Scotch College

A community that cares

Dr Donaldson emphasises that Scotch’s fundamental principle is to provide each student with the best possible educational opportunity and focus on Scotch boys and their needs.

The tragic death of our Year 9 student, Nathan Francis, while attending this year’s cadet bivouac, has deeply saddened the entire Scotch community. A packed Memorial Hall service offered sympathy, love and support to his parents, brother, grandparents and extended family. This will remain our endeavour into the future.

The school is engaged in a detailed investigation into the circumstances surrounding Nathan’s death. We will also be seeking an appropriate memorial to him as well as identifying how to ensure there will be no recurrence of a tragedy like this. Counselling and other assistance is being provided to fellow cadets and staff who have been affected by these events. A more detailed tribute to Nathan follows in Great Scot.

As we try to come to terms with what happened, an over-riding factor is the central importance of each student in the life of this school. The school and our community are diminished by the loss of this one individual. Yet we have been enriched by his years at Scotch, through his involvement in school life, his interest in numerous activities and his many friendships. In our sadness at his passing, it was appropriate that the Memorial Hall Service was in thanksgiving for the life of Nathan.

Scotch’s fundamental principle is to provide for each student the best possible educational opportunity. Our focus is on our boys and their needs. With over 1830 boys, with individual abilities, interests and requirements, this is a huge task demanding committed, able and understanding staff as well as top-quality programs and facilities.

Throughout Scotch’s history, programs and facilities have been developed in response to students’ needs. Our earliest days brought students with a huge variety of educational abilities. Many were deficient in the basics, there being at that time no state primary education. In 1862 the Principal, Alexander Morrison, responded by opening a ‘preparatory school’ for boys not in their teens, with one trained teacher charged with preparing boys for enrolment in the Senior School. Later, in 1915, the establishment of the Junior School in Glen House at Hawthorn saw Scotch’s first move from East Melbourne to our current campus.

Initially 42 boys were enrolled and by 1920 this had grown to 379 boys. This issue of Great Scot gives an exciting picture of the current state of primary education at Scotch College, showing how it has flourished in fine facilities with excellent teachers.

Master planning for Scotch’s possible future developments is a never–ending exercise. Consideration is being given to the Junior School’s needs, striving to provide facilities to take advantage of what contemporary research is adding to traditional experience about how boys learn best.

Similarly, the Senior School’s facilities for teaching the sciences and technology are under consideration. Present facilities set new standards of national excellence when they were built in the 1970’s, but they now limit our capacity to respond to contemporary challenges in science teaching.

The importance of Scotch’s response is beyond doubt. Most of the long-term challenges facing humanity are scientifically or technologically centred. All have major economic as well as social components. Hugely important decisions will be required from politicians, businessmen, company directors, and legal and financial advisers and their ability to make wise decisions will be influenced by their understanding of the underlying scientific principles.

In response, we are actively involved in defining an educational and facilities brief to enable Scotch to meet the challenge of developing for each boy, not just those aiming for a scientific or technical career, a level of scientific literacy that will serve him well in his future endeavours, in whatever sphere they may be.

Tollway

As noted in previous editions of Great Scot, the Monash tollway is to be extended again, and once again all widening is to be on Scotch’s side of the existing roadway. The School is vigorously pursuing all possible avenues to protect our amenities, our trees and our environment from the negative impacts of loss of land and increased traffic volumes.

The proposed commencement date on Scotch’s land is in July, though delays by Transurban in preparing detailed design specifications mean that it may be later.

Although in-principle agreement has been reached on some important points, the school is greatly concerned at Transurban’s attitude to the noise standards to be incorporated in the designs. From the School’s point of view, achieving a reduced amount of noise from the tollway is the top priority.

At present Transurban is planning to apply noise standards that are inferior to VicRoads standards for educational institutions. It is unacceptable to Scotch that Transurban refuses to acknowledge in its acoustic plans the obvious fact that Scotch is a school. The noise standards applied by VicRoads acknowledge the lower levels of noise required for the proper functioning of schools and other educational institutions. Although Scotch believes that the VicRoads standards themselves are arbitrary and without adequate scientific basis and fall well short of ‘best practice’ acoustic standards, they are nevertheless the standards that apply at present across the VicRoads network and should be applied by Transurban. Transurban’s current attitude on this point threatens cooperation with the school, and impacts not only Scotch, but also St Kevin’s and other institutions along the roadway. We are currently pursuing the matter through every course of action available to us.

Transurban’s intransigence on the issue of noise barriers across the Yarra Bridge is another serious concern. Transurban has not contained noise levels in this area within their own levels. The existing noise impacts adversely on the educational uses of the Cardinal Pavilion and on the planned new science facilities.

The school is also concerned at threats to the substantial stand of remnant vegetation, particularly of river red gums, along Gardiners Creek. Repeated assurances by Transurban that ‘only four significant trees’ will be removed from Scotch grossly underestimate the number of trees likely to be damaged or facing removal. Advice from the School’s arborist indicates that we now risk the loss of possibly more than 100 trees, many of which are at least 40 years old. Transurban needs to demonstrate more concern about the legitimate environmental welfare of the broader community living in the Gardiners Creek area.

For Scotch, the best outcome will be one that does the least possible long-term damage to our campus.

There are no benefits whatsoever to the school from the proximity of this tollway. Despite our present sense of frustration with the processes imposed on us, parents (present and future) and all Old Boys can be confident that the School is doing everything possible to achieve the best outcome.

Conclusion

One of the defining elements that characterises Scotch is the extent that members of its family care about the myriad of issues that emerge. We have seen they involve long-term future developmental issues, shorter-term planning and the immediate needs of a family and School in mourning. This is what school education is about. It is a mix that is always challenging, demanding, stimulating, humbling and immensely satisfying.