Parade on Memorial Oval, 1956–57

50 | archives

The abridged eulogy was given by friend and former colleague Ian Lindsay at the funeral of Alasdair Courtney.

Alasdair was born in 1936, in Perth, the first child of Dr Charles and Margaret Courtney. His early education was at Nedlands State School then at Scotch College Perth (1949–50) and Scotch College Melbourne (1951–53). His family has a powerful military tradition, with 15 ancestors having distinguished service in the Army, Navy and Air Force over four generations.

He played as a piper in the Scotch College Pipe Band and his father had been a great help in establishing the band in 1947.

On the family’s relocation to Melbourne, he joined the school cadet unit. This association with the army was to last for many years. On matriculating in 1954, he joined the CMF and was posted to the Victorian Scottish Regiment, his father’s old unit.

This service lasted until 1957.

In January 1958, he joined the staff of Scotch College Perth, where he was to spend the rest of his professional life spanning an incredible 50 years. His qualities as a teacher soon became apparent, and by the end of the year, Headmaster Dr Keys appointed him Resident House Master, responsible for 150 boarders.

His wide knowledge of Scottish customs led him to organise classes of Scottish Country Dancing, and in 1976 he organised with his usual efficiency the first Highland Games, held at Loch Claremont. It subsequently became a biennial and much enjoyed feature of the school community until 2001. The Centenary Highland Games in 1997 was a splendid occasion, with a huge crowd and the massed pipe bands of Scotch, PLC and Trinity College.

In 1980 Alasdair was appointed College Archivist, a position he held until his retirement in 2007. No one could have been a better-informed or more helpful source of information on the College’s history. He was an indispensable assistant to Dr Jenny Gregory in writing the College’s history, Building a Tradition, published as part of the centenary celebrations.

We honour Alasdair for his contribution to the development of thousands of young men. His sense of vocation, his wide range of gifts, his friendship as a colleague to many, and his untiring commitment to excellence have marked a selfless and fruitful career.

Annual Appeal 2022

Give the gift of education As we celebrate 125 years of educational excellence, we invite our community to help us educate a new generation for our 2022 Annual Appeal.

Your generous contribution to our Scholarship and Bursary Fund will assist families to provide their son with a world-class Scotch education.

Your gift, regardless of its size, will support learning opportunities for students today and beyond.

There can be no greater legacy than giving forward and assisting boys to achieve what they have thought to be an impossible dream – attending Scotch College.

Dr Alec O’Connell, Headmaster

Give now at scotch.wa.edu.au/annualgiving

76 Shenton Road Swanbourne WA 6010 +61 8 9383 6800 mail@scotch.wa.edu.au www.scotch.wa.edu.au CRICOS PROVIDER CODE: 00449M