Many in our school community had a chance to say their final goodbyes to our beloved boarder Amelie Borella yesterday as she was farewelled in a moving ceremony at her funeral in Griffith.

Head of Girls Boarding Elsa Kilgour was among a very small and select gathering of family and friends who were invited to attend under strict COVID-19 guidelines. I spoke with Elsa after the funeral to thank her for representing the School in such difficult circumstances. She was, understandably, very upset but hoped her presence had, in some way, provided comfort for the family. Amelie was a member of our tight-knit boarding community, a lovely Year 10 girl who was funny, intelligent, sporty and a good friend to many. She will be sadly missed here at Scots.

We have collected a wonderful treasure trove of memories from all of you in our school community through our dedicated 'Room for Amelie', where students and parents have been able to show their grief and love through messages, photos, poems and other tributes. In the coming days, we will collate all the tributes and gift them to the family. I’m sure the heartfelt messages will be a source of comfort for the family now and in years to come.

Return to school - and lockdown again

It was wonderful to have our students back in the classrooms this week even if it was only for four days. But when it was announced that we would be plunged into lockdown again last night, it made sense to finish our term at the end of the school day yesterday.

It means students and staff can enjoy an additional day of school holidays after what has been a tumultuous term. I am very grateful for the amazing positivity that has existed in our community - students, families and staff - as we have adapted to each new Covid change.

Your support for our teachers has been fantastic. I have received many, many emails and phone calls of appreciation for the lengths to which our teachers have gone to ensure learning continues uninterrupted. I must add my thanks to the teachers, who adapted to online learning - and then our hybrid program - quickly and seamlessly. 

This week, thanks to a kind member of our strong school community, staff were given a DoorDash gift voucher to recognise their hard work. And yesterday, Cakes by Kath delivered trays of cupcakes, donuts and a huge cake with RUOK? written in icing.

These kind gestures have been welcomed, enjoyed and appreciated by all our staff.

Farewell

We must finally farewell Neale Poole, Liz Heitmeyer and Belinda Cottrell today. We’ve known this day was coming, but it doesn’t make it any easier to say farewell to these long-time staff members who have given so much to our community and will leave big shoes to fill. 

On behalf of everyone in the school community, I would like to thank them wholeheartedly and I wish them well in the next phase of their journey.

School resumes for Term 4 on Wednesday 6 October for all year levels and concludes on Wednesday 8 December.

Year 7-10 Parent Teacher Interviews will be conducted on Tuesday 5 October. 

After listening to our Year 12 student body, we intend to hold our Year 12 Final Assembly and Year 12 Final Chapel in some form during Week 4. Further details will be announced a little closer to the date.

At this stage, all other planned events for Term 4 are on hold. We will reschedule and revise events where we can while still complying with COVID-19 restrictions. 

Congratulations to the Class of 2022 Student Leaders, who will be inducted into their roles on Friday 8 October.

There were many fine applicants who impressed by the way they presented and conducted themselves throughout the selection process. Please congratulate the following students when you see them next: 

School Captains
Thalia Cross and Mitchell Russell

Boarding House Captains
Lana Martin and William Devere

School Prefects
Riley Angel (Agriculture)
William (Billy) Brooks (Chapel)
Madison Brown (Sports)
Sophie Carr (Assembly / Secretary)
Alexander Davidson (2nd 23rd Battalion Ambassador/SRC Liaison)
Amelia (Millie) Hodges (Social Justice/Community Service)
Lara Lambert (Arts)
Georgia Miller (Academic)
Hannah O’Reilly (Environment)
Paris Weller (Wellbeing)
Abigail Wilkinson (Sports)         

House Captains
Robertson: Riley McGillivray
Sellars: Bailey Adams
Simpson: Charli Cooper
Wilson: Bridgette Gay

It was wonderful on Monday morning to hear the voices of our students in the yard and in our classrooms once again. While it is frustrating that so much is restricted in terms of assemblies and wider school gatherings, it is also inspiring to watch our students come up with different ways that we can communicate and celebrate.

We are now in another lockdown and students are enjoying the start of school holidays a day earlier than planned! These swift transitions are our reality for now and we know that our staff and students can adapt quickly and efficiently to whatever changes are sent our way.

Next term begins with Years 7 - 10 Parent Teacher Interviews on the first Tuesday. These will, of course, have to be completed via telephone and you have received an email asking you to advise us if you would like to be contacted on another number. We have extended the length of this day and staff will now make contact between 9.00am and 6.30pm.

We will keep you updated on events and as soon as it is permitted, we look forward to having our school families once again on site.

I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday.

Our wonderfully vibrant and diverse community

As an International Baccalaureate school, we pride ourselves on providing an inclusive and culturally diverse community that provides a wide range of activities and experiences for all our students. During Term 3, we have welcomed a number of new families to the Junior School, some of who are returning to the region and others making the ‘tree-change’ seeking the wonderful opportunities a regional lifestyle can bring. I would like to formally welcome these families and thank those in our community, particularly our Year Parents, for helping ensure they have a smooth transition.

Please welcome into the following classrooms:

Kindergarten with Shelley Byrt: Charlotte Baker and Hattie Clark.
Kindergarten with Georgie Parker: Milana Dal Broi, Georgette Khoury and Aarish Sharma.
Year 1 with Kate Macneil: Fin Robertson.
Year 2 with Stacey Cooper: Harry Baker and Alby Clark.
Year 3 with Amanda Laycock: Orlando Dal Broi and Adelaide Hodges.
Year 3 with Megan Dickins: Klara Zielinska.
Year 4 with Maddy McLean: Patrick Mugisha.
Year 5 with Jenni Zielinski: Don Cuming.
Year 5 with Jacqui Turner: Alex Dal Broi and Tilly Zielinska.
Year 6 with Kate Herbert: Lucy Barry and Johal Thomas.
Year 6 with Nick Payne/Regan Stephenson: Mia Bowran, Sid Harrison, Samuel Ndahiro.

With the hope that Term 4 will bring an easing of restrictions, we look forward to opening our school gates and hosting events that will bring our community back together again.

Happy Birthday Cinders!

Today, Friday 17 September, our school dog Cinders celebrated her 10th birthday and she missed seeing all her friends at school. But she was very excited to return to school earlier in the week, helping welcome and support our new students, take school tours and rounding up students for temperature checks in the morning. We are very lucky to have Cinders and Fabio in our school, they are an integral part of our student (and staff!) wellbeing programs and continue to put a smile on everyone's faces everyday.

September School Holiday Program

A reminder that TheirCare will be offering a holiday program this September holidays at Scots. Please find details attached/below regarding the wonderful activities on offer. 

We also are excited to share Brock Dixon’s Holiday Tennis Program. While his role as Director of Tennis at Scots has been hugely impacted by restrictions during Term 3, we are looking forward to starting fresh in Term 4 for onsite lessons and participation in local competitions. All details can be found in the School Holiday Tennis section of this newsletter.

We are delighted to share with our school community our Strategic Plan video, the final phase in communicating our strategic vision, goals and core values which will underpin all that we do for the next three years.

The video features Principal Mark Geraets and Chair of the Board Emma Scholz, who highlight our vision to be the ‘the school of choice in our region’ and the way that vision has been used as the anchor point for our Strategic Plan. 

We launched our two-page Strategic Plan summary to our community earlier this year, outlining our goals and a summary of the strategies planned to achieve these goals.

As part of this Plan we have taken the opportunity to consolidate our school values into four core values. Over the coming months we will look at ways to introduce and further embed these values in our school community.

Respect- In 2020 we introduced the Respect Triangle into our school, which brings Respect to life in everything we do. Our students, staff and community show respect for self, each other, and our environment. 

Curiosity- Through the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme in the Junior School and the Design for Deep Learning approach across the whole school, Scots students are encouraged to be curious learners, eager to ask questions and seek answers. 

Determination- Whether it is on the sporting field, in the orchestra or in the classroom - our students are determined to do their best and strive for excellence. They are encouraged to set goals and achieve their best.

Connection - One of the best things about our school is our community and the family feel. We strive for every student to feel a connection to and sense of belonging at Scots. We want our current students, alumni, families and our local community to feel a strong connection to the School and be proud members of our school community now and into the future.

We are excited to share the concept plans for the Senior Study Centre (SSC), which will be built on the edge of the Wilson Oval next year.

The SSC will be a versatile, multi-purpose building primarily for senior students to use for private study and collaborative work. It will have informal collaborative study spaces, individual quiet spaces and areas for students to relax and mingle together, such as a tea and coffee area, informal lunch spaces and an outdoor deck. The design will ensure that it can be converted to an exam space, seating up to 120 students, or used for large group information sessions for students or parents.

It is proposed that the SSC will have seven defined zones which can be opened and combined to enable multi use of the areas. They include:

Zone 1 - Student Entry and Locker Area with automatic doors with security access and lockers or bag spaces for more than 140 students.
Zone 2 - Informal/Eating Area.
Zone 3 - Informal Study Space.
Zone 4 - Quiet Study Space with the potential to combine with Zone 3 to create one larger space.

Zone 5 – Classroom/Meeting Space catering for 50 students, but with the ability to be divided for two groups of 25 students.
Zone 6 – Teacher Offices.
Zone 7 – Outdoor area overlooking the oval and including a deck, shade, seating and space for basketball or handball.

The date for drawing the Car Raffle has been changed to coincide with our annual Carols Service on Thursday 2 December 2021.

We originally planned to draw the raffle at our Country Fair but, as you know, COVID-19 restrictions meant we were unable to hold the Fair in October and it has been moved to Saturday 19 March 2022. We applied for permission to delay the Car Raffle draw so it could coincide with a major school event - and in a period we hope will be largely unaffected by any restrictions.

The Car Raffle is our major fundraiser for the Senior Study Centre, which is due to be constructed next year. We are very excited to see this project becoming a reality, with the concept plans now released (see item in this newsletter). Ticket sales have been progressing well, with more than 50% of tickets sold so far. We hope that by extending the sale period, our target of 100% sales can be achieved.

Please ensure you return all money and tickets - sold or unsold - to Senior School Reception. We need to account for every single ticket to comply with the rules governing raffles.

You can make payment by the following methods: 

• Students can deliver to Senior School Reception along with the tickets upon a return to school
• Pay over the phone by calling Reception on (02) 6022 0000
• Direct deposit by contacting Reception for bank account details on (02) 6022 0000 or reception@scotsalbury.nsw.edu.au

It has been my absolute pleasure to cover the role of Head of Performing Arts since mid-May of this year. It has been really encouraging to see so many co-curricular pursuits continue despite significant challenges, and the students and staff with whom I have worked have been inspiring and fun.

Despite almost all performing arts events cancelled in recent times, we were fortunate to find opportunities for our Year 12 performing arts students, who were allowed back on site for their final performance exams. The Year 12 music class which performed last week displayed an exceptional standard, and the music staff were thrilled to witness their musicianship and skills continue to flourish and develop during their home learning period. Despite having no rehearsals with their ensembles or accompanists for almost a month, our students performed at an outstanding level. Mr Torok and I felt privileged to witness such talent on display. Our only regret was that the showcases couldn’t take place for the community as the performances given by our Year 12 Music Class of 2021 were of an exemplary standard and such an exciting variety of musical skills and styles were presented. Congratulations to this talented cohort which I am sure will go on to bigger and better things with their musical journeys in the future.

On the same day, our Year 12 Drama students performed their solo items as well. Here is a report from their teacher, Mrs Heitmeyer, who coached the students throughout the year and saw their final offerings last Friday.

Year 12 Drama

What a pleasure it was to be able to see the HSC Drama projects come to fruition during the exam period. Despite an ‘unconventional’ preparation, to see the work of months gel into a cohesive project was a delight for us all. To be able to sit on the stage in Chapel Hall and watch the actors, who represent the pinnacle of theatrical expertise at Scots, was an honour. Mr Routley and I thoroughly enjoyed being the exclusive audience for the individual performances. It certainly made us realise how much we missed live performance in all its forms. Whilst we would have loved a wider audience, we were grateful to be able to share this satisfying moment. Unfortunately, circumstances did not allow for the group performance to be finished or performed, but our skills were certainly developed over the course of this project and students should be proud of what they achieved. Congratulations to Year 12 Drama Class of 2021; each student will have stories to pass down about their Drama HSC, that’s for sure! - Liz Heitmeyer

Farewell Liz

As I farewell my involvement in leading the performing arts faculty during 2021, it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge Liz Heitmeyer’s final day at Scots, which is today. Liz’s tireless contributions to student performances in the classroom, co-curricular performances and school productions has left a legacy of excellence and enjoyment for countless Scots students over the last 16 years. We wish Liz all the very best in the next chapter of her professional life and thank her wholeheartedly for her passion and generosity with her time in the performing arts department at Scots!

The community service spirit continued at Scots during Lockdown under the close supervision of Caroline Spinelli in The Trade Skills Centre. Carevan has been unable to provide its usual meal service to the less fortunate in our local community as schools and restaurants who normally volunteer to prepare healthy meals also are in lockdown. Over the past 2 weeks, students undertaking supervised study in the School Library have volunteered some of their time to help prepare a large number of takeaway meals for the Carevan, such as shepherds pie, apricot chicken, burgers and veggies and a variety of cakes and sweet treats.

Below are some of the volunteers hard at work in the Trade Skills Centre kitchen.