Issue 27 - Sept 2011 - Scots College

HEADMASTER’S COLUMN
As I write this I am adjusting from 30 plus degrees and 90% humidity back to one of
the coldest days in New Zealand for quite some time. Over the last 2 months I have
been fortunate to visit a number of countries and in taking the family with me make
up for missed family time.
Our journey started visiting family in Vancouver before being
tourists in New York and Greece. We then moved on to France
and after seeing the sights of Paris we drove to Arras. This is
Wellington’s sister city and the site of Lycée Baudimont, the French
school with which we exchange. While there it was valuable to
gain an understanding of their school and culture and cement our
relationship. We were well looked after, with the highlight being a
mayoral reception and tour of their council buildings. Arras is the
site of the Wellington tunnels which were used in WW1. This is a
fascinating story and well worth some research if you have time.
After France we travelled to London where I hosted an
Old Boys’ reunion in the Churchill Room of Goodenough
College. This was attended by 40 Old Boys and was a very
enjoyable evening. The main purpose of visiting London was
to attend the International Boys’ Schools Coalition conference,
which was an opportunity to focus on the issues in boy’s
education globally. Highlights included the presentation of a
study on the culture of boy’s schools and listening to key note
speakers from Cambridge
and Oxford on neuroscience
and its effects on education.
Although much of this was
theoretical I was delighted to
find out that education does
stimulate cranial activity! As
part of our relationship with
the ISBC I am delighted that we were able to have John
Badalament visiting the College this term to run workshops for
Mothers, Fathers and key pastoral staff. I hope those parents
who attended these events, which were kindly sponsored by the
Parents’ Association, found them stimulating.
students to select the device that best suits their learning needs
whether it be a PC, laptop, tablet, iPad, or smartphone, as it
is clear different subjects and students of different ages have
different demands. Alistair West, our ICT Manager, has recently
updated our ICT Strategic Plan to this effect and it was a major
topic at our strategy day in August.
3 SCHOOLS & BUILDING UPDATE
Upon my return, I was pleased to see the rapid progress that
has been made with our building program. We are set to
complete the Covered Sports Centre in September and the
Creative and Performing Arts building in November. Work on
the restructure is going well with full details on my blog on the
College website. We are making good progress with the middle
management restructure and I will update the community when
this is completed. There has been strong demand once again for
Year 9 places for 2012.
EDUCATION REVIEW OFFICE REPORT
It would be remiss of me not to comment on our recent ERO review which has been sent to parents with a full copy
available on our website. The report was excellent and I have listed below some of the key comments.
“A very positive tone in and out of the classroom promotes engagement and learning for all students. They strongly
affirm the support received from their senior peers and staff, and the opportunities and facilities available.”
“Interactions involving teachers and students are positive, affirming and mutually respectful. Students feel
emotionally safe and encouraged to learn.”
“Curriculum development has resulted in increased resources being allocated to professional development of staff.”
From Arras we took the opportunity to visit the small village
of Saint-Maclou-la-Brière near the Normandy coast which is
the site of the James Stellin memorial. We spent a wonderful
day there with Pierre and Francoise Lambert and the new Mayor
Benoit Deschamps. I was honoured when I was presented with a
shell from James Stellin’s plane that Pierre had found in 1944. This
will be added to our archives. Bringing it back to NZ through the
various security checks was interesting but that is another story!
TECHNOLOGY
While away I have been interested in following the public
debate over Orewa College’s move to ask students to
bring iPads to school. The development of technology is
happening at an ever
increasing pace and it
is only a matter of time
until text and exercise
books are replaced with
such digital devices. We
have been working to
improve our connectivity
and now have strong
network and wireless access as well as a connection to KAREN.
This, along with our development of our Intranet Scot-e, moves
us towards our goal of “anywhere, anytime” access for students
and families. While the iPad discussion is interesting, we are also
working with one of our business partners Lenovo and looking
at the next generation of such devices. I believe that rather
than being wedded to one device I would amend our aim of
anywhere, anytime to become anywhere, anytime, ANYTHING.
This means our system can connect any device, thus allowing
“Students at the College have many opportunities to develop their potential in the areas of academia,
sport, culture, service and spirituality. Programmes in and out of the classroom promote academic excellence,
individual growth and the development of self-directed learners. The importance of service to the College and
others reflects the special character that underpins school practices.”
“Schoolwide there are high expectations for work and achievement. Students are invariably enthusiastic and consistently
on-task learners.”
“Gibb House – relationships within the house and with the school effectively promote a safe emotional
environment that supports boarders’ learning. Students express high levels of satisfaction with boarding house life.”
“International students – Scots College provides international students with high level care and education.”
We remain committed to our vision of a quality education with an individual focus aimed at creating the all-round
man in a global context.
Virtutem Paret Doctrina
Graeme Yule
Headmaster
2 THE QUAD | SEPTEMBER 2011 – ISSUE 27 THE QUAD | SEPTEMBER 2011 – ISSUE 27 3