In this week’s eNews you will find several important pieces of information; it’s a bumper edition, but hopefully over the long weekend you can find the time to have a read.

The first item is the current College response to COVID-19 which under the leadership of Dr Newton has us well positioned to respond in a proactive and considered manner.

The second item I would draw to your attention is the weekly Academic Matters written by our Head of Teaching and Learning Teresa Hanel, which outlines a new initiative for the College in the use of technologies by our students. Importantly it is building on one of our key strategic plan actions which is to ensure that teaching and learning model has wellbeing at its heart.  

You will also see Five Tips for New Parents from Natalie Felkl our Head of Community – I would encourage both old and new families to have a read about how to make the most of your time at Scotch.

There are of course the usual reports on Scotch in action including our involvement with the Kickstart for Kids program and events such as our attendance at the International Women’s Day breakfast this morning. Today we had a free concert for the whole campus and workshop sessions for our music students by The Magnets who are the currently performing at the Fringe. Trust me if you only see one performance this year this one is the one to go to! Thank you to Dr Hubmayer for organising.

We have also been working on our Boarding programs for this year and we have put in place a new structure for our evening prep (homework/study) program. Having employed specific academic and wellbeing tutors I can assure you we have in place a strong support for all our boarding students to succeed in their home away from home. There are various ways in which Day Students and their families may become involved in our Boarding community and I encourage you to contact Meredith Ridgway (8274 4291) to have a chat if you are interested in being part of the Rosevear experience.

Today I have sent to Year 11 and 12 students’ information about a great opportunity for a tour in January 2021. The tour which has been put together by Latitude group specifically for Scotch is an amazing opportunity for personal development, global awareness and service.  We are offering two different options for students to consider, one to India and the other to the US/Costa Rica. I hope students have the opportunity to discuss with you the nature of these tours and there will be a further information session held next Friday. We have commissioned their design because we wanted something challenging and out of the ordinary experiences for our students and I believe both options deliver in buckets on this brief. 

Dr Sharp and Shawn Kasbergen have been working with the Campus Leadership Team on our Bullying and Behaviour Management policy. Both are for review and in the coming weeks we will have focus groups for parent input. If you would like to be a part of the conversation, please let either Kelly or me know.  

Life at Scotch is all about preparation whether it be to keep us safe, help us grow or come together to be a stronger community. I hope you have had the opportunity to prepare this week for a highly anticipated mid-term break (for all the right reasons!)... and just in case you like hitting the water for fun, keep an eye out for the P&F Scotch Towels fundraiser!

All the best for a great long -weekend.

Dale