Scotch College

James thrives in gap year at Dunblane

James Lamont (’06) takes the opportunity to work at Queen Victoria School in Dunblane, Scotland as part of his gap year.

Words: David Brown • Senior School staff

Situated in the centre of Scotland, within an hour’s drive from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth and Dundee and a short distance from the historic city of Stirling, whose castle protrudes along the skyline, is Dunblane. It is a small town, containing a cathedral, but it would largely have remained unknown if it had not been for the massacre that took place in the local primary school 10 years ago. Now its people take pride in another product of that school, Andy Murray, a big name in Scottish and international tennis.

Queen Victoria School will celebrate its centenary next year, having provided 100 years of uninterrupted education for the sons and daughters of Scottish service personnel in Dunblane. The school is small, with approximately 250 pupils aged between 10 and 18, but they all board and along with the staff, who mainly live on site, constitute a close community.

Scotch has a special link with Queen Victoria School (QVS), sending over a recent leaver each year through the Melbourne Scots scholarship, to work in the school as part of a gap year. James Lamont (‘06) is currently taking advantage of this opportunity and I recently visited him. He hopes to stay until the end of the year before continuing on to tertiary education, with a place waiting for him at Deakin studying Media Communications.

James is part of a team of eight gap students at QVS, most of whom traditionally come from Australia. They help in one of the four boarding houses with duties including waking up the boys, putting them to bed, supervising homework and providing evening activities – nothing too new to James, who was Captain of the Hill in 2006. As a talented rugby player (he was vice-captain in his final year), he has also been working with the 1st XV and a junior rugby team. He will also be very involved in the athletics program later in the year where his experience as Captain of Athletics at Scotch will be put to good use. Despite the relatively small number of pupils, there are impressive sports facilities at the school, including an all-weather hockey field, several rugby pitches, tennis courts, a shooting range and an indoor pool.

With the entire pupil body being on site there is always something going on. Arts and crafts, woodwork and public speaking all flourish. James has the opportunity to be involved in these and many other activities. The Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and cadets also provide a chance to see some of the beautiful local scenery.

The new Headmistress at QVS, Mrs Wendy Bellars, said that the gap students provided an invaluable link between the pupils and the staff, and she appreciated their youthful enthusiasm. They are treated like staff and given responsibilities, but also often become role models. James lives with a couple of other gap students in a fully furnished and equipped house a few minutes’ walk from the boarding houses and classrooms. Although he works during the weekends, he has Mondays off. There is also plenty of opportunity to travel during the school holidays.

James is thoroughly enjoying his time there, saying he has learnt a lot. He felt he was not ready to go straight to university and having been to Scotland on a rugby tour was keen to return. ‘It is an eye-opening experience that I would recommend to anyone wanting to enjoy a year abroad.’