Newsletter, Term 2, Friday 28 June 2024

Last Day of Term 2 • Friday 28 June

Border Music Camp • Friday 5 July to Sunday 14 July

Boarders return • Sunday 21 July, from 1pm

First Day of Term 3 • Monday 22 July

Elevate Education, Year 10-12 • Wednesday 24 July

Shohei sister school visit • Sunday 28 July to Monday 5 August

Albury Wodonga Eisteddfod • Monday 29 July to Thursday 1 August

Music Festival • Friday 2 August

Naidoc Week • Monday 5 to Friday 9 August

Year 7 AFL Gala Day • Wednesday 7 August

Year 7 vaccinations • Thursday 8 August

National Science Week • Saturday 10 August to Sunday 18 August

Senior School Languages day • Wednesday 14 August

Year 6 Exhibition • Thursday 15 August to Tuesday 20 August

Book Week, Reading is Magic • Monday 19 August to Friday 23 August

Year 12 HSC Trial Exams • Monday 19 August to Thursday 29 August

Junior School Dress-up parade • Friday 23 August

Year 9 and 10 2025 subject information sessions • Friday 23 August

Year 6 Canberra excursion • Monday 26 August to Thursday 29 August

St David's Uniting Church Service, Senior Choir performance • Sunday 25 August

Father's Day Breakfast • Friday 30 August

Junior School Questacon Science Show • Wednesday 4 September

Year 11 exams • Monday 9 September to Friday 13 September

Year 5 camp, Sovereign Hill • Wednesday 11 September to Friday 13 September

Tuff Nutterz giant inflatable obstacle course • Saturday 14 September to Sunday 15 September, 9am-5pm. Booking link coming soon.

Scots Fair • Saturday 14 September, 3-6pm.

I can’t believe that I have completed two terms at Scots already. I also can’t believe how quickly the time has gone and how much I have enjoyed the past six months.

I often get asked ‘what does a principal do all day?’ I thought I would give an insight into all that my job encompasses by outlining what I have tried to focus on in my first six months.

For me, there is no doubt that the students come first and have been my No.1 priority. I have tried to learn their names, to be at the gates morning and afternoon, to say hello and goodbye (and to monitor uniform!), to be on playground duty every lunch and recess across the whole campus, to visit classes on a weekly basis across the Preschool, Junior and Senior Schools, teach cover lessons across the whole school, attend sporting, arts and music events, speak to students at assemblies and year meetings, attend the Year 10, 11 and 12 camps across Victoria and just be as visible to the students as humanly possible. I want the students to know that I am their biggest supporter and that they can trust me to be there for them.

Connecting with our Boarding students and their families has been another key priority for me. Scots is one of the oldest Boarding Schools in NSW and the oldest regional Boarding School in the State. I start each day by visiting the Boarders for breakfast and checking in on my "Boarding Children". I again visit the Dining Hall at lunch and recess to ensure that our boarders are well-fed and happy. At the end of each day, I call into each Boarding House to chat with the staff on duty and to see how the Boarders' days have been.

Across the last six months, I have fully immersed myself in boarding life by covering supervision shifts when needed, supervising prep, having dinner with the Boarders at least once a week, attending Boarder Parent Support Group meetings, driving Boarders to activities and the train station, taking Boarders kayaking and being involved in weekend activities.

A new Boarder initiative this year has been to visit our regional feeder towns and meet with existing and prospective families. So far, Elsa Kilgour and I have visited Deniliquin, Berrigan, Mt Beauty, Mansfield, Griffith, Corryong and Yarrawonga and we also attended the Wagga Boarding Expo. Together, we have covered thousands of kilometres across our catchment area.

These visits, connecting with our families, have been a highlight of my time so far. I also have worked with our key Boarding staff to define who we want to be as a Boarding School. We all agree that Boarding is a crucial part of the Scots identity and we are all committed to Scots being the very best Boarding School in southern New South Wales and northern Victoria, catering for rural families across these regions.

With increasing demand, we believe there are opportunities to grow our boarding numbers so that we can increase our Senior School size and achieve four-stream year groups moving forward, which will be of great benefit to all Senior School students and families. We also have engaged with our architects to refresh our Master Plan to include the Boarding Precinct.

After living through the 2025 Scholarship process as a team, we have decided to make some changes for 2026. We have consciously reduced the number of scholarships offered to underpin their prestige and to attract the highest performers possible. We also have brought our process forward, so that the 2026 Scholarships will be decided by the end of 2024. This will allow successful students to be notified well before competitor schools. We hope, by doing this, families will choose Scots over other schools and we will secure the best students first.

Janine Haymes, Matt Patching and I have consulted with Year 11 students to garner their ideas about the Year 11 Leadership positions and the election process. We have taken the students’ ideas on board, and we have made the process as transparent as possible. We have publicised and shared the new process with students.

A huge amount of time has gone into finalising the plans for the new Junior School building. Caroline Pooley and I have devoted at least half a day a week to the Junior School design, regularly meeting with our architects, project managers, landscape designers and our service providers. This is a really exciting project and an incredible building. Within the next two months, the plans will be finalised and will be ready to go to tender. Once the plans are completed, we will share them with the community.

I have also spent many hours with our Director of Teaching and Learning Kym Armstrong, our Head of Senior School Janine Haymes and our Learning Area Leaders, to review our academic program. Speaking to families, there is no question that parents choose Scots because of our academic program and that we need to focus more on improving our academic expectations for all students and retaining the proud history of being the best performing academic school in the region. As a team, we are working on how we can improve the academic rigour across the school and are beginning to make plans for 2025, which we will announce later in the year when our plans are more developed. This will be a continued area of focus for the next few years and will be an ongoing work in progress.

I have tried to spend the past six months listening and consulting with parents, staff and, most importantly, our students. I am a big believer in the student voice.

The most common theme I have heard is that it is important we clearly articulate who we are, what we stand for and what differentiates us from other local schools. Scots has a long and proud history of excellence and we need to focus on continuing to achieve high levels of performance in all areas.

So far, we have identified our commitment to Boarding, Academic Rigour and completing the Junior School building, as key features in the future of Scots. In the second half of the year, we will continue to review other key features, such as our Preschool program and facilities and our Co-curricular program. A lot of time in Term 3 will be absorbed by the recruitment process for our new Head of Junior School but we are intent on finding the best possible person and will leave no stone unturned in the process.

I have also been working closely with our Executive and Marketing teams to devise new recruitment materials and strategies for attracting the very best teachers to Scots. As we will have some growth in student numbers in 2025, it will necessitate the hiring of additional teaching staff.

So, hopefully, you now have more of an idea about what I do each day. I feel incredibly blessed to have such a dynamic, varied and challenging role. My days are never predictable and are incredibly busy with much to do.

I wish you all a very happy three-week break with your children and hope you enjoy your time with them. Although holiday times can be, at times, challenging with our children, as a father with an adult son, I wish I had those days with him again. Enjoy and treasure this time with your children because it will be over before you know it.

The school is a quiet and lonely place in the holidays and although I am looking forward to the holidays so I can catch my breath, I know I will soon be counting the days until the start of Term 3 and will be looking forward to seeing all the students again on Monday 22 July.

As we come to the end of a semester, we always talk about the importance of reflection: The consideration of what we have done, what we have achieved, what we have learnt and what we can do better. We do this with students in the classroom and in Learning Mentor groups.

We also do it with staff, making sure that we gather that feedback and reflection with the goal of learning how we can improve. To be better is a never-ending quest; there is always room for improvement. As part of this, we reflected on our semester events and excursions and discussed ways to improve them.

One element where we would appreciate family help, is around changes to routine.

If your family needs to negotiate pick-up times, change transport options or make other alterations to plans for excursions or events, the School needs to be informed at least 48 hours before the event. This is to ensure correct procedures can be implemented and that teachers are best placed to safely manage the alterations. This is one way to enhance the safety and smooth running of events and excursions.

It has been a huge term in the sporting arena. I want to thank Tim Kennedy for the work he has done to ensure our students can maximise sporting opportunities. Tim and his team were the main organisers of the 2024 BISSA athletics event. It was a huge undertaking and involved working closely with the local schools and their sports teachers. Tim was proud to come back to school and share that many of the other teachers involved complimented him on how wonderful our student helpers were. A thank you to all involved.

Another huge undertaking was Scots hosting the local careers expo. Sarah Rae, our Careers Advisor, worked hard to pull together an amazing event, where our students had plenty of opportunities to follow up universities, colleges and organisations of choice. Sarah also has facilitated our Year 10 work experience week, with feedback so far exceeding expectations. Students are having a wonderful time and making the most of opportunities. Thank you to Sarah for all of her work and drive in this space.

It has been a busy term with student initiatives, co-curricular activities, Arts Night, professional development, netball and service learning activities. And of course, don’t forget all of the class activities, assessment tasks and learning. What a term!

I wish all families and staff a restful and safe winter break. I look forward to seeing you all back in Term 3!

We need adults with a current NSW RSA to serve in the Hospitality Marquee and we need people to prepare, cook and serve at the barbecue and canteen. We hope parents will volunteer to organise, set up and pack up stalls and staff them.

See our list of parents who have already put their hand up to coordinate a stall or activity. Please consider what you might be able to offer and get in touch with the designated parent on the contact list. If you have a suggestion for an activity or entertainment and are happy to drive it, please be in touch with the marketing team at 6022 0000 or marketing@scotsalbury.nsw.edu.au

Parent Coordinators
Raffles | Jane Cavagna • janecavagna@gmail.com
Hospitality Marquee | Alana Vaughan • alana@esculentus.com.au
Old-style Fair Games | Monique Acton-Adams • monique@rotorsolutions.com.au
Bakesale | Cate Burke • catherinerosedesign@yahoo.com.au
Face Painting | Sara Swanson • sara-renee@live.com.au
Preschool Stall TBC | Bridget Hosking • bridget.hosking@gmail.com
Whacky Races | Lisa Barry • lisa@o-health.com.au
Novelty Drinks Stall | Asher Baker • ashernickols@gmail.com
Jams and Lemonade | Nikki McIntosh • nikkijack1@optusnet.com.au
Dunk Tank | Andrea McNair • andrea_mcnair@hotmail.com
Wipe Out Pole | Heidi Hutchins • heidi@hutchinsbros.com.au
BBQ #1 | Kate Stuart • kate@katestuart.com.au
Slushies, Fairy Floss and Kinder Candy Stall | Erin Kerr and Emma Baird • erin@pcksolicitors.com.au
Chocolate Trailer | Scots Boarders Julie Tryhorn, Jenny Geppert and Lisa Malone • trybon@bigpond.com
Fill a Jar | Year 2 Erin Newton • benanderinnewton@yahoo.com.au
Zambrero Handball Competition | Dan and Kim Hawley • kim_wright_@hotmail.com

Produce Stall • Nickki McIntosh

Hello foodie friends, we are looking for homemade shelf-stable products for the Produce Stall at the Scots Fair. Have you got a grandparent, auntie, uncle or someone in your life who makes jams, pickles, preserves, chutneys or sauces?

If there is anyone out there that can provide four or more jars of produce, we would love to sell them on Saturday 14 September at our Produce stall.

Add a label with the ingredients and “date made” on the jar and deliver to the school. Remember no dairy or eggs. Any questions email Nikki - nikkijack1@optusnet.com.au

Scots Boarding Captains Oscar Clelland and Lucy Dowling delivered a fun-filled, jam-packed week of activities to celebrate National Boarding Week earlier this term.

The pair revamped the concept of a Boarders’ family meal, which was attended by more than 200 family members; hosted a Boarders movie night, a trivia night, cooked up a storm on the barbecue in the boarding quad as a thank you to all the staff connected to boarding and organised an ice-cream cart on Friday afternoon for everyone to enjoy just before heading home for the weekend. For those boarders who stayed in for the weekend, there was a pizza night.

Additionally, Oscar and Lucy ran the Senior School assembly, presenting speeches and preparing a couple of videos highlighting the great sense of fun and community that exists in the Boarding Houses.

Oscar, from Mansfield, is the eldest of four children and joined Scots in Year 9 looking for a robust academic education and the wider range of opportunities on offer at Scots.

Part of his role as Boarding House Captain is to ensure everyone feels welcome in their home away from home.

“It's really about making sure everyone feels like they belong,” Oscar explained. “It’s a pretty relaxed environment with good staff and a nice community of people. I think one of the big things I do as Captain is make sure I’m approachable; that people feel like they can talk to me. Whenever I see them in the Boarding House or at School, you just say hello, check in to make sure everything is going ok for them.”

Lucy is the eldest of five children and has been a boarder since Year 10. She came from Yarrawonga, where she had spent only one year after moving with her family from Nyngan, in central NSW.

Her parents made the decision to send her to boarding school but must have wondered at their decision when she begged them to let her return home in the first few weeks.

Then she made a few friends and started to really settle in. She was welcomed by the Scots community in both boarding and the day school and has made many friends throughout all year levels just by sleeping under the same roof.

“It's great to be able to walk into each other's room and have a chat, or even say hello when you are walking past each other during school. The social feeling of always being around people who care is comforting and I really enjoy dinners in the Boarding House; sitting down together laughing with a side of eating,” Lucy said.

The community the pair has built in the Boarding House, alongside Director of Boarding Elsa Kilgour and Heads of Boarding, Tom Mewett and Rachel Rapsey, is obviously a successful model.

The Boarding Houses are brimming full, with waiting lists in many year levels. The community continues to be a tight-knit one that celebrates each others successes and the popularity of the Boarder Family dinner is sure to see it remain an annual event each time National Boarding Week comes around.

Cadets have the opportunity to participate in powered flying and gliding.

Hemang Upadhyay will head into the school holidays with the rank of Cadet Corporal of the Australian Air Force Cadets and when he returns in Term 3, he hopes it will be with the rank of Cadet Sergeant.

Hemang, Year 11, has been part of the Albury Cadet Unit for the past three-and-a-half years and has progressed through the ranks of Cadet, Leading Cadet and Cadet Corporal thanks to his dedication, leadership skills, service knowledge and field skills development.

To take the next step in his Cadet development, Hemang will do additional training in a week-long intensive camp at the Royal Australian Air Force military air base at Point Cook, from which he hopes to graduate as Sergeant.

While Hemang has his sights set on joining the airforce to train as a pilot, the Cadets program is not necessarily just for young adults who want a career in the Defence Force or aviation. In fact, the key focus of Cadets is to better equip young people for their adult lives by fostering initiative, leadership, integrity, self-discipline and a sense of service.

“I joined because in the back of my mind I thought it might help me get into the RAAF to train as a pilot,” Hemang said. “But I really like the challenge of everything we do in Cadets. I love teaching and showing the other cadets new skills.”

While Hemang has discovered a real love for teaching younger cadets - one of the key attributes of the Personal Development and Leadership component of Cadets - he also enjoys the service knowledge, community engagement and field skills components, where cadets develop skills in field safety, navigation techniques, military field craft, scenario-based military-like training and living in the field.

But, if he’s honest, he’s not so enamoured with the drill and ceremonial aspect of the training, even though he excels in it and trains younger cadets to become proficient in both aspects. Drill and ceremonial requires self discipline and self control; qualities required to operate effectively in a military-like environment, and provide cadets the opportunity to represent the Air Force and Air Force Cadets at ceremonial events like ANZAC Day.

Hemang loves being involved in the aerospace-mad community; the introduction to flying, the Spacer-X program which encourages innovation, design and systems, as well as problem solving and creativity. He loves the challenge of their once-a-semester two-day bivouac where all their learned survival skills are put to the test and he revels in visiting places like the Point Cook base and recruit training weekends in Wagga.

Graduating to Sergeant looks like a certainty for this bright young student.

Brisbane seems an unlikely place for the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA) to run an aerial ski development camp, but Sara Butko, Year 10, spent a week there recently as part of OWIA's talent identification program.

This week, the 15-year-old is among the white stuff on Hotham Heights, her new home for the entirety of Term 3 as she develops her skiing skills with Mount Hotham Free Ski (MHFS). The club caters to skiers wanting to develop their skill level, including those pursuing national team representation or aspiring to a fulltime sporting career.

Sara is keen to see where her skiing takes her and is under the watchful eye of talent scouts from the OWIA who have invited her to join their recruitment squad as a potential Freestyle aerial skier. Sara's mother, Jane, represented Australia at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, in another Freestyle discipline, mogul skiing.

Sara’s week in Brisbane followed several trials at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra where she was assessed not for her skiing ability, but her gymnastics!

“Australia is renown for its Olympic medals in aerials so there’s a rigorous process for selection,” Sara explained. “They’ve worked out its easier to teach gymnasts to ski than to teach skiers to do acrobatics. I think they also like the discipline that comes with being a gymnast: the intensity required in the training and the hours you have to put in.

“I’ve been doing gymnastics since I was three and I was on the State team for Victoria. You have to be able to do all disciplines within gymnastics, but my best was probably the beam. I still do gymnastics part-time, but there was a time when I’d do 20 hours of training a week.”

In Brisbane, the athletes skied down a plastic slide, which replicated snow quite well, to land in water. They practiced their “straight airs”, where an athlete skis down the slope and holds form with arms out in a “T” position, before landing in the water. Due to the complicated nature of the sport and the high degree of skill required to flip and land safely, Sara is still at the “straight airs” phase of her training. She will need to do hundreds of perfect “straight airs” before she will be allowed to move to the next phase.

While at Hotham, she will work primarily on her skiing. She will ski under instruction on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon and all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Then, she will be back to Brisbane in September and hopes to be selected as one of the four development squad athletes who will accompany five Continental Cup female athletes to compete in Utah, US, in January 2025.

Beyond that is the lure of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, the 2030 Olympics, likely to be in the French Alps, and the 2034 Olympics, rumoured to return to Salt Lake City.

Plenty of short-term goals in a long term vision for this talented athlete.

Sommers Hogan, Year 11, is on a mission to return to a winning seat at the Head of the Schoolgirls rowing regatta in Victoria next year after an injury forced her to watch from the sidelines as her sister and five schoolmates flew the Scots flag at the 2024 series.

Sommers won a gold medal in the 2023 Head of the Schoolgirls Year 10 double scull, but the slip of a knife while she was cooking almost sliced her finger off earlier this year and she has only recently returned to winter training.

Her absence from the 2024 rowing season meant the responsibility of representing Scots fell squarely to others, including her sister Indi Hogan (Year 9), Finnish exchange student Elli Aho and the Packer siblings, Phoebe (Year 11) and Charlotte (Year 9).

All train at Corowa Rowing Club under coach Wes Canny.

The girls mostly competed in single scull races due to their different levels of experience and expertise. For Head of the Schoolgirls regattas, all rowers must attend the same school to be eligible to compete but that’s not so for State Championships where composite crews are acceptable.

Sommers is hoping there are now enough Scots rowers to form a quad scull to represent the School in the Head of the Schoolgirls next season. Her sister Indi is just starting out, and younger brother Will has been coxing for more than four years so there’s plenty of familial support.

What the club needs now are some more rowers and coxswains from Scots to bolster the numbers and ensure a solid showing next season.

Coach Wes recently launched the club’s dryland winter training program to prepare students for water sessions in the spring and schoolgirls competition in 2025.

“The water is so low at the moment that we work on technique on the ergo during the winter,” Wes explained. “Then we start with water sessions in front of the clubhouse on Sundays and build until we are doing water sessions regularly in the leadup to the first schoolgirls regatta.”

The club is riding the crest of a popularity wave following selection of a former club member, Fergus Hamilton, in the Australian Men’s four for the Paris Olympics and Wes hopes the momentum intensifies once the Olympics start.

“Everyone starts off at the same level - even Olympic rowers,” Wes said. “There is great camaraderie and there is a certain beauty about training in a team on the water.

“Rowing allows the girls to challenge themselves and find out what they are capable of. But we don’t travel four hours to a regatta for the fun of it, we are trying to be the best we can.”

And, often it is rewarded. Sommers tasted success in the Schoolgirls Year 10 double scull in 2023 and Phoebe won a gold medal with her crewmates in the C grade quad scull this year.

Any Scots students interested in having a go should speak with one of the Scots rowers or contact the Corowa Rowing Club.

Australian Army Band Workshops

Scots musicians were recently treated to an exciting visit from the Australian Army Band. Students in the Senior Orchestra, Jazzgang, and Pipe Band had the unique opportunity to participate in workshops throughout the day. This experience allowed our students to meet and play alongside professional musicians, prepare their works for upcoming performances and learn about potential career pathways as a musician in the Australian Defence Force. Additionally, the Year 5/6 students enjoyed a special performance by the Australian Army Pep Band, who captivated the audience with a range of popular music. The visit was both educational and motivating, leaving a lasting impression on our aspiring young musicians.

See our students in this link to our instagram reel: https://www.instagram.com/reel...

Arts Night

The 2024 Arts Night was a tremendous success, transforming the Cultural Centre into a vibrant showcase of talent and creativity. The evening featured stunning visual art displays, music performances, and engaging live poetry readings. A special thank you goes out to Arts Prefect Neve Harris for her exceptional efforts in organising the event. It was a wonderful celebration of The Arts within our school community, highlighting the diverse talents of our students. A big thank you to all those who performed and attended the evening!

Albury Eisteddfod

The Albury Eisteddfod is fast approaching and Scots is eagerly preparing to participate in this traditional event. Our students will be showcasing their talents in dance, choirs and instrumental ensembles. A reminder to all parents and guardians that students in Years K-2 will be participating as part of the Infants Choir. Please respond to this excursion via Parent Lounge.

Families and friends are encouraged to come along and support our students. For information and tickets, please visit the Albury Eisteddfod website atwww.aweisteddfod.com.au

Key dates for Scots performances are:
Monday, 29 July: School Dance Troupes
Wednesday, 31 July: School Bands
Thursday, 1 August: School Choirs

We look forward to seeing our students shine on stage and wish them the best of luck in their performances!

Music

Students and teachers within the Music and Drama Learning Area have, during the past few weeks, been busy presenting performances, working in groups with students from other schools, and attending study days to support HSC endeavours. While all Year 12 Music students performed for assessment in Week 8, many of them have also performed in Chapel Services or Assemblies this semester. Some also had the chance to showcase their skills at the Riverina Conservatorium of Music in Wagga as part of a regional HSC Music Study Day. The program included sessions focussed on how to be successful in the HSC Aural Exam, how to create awesome composition and musicology tasks, and importantly, how to perform to the highest standard. This was an amazing day for the 18 Year 11 and Year 12 musicians who participated in the day, and it has really fine-tuned their approach to the mid-year break.

Drama

Year 11 Drama students were provided with an exciting opportunity to engage with the community to develop their drama skills on 13 June. Students collaborated with their peers from Albury High, Murray High, James Fallon, Trinity Anglican College and Xavier High School to develop a showcase of performances for the Playbox Theatre Festival, held in the theatrette at the Albury Entertainment Centre. This introductory group-performance experience was developed in preparation for the HSC group performance next year. It allowed students to collaborate with their local peers, take chances on stage in a safe space and the festival allowed families to see what great works our students have been creating.

In Term 2, students spent class time developing a group performance based on stimulus material to share at the performance evening. Each school contributed performances from their Year 11 or Year 10 drama cohorts and thoroughly entertained a public audience of parents and friends from all schools. Our Year 11 Drama students spent the day workshopping their performance on the importance of seemingly insignificant memories and how they can suddenly mean so much in the face of tragedy. In the evening, our students were professional in their delivery of the performance and were engaged in the performances of their peers from other schools. Playbox Theatre Showcase is a community collaboration project in which we have been proud to participate.

ORFF Professional Learning hosted by Scots and Caoimhe McMillan

On Saturday 22 June, Scots hosted a professional development workshop ‘An Introduction to Orff-Schulwerk’ for regional Music teachers. Orff Schulwerk is a developmental approach used in music education, which nourishes the musicality of each child through activities in music, movement and drama. This approach is seen in both junior and senior school music classes here at Scots. Participants came from Albury-Wodonga, Yackandandah, Yarrawonga, Wagga Wagga and even Bowral! Presenters Sue Lane, from the Central Coast, and Caoimhe McMillan, from Scots, offered a variety of fun and engaging sessions for music teachers. The workshop included speech and singing activities, body percussion and movement, leading to active music-making and composition with instruments and improvisation. Participants remarked that this workshop was “incredibly inspiring” and hoped to return to Scots for more workshops in the future.

Term Two has been a busy term of sport, featuring AFL Gala Days, Bill Turner Cup Soccer, Steamers Rugby Union events, NSW Netball Gala days, Sol Padel Tennis Gala day and a wide range of other co-curricular competitions. Our students, coaches, and volunteers have been very active throughout the term.

We thank all the students involved for their commitment to training and competition and marvel at their ability to perform under pressure at these big events. To all the coaches, team managers, supporters, and other important volunteers, we thank you for your commitment to the Scots Sports program in Semester One.

We recently took 95 students and 20 helpers to the BISSA Athletics Carnival, a huge squad of students who performed at the highest level. Whether participating in an event, working on a rake, measuring throws, or running results, the work of the student body made this a great day. We had 44 students earn invites to the CIS Athletics Carnival, and we had two age champions on the day. Well done to Lucy Bolton and Ollie Mathews for achieving this accolade against a strong contingent of BISSA athletes.

Some other big highlights from the term include:

Grand Final wins in the Steamers Rugby Union Grand Finals. Well done to Scots 9/10 Boys and Girls who had exciting wins on the night.
The Scots Firebirds, who were our most successful ANA team this year, winning the grand final in convincing fashion.
Five teams currently competing in ABA Basketball finals - we look forward to hearing how they go over the coming weeks.
To our outgoing Year 12 ANA Netball girls, thank you for your leadership and contribution to the program over the last six years. You’ve been amazing!

Please see some individual reports below.

Wishing everyone a relaxing and well-earned break over the next few weeks, before we hit the ground running again in Term 3.

Rugby • Jacob Hanna

With two of our three teams making it through to the finals of the annual Steamers Cup rugby competition, on Friday we made our way to Murrayfield to play off in the deciding matches.

The Girls Year 9/10 team put on a spectacular display of skill and determination in their game against the Barbarians, a formidable team composed of girls from various schools in the area. Our girls dominated the field, demonstrating brilliance in attack with several impressive streaky tries scored from both the inside and outside channels. Their rock-solid defence was equally commendable, conceding only one try throughout the match. Congratulations to our Girls Year 9/10 team on their convincing victory!

The Boys Year 9/10 team faced a tough challenge against the Catholic College Wodonga team in what turned out to be a nail-biting match. Despite the high expectations for their opponents, our boys rose to the occasion, delivering a performance filled with grit and tenacity. The game went down to the wire, but our boys held their nerve and emerged victorious, securing a hard-fought win against their much-fancied rivals.

Well done to both teams for their fantastic achievements! You should be very proud of your teamwork, dedication and the way you approached the games.

Netball • Kari Tainton

The Scots Firebirds netball team played brilliantly all competition and found themselves in the grand final recently at JC King Park where they comprehensively defeated an experienced team, downing the Freckles by nearly 30 goals. Congratulations to Poppy Milgate-Kimbell, Tilly Tainton, Lexi Gneil, Sommers Hogan, Georgie Sockett, Becky Plowman and Freya Gneil.

It was an absolute pleasure to be involved with this group of girls and I look forward to the Spring competition starting in August.

Freezing nights at the netball took over from blisteringly hot evenings as the competition went on but it was worth it to see such a cohesive and fun bunch of girls playing together. They had played together in the previous Autumn competition and played through the whole season with only seven players, showing their dedication to the team. Thanks to all the support from families throughout the season who helped out with coaching, scoring and support.

NSW Netball Gala Day Report • Jane Mackinlay

Scots was well represented at the recent NSW Netball School’s Cup, held at JC King Park. This is a carnival which invites schools from throughout the NSW side of the Albury area, public and private to compete in a gala day. Scots entered a total of six teams, consisting of both girls and boy’s teams, which competed in the junior and senior divisions.

The senior girls’ team, (Year 9 and 10 students) made it through to the finals and were victorious against St Pauls College.

By winning this match, the team has qualified to play at the regional final in Wagga early in Term 3. In addition to students playing, several of our Year 11 and 12 students volunteered as team managers and umpires, they did an outstanding job and contributed to the success of the day.

Bill Turner Cup Soccer • Chris Mitchell

The school's soccer program continues to go from strength to strength, with the girls and boys side's playing in the Bill Turner Cup. In what was believed to be the first time in the school's history, Scots entered a girls team in the state-based knockout competition for the first time. The boys and girls under-15 squads travelled down to Wangaratta to play Galen Catholic College in a cut-throat fixture for a spot in the final four.

The girls got off to a slow start, conceding seven goals in the first half. But with Abbey Fowler as striker, Edwina Harrington in midfield, Inga Steenholdt in defence and Charlotte Packer as goalkeeper, the side was able to draw the second half one goal apiece, eventually going down 8-1.

The boys side controlled its match from start to finish, with Billy Whitfield scoring four goals and Tom Sheather also finding the back of the net to run out convincing 5-1 winners at South Wangaratta Reserve. That side then played off in the final four of the regional fixtures, conceding two early goals to be knocked out 2-0 by James Fallon. Best players in that game were Jarra Grover and Hunter Smith.

There has been loads of sporting action in Term 2 for the Junior School.

RAS Cross Country Jindera

Scots had 44 students compete in the RAS Cross Country at Jindera Golf Course - a great opportunity to race against other schools. Several of our students had outstanding performances, particularly Ardan Magaharan who had an amazing run to finish in first place. Others included Duke Maloney and Sam Mack, who finished fourth and Hunter Newbold, who was fifth.

Ardan, Duke and Hunter competed at CIS Cross Country in Sydney in very wet and heavy conditions. All boys thoroughly enjoyed the experience. A big congratulations to Ardan who finished eighth out of 111 competitors. This is a huge achievement at such a high level!

Netball NSW Schools Cup – JC King Park Albury

Three teams represented Scots at the Netball NSW Schools Cup on 20 May. Our Year 3 and 4 team participated very well and had the opportunity to participate in a friendly competition which introduced them to a carnival format. Our Year 5 and 6 teams participated in a competitive carnival format. Their division comprised 24 teams. Our Scots 1 team finished in a very close second place in our pool and top six overall. They just missed out on a finals place for the day. Well done to both teams.
A big thank you to the Senior School Students who assisted with coaching and umpiring on the day!

Junior School Inter House Athletics Carnival

Our Junior School Inter House Athletics Carnival took place on 24 May. All students from Kinder to Year 6 participated. Our Kinder, Year 1 and Year 2 students participated in a range of modified athletic events which were organised and run by our Year 9 PASS students.

Our students in Year 3-6 competed in four field and three track events. We had very high levels of participation at each event and it was great to see all students participating at the best of their ability.

Congratulations to the following students who received Age Champion and Runner Up Age Champion.

8-9 Year olds

Female Champion: Maggie Klingner. Runner-up: Amelie Skidmore
Male Champion: Hunter Newbold. Runner-up: Oscar Crapp

10 Year olds

Female Champion: Anabel Griffith. Runner-up: Annabelle Staughton
Male Champion: Ardan Magaharan. Runner-up: Sammy Martin

11 Year olds

Female Champion: Eliza Hyde. Runner-up: Lucy Mathews
Male Champion: Charlie Brown. Runner-up: Eddie Landale

12-13 Year olds
Female Champion: Eden Hutchins. Runner-up: Jasmine Fowler
Male Champion: Darcy Baird. Runner-up: Sam Mack

RAS Athletics will be on 2 August at Les O’Brien Athletics Centre.

Hoop Time Year 5 and 6

Hoop time was a very small event this year with only Scots and Porepunkah PS participating. Students enjoyed the day and participated well. The Grand Final consisted of Scots Sonics and Porepunkah PS. Scots Sonics was the overall winning team with a score of 21-11. Scots Sonics have now progressed to the next phase of the competition which will be at Eagle Stadium (Werribee) on 15 October. More information for these players will be sent early next term.

New Books
We have purchased new books this term for the Junior School from the CBCA. These included new picture books and some very interesting stories for readers up to 14 years old. My favourite is Scar Town by Tristan Bancks; a really good mystery and thriller. Also, we now have the entire Enola Holmes series, which has been extremely popular and sought by many students.

Donations
The library has donated some books to Sally Bayne, Year 8, who is going to Kenya these holidays. Sally is taking a collection to share with the communities she is visiting. We also donated books and games to Bryce McNair for the Albury Rotary Club, who is taking a charity package to Vanuatu in August.

Junior library classes
Classes have been linking up stories on Story Box for their units of inquiry. For example, Year 5 students, who are studying Natural Disasters, watched The House of the Mountain written and read by Ella Holcombe. Ella was a child in the 2009 Kinglake Bushfires and this story reflects her account of those horrific fires. Story Box library is a great online resource that showcases Australian children's books, read by a diverse range of local storytellers – including Nick Cave, Missy Higgins, Clare Bowditch, Andy Griffiths and Sally Rippin.

Chess
The Junior School Chess teams took part in the Albury zone of the NSW JCL Riverina competition last Wednesday. Both teams played very well and our top team came third overall.
Congratulations to team 1: James Grylewicz, Sam Mack, Tom Showers, Gaurish Kumar and our captain of chess, William Zhao. James won six of his seven matches on the day, an amazing effort!
Team 2: Eddie Landale, Alex Handley, Dominic Smail and Lokai Freeman also had a good day.
Thank you to our senior school coaches: Billy Stewart, Aston Lau and Ammar Syed for assisting with these teams and to teacher Jason Carr for accompanying the excursion.

The Senior School Chess team travelled to Henty last Thursday and had a good win over St Mary MacKillop, Wagga. Seriously depleted, with senior players Oliver Baitch and Ty Salter out, we brought in Oscar Kennedy to support Billy Stewart, Ammar Syed and our undefeated in 2024 player, Aston Lau. Billy and Aston had brilliant games and both got over the line in our one and two chairs with Aston maintaining his winning streak.

Ammar and Oscar also played excellent games against exceptional opponents. Ammar’s game was very tight and went for 40 minutes.

Library Events, Term 3
Write Around the Murray
Premier’s Reading Challenge
Book Week
Book Fair