Scotch College

Boarding …President’s Column

           

Boarding at Scotch is a life changing experience shared by families from a wide range of backgrounds. Around 165 boys from overseas, interstate, rural Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne live together on ‘The Hill’.

The Boarders’ Parents’ Association offers a support network for parents of boarders and facilitates communication between the school and home. For parents, saying goodbye at the start of each Term can be charged with emotion, knowing that you will not be there at the end of the school day to chat with your son about his achievements and concerns and offer support.

On school mornings, the boys are woken by a knock on the door by a Year 12 student. They have breakfast with the other boys and then pack their school bag for the day. They make their way down the hill of our large campus for their day at school.

The Dean of Boarding, Chris Braithwaite, our House Masters, Matrons and all the other Hill staff do an amazing job providing a home away from home for our boys. They help them build their independence and resilience.

My association with the Boarders’ Parents’ Association began 14 years ago when the first of our three sons became a Year 9 boarder. Through the BPA I have made lifelong friends and have maintained a strong involvement and connection with our sons’ education and personal development.

The BPA meets at the start of each Term and we are very fortunate to have many of the Hill staff as well as the Principal, Tom Batty, attend our meetings.

Parents benefit enormously from hearing firsthand about the activities on the Hill and in the day school.

The best way to encourage communication is to organise a social event and we do as much of this as possible, beginning with a formal dinner in February and a cocktail party, which is coming up on 2nd June. Family Day turns into a full weekend for boarding families. As well as cooking our famous pancakes on Family Day, our parents come together for dinner that night followed by the Boarders’ Revue, which invariably tests the sense of humour of staff on the Hill. We return the next morning for Chapel and a barbecue lunch on the Hill. Parents also meet for coffee on pick up day at the end of each Term.

We are indebted to the hard working Year Level Coordinators who organise social events throughout the year and we appreciate how welcome they make boarding parents feel when they attend. Many day parents are extremely generous with offering transport to sporting fixtures for boarders and even the occasional meal for a boy.

We feel that Boarders add another dimension to the Scotch family. They put city boys in touch with country boys as well as international students.

We are particularly proud to have one of our own, Tom Goodwin, as the 2012 School Captain.

Cheryl Fuller
PRESIDENT, Boarding Parents' Association