Are You Ready for His First Day?
Starting school in a new environment is daunting at any time. Perhaps even more so, when you and your child have experienced an unusual school year – or two – interrupted by a global pandemic. Here are some of our suggestions for a smooth transition into a new school environment. Before School Starts If you have the opportunity, look around the centre, with your child and a teacher, before school starts. To ensure your child feels calm during the visit, try to keep the number of people and new faces to a minimum. At The Scots College Early Learning Centre […]
Boys Learn Contemporary Critical Thinking
The Ashburner Society is the College’s student academic honour society, which aims to promote ‘good thinking’ in the spirit of our first Rhodes scholar, Mr Richard Ashburner (’23). A small team of Scots students lead the Society and, with the looming federal election, they decided on a political theme for their Term 1 meeting. The student team reached out to Mr Hamish Macdonald (’98), who has hosted Network Ten’s The Project and ABC’s Q+A as well as being a political journalist. The aim was not to promote the virtues of one political party or another, but rather to encourage good thinking on political issues. […]
Sensational Sailing Success
Recently, Jacob Marks (Year 10) prevailed over a competitive fleet to win the 2022 Vaikobi NSW 29er Championship contested over two separate weekends on the waters at Lake Macquarie and Sydney Harbour. With domestic and trans tasman school competition being negated since 2019, The Scots College Sailing staff looked for new boats and pathways to challenge the boys. The staff settled on the 29er class and began introducing the boys to skiff racing. Jacob put in countless hours upskilling himself in the boat and eventually teamed up with Ryan Ewings (from Engadine High School). Jacob and Ryan then put on […]
Scots Qualifies for VEX 2022 International Championship Competition
Last weekend, the annual VEX Robot Australian National Championship was held in Adelaide, South Australia, from 4 to 6 March 2022. Nearly 80 teams participated, and more than 1,000 players and spectators were in attendance. As members of the Sydney Robotics Academy Club and on the team, two Scots boys, entered the final round after 13 competitions. Their teams consisted of students from Sydney Boys High School, Sydney Grammar School, North Sydney Girls High School and Pymble Ladies’ College. One Scots boy was Team Captain. The team was announced final Champion of 2022 VEX Robotic National Championship Australia of the […]
Scots’ Rising Athletics Star
James Kotis (Year 12) flying over the hurdles. Source and credit: Peter Wade Photography Last weekend, it was the Athletics NSW Junior Championships at Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre (SOPAC). There were some great performances throughout the weekend from Scots. James Kotis (Year 12) stole the show, producing a quality performance in the Men 110m Hurdles 99.1cm U20, to claim a silver medal in 14.64s. This enables James to compete against the best and helps him, hopefully, gain a world junior qualifying time – which he is not too far off! James continued to produce great results on Saturday, with a […]
Hugo Glides with Grace
Hugo Hinckfuss is an amazing Cross Country skiier and one of the youngest athletes – ever – to represent Australia in Cross-Country Skiing at an Olympic Games. What makes Hugo unique? Is it ability, focus, fitness, agility, or having a strong coaching team behind him? Scots’ Director of Snowsports, Mr Clive Tanner, shares his perspective on this extraordinary Old Boy (’20) who is completely at home in the snow. Question 1: How do you feel about Hugo’s Cross Country Skiing performances at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics? “The College Snowsports community is so proud of Hugo’s achievement. He has become, at 18 […]
Shaping Moral Character
In his landmark 1981 book, After Virtue, philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre describes two people, separated by centuries, looking up at the night sky: “The twentieth-century observer looks into the night sky and sees stars and planets; some earlier observers saw instead chinks in a sphere through which the light beyond could be observed. What each observer takes himself or herself to perceive is identified and has to be identified by theory-laden concepts.” This is not a comment on advances in science or the merits of the empirical method. Rather, MacIntyre’s point is that the way we perceive the world, and act in […]
Teachers as Experts, Not Technicians
Caption: Scots teachers undertaking higher degrees (Masters and PhDs) by research share their progress at the recent ‘PhD coffee club’. In the past week, you may have noticed two long-running education debates resurfacing on the lips of politicians and the pages of the popular press, raising questions about how to best ‘do school’. Their concern involves both what students are taught (the curriculum) and how they are taught (the pedagogy). The first is about teaching history, and specifically the approach teachers should take in addressing western civilisation’s good and bad aspects. Please read a very fine analysis from Dr David […]
When Primrose House Became an Exciting School for Boys
From the beginning, an education at The Scots College was meant to be different. Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach that shapes students to an existing system, Scots founders wanted to help each boy discover his strengths, develop his character, and pursue his God-given calling in the world. On Friday 23 March 2018, The Scots College officially opened the Brighton Preparatory School gates. Located in Southern Sydney, the Dolls Point seaside location has always offered relaxed and stimulating surroundings. When it became a school, it was natural that boys and staff would discover countless sporting and outdoor learning opportunities – ranging […]