Scotch College, Perth
Encyclopedia
Scotch College is one of Australia's leading independent schools for boys, situated in Swanbourne
Swanbourne, Western Australia
-Facilities:Swanbourne includes the 18-hole Cottesloe Golf Club and Swanbourne Beach. Swanbourne is also well-known for having the only nudist beach in Perth. The beach, situated on army land and thus not subject to local council authority, is immediately north of the officially named Swanbourne...

, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

, Australia. The school is a member of the Public Schools Association
Public Schools Association
Established in 1905 the Public Schools Association, or the PSA, is an association of seven independent boys schools in Perth, Western Australia. The schools compete against each other in athletic competition throughout the year...

 (PSA) and is now a Uniting Church school, although it was founded in 1897 by the Presbyterian Church of Australia
Presbyterian Church of Australia
The Presbyterian Church of Australia is the largest Presbyterian denomination in Australia. .-Beginnings:...

. The school has undertaken the International Baccalaureate's Primary Years
IB Primary Years Programme
The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme is an educational programme managed by the International Baccalaureate for students aged 3 to 11. While the programme prepares students for the IB Middle Years Programme, it is not a prerequisite for it...

 and Middle Years programmes since 2003. Recently offered the Diploma Program
IB Diploma Programme
The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme is a two-year educational programme for students aged 16–19that provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into higher education, and is recognised by universities worldwide. It was developed in the early to mid-1960s in Geneva by...

 for 2010 Year 11's as an option, the school will continue to run the State education [WACE] course.

Scotch has two large campus
Campus
A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls and park-like settings...

 in Swanbourne
Swanbourne, Western Australia
-Facilities:Swanbourne includes the 18-hole Cottesloe Golf Club and Swanbourne Beach. Swanbourne is also well-known for having the only nudist beach in Perth. The beach, situated on army land and thus not subject to local council authority, is immediately north of the officially named Swanbourne...

 and Claremont
Claremont, Western Australia
Claremont is a western suburb of Perth, Western Australia on the north bank of the Swan River.-History:Prior to European settlement, the Noongar people used the area as a source of water, for fishing and for catching waterfowl. In 1830, John Butler, a settler, set up an inn at Freshwater Bay to...

. It also has an outdoor education centre in Dwellingup
Dwellingup, Western Australia
Dwellingup is a town in Western Australia, located in a timber and fruitgrowing area in the Darling Range east-south-east of Pinjarra. At the 2006 census, Dwellingup had a population of 346.-Name:...

. The campus in Swanbourne
Swanbourne, Western Australia
-Facilities:Swanbourne includes the 18-hole Cottesloe Golf Club and Swanbourne Beach. Swanbourne is also well-known for having the only nudist beach in Perth. The beach, situated on army land and thus not subject to local council authority, is immediately north of the officially named Swanbourne...

 consists of a senior school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 for Years 8 to 12 and the campus
Campus
A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls and park-like settings...

 in Claremont
Claremont, Western Australia
Claremont is a western suburb of Perth, Western Australia on the north bank of the Swan River.-History:Prior to European settlement, the Noongar people used the area as a source of water, for fishing and for catching waterfowl. In 1830, John Butler, a settler, set up an inn at Freshwater Bay to...

 consists of junior school
Primary education
A primary school is an institution in which children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...

 for Year 1 to 5 and middle school
Middle school
Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...

 for Year 6 to 7. Also located on the Claremont
Claremont, Western Australia
Claremont is a western suburb of Perth, Western Australia on the north bank of the Swan River.-History:Prior to European settlement, the Noongar people used the area as a source of water, for fishing and for catching waterfowl. In 1830, John Butler, a settler, set up an inn at Freshwater Bay to...

 campus
Campus
A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls and park-like settings...

 are sports grounds, and boarding facilities
Boarding house
A boarding house, is a house in which lodgers rent one or more rooms for one or more nights, and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months and years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and some services, such as laundry and cleaning, may be supplied. They normally provide "bed...

 for 140 students.

Foundation

Scotch College owes its foundations to a conversation at an 1896 dinner party, where the parent of a 12 year old boy, Mrs Jane Alexander, wife of Hon. William Alexander, MLC
Western Australian Legislative Council
The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the Legislative Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state...

, complained that there was an absence of a Presbyterian school for boys in Perth. She offered Rev. David Ross, moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Western Australia, £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

500 to establish Scotch College. The announcement of the college came on Monday 4 January 1897, in the form of an advertisement. The advertisement included the first location of the school, Shearer Memorial Hall, which is now the Perth Trades Hall
Perth Trades Hall
The Perth Trades Hall is the Trades Hall building in Perth used by the Western Australian trade union movement for meetings, offices, social and educational events, and the location of the Trades and Labour Council , now known as the UnionsWA...

. When founded, the school was originally named The Alexander Scotch College. The school would later shorten its name to Scotch College in 1908 for banking purposes.

In 1905, the College became a founding school of the Public Schools Association, showing it to be by that time a well regarded independent school, and entitling it to take part in the most competitive schoolboy sporting competition in Western Australia.

World War One to World War Two

During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, 475 boys enlisted to defend the empire as part of the Allied forces
Allies of World War I
The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...

. This number represented over 50% of all Scotch alumni at the time. A roll of honour is present in Collegians House, the current administration building, featuring the names of all past Scotch College boys who had volunteered to fight.

In 1939, the Head Masters' Conference approached the Commonwealth Government for financial assistance due to low staff salaries, the standard of the school's science facilities and the lack of money the school possessed. When gifts of money to the school became tax deductible in 1954 (provided donations were for the purpose of either repaying debt on buildings or helping to fund new building projects), people found they had more incentive to donate to schools. This led to Scotch, among other schools around Australia, beginning fundraising appeals within the school community.

Post War

Even before donations were made tax deductible, an appeal to fund a memorial for past boys who served in the Second World War raised £9,000 by 1950. When the school's council, the town in which Scotch resides in, inquired about the cost for a memorial hall to sit 650 people, they were shocked to discover it would cost around £30,000. A fete
Fair
A fair or fayre is a gathering of people to display or trade produce or other goods, to parade or display animals and often to enjoy associated carnival or funfair entertainment. It is normally of the essence of a fair that it is temporary; some last only an afternoon while others may ten weeks. ...

 organised in 1953 raised £2,500. Another fete was arranged and appeals to both past students and parents increased the total raised to £17,500. Despite lack of funds, David Brisbane, a council member since 1945, laid the foundation stone for the hall in early 1957. Although donations to schools over £1 had been tax-deductible since 1954, it was not until January 1957 that the Taxation Department informed the school that all donations towards the new Scotch College Building Fund would be tax-deductible. The appeal committee launched a major appeal raising £23,000 for the Memorial Hall.

The Memorial Hall was opened by Sir Charles Gairdner
Charles Gairdner
General Sir Charles Henry Gairdner, GBE, KCMG, KCVO, CB was a British Army general during World War II and was Governor of Western Australia from 1951 to 1963, and Governor of Tasmania from 1963 to 1968.-Early life:...

, Governor of Western Australia
Governor of Western Australia
The Governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of Australia's Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The Governor performs important constitutional, ceremonial and community functions, including:* presiding over the Executive Council;...

 at the time, on 19 October 1957, the same year as the school's Diamond Jubilee
Diamond Jubilee
A Diamond Jubilee is a celebration held to mark a 60th anniversary in the case of a person or a 75th anniversary in the case of an event.- Thailand :...

. The opening led to a further £30,000 in promised donations, although the actual amount received was below this figure. Eventually the cost of the hall led to the school having to be provided a £25,000 overdraft from the ASB Bank
ASB Bank
ASB is a New Zealand bank owned by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, which is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. It is one of the largest New Zealand banks, with branches throughout the country. It operates BankDirect, a branchless banking service that provides service via phone, Internet,...

; this led to an increase in school fees. The total cost of the Memorial Hall was £48,864 and the appeal raised £45,700. Gordon Gooch, who has a sports pavilion at the school named after him, met the shortfall.

1970 to 1990

In 1971, after observing the May 1968 French riots, a group of year 12 boys organised a "schoolboy strike" on the regulations of hair length, after the issue had been simmering for several months. The strike involved 60 boys refusing to return to class after the lunch bell, despite threat of expulsion, which led the headmaster to arrange an assembly for all boys after having a psycho. The ringleader of the strike, Lord Cary Kallis informed the Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...

 newsroom to announce the strike. However, Kallis informed several boys which led to news of the strike quickly spreading around the school. After being threatened by a teacher with expulsion, Kallis quickly called Channel Nine again, pretending to be a teacher, by saying "The strike has been cancelled and the boys have been disciplined". As mentioned above, the strike still went ahead.

In 1984, Scotch acquired Moray, the school's outdoor education centre where students would be able to attend camps. This was purchased after the school had considered, for over a decade, the possibility of acquiring a site for a school camp. The Parents' Association gave support to the project and the school purchased the 164 acre (0.66368504 km²) property through a mortgagee sale for $220,000. It was named Moray
Moray
Moray is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland.- History :...

 after a province in Scotland where Clan Murray originated (the Moray camp site is adjacent to the Murray River
Murray River (Western Australia)
The Murray River is a river in the southwest of Western Australia which played a significant part in the expansion of Aboriginal settlement in the area south of Perth after the arrival of British settlers at the Swan River Colony in 1829....

).

The Scotch College foundation was established in 1986, when Judge Robert Keall was chairman of the college. The foundation raised $1.1 million within six months to partly fund a new Physical Education Centre. Robert Keall opened the $2.25 million centre on 29 March 1988.

Recent years

In 2007 the school built the Dickinson Centre, named after Scotch's previous headmaster, the late WR Dickinson, for assemblies and other functions. In June 2009 the school opened a Science, Design and Technology building next to the school Chapel. Designed by Taylor Robinson architects, the new facility marks the completion of the first stage of the school's Master Plan.

A memorial service was held for the late WR Dickinson, the fifth Headmaster of Scotch College, at 3pm on 10 May 2006. A pavilion was erected on the Scotch playing fields, and the School and Pipe Band formed a guard of honour for the Dickinson family members and the funeral cortege as they arrived.

Headmasters

Position Period Name
Headmaster 1897 – 1904 Mr John Sharpe MA
Headmaster 1904 – 1945 Mr P C Anderson CBE
P.C. Anderson
Peter Corsar Anderson was an influential educator and golfer in Western Australia.-Early life:Anderson was born on 16 February 1871, at the manse of Menmuir, Forfarshire, Scotland. He went to Madras College, St Andrews, where he won a bursary to the United College in the University of St Andrews...

Acting Headmaster 1945 – 1947 Mr G G Campbell
Headmaster 1947 – 1968 Dr G Maxwell Keys
Headmaster 1969 – 1971 Mr D H Prest
Headmaster 1972 – 1997 Mr W R Dickinson
Headmaster 1998 – 2010 Revd Andrew Syme
Acting Headmaster January – June of 2011 Mr Peter Freitag
Headmaster June 2011 – Present Dr Alec O’Connell

Curriculum

Scotch offers a wide range of subjects in its academic curriculum. All students in Years 8 to 10 study one language other than English — either French or Indonesian
Indonesian language
Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....

 — through the International Baccalaureate's Middle Years Programme (MYP). The MYP also requires students in years 9 and 10 to do a year-long personal project. For this project, boys can choose a topic of their choice, provided that the topic relates to the Areas of Interaction.

Scotch awards several scholarships based on academic merit to students, but under agreed PSA rules no member schools may award sports scholarships. Entrance scholarships at Scotch are based on the results of scholarship examinations. In year 11 there is a scholarship open to sons of former alumni (P.C. Anderson Memorial Old Boy's Scholarship). To be considered boys must have several references and nominations from the staff and are required to sit an interview and submit a copy of their resume.

Middle School Structure

In 2003, the school changed the Years 8 to 10 learning structure, after the school became an International Baccalaureate certified school. Students in these years study two languages, a math
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

, a science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

, an arts, a technology, a humanities and Physical Education
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....

 subject.
Boys in Years 9 and 10 have the option of choosing which technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...

 and arts
Visual arts
The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...

 classes they take for either the year or semester. There are two art classes; 2D and 3D art. The former comprises drawing and painting; the latter, pottery and other sculpture art. Drama is another class identified as an art by the MYP, and students learn many techniques, including improvisation and comedy. Music is also an art class and students can create their own music on computer programs like Super Duper Music Looper.

For technology classes there are several options. In metal work, boys will build many different metallic objects, including cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 stumps. Wood work has boys making objects out of wood. In recent years boys have made tiny CO2
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...

 powered dragsters
Drag racing
Drag racing is a competition in which specially prepared automobiles or motorcycles compete two at a time to be the first to cross a set finish line, from a standing start, in a straight line, over a measured distance, most commonly a ¼-mile straight track....

. The 'understanding technology' class is popular, as students create electronics and dancing robots. In recent years, the technology department has talked about wanting students to create a solar power
Solar power
Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the sun, has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation, along with secondary solar-powered resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account for most of the available...

ed car. The main reason this has not been undertaken is because of cost. Information Systems and 3D modelling
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...

 are two different subjects. Boys are taught in the computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...

 lab and use the computers to create architectural designs and databases.

In Year 10, students have the option of doing media studies and/or business and enterprise. Media studies has boys create their own movie and critically analyse feature films in the form of essays. In business and enterprise, students will create their own share portfolio on the Australian Stock Exchange
Australian Stock Exchange
The Australian Securities Exchange was created by the merger of the Australian Stock Exchange and the Sydney Futures Exchange in July 2006. It is the primary stock exchange group in Australia....

 website. This is an imaginary game however and no real money is involved.

In Years 9 and 10, boys do a personal project, as part of their MYP education. This starts midway through Year 9 and finishes a year later, midway through Year 10. However, parents and boys have been very critical of the personal project as boys are required to hold meetings discussing their progress during class time. They are also critical of the fact that only the essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...

 at the end of the project is marked, not the project itself.

A similar structure was introduced to the junior school when they joined the IB Primary Years Programme, becoming the only school in the Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

 certified to teach the programme.

Senior School Curriculum

As Scotch does not offer the IB Diploma Programme
IB Diploma Programme
The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme is a two-year educational programme for students aged 16–19that provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into higher education, and is recognised by universities worldwide. It was developed in the early to mid-1960s in Geneva by...

 to senior students, students in Years 11 and 12 have the option of undertaking either Tertiary Entrance Exam
Tertiary Entrance Exam
For the new examination and curriculum system that has replaced the Tertiary Entrance Exam , see WACE ....

 subjects or wholly School-assessed subjects; students select these subjects in Year 10. Many choose to sit the Tertiary Entrance Exam
Tertiary Entrance Exam
For the new examination and curriculum system that has replaced the Tertiary Entrance Exam , see WACE ....

 so they can attend university to further their education. The top student for each subject is awarded a prize on speech night, and the Year 12 student who finishes top of their year is awarded Dux.

Every two years, the school has a tour to France for French language students in Years 11 and 12. These tours run for around two weeks and allow boys to stay with a French family, giving them the chance to experience native French.

Scotch students have been consistently gaining high marks in their TEE exams. This was continued in 2004 with two students awarded General Exhibitions as well as three boys receiving Certificates of Distinction. A further eleven boys were awarded Certificates of Excellence. A total of ten Scotch boys were given Tertiary Entrance Rank
Tertiary Entrance Rank
The Tertiary Entrance Rank was a tertiary entrance score used in several Australian states and the Northern Territory as a tool for selection to universities in Australia...

s (TERs) of 99 or above and 29 boys received TERs of 95 or above.

In 2005, a Scotch graduate received the Beazley Medal
Beazley Medal
The Beazley Medal is an award made by the Curriculum Council of Western Australia to the year-twelve secondary student with the highest Curriculum Council award score. The award is the highest profile and most prestigious academic award for secondary students in Western Australia.The first medal...

, which is awarded to the top student in the state, for his TEE results. As in 2004, two students were awarded General Exhibitions. Subject Exhibitions
Subject Exhibitions
Subject Exhibitions is an award based on the Western Australian Tertiary Entrance Exam. It is awarded to the eligible student, obtaining the highest raw examination mark in a Tertiary Entrance Rank subject...

 were awarded to three students for 5 overall subjects. Eleven boys received Certificates of Excellence and six boys were awarded Certificates of Distinction for eleven subjects overall. A total of nine TERs above 99 were received while 30 boys received a TER of 95 or higher.

Scotch student life

Scotch offers a comprehensive extracurricular activities program for students. The school also has boarding facilities for students who live in rural areas of Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

, as well as international students. The major components of the program are sport, music, the Arts and Community and Service. Students in Years 10–12 may participate in FESA Cadet
Fire and Emergency Services Authority of Western Australia
The Fire and Emergency Services Authority of Western Australia is a statutory government authority created in January 1999 to administer the following legislation within the state of Western Australia:...

 programs. Activities offered: Cadets, Chess, Debating, Instep, UNYA, Duke of Edinburgh, SMARTS, Prometheans, Drama, Music and Pipe Band.

Boarding

All boarding students are lads and also members of the best house Keys , one of the best houses at Scotch. All of the boarders live in residential houses, including the new Keys House block, which was finished in 2001, with their house head, who lives on site. Boarders' meals are served in the Dining hall, which is in close proximity to all boarding facilities. Boarders also have 24 hour access to medical services. In 2006, international students were required to pay an extra $5,700 in lieu of Government Subsidies and extra administration costs.

On weekends boarders will often do a variety of activities that staff arrange. They also use the nearby Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

 as well as Challenge Stadium
Challenge Stadium
Challenge Stadium is a sports complex in the suburb of Mount Claremont, west of Perth, Western Australia, Australia. It was opened in 1986 and is home to the Western Australian Institute of Sport. The main indoor arena holds 4,500 people...

 and Subiaco Oval
Subiaco Oval
Subiaco Oval , known colloquially as Subi, is the highest capacity sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia...

. Boarders in Years 10, 11 and 12 will also participate in sport on a Saturday morning.

A boarding tradition at Scotch is walking the entire Bibbulmun Track
Bibbulmun Track
The Bibbulmun Track is a long distance walk trail in Western Australia. It runs from Kalamunda, east of Perth to Albany and is almost 1000 km long...

. Boys walk sections of the track each year. This is not a compulsory event, however. In 2005, the Year 12 boarders gave a presentation about the walk. The Archbishop of Perth was present and gave a memorable speech.

Moray

In the junior school and Years 8, 9 and 10 in the senior school, students will camp for several days, depending on their age, at Moray near Dwellingup
Dwellingup, Western Australia
Dwellingup is a town in Western Australia, located in a timber and fruitgrowing area in the Darling Range east-south-east of Pinjarra. At the 2006 census, Dwellingup had a population of 346.-Name:...

. Moray, close to the Murray River
Murray River (Western Australia)
The Murray River is a river in the southwest of Western Australia which played a significant part in the expansion of Aboriginal settlement in the area south of Perth after the arrival of British settlers at the Swan River Colony in 1829....

, is set in Australian bush. Moray allows students to camp either outside, under swags, or inside cabins. Students here will learn about safety, the ecosystems and how native Aborigines lived in the area. They will also learn how to be more independent by cooking their own food and setting up their own swag. Students will also do activities on the Murray River such as kayaking or canoeing, climbing an outdoor rock wall, climbing a telephone pole, and doing a suspended ropes course.

The Cadets also use Moray for a weekend camp. The cadets do activities, like navigation designed to improve self confidence like the rock wall or the leap of faith
Leap of faith
A leap of faith, in its most commonly used meaning, is the act of believing in or accepting something intangible or unprovable, or without empirical evidence...

 were cadets jump from a telephone pole and try and grab a plastic wire. They are suspended from falling using a wire. One night over the weekend the cadets do a "night stalker" game where the senior cadets try and prevent the junior cadets from reaching a certain point.

House system

The pastoral care system is based on a House structure which deals with all matters relating to a student's well-being or curriculum needs. Each student is placed in a House Tutorial Group that is overseen by a House Tutor for each of the ten Houses. Most House Tutorial Groups have three students from each year level in that house. A House contains students from Years 8 to 12. Each House is led by one Head of House. The members of each House are led by a House Captain, appointed by the Head of House and the students in the house. The Houses meet on a regular basis.

The House Tutor and Heads of House work as a team to monitor the academic and personal progress of each student in the House Tutorial Group and House. Generally, the House Tutor is the first and main point of contact between the parent and the School. For more serious issues a Head of House is usually contacted.

Students are either put in a randomly selected house or into the house of any alumni they are related to. Houses compete against each other in sports such as inter-house athletics and academic contests like debating. Students march to assembly on Friday mornings in their house and are marked on their performance by the cadets.

The house that wins the most points over all inter-house competitions is awarded the staff trophy. This includes the larger inter-house events like athletics, cross-country and swimming as well as some smaller competitions like lightning chess and indoor soccer
Indoor soccer
Indoor soccer or arena soccer, or six-a-side football in the United Kingdom, is a game derived from association football adapted for play in an indoor arena such as a turf-covered hockey arena or skating rink. The most important difference in play is that the indoor field is surrounded by a wall...

.

For Year 8 and 9 Students in winter, they also have Middle School house games, in which a house can participate in three out of the four possible choices of Hockey, Football, Soccer and Touch Rugby, this usually takes place in weeks where there are byes in the Public Schools Association (PSA) sports competition. Due to the large size of Keys House, for MS games they are separated into Keys 1 and Keys 2, in order for everyone to compete.

Sport

Scotch College teams regularly compete in the PSA
Public Schools Association
Established in 1905 the Public Schools Association, or the PSA, is an association of seven independent boys schools in Perth, Western Australia. The schools compete against each other in athletic competition throughout the year...

 sports competitions. The students of the college play or compete in association football, athletics, Australian rules football, badminton, basketball, chess, cricket, cross country, golf, field hockey, rowing (see Head of the River
Head of the River (Australia)
The Head of the River is a name given to annual Australian rowing regattas held in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia...

), rugby union, sailing, surfing, swimming, tennis, water polo and volleyball.
In 2004, Scotch won two premierships for PSA
Public Schools Association
Established in 1905 the Public Schools Association, or the PSA, is an association of seven independent boys schools in Perth, Western Australia. The schools compete against each other in athletic competition throughout the year...

 competition, in hockey (co-Premiers) and in surfing. 2005 was an unsuccessful year for the college in PSA sport winning only the hockey competition. The school managed three runner-up positions however in cricket, rugby union and tennis.

Sport is compulsory for all students in the high school; teams usually train twice a week. Matches are held on a Thursday for the junior school, Friday for Years 8 and 9, and Saturday for Years 10 to 12.

Occasionally, tours are arranged for sports teams. Recent tours included the Australian rules football team visiting Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, and a hockey tour of South Africa. The most recent tour was the rugby union tour of France in April 2006.
Athletics, cross country and swimming are all major inter-house games and almost every student competes.

Arts

Scotch offers students an opportunity to participate in the annual school production. Recent productions include Bugsy Malone
Bugsy Malone
Bugsy Malone is a 1976 musical film, very loosely based on events in New York City in the Prohibition era, specifically the exploits of gangsters like Al Capone and Bugs Moran, as dramatized in cinema...

, Grease
Grease (musical)
Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...

, A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange is a 1962 dystopian novella by Anthony Burgess. The novel contains an experiment in language: the characters often use an argot called "Nadsat", derived from Russian....

, Blood Brothers, Holes (play), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a 1964 children's book by British author Roald Dahl. The story features the adventures of young Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate factory of the eccentric chocolatier, Willy Wonka....

, Mad Forest
Mad Forest
Mad Forest: A Play from Romania is a play by English playwright Caryl Churchill. The three acts occur, respectively, shortly before, during, and shortly after the Romanian Revolution of 1989...

, Babe the Sheep Pig
The Sheep-Pig
The Sheep-Pig is a novel by British author Dick King-Smith. It was first published in 1983, retitled Babe The Gallant Pig in the U.S., and adapted for the screen as the 1995 film Babe. The book is set in rural England, where Dick King-Smith spent twenty years as a farmer. The book won the Guardian...

, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (play)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a play based on Ken Kesey's 1962 novel of the same name. Dale Wasserman's stage adaptation, with music by Teiji Ito, made its Broadway preview on November 12, 1963, its premiere on November 13, and ran until January 25, 1964 for a total of one preview and 82...

 and Great Expectations
Great Expectations
Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens. It was first published in serial form in the publication All the Year Round from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. It has been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times....

.

Street dance is another extracurricular activity being offered at Scotch. It is an urban-based dance program in which students choreograph dance routines and perform them in concerts. The school regularly competes at the annual ACHPER dance festival, and has performed well in this festival in recent years, leading to an invitation to participate in the more prestigious ACHPER Gala Night.

Scotch has two poetry prizes awarded each year; the Raven Senior Poetry Prize for Years 11 and 12 and the Raven Junior Poetry Prize for Years 8, 9 and 10. The winning piece along with several other pieces of student poetry and art are published in the annual school publication, Reporter. Raven prize winners are presented an awarded on speech night. There are also two annual prose prizes; the Raven Senior Prose Prize and the Raven Junior Prose Prize. Like the poetry prizes, the winning pieces are published in Reporter and the writer presented with an award on speech night.

Music

Scotch gives students the chance to learn instruments
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...

 during class time in the senior school. Students may also join the pipe band
Pipe band
A pipe band is a musical ensemble consisting of pipers and drummers. The term used by military pipe bands, pipes and drums, is also common....

 if their playing skills and marching skills are of a high standard. The pipe band traditionally lead the school in marching.

In recent years there have been several pipe band and music tours. In April 2006, the pipe band toured the United States. The band played in the Virginia International Tattoo in that period It was be the pipe band's fourth international tour and its second time participating in an International Tattoo of that magnitude. The first was the Nova Scotia Tattoo in 2000.

All students in the senior school are eligible to play in the school's bands. The school's music bands are the Dixieland Band (Horns and Brass), String Orchestra, Big Band 1 (guitar, drums, brass), Big Band 2 (guitar, drums, brass), Big Band 3 (guitar, drums, brass), Middle School Concert Band (Years 6 to 10), Chamber Strings, Concert Band (brass and drums), Wind Ensemble (with Presbyterian Ladies' College
Presbyterian Ladies' College, Perth
The Presbyterian Ladies' College , is an independent, day and boarding school predominantly for girls, situated in Peppermint Grove, a western suburb of Perth, Western Australia....

), Vocal Ensemble, Brass Ensemble, Guitar Ensemble.

The school offers several music scholarships for students in Years 7 or 8. These scholarships are in Voice, Cello, Trumpet, Violin and Trombone.

The school song is God of Our Fathers which is to the tune of Highland Cathedral. The song is sung at the first and last assembly each term and the music is performed by two pipers and a snare drummer from the pipeband, along with a small brass support band.

Uniform

Scotch College, like most Australian independent schools, requires students to wear full school uniform
School uniform
A school uniform is an outfit—a set of standardized clothes—worn primarily for an educational institution. They are common in primary and secondary schools in various countries . When used, they form the basis of a school's dress code.Traditionally school uniforms have been largely subdued and...

 at all times. There are currently two school uniforms - a summer and a winter.

In summer, a khaki
Khaki (color)
The name of the color khaki coined in British India comes from the Hindustani language , meaning "dusty, dust covered or earth colored." It has been used by many armies around the world for uniforms, including camouflage...

 collared short-sleeved shirt is worn with light green shorts, house tie, green Scotch socks and black lace-up shoes. On the left breast pocket, above the school badge, a house braid is worn. In the junior school a Scotch coloured braid is worn whilst in Years 8 to 11 the braid is their house colour; Year 12 students wear both braids.

In winter a white long-sleeved collared shirt is worn, along with house tie, black belt, grey trousers, grey socks, black lace up shoes and a maroon blazer
Blazer
A blazer is a type of jacket. The term blazer occasionally is synonymous with boating jacket and sports jacket, two different garments. A blazer resembles a suit coat cut more casually — sometimes with flap-less patch pockets and metal buttons. A blazer's cloth is usually durable , because it is an...

. Year 12s wear a striped blazer. A grey Scotch jumper may be worn over the shirt in both summer and winter uniforms.

In October 2005, students voted on a whether to keep the summer uniform or to change it. The results of this election have not yet been released. One of questions on the ballot was if students wanted to wear ties. It is believed many students said no to wearing ties.

The school may have fund raising "free dress" days where boys may wear what they choose to school if they donate $2 or a wristy to a designated charity. Some free dress days have included "pretty in pink" and "football Friday" themes, with competitions at lunch break for best dress.

Senior School students have two ties
Necktie
A necktie is a long piece of cloth worn for decorative purposes around the neck or shoulders, resting under the shirt collar and knotted at the throat. Variants include the ascot tie, bow tie, bolo tie, and the clip-on tie. The modern necktie, ascot, and bow tie are descended from the cravat. Neck...

 - a house tie and a school tie. On most days, students wear the appropriate house tie. On special occasions, such as speech night, the school tie is worn. House ties contain the respective house tartans.

Students may also earn a colours tie or an honours tie. Colours ties are awarded to students who perform in an extra-curriculum activity such as making a firsts team. An honours ties are rare and are only awarded when a student
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...

 performs very well and gives some voluntary service to the sport. The academic equal to an honours tie is an academic tie which is awarded to students who earn five academic excellence awards, with at least two being in Year 11 or 12. These three ties may only be worn on a Friday.

Notable alumni

Any leaver of Scotch College is known as an Old Scotch Collegian.
Sporting
  • Drew Banfield
    Drew Banfield
    Drew Banfield is a former AFL football player.Selected as the number 1 pick in the 1992 AFL Draft, Banfield was recruited to the West Coast Eagles, where he became one of their best clubmen and hardest-working defenders and utility players.He won the Eagles' Club Champion Award in 1996, as well as...

     - Australian Rules Footballer
  • Jamie Beadsworth - Australian Waterpolo Player
  • Mal Brown
    Mal Brown
    Malcolm "Mal" Brown is a former Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League and West Australian National Football League....

     - Australian Rules Footballer.
  • Peter Evans
    Peter Evans (swimmer)
    Peter Maxwell Evans is a former Australian breaststroke swimmer of the 1980s, who won four Olympic medals, most notably a gold in the 4 × 100 m medley relay at the 1980 Moscow Olympics as part of the Quietly Confident Quartet...

     - Olympic Gold Medallist in Swimming
  • Mark Gale
    Mark Gale
    Mark Gale is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League . He played for both the Fremantle Football Club and the St Kilda Football Club, mainly as a wingman....

     - Former Australian Rules Footballer with Fremantle and St. Kilda
  • Terry Gale
    Terry Gale
    Terry R. Gale is an Australian professional golfer.Gale had a successful amateur career before turning professional at a relatively advanced age in 1976. From the mid 1970s to the early 1990s he won regularly on the PGA Tour of Australasia, the Japan Golf Tour and the pre-Asian Tour Asian circuit...

     - Golfer
  • Shawn Gillies
    Shawn Gillies
    Winston Shawn Gillies is a Jamaican born, Australian cricketer who has played first class matches for Western Warriors...

     - Cricketer
  • Ross Glendinning
    Ross Glendinning
    Ross Glendinning was an Australian rules footballer for the North Melbourne Football Club and West Coast Eagles in the Victorian Football League/Australian Football League...

     - Former Australian Rules Footballer and Brownlow Medal
    Brownlow Medal
    The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...

     List
  • Rowan Jones
    Rowan Jones
    Rowan Jones is a retired Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League....

     - Australian Rules Footballer (School Captain
    School Captain
    School Captain is a student appointed or elected to represent the school.This student, usually in the senior year, in their final year of attending that school...

     1996)
  • Don Langsford
    Don Langsford
    Donald Leslie "Don" Langsford is a former Australian rules footballer who was highly successful in the West Australian Football League playing for the Swan Districts Football Club....

     - Australian Rules Footballer
  • Luc Longley
    Luc Longley
    Lucien James "Luc" Longley is a retired Australian professional basketball player, who was the first Australian to play in the NBA, where he played for eleven seasons...

     - Basketballer
  • Ashley McIntosh
    Ashley McIntosh
    Ashley McIntosh was an Australian rules footballer for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League. He played a total of 242 games for the club and is the son of former St Kilda and Claremont player John McIntosh....

     - Australian Rules Footballer.
  • Alistair Nicholson
    Alistair Nicholson
    Alistair "Big Jack" Nicholson is a former Australian rules footballer, who played with the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League ....

     - Australian Rules Footballer (School Captain
    School Captain
    School Captain is a student appointed or elected to represent the school.This student, usually in the senior year, in their final year of attending that school...

     1995)
  • Mark Seaby
    Mark Seaby
    Mark Seaby is a professional Australian rules footballer currently playing for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League.He is best known as a former premiership player with the West Coast Eagles.-Biography:...

     - Australian Rules Footballer
  • Barry Shepherd
    Barry Shepherd
    Barry Kenneth Shepherd was an Australian cricketer who played in 9 Tests from 1963 to 1965....

     - Test Cricketer, State Hockey player and cricket administrator.
  • John Welborn
    John Welborn
    John Welborn is an Australian rugby union player, who plays at the lock position. He is currently a squad member of the Western Force in the Super 14, and is a former Wallaby...

     - Rugby Footballer; first Western Australian to play for the Australian Wallabies
  • John Winter - high jumper; won Australia's first golde medal at the London Olympics in 1948
  • Tom Ledger
    Tom Ledger
    Tom Ledger is a professional Australian rules football player at the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League . He made his first appearance at the senior level in the 2011 AFL season. Ledger made his debut in Round 11, against .-External links:* on the St Kilda Football Club website...

     - Australian Rules Footballer with St Kilda.


Education
  • John Inverarity
    John Inverarity
    Robert John Inverarity is a former Test and first-class cricketer. A right-handed batsman and left-arm orthodox spin bowler in his playing career, Inverarity was also one of the enduring captains in the Australian Sheffield Shield during the late 1970s and early 1980s.-Cricket career:He played in...

     - Cricketer, Educationalist, Headmaster of Hale School
  • Ralph Townsend
    Ralph Townsend
    Dr Ralph Douglas Townsend is Headmaster of Winchester College. He was previously Headmaster of Oundle School and before that Headmaster of Sydney Grammar School....

     - Educationalist, successively Headmaster of Sydney Grammar School
    Sydney Grammar School
    Sydney Grammar School is an independent, non-denominational, selective, day school for boys, located in Darlinghurst, Edgecliff and St Ives, all suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....

    , Oundle School
    Oundle School
    Oundle School is a co-educational British public school located in the ancient market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire. The school has been maintained by the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the City of London since its foundation in 1556. Oundle has eight boys' houses, five girls' houses, a day...

     and Winchester College
    Winchester College
    Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...


Politics and Law
  • Noel Crichton-Browne
    Noel Crichton-Browne
    Noel Ashley Crichton-Browne is a former member of the Australian Senate and political lobbyist.He attended Scotch College, Perth....

     - Lobbyist and Former Senator
  • Geoffrey Kennedy - Judge
  • David Sadlier - Australia's Ambassador to China at the time of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
  • Peter Collier
    Peter Collier
    Peter Charles Collier is an Australian politician. He has been a Liberal member of the Western Australian Legislative Council since 2005, representing the North Metropolitan region...

     - Minister for Energy
  • Stuart Shepherd - Chairman Legal Aid Commission of WA, barrister, broadcaster, former state and Australian debater


Arts and Media
  • James Brayshaw
    James Brayshaw
    James Antony Brayshaw is a former state cricketer and now Australian television and radio personality. As a cricketer he was known as Jamie Brayshaw. He is the son of former Western Australian cricketer and Australian rules footballer Ian Brayshaw, and the brother of Mark Brayshaw, a former...

     - Cricket and Media - Played cricket for South Australia and Current Host of the AFL Footy Show
  • Toby Schmitz - Australian Actor and Writer
  • Rob Swire
    Rob Swire
    Rob Swire , is an Australian record producer, singer and keyboardist. Swire is best known as lead singer and producer of Australian electronic band Pendulum and is sometimes referred to by the stage name Anscenic...

     - Member of Pendulum
  • Gareth McGrillen - Member of Pendulum.
  • Cameron Hay - Film maker and Adventurer


Armed services
  • Air Marshal Sir Peter Drummond
    Peter Roy Maxwell Drummond
    Air Marshal Sir Peter Roy Maxwell Drummond KCB, DSO & Bar, OBE, MC was an Australian-born commander in the Royal Air Force . He rose from private soldier in World War I to Air Marshal in World War II. Drummond enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1914 and saw action during the Gallipoli...

     - Royal Air Force commander in World War Two


Health
  • Dr Robert Paton - First vascular surgeon in Western Australia, pioneer of vascular surgery.


See also


External links

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