Scotch College

Boarding, a way of life at Scotch

Boarding at Scotch gives families from relatively remote country areas the opportunity to gain a quality education for their sons.

In addition, given the increasing internationalisation of business with employees posted overseas for periods of time, boarding is viable while parents are living overseas.

Boarders find their confidence increases as they meet people from other walks of life - people from different cultures and backgrounds - and this greater confidence helps develop their aims for the future, broadening their own vision of what is possible, from tertiary education to their vocation, as well as helping to develop greater tolerance of differences in people.

Boarding as a way of life

There is an air of positive and constructive activity within the boarding community and a commitment to Scotch College's vast array of activities. On weekends and during after school hours, many recreational and sporting activities are organised to supplement the school's normal programme.

The value of boarding to the day school

Boarding is considered beneficial not only to the boarders themselves, but also to the wider school. Day boys and boarders obtain mutual benefit from spending work and leisure time at the school together.

In an academic sense classes at the senior school benefit from the presence of boarders. The diversity of students' backgrounds and experiences adds to the quality of classroom discussion. Boys with farming backgrounds can frequently offer knowledge or informed opinion on the numerous topics which relate to rural life and agriculture.

Importantly, boys from overseas can often contribute 'inside' knowledge when the culture or language of their own country is discussed.

The presence of boarders has pronounced advantages for the school's extra curricular activities. The boarding houses continue to provide many of the school's finest sportsmen. Their efforts have contributed much to the school's great success in APS sport in recent years.

It is not just on the sporting fields that boarders make their presence felt. Talented musicians from the Hill add significantly to the life of the Music School, and an enthusiastic band of boarders have regularly provided assistance to Mr Hunter McWhinney (Head of McMeckan House) in the construction of outstanding sets for the many school dramatic productions in recent years.

Scotch College's achievements in sporting and other areas owe much to its extraordinarily strong community spirit. That spirit derives in no small part from the fact that for many of the boys, Scotch College is not just their school, but their home.