Scotch College

New Staff

Back row: James Hillis, James Barton, James Wan.

A winning formula

Most schools across the state would settle for one or two students to obtain a maximum score of 50 in a VCE study. In 2003, Scotch students James Barton, David Heaton, James Hillis, and Michael Roy (pictured left) all scored 50 in Chemistry. The result is all the more remarkable given that only 21 students were awarded this mark from approximately 8500 students across the state.

Drop everything and read!

Boys' literacy is currently a major issue for educators and the wider community, and rightly so! It has always been important but perhaps never more so than in today's competitive and skill-based world where the ability to communicate effectively is crucial.

Scotch is reviewing constantly how we can better assist our boys by empowering them with various literacy skills. Not long ago, the School established the Literacy Committee, consisting of teachers from throughout the School whose task it was to implement strategies to improve the literacy levels of our boys. One such strategy has been successfully introduced this year.

In Term 1 the DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) program was implemented for all boys in Year 7. This is a well-known, cross-curricular reading initiative that has existed in many schools throughout Australia for some time. The program formally allocates a daily 20 minute, supervised, silent reading time at the beginning of Period 3 for all boys in Year 7. The boys choose their own reading material, within certain guidelines, and bring it to School every day for use during the DEAR period.

DEAR time has already proved to be a popular success with both the staff and boys. The variety and level of reading material has been quite exciting, as has the way in which boys have valued this 'sacred' reading time. If anything, the cry after most DEAR periods has been, 'Please sir, can't we have more?'

It seems that working together, we can help boys discover the joys and benefits of reading.

Bradley Wells
Head of English

New Senior School Staff Scotch welcomed 10 new staff members at the start of 2004.
Pictured left to right, they are:
Geoff Dans (Christian Education), Martyn Wood (Physics/Maths/Science), Narelle Tivendale (English/Geography/History), Annette Miller (Maths/Science), Susan Clarke (Indonesian), Tim Adams (Head of German), George Patouras (English/Commerce), Blair Mahoney (English). Absent is Dr Atit Bhargava (Head of Physics) and Lee Trigg (Music).