Scotch College

Minds focused on boarding house leadership

A Term 3 leadership seminar for Year 11 boarders helped pave the way for our 2008 boarding house leaders.

A Term 3 seminar facilitated by Scotch’s Head of Social Education, Rob Cavalin, and boarding house Activities Officer Tim Bence used role-play exercises, and drew on the experiences of a past Captain of the Hill to focus attention on leadership in the Scotch boarding house.

Next year’s senior boarders – the Year 11 boys of 2007 – attended the seminar and participated enthusiastically in the night’s activities. The seminar was held in the Cardinal Pavilion on 6 September.

Rob Cavalin spoke about what makes a leader – particularly a leader of young teenagers in a school boarding house environment – before introducing James Lamont, Captain of the Boarding House (known as ‘Captain of the Hill’) in 2006. James has returned to Australia after six months’ work at Queen Victoria School in Dunblane, Scotland, as part of his gap year.

James spoke about leadership issues which arose during his senior years at Scotch, and how they were resolved.

The boys were next divided into teams for role-play exercises. Teams were each given a scenario to act out, and were asked to display leadership in handling the issue raised in the role-play. For example, one team handled the problem of a fictitious Year 7 boy who was a serial reluctant riser, missing breakfast and continually arriving late for school.

Rob Cavalin said the boys came up with very practical examples of how to deal with various situations.

‘They were acutely aware of possible problematical situations they were likely to encounter as boarding house leaders, and they were able to construct meaningful solutions.

‘I believe there’s a number of boys in the 2008 Year 12 Boarding House community who will demonstrate exemplary leadership skills.’

The seminar concluded with discussions on the responsibilities the Year 11s will face as Year 12s on the Hill in 2008. One boy will be Captain of the Hill, and others will captain the three boarding houses – and all other Year 12 boys will be house prefects.

Responsibilities will be many, including waking boys in the morning and making sure they are in bed at the right time, arranging mentoring by the Year 11s, ensuring rooms are tidy and beds made, and that homework is done, and organising sports and social events. They will also need to be alert for signs of homesickness, especially among new boarders and the younger boys.

Another responsibility will be to arrange elections for the ‘boarders’ forums’, where representatives of all houses meet twice a term to discuss issues of importance to boarders.

The Term 3 forum was timely, focusing attention on leadership issues which will impact on all the Year 12 boarders in 2008. GS