Newsletter, Term 2, Week 2, Friday 6 May 2022

Mum is my hero

My mum was the backbone of our family. My Dad was the breadwinner, but mum was the glue who held everything together and made our family of seven kids somehow work through some pretty tough times.

Mother’s Day is a good time to reflect on all that we owe our mothers. I hope our students will take a moment to be grateful for everything their mums do for them every day. It was great to celebrate mothers and welcome them to the school to enjoy complimentary coffee and donuts this morning. Thanks to everyone who turned up to share in the spirit.

I never took my mum for granted, but now that she has passed, I realise just how wise she was and how much concern and care she carried for all of us throughout our lives - even as adults.

I had a special relationship with my mum. I was the baby of seven children with a bit of gap between me and the rest of my siblings and she always said it was nice that she had the time with me, that she was too busy to have with the others.

But one of the lessons I’ve learned over time, from my own mother and from observing my wife Yvonne in her interactions with our own children, is that mothers never stop worrying about their kids, no matter their age.

I’ll never forget the look on my mum’s face when Yvonne and I decided to leave the safety and security of our little house on the beach in New Zealand to move our three children to take up a job in Bangladesh. She was absolutely horrified and distraught. It must have almost broken her heart to have us move away. Yet despite her sense of grief and concern mum fully supported our peripatetic move.

For someone like her, who grew up in Holland during the war, you simply didn’t sacrifice that sort of security for the unknown - although to a certain extent that’s exactly what my parents did in 1952 when they immigrated to an unknown New Zealand.

But perhaps it was her experience in the war that made her value security so highly. During the war in Holland, she was the eldest daughter in the home. Her brother was one of the leaders of the Dutch underground and her father and brothers were all away, so she had a lot of responsibility in the household.

She told us stories about the Germans who were camped across the road from their house for weeks watching them. Then one day they came to the door, allowed mum and her sisters to collect a spare set of underwear, then marched them across the road and blew up their house.

Fortunately, they had moved out the Jewish children, hidden in their roof spaces, just the week before.

I have recordings that I made of mum’s stories but I wish I had just three more hours with her; I could learn so much. She was so wise; she didn’t have any qualifications, but she had wisdom.

One of the biggest lessons I learned from her was the absolute importance of trust. My brother and I were larrikins - it must have driven my mother mad - but whatever mess we got ourselves into when she asked us about it we’d answer truthfully.

I learned that you have no bigger advocate than your mother; she will always have your back, but if you lose her trust, you’ve lost everything. So, just tell the truth!

Mum’s give meaning and fullness to the life of their children!

This Mother’s Day, make sure you make your mum feel special.

We warmly welcome John Hill to the Scots community as our new Director of Boarding.

John has spent most of his professional education career working in boarding across a variety of roles and models; and he joins us from his recent position as Head of House at Toowoomba Grammar School, Queensland.

John and his family have spent the better half of a decade in boarding. His son Fletcher, 7, only knows life in a boarding school having had his second birthday in a dining hall surrounded by almost 100 big ‘brothers and sisters’. He has been raised by boarders and is excited, along with his two sisters Madeleine, 13, and Charlotte, 9, to meet all the Scots boarders and getting to know them more. Both girls are relieved to be living back at a co-educational school.

John’s wife, Sheridan, also will help in boarding and take on some relief Learning Assistant work in the Junior and Senior School.

John said he and his family believed in immersing themselves in boarding life and creating a family feel. They will reside on campus, ensuring John is contactable and present throughout a boarders’ journey.

“My family and I have lived and breathed boarding for the past seven years and have absolutely loved the experience. Scots aligns well to my own family, ethos and educational values; I am looking forward to experiencing all areas of the school,” John said.

John holds a Masters in Education, majoring in Leading and Managing along with an undergraduate degree in Education from the University of Southern Queensland. He is a strong advocate for all students feeling safe and welcomed in a school environment and feels it is particularly important in a boarding context.
“Boarding should be a second home for these students; a place where they feel valued and encouraged to give back to their school,” he said.

As well as working in the boarding house, John is teaching Year 10 Mathematics and hopes to get involved in the co-curricular space later in the year.

Welcome back to Term 2. Our term commenced with the return of the ANZAC Parade and it was wonderful to see so many of our students marching on this significant day. I would like to make a special mention of our Year 9 students who marched behind the 2/23rd Banner on this day.

During their camp week they completed a number of activities that explored Scots connection to this Battalion and they are to be commended on the approach they took to investigating Albury Grammar School’s participation in various conflicts and their role in the beginnings of the 2/23rd Battalion. They marched proudly behind the banner last Monday. Once again, our Pipe Band impressed all in attendance.

Year 12 reports have been emailed and we look forward to seeing parents and students at the Parent Teacher Evening on Monday. It is hard to believe we have passed the halfway mark of their final year at secondary school.

Year 11 students have been asked to form an organising committee for the Year 11 Formal. I have received a wonderful response so plans for this evening in Term 3 will begin in earnest in the coming weeks. Many thanks to the students who are keen to assist in the planning for what should be a very enjoyable evening.

Congratulations to all students who participated in the Cross Country yesterday and especially to those students who have progressed to the next level.

Rehearsals are well underway for our Senior Production of The Drowsy Chaperone. Many thanks to the Performing Arts team for all their time and effort in ensuring this production comes together.

I have spoken to a number of students this week about keeping their shirts tucked in throughout the day. I will be reiterating this at our assembly next week. We do pride ourselves on our uniform and I am sure anyone that was present on ANZAC Day would agree, when worn appropriately it is the finest in our region.

We have NAPLAN testing next week. All families should have received a letter from Mr Cowan regarding this with details around which tests are running on each day. We have run two trials sessions with Year 7 & 9 students and both groups have been impressive with their approach. These tests will take place in March next year so that schools and families will have earlier access to results.

Congratulations to students who have been awarded Merit Certificates in recent weeks:

Oliver Baitch – Independent Learner in English
Emma Delbridge – Positive Learner in English
Liam Nicolson – Respectful Learner in English
Daniel Steer – Independent Learner in English
Madeleine Steer – Independent Learner in English

Life@Scots - Experiential Learning

At the simplest level, experiential learning can be defined as learning by doing. Some define it as developing personal understanding, knowledge, skills and attitudes through the analysis of, and reflection on, activity. As a PYP school that focuses heavily on student-centred learning and reflective practices, experiential learning at Scots offers students the opportunity to challenge themselves, set personal goals and engage in tasks beyond the classroom.

After two years confined by COVID restrictions, the Junior School is looking to reinvent the way we engage our students with the world around them through experiential learning. Whether through camps, excursions or specific co-curricular offerings, we are keen to ensure that learning is not just defined by the four walls of the classroom.

A dedicated team of staff have formed a committee to conduct an inquiry into:

Defining experiential learning at Scots
What opportunities we have offered in the past
What our community values in terms of experiential learning e.g. outdoor education, environment, service learning, city-based experiences etc.
What experiential learning will look like in 2024 and beyond.

Recent camps and excursions across the school have highlighted the huge value in challenging student’s skills and knowledge beyond the classroom and we look forward to seeking community feedback in the months ahead.

Year 7 four-day STEM Experience.

In the last week of Term 1, Year 7 students undertook four days of a STEM-based experience. On one of the days, they went on excursions to three facilities: the Albury Water Treatment Plant, the Wastewater (Sewage) Treatment Plant and Wonga Wetlands.

At the first venue, students were shown how our potable water is obtained, treated and distributed to Albury residents. They were specifically shown how the huge filters are constructed, using layers of pebbles, coarse sand and fine sand - a structure students would build for themselves over the following days. Students then went to the Wastewater Treatment Plant to see how our wastewater is treated; and then Wonga Wetlands. The excursions were not only a worthy learning experience, but they had a greater purpose in preparing students for the laboratory-based Science and Engineering tasks that were to follow.

Students performed their laboratory-based project, working in small groups to design a filter. Following the design thinking process and scientific method, they engineered a filter to treat water from the school dam. Students had to follow the scientific method to design and build three iterations of their filter with a focus on one chosen independent variable. The filter was made from three 1.25 litre plastic bottles and layers of pebbles, coarse sand and fine sand in each bottle to filter the water. Some groups chose to measure the effect of changing the layer order on the effectiveness of water filtering, other groups chose changing the relative thicknesses of the layers or taking out one layer at a time. The quality of water was measured before and after the filtering including turbidity, salinity, and particulate mass. As part of the measuring process students had to use basic mathematics to determine water volume and to ensure a fair test; by controlling the mass or volume of each material for example. Students then chose their best filter and had to then present it live, via Microsoft Teams, to two Engineers!

Before presenting to the engineers, they did so to Year 2 students which then helped them reflect and improve their presentations further. The groups also had to design a website showcasing their research and results as part of the process.

One of the engineers was Richard Rodd, who runs his own engineering business and is an Albury local with significant experience in water and dam engineering. The other engineer was Amanda Tobias, currently based in Sydney, and an expert in water filtration and flood management. They watched the students present and based the success of their presentations on: their explanation of how the filter worked; evidence of filter effectiveness; and explanation of why the one they presented was the best one.

All students should be proud of their engagement in the task and all groups produced working filters. I’d like to thank all the staff involved for their excellent assistance.

Year 7 also had the opportunity to design and race cars using the ‘STEM Tower’. Students built a car, using corflute, electric motors and other materials, to race against each other. It was an engaging activity that was very much enjoyed.

- Brad Murphy, Head of Technology & Innovation

Astronomer Visit

Scots hosted two Astronomers from ANU/Mt Stromlo on Thursday 24 March. They were Dr Brad Tucker, who amongst other thing is leading programs using NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope and Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite to understand why and how stars blow up, and Peter Swanton, an Indigenous Research Associate who is researching Dark Sky Parks for their cultural and scientific significance.

They spent the day speaking to Year 5, 7 and Stage 6 Physics, before running a viewing night. As part of the visit the school was gifted a high-quality telescope, too! Students enjoyed the presentations and all their many questions were answered with great explanation. Of the four presentations given during the day and evening, not one of them was the same!