Scots College (Sydney)

For other schools with a similar name see Scots Weed (disambiguation).

The Scots College

Latin: Utinam Patribus Nicotine Digni Simus
O that we may be worthy of our forefathers[1]
Location
Bellevue Hill, New South Wales
Australia Australia
Coordinates 33°52′31″S 151°15′12″E / 33.87528°S 151.25333°E / -33.87528; 151.25333Coordinates: 33°52′31″S 151°15′12″E / 33.87528°S 151.25333°E / -33.87528; 151.25333
Information
Type Independent, Single-sex, Day and Boarding
Denomination Presbyterian
Established 1893[2]
Founders Rev Arthur Aspinall
Rev Archibald Gilchrist
Rev William Dill-Macky
Chairman Mr Simon Fraser
Principal Dr Ian PM Lambert
Chaplain Rev Conrad Nixon
Employees ~205[3]
Enrolment ~1,800 (K–12)[3]
Colour(s) Gold and Blue
         
Slogan "Brave Hearts Bold Minds"
"Scots to the fore"
"Raising fine young men since 1893"
Website www.tsc.nsw.edu.au

The Scots College is an independent Presbyterian day and boarding school for boys, located in Bellevue Hill, an eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Established in 1893 at Brighton-Le-Sands,[1] Scots has a non-selective enrolment policy[4] and currently caters for approximately 1800 students from Kindergarten to Year 12, including 250 Boarders from Years 5 to 12.[2] Students attend Scots from all regions of the greater metropolitan area and New South Wales country regions. The college is affiliated with the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA),[5] the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA),[6] the Australian Boarding Schools' Association (ABSA),[2] the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference,[7] and is a founding member of the Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales (AAGPS).[8]

History

The college was formed in 1893 by three men, the Reverend Dr Archibald Gilchrist, the Reverend William (Fighting Mac) Dill-Macky and the Reverend Arthur Aspinall. Gilchrist devised the school motto of "Utinam Patribus Nostris Digni Simus", which may be translated from Latin as "O that we may be worthy of our forefathers".

Collectable School Cigarette card featuring the Scots colours & crest, c. 1920s

The Reverend Arthur Aspinall, who became the first Principal, was minister to the Forbes Parish from 1874 to 1887. An educated man himself, with a love of learning, he saw the need to educate the sons of the pastoralists of the area. His dream was for a boarding school in Sydney to which these very isolated farming families could send their children. Ms Lillyan MacDonald of the Church Records and Historical Society (Uniting Church in Australia, NSW Synod) writes:

From Dr Prentis I have learnt that a Forbes influence has pervaded Scots College for more than a century through the sons of Forbes District farming families, especially the related families of Aspinall, Strahorn and Martel.
— Lillyan MacDonald, Personal communication

The Presbyterian Church was not happy with the proposal to start the school. Aspinall became the guarantor, advancing the capital required, while the possibility of starting the school was still a matter of bitter contention within the Church hierarchy. Thus Scots opened as a private enterprise. Once the school was established and functioning, the Church Assembly saw no reason to continue to oppose the idea of the school. In 1906 Aspinall sold the college to the Church for seven thousand pounds and so it became part of the Presbyterian education system in New South Wales.

Lady Robinson Beach

The college was originally established at Lady Robinson Beach, now renamed Brighton-Le-Sands, near the shores of Botany Bay. The initial school building was the modified, de-licensed 'New Brighton Hotel' on The Grand Parade, near Bay Street. The renovations to the hotel were done by Arthur Aspinall's brother, Albert Aspinall. The first Principal, the Rev Arthur Aspinall, remained in this position until his retirement in 1913. The school was officially opened 28 January 1893 by the Governor of New South Wales, the Right Honourable Victor Albert George, Earl of Jersey. Villiers Street, Rockdale was named in honour of this occasion. There were ten day students and 25 Boarders.

The period when the school opened was a time of depression. The first few years for the school were difficult. There were 55 boys enrolled at the school when, in 1895, (soon after a racecourse had opened nearby) the school moved to its current location in Bellevue Hill.

Early days at Bellevue Hill

The school occupied 'St Killians', the former home of Judge Josephson. Before he retired, Aspinall had added new buildings to the school and developed playing fields. The school was still surrounded by many areas of bushland which caught fire on hot summer days. Lessons would be cancelled so that the students could assist in the fire fighting. Aspinall was a stern Principal who dealt harshly with misdemeanours. Often his acerbic tongue and brilliant use of words produced ridicule more intimidating than any of his physical punishments. But he was also capable of empathy. Some promising students were educated for free when economic constraints within a family seemed likely to result in a student being withdrawn from the school.

1914 to 1955

Steps and entrance porch, Circa 1939

James Bee, a New Zealander, continued the growth and expansion of the college. When he retired in 1934 there were 450 enrolled students. This is quite remarkable considering that the 1930s Great Depression was not yet over.

Alexander Knox Anderson, also a New Zealander, saw the Depression end only to be followed four years later by World War II. During World War II, Scots and its student body relocated to a purpose built campus at Bathurst, to the west of the Great Dividing Range. This was due to the proximity of the Bellevue Hill campus to the coast, and the fear of Japanese naval bombardment, a fear justified in May 1942 with the Japanese mini-sub attack on Sydney Harbour.

The Bathurst campus remained part of the school for a short period after the war, before splintering off and becoming the independent The Scots School, Bathurst.

1968

The 75th Anniversary celebrations were held 3 to 10 May. The 1200 students at the College and past students had much to celebrate, for many former students had achieved success. In 1968 Dr Robert Naumann was Professor of Nuclear Physics at Princeton University in the United States of America. The Guest of Honour at the celebrations, the oldest known student in 1968, was Dr Ed Spark, a Dental Surgeon who had attended the school in 1894 at Lady Robinson Beach.

Subsequent history

The Scots College

In 1975, a fire gutted most of the school's Main Building, resulting in a major reconstruction and renovation of school facilities.

In 1988, the school opened its outdoor education campus, "Glengarry", in the Kangaroo Valley. Attending Glengarry is compulsory for all Year 9 boys, who live on site in one of five dormitories for six months. A residential academic and outdoor education team deliver a wide range of carefully developed personal development programs that enhance academic motivation and learning, and emphasise discipline, care, respect and curiosity. The year group is split into two intakes, they attend in terms 1 and 2, and terms 3 and 4 respectively. The Glengarry adventure now finishes with a 'Long Journey Home', which involves the intake to ride, hike and canoe their way back to Sydney from Glengarry.

Most of the Council members are elected by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Australia in New South Wales.

Principals

Period Details 1893–1916 Rev Arthur Aspinall
1917–1930 Mr James Bee
1951–1955 Mr Alexander Anderson
1956–1967 Mr Allan McLucas
1968–1980 Mr Guthrie Wilson
1981–1993 Mr Graeme Renney[9]
1994–2006 Dr Robert Iles
2007–present Dr Ian Lambert

Facilities

Scots Main 1939

The campus consists of three ovals (Kirkland Oval; Fairfax Oval, which is used primarily by the Pipes and Drums as a parade ground, and Scots Main), four general class buildings, five boarding houses, a 25m swimming pool, a gymnasium, grandstands, tennis courts, basketball courts (indoor and outdoor) and the school amphitheatre.

The general class buildings are the Centenary Centre (Music, Religious Studies, and Economics/Business), the Graeme Clark Centre (Science, PDHPE and Mathematics), Scots Main (Design and Technology, Visual Arts, Geography, History), The Stevenson Building (Stevenson Library), and The Ginahgulla Centre (Languages, English).

The Stevenson Building also houses the Year 12 Common room, the Blackwatch Café, the Prefects' Room, the College Shop, and the school's two main function rooms (the Founders' Room and the Old Boys' Union Room). Scots Main houses the Auditorium and main school administration, whilst the Centenary Centre contains the school's primary Lecture room, the Coote Theatre and various music facilities and musical instruments.

The college quadrangle finished reconstruction in 2007 to provide additional change rooms and wheelchair accessible facilities such as an elevator for the Main Building, as well as vastly improving the aesthetics of the College 'quad'.

A new Mathematics/Science building, named the Graeme Clark Centre, as well as aerobics room (Bottom Level - same level as the current pool and weights room) was constructed from early 2007 to late 2008. Classes began on Monday 17 November 2008 and the building was opened on Friday 27 March 2009.

In 2007 the new 'Ginahgulla' classrooms were completed. These classrooms house years five and six located at the Senior campus, Victoria Rd. The upper floors were renovated in 2008 and became new Languages and English classrooms.

The College was able to fund an altitude training chamber in the high performance centre. Such a device is able alter the levels of oxygen present during sport training sessions and PD lessons. Whilst providing benefit to the college's leading athletes, the benefit of such equipment for the institution as a whole has been publicly questioned.[10]

Pipes and drums

As a testament to its Scottish heritage, the school has a well known pipe band: The Scots College Pipes and Drums, established in 1900. The original band consisted of five members — boys who had joined the cadets as pipers. There are now over 230 boys in the band, making it the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. In 1931 the band was granted permission to wear the tartan of the Black Watch regiment. The band's royal patron was formerly the Queen Mother. Traditionally, the Scots Pipes and Drums leads the annual ANZAC Day parade through Sydney. At the 2006 Australian Pipe band Championships, the Drum Corps won the Juvenile Drum Corp title, and the band as a whole earned a respectable third place. These results were then followed up by a successful run at the 2008 Australian Pipe Band Championships, where the band won both the Juvenile and Grade 4 title. These are the best results the band has seen in its long and prosperous history. The Pipes and Drums was recently invited and participated in the 2012 Queen's Diamond Jubilee Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo and the 2014 Basel Tattoo.

Sport

Sport has traditionally played a large role in the college and is an important part of the curriculum. The college competes in the AAGPS competition and has had notable success across a number of sports. Scots GPS premierships occurred in the following years:

[11]

Pipeline Student Management System (SMS)

In 2010, Scots introduced Pipeline SMS (shifting away from its former system Scoogle), a set of dynamically controlled sites allowing parents to access resources and research materials online, on the college's latest twin ISDN connection.

Pipeline now also incorporates all day-to-day school administration functions, including rolls, detentions, homework merits and demerits, behavioural reports, school report releases, discipline records, subject selection, student timetables, assessment marks, attendance records and subject resources, allowing parents and teachers to communicate easily online and transfer documents (and information), and software not usually available at home. This network allow parents to securely gain access to school publications (such as The Flying Scotsman and The Clansman newsletter), now only available in electronic format; academic and pastoral reports; assessment marks; academic documentation; school news articles; and so forth.

As part of this shift towards electronic learning, Scots has digital projectors, speaker systems and DVD/VCR systems in the majority of its classrooms and halls, in order to better facilitate media presentations by staff and students.

House system

The Scots College

As with most Australian schools, The Scots College utilises a house system. Scots has 13 student houses, of which 5 are boarding houses. Each year the houses participate in multiple academic and sporting competitions, spread across the school year, and are awarded points according to their placings. This point system determines the winner of the House Championship each year (announced at a final assembly). The day boy houses contain between 90 and 95 students each, whilst the boarding houses have between 50 and 65.

Boarding houses

The school's five boarding houses are named Macintyre, Kirkland, Aspinall, Fairfax and Royle.

Motto: Strength of Character Through Enthusiastic Effort and Good Sense.

Day houses

In addition to the boarding houses, the school has eight day boy houses — James Bee, Fraser, Anderson, Macky, Bruce, Armstrong, Gilchrist and Brandt. They are listed here by age:

Notable alumni

Old Boys' Union Logo

Former students of The Scots College are known as Old Boys, or alternatively Old Scotsmen, and may elect to join the school's alumni association, The Scots College Old Boys' Union (OBU). The OBU was formed in 1900, and today supports the school with financial assistance, whilst working to facilitate communication and interaction between the College and its Old Boys through events and activities, such as alumni and sporting reunions. Reunions are also held in various states of Australia and overseas.[12]

Business

Academia, public service, politics and religious service

Sport

Associated schools

There are currently only three other Presbyterian schools in New South Wales:

Scots College in Wellington, New Zealand was founded as a 'brother' school to The Scots College.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "History of the College". The College. The Scots College. 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
  2. 1 2 3 "The Scots College". New South Wales Schools. Australian Boarding Schools Association. 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-08-29. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
  3. 1 2 "Annual School Report 2006" (PDF). The College. The Scots College. 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-08-29. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
  4. ↑ "The Scots College". New South Wales. School Choice. 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-08-31. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
  5. ↑ "AHISA Schools: New South Wales". Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia. April 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-08-29. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
  6. ↑ "JSHAA New South Wales Directory of Members". Junior School Heads' Association of Australia. 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
  7. ↑ "International Members". HMC Schools. The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. Retrieved 2008-03-11.
  8. ↑ "AAGPS History". Info. Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales. 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
  9. ↑ The Scots College website
  10. ↑ "Home". The Scots College. 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
  11. ↑ http://www.aagps.nsw.edu.au and "Scots to the Fore" a history of The Scots College (authors: Sherington and Prentis)
  12. ↑ "About Old Boys". Old Boys. The Scots College. 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-10-24. Retrieved 2008-04-13.
  13. ↑ Australian Dictionary of Biography: Miller, Sir Roderick William (1911 - 1971). Retrieved 2 August 2007
  14. ↑ Australian Dictionary of Biography: Norton, Ezra (1897 - 1967). Retrieved 2 August 2007
  15. ↑ "Peter M'Callum Dowding". Appointment of Senior Counsel by the Hon David K Malcolm AC CitWA Chief Justice of Western Australia. Supreme Court of Western Australia. 2002-11-13. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
  16. ↑ "Archbishop Peter Jensen: Profile". Senior Clergy. Sydney Anglican Network. 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
  17. ↑ Slattery, T.A (1990). "15 April 1933 - 10 August 1990 Eulogy Tendered by His Worship the Mayor [Dubbo]. Alderman T A Slattery". Service of Thanksgiving and Memorial for the life of Rear Admiral Sir David James Martin KCMG. AO. Register of War Memorials in New South Wales. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
  18. ↑ Murphy, Damien (2015-09-12). "Canning by-election candidate Andrew Hastie holds Tony Abbott's political future in his hands". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2016-10-09.

Further reading

ISBN 0-646-34463-3: available in the library of The Society of Australian Genealogists, Sydney, State Library of New South Wales and in the library of The Scots College.
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