Headmaster’s Reflections

Welcome back from the long weekend, a weekend that we colloquially refer to as ‘the boarders’ long weekend’. From a personal observation it appeared that a lot of people took advantage of the border restrictions being relaxed and headed in all directions for a change of scenery.

COVID-19

In so many ways it was very encouraging to see families returning to their normal activities. However, it is still important that we continue to exercise caution in our interactions with each other, remembering to respect social distancing, maintain basic hand hygiene, and, for those who support the concept, sign up to the COVID-19 app. While in WA we appear to be in a very favourable position regarding the level of infections and cases of COVID-19, that interstate schools are still having to isolate students is a salient reminder that we must continue to be vigilant and community minded.

Boarding

The most exciting development this week is that the majority of our boarding community should be back on site with the formal return of Year 7 and 8 to their boarding house. Their return was deferred until after the break to allow us to complete some minor works geared at improving the safety for students and staff in the Year 7/8 boarding house. I look forward to seeing all of our boarders around the College over the coming week.

PSA and JPSSA

With the State Government’s recent announcement that WA would commence Phase 3 of the COVID-19 Road Map to Recovery on 6 June, the PSA committee is able to confirm the staged commencement of the PSA Winter Sport for 2020.

While maintaining the health and safety of our community, the return of sport will be staged with Senior Badminton and Cross-Country competitions commencing on Saturday 6 June. However, this weekend is the bye weekend for Scotch so we will not be competing against other schools in these two sports. Parents will receive instructions from the Director of Sport Mr Richard Foster about our internal sport commitments and training sessions for this week. This will include all sports and codes.

Sport will recommence for all JPSSA students on Thursday 11 June followed by PSA competitions for Year 7–9 students, across all codes, on Friday 12 June.

Full Senior fixtures will look to commence on Saturday 13 June. This will be sport specific and subject to approval and / or endorsement from respective Sport Management groups at each school following consultation meetings over the next few days. We will confirm the senior fixtures later this week.

The PSA committee, comprised of the seven Headmasters and Principals, acknowledge all school communities for their support and understanding throughout the process.

Annual Appeal

The May edition of Clan is known for including an insert for the College’s Annual Appeal. When the 2020 copy comes out shortly, regular readers will notice the appeal is not included this year. For obvious reasons, 2020 is a very unusual year and we acknowledge the financial challenges many families are facing.

Having said this, in advance of the distribution of the May Clan, we have had a number of enquiries about giving financial support to the College. In 2020 we established a new Office of Advancement and Philanthropy, headed up by Director Kate Quinn. If you wish to give to any appeal or fund, in the first instance, please contact Mel Colling, Executive Assistant on +61 8 9383 6987 or mel.colling@scotch.wa.edu.au.

Your ongoing support is crucial to our College.

Continuing to support each other

Throughout the last couple of months, the driving priority for our Council and the College has been to support our students and their families to work through a time of uncertainty and challenge. While things are on the up, I would like to remind all families that should you need assistance or wish to discuss any matter of which we can be of assistance, please do not hesitate to contact my office. This includes our OSC community as well. All conversations are treated with the highest level of confidentiality.

While it is great to see that things are improving, there is no doubt that challenging times remain ahead for many in our community. We do not want any student to have to leave because of recent times and supporting families will continue to be our priority. We are here to help and support you. That is the role of a strong and united community such as Scotch.

Have a great fortnight,

Dr Alec J O’Connell
Headmaster