Principal's Report
Speech Day 2007
Mr Chairman, Guest speaker Abby Edwards, Guest Presenter Sam Stranks, Members of Council, Old Collegians and Friends of the College, parents, College staff and students; it gives me great pleasure to present my inaugural Principal's Report for the 2007 school year.
To state that my initial period of leadership of Scotch College has been busy and challenging would significantly understate the reality. I have thoroughly enjoyed my first year in a school that should be very proud of what it has achieved, of what it continues to achieve, and the culture in which it operates. I have said on many occasions, I know of few schools that have the genuine "community spirit" such as that found in Scotch College -- it is a school with a real sense of friendliness, happiness, and co‐operation and a school that places a high value on achievement and success.
I would like to begin my report by talking briefly about something that has always been, and continues to be so, one of my favourite past times and something about which I am very passionate -- teaching. A teaching mentor once told me
"Teaching is the most inherently hopeful act that I know".
In his eyes, teaching is inherently hopeful because every individual student has the capability to succeed in life, to be happy, and to be proud of themselves. No matter the background of the student, no matter what they believe and think of themselves right now, they have the keys to success within them.
When an individual teacher believes this, he or she can improve a life. When large numbers of teachers believe it, especially those who are working as a team within their own organisation, they can do a whole world of good. There is systematic evidence that teachers who have a strong sense of their own efficacy, who believe that they can make a real difference in their studentsʹ lives, really do.
In the case of the teaching staff at Scotch College, I strongly believe this to be the case.
However, this is not necessarily the way students think about teaching. Let me repeat a conversation I had with a Year 12 chemistry student some time ago. He came to my office with a shy, embarrassed, smile.
"Mr Oughton, do you mind if I ask you something?"
"Of course not, go ahead."
"Well, the thing is, I've been wondering why you are doing this?"
"I'm sorry?"
"Doing what you are doing."
"Doing what?"
"Teaching. Why are you teaching? Why are you in a chemistry lab?"
"Do you mean I shouldn't be teaching, that I'm past it and should remain locked in my Principal's study?"
"No, Sir, I don't mean that, I mean why did you get into teaching? I mean, the thing is, you could be doing something with your life!"
"Something worth doing, you mean?"
"Yes."
Naturally the student was meaning to be nice, even to be flattering. Teaching, obviously, didn't rank very highly in his list of worthwhile careers. I told him that if I had my choice of career again I would choose to do the same thing.
There is nothing more rewarding than knowing you can make a positive difference in a young person's life. He viewed teaching as subject delivery. I tried to persuade him that the really exciting and interesting part of teaching involved interacting with young people -- teaching a subject was simply the vehicle for those interactions. While he still continued with a law course at university that year, I did sense that our conversation had made him re‐evaluate his perception of teaching and perhaps in the future he may end up in the noblest profession of them all! Not, of course, that law isnʹt noble!! I would encourage young women and men in the audience tonight to think about their own experiences and recognise the value teachers add to their lives. Why wouldn't you like to join a profession whose primary goal is to improve the lives of the next generation through education?
Sometimes I am asked by prospective parents, what is my vision for Scotch College and/or successful education. The two are, of course, the same things. My answer always relates to high quality teaching and learning and high quality inter‐personal relationships. Successful schools rely on recruiting, retaining and supporting good teachers. Successful schools have minimal personal conflict and maximal personal happiness and satisfaction. Successful schools are also learning schools -- they understand the value of self‐improvement and continually strive to improve teaching quality. There is, I believe, a number of essential underpinnings for this to happen and in most respects they describe my personal vision for Scotch College.
These are:
1. A community of learners
A good school for me is a place where everyone is teaching and learning ‐ simultaneously, under the same roof. Students are teaching and learning, teachers are teaching and learning and head teachers are teaching and learning.
Schools need not merely be a place where there are adults who are learned and pupils who are learners.
2. Collegiality
My experience in a wide range of schools suggests that the quality of adult relationships within a school has more to do with the quality and character of the school and with the accomplishments of students than any other factor. In Scotch College I want teachers to share their skills and knowledge and actively help each other become better.
3. A willingness to explore new ideas
New ideas must be viewed not as a nuisance or embarrassment but as a sign of life. If we are serious about learning for ourselves and others, then we also need to take risks.
4. Respect for diversity
Schools are full of different people -- teachers, parents and students -- they have different ethnicities, abilities, interests and backgrounds. Valuing those differences, and I strongly believe we do at Scotch College, helps make us a more enriching learning environment.
5. A culture of inquiry
It is critical to engender a philosophical, inquiry‐based culture within a school.
"Why" questions are always powerful learning devices.
6. Humour
A lot of funny things happen in schools yet often they can be taken too seriously and the humour of the situation is lost. People learn and develop through humour. I like to make an effort to elicit and cultivate humour -- we all know that laughter is the best medicine.
7. A community of leaders
One definition of leadership I recently read, and like, is 'making happen that in which you believe'. Everyone, therefore, should get a chance to be a leader at school. Our House system and Student Council successfully encourage individual leadership but they shouldn't be the only vehicles for leadership within Scotch College. Classroom, sporting and cultural leadership opportunities exist in abundance. A good school should never hear a student complain "But I never had a chance to be a leader".
8. Low anxiety and high standards
Considerable research suggests that attention, learning, performance, retention, and recall all diminish when the anxiety of the learner is high. This is probably best achieved if students, through their teaching and learning programmes, get an appropriate balance in their life.
These eight underpinnings are, of course, idealistic and in the 'not quite achieved' box on my Scotch College Principal's report. But any vision statement is, by its very nature, a 'working towards' statement.
In the course of working towards this vision we, as a whole College community, can be well satisfied with the many fine achievements of our staff and students in 2007. The list of successes is too long to read out tonight, however there are several that I would like to mention just to highlight their diversity and level of excellence.
In September Scotch College was awarded a National Literacy and Numeracy Excellence Award -- 1 of 15 awarded nationally and presented by the then Federal Minister of Education, Ms Julie Bishop, in Canberra. The award recognised some outstanding work done with our Year 10 students under the guidance of our Head of Mathematics, Mrs Fiona McAuliffe. Fiona has subsequently won 2 other state teaching excellence awards -- all thoroughly deserved I can assure you.
Early in the year the Performing Arts Department used our extraordinary pool of student talent to produce ʺPirates of Penzanceʺ in our magnificent amphitheatre.
What a memorable show. The excellence of our performing artists was evident on many other occasions throughout the year -- the fantastic Junior School production, (ʺJoseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoatʺ), the outstanding Year 12 drama production, (ʺSummer Rainʺ) and Academy production (ʺOur Day Outʺ), the superb end of year dance concert (ʺConfidanceʺ), and the entertaining musical extravaganza in Term 2. Our Performing Arts team should take a bow -- they know how to produce quality.
In the 2006 SACE examinations, our Year 12 group gained an Average Tertiary Education Ranking of 82.6%. This result compared very favourably with the 77.6% Average TER of "Like Schools", ie schools with similar demographics.
These were also the best academic results the school had recorded for 5 years.
92% of our leavers were able to get into their first or second choice for tertiary studies.
On the sports fields Scotch has done well in 2007. 92% of our Middle School and Senior College students played some form of team sport this year and many of them played in more than one code. Our Netball numbers are most impressive -- over 100 girls playing regularly every winter Saturday. Congratulations to our A and B Netball teams for their outstanding results this year -- the A team narrowly losing the Division 1 final to St Peterʹs. Our boysʹ football teams also enjoyed considerable success with the First XVIII winning more than it lost (7‐5) while the Boys A Soccer team only lost 2 games all season. Both the summer and winter
Intercol exchanges with Pulteney Grammar were won in convincing fashion.
Scotch students performed very well in debating competitions this year with our Year 9 team being undefeated and our Year 11 team coming a very close runner up in the regional competition. I am always impressed when I hear our students speak in front of any audience -- they have a graciousness and a self‐assurance that is testimony to the sound tuition with which they are being provided in the classroom.
And so on to the future -- 2008 and beyond.
As a result of a major review carried out in the first term, we plan to introduce a number of changes in our school systems next year. Firstly, the timetable has been re‐shaped to a 5 day weekly cycle with 7 lessons per day. This has enabled greater flexibility and the opportunity for senior classes especially, to have double lessons. More learning time will be made available overall but, in particular, at Year 12 level. Secondly, our House System and has been reconstituted so that 6 Houses will now span years 7 to 12, connecting the Middle School and the Senior College in a meaningful way. Allied to the new House System will be a comprehensive Student Wellbeing Programme that will be taught on a regular basis. Mr Howard ʺMacʺ Macpherson is leading the way ere and, with the support of his six new Heads of House, I am confident that we will provide our students with something quite special and unique to Scotch College. A number of new leadership opportunities for students have arisen out of these changes. Plenty of these will arise out of a revamped Inter‐House Competition that is currently being planned by Mr Sam Peacock; I hope this will encourage wider participation, more diverse events (eg a quiz, the Big Sing, theatre sports) and generally more fun -- the goal always being to help improve school spirit.
The College roll next year will start at more than 800. This represents a 13% increase on the 2007 starting position and, if you pardon the pun, one could say that we are on a roll! We do have the capacity for growth and the Council has targeted 950 as a maximum roll given our current facilities. It must always be kept in mind that, in terms of successful functioning of schools, big schools are not necessarily the best. I strongly believe that all students need to have an identity and be known to as many staff as possible, the Principal included! It is not possible to achieve individual identity and knowledge in a school with large numbers of students.
Roll growth has enabled us to plan for the future with more security. Next year we will undertake an extended facilities improvement programme including more toilets for the Torrens Park Campus, sealed carparks, a new ICT centre for the Junior School, and the development of our Environmental Studies Centre on Kangaroo Island -- Kyre Campus. We do have bigger plans to which Dr Andrew Saies has already alluded -- my greatest hope is that the community gets behind our "Future Scotch" development because if we can complete all we plan in the next 3‐5 years, then our school will effectively future‐proof itself.
Two initiatives in 2008 in which our Year 12 parents may be interested are our joint venture with the Executive Fitness Management group (EFM) and an about to be formed Past Parents Group. EFM will open a new health and fitness centre where our current fitness gym is located. They will supply all the equipment and our students will be able to use the facilities during the school day, free of charge. A discount will be provided for any Scotch parent or past‐parent who wishes to join. Information regarding the new facility can be found on the fliers at the entrance to the Chapel or at our Enquiries counter. The Past Parents Group is a result of discussions at Parents and Friends meetings and Bryan Charlton has generously offered to head the group initially. It is planned to have one or two get‐togethers next year with the primary purpose being that of revisiting old associations and socialising. And I give our parents top marks in that field of endeavour!
Our Year 12 students can leave school this year with their heads held high -- they have been a great group of young people to work with and, believe me, I have seen quite a bit of them outside the classroom. They have been fine leaders and great role models -- they have raised the bar in terms of attitude and behaviour and I want to thank them for that. I wish them all the best in the future and hope that they maintain links with their former school -- a school I know has served them well and, equally, they have served well.
My best wishes extend to all staff leaving the College. Mrs Cheryl Bauer, our Head of Middle School and Deputy Principal leaves us after 10 years distinguished service to take up a position as Principal of St Johnʹs Grammar School. Cheryl has made a significant contribution to the healthy and vibrant culture that was obvious to me in the first few weeks at Scotch. I wish her well in the next exciting phase of her career. Mrs Elwyn Henderson, our teacher librarian and Head of Resources, has resigned to take up a similar position in a school in England. Elwyn has served the College well for 10 years and I sincerely thank her for that service. Ms Sarah Smith, a member of the Art Department is leaving to take up a new position at Woodcroft College -- Sarah has been a popular and effective teacher during her 3 years with us.
It is a pleasure to lead and work with the teaching staff at Scotch College. They are hard‐working, collegial, professional, friendly and supportive ‐ always striving to improve the outcomes for their students. They are the most valuable asset in any school and I thank them all for their dedication and effectiveness.
My personal thanks are extended to the College Management Team, Mr Craig Rogers, Mr Howard MacPherson, Mr John Robinson, Ms Teresa Hanel, Mrs Tania Darling, Mr Trevor Johnson and Mrs Jane Bourne.
Their dedication and support for all that happens in the College is much appreciated.
Scotch College is indeed fortunate to be served by many enthusiastic and capable support groups. My thanks go to the Scotch College Parents and Friends Association, the Old Collegians Association, the Foundation and other working committees of Council. Scotch College is fortunate to have such a dedicated and forward thinking Council -- Heather and I would also like to publicly express our sincere thanks to Council for giving us their total support over the past 18 months.
To all the administrative, grounds, catering and cleaning staff, I would also add my sincere thanks. They do a terrific job and are critical to the overall success of the school and the happy culture that exists within. One only has to look at the grounds and the well kept facilities to appreciate their collective good work.
I must make special mention of Mrs Mary Harrison, my loyal and dedicated assistant and someone who, without doubt, makes every working day more manageable and enjoyable. She knows me so well now she can tell how much sleep I've had the previous night and when I need a cup of tea! Thank you, Mary.
Finally, to all parents; thank you for your on‐going support, advice and goodwill. I have said it before and I will say it again -- Scotch has the best parent community of any school in which I have worked. Long may it last.
In finishing, I would like to wish you all a very merry family Christmas, a safe and enjoyable holiday break, and a prosperous New Year.
Timothy J Oughton
7 December, 2007
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