Scots College (Sydney)

The Scots College
File:Thescotscollege.jpg
Location
Bellevue Hill, Sydney , NSW Australia
Information
Type	Independent all-male secondary
Motto	Utinam Patribus Nostris Digni Simus 'O that we may be worthy of our forefathers'
Established	1893
Founder	Rev Dr Archibald Gilchrist
Chairman	Mr Simon Fraser
Principal	Dr Ian Lambert
Chaplain	Rev. Conrad Nixon
Grades	K–12
Enrolment	1600
Campus	13 acres
Colour(s)	Gold and Blue
Affiliations	Presbyterian, GPS
Website	www.tsc.nsw.edu.au

For other schools with a similar name see Scots College.

The Scots College (TSC or Scots) is a private school located on Victoria Road, Bellevue Hill, Sydney, Australia (33°52′31″S 151°15′12″E). The school is a member of the Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales (GPS) and currently has approximately 1600 students, of whom 235 are boarders.

School Principals

• Rev Arthur Aspinall (1892-1913)
• James Bee (1914-1934)
• Alexander Knox Anderson (1935-1955)
• A. E. McLucas (1955-?)
• Guthrie Wilson

History

The College was formed in 1893 by three men: the Rev Dr Archibald Gilchrist (formerly a solicitor), Rev Dr Wiliam Marcus "Dill" (Fighting Mac) Macky and Rev Arthur Aspinall. Gilchrist devised the school motto: "Utinam Patribus Nostris Digni Simus" (Latin: O that we may be worthy of our forefathers).

The Rev Arthur Aspinall, who became The first Principal, was minister to the Forbes Parish 1874-1887. 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 of 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." (Personal communication)

The Presbyterian Church was not happy with the proposal to start the school. Rev 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 the school 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 Rev Aspinall sold the school to the Church for seven thousand pounds and so it became part of the Presbyterian education system in New South Wales, .

Lady Robinson's 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-licenced New Brighton Hotel on The Grand Parade, near Bay Street. The renovations to the hotel were done by Rev Aspinall's brother, Albert Aspinall. The first Principal, the Rev 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 Earl of Jersey (Victor Albert George Child Villiers). Villiers Street, Rockdale was named in honour of this occasion. There were 25 boarders and ten day students.

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 Rev Aspinall had added new buildings to the school and developed playing fields. Life was exciting at times. 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. The Rev 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, c. 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 Depression was not yet over.

Alexander Knox Anderson saw the Depression end only to be followed four years later by World War II. During World War II, the school 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 when Japanese mini-subs invaded 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 3-10 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

In 1979, 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 four dorms for six months. The year group is split into two intakes, that attend in terms 1 and 2, and terms 3 and 4 respectively.

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

Facilities

File:Scots main.JPG

Scots Main.

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 and due to new classrooms to the Prep their are now 12 portable classrooms, five boarding houses, a 25m pool, a gymnasium, grandstands, tennis courts, basketball courts (indoor and outdoor) and the school amphitheatre.

The general class buildings are the Centenary Centre (Music, PDHPE, languages, and economics/business), the Senior Studies Block (Science and Mathematics), Scots Main (English, Religious Studies, Design and Technology, Visual Arts) and the Stevenson Building (Stevenson Library, History and Geography).

The Stevenson Building also houses the Year 12 Common Room, the Black Watch Tuckshop-Cafe, 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 primay lecture room, the Coote Theatre.

The college quadrangle is currently under reconstruction to provide additional change rooms and wheelchair accessible facilities such as an elevator for the Scots Main. A new Mathematics/Science building is under planning and completion is expected at around Easter 2008. In 2007 the new "Ginahgulla" classrooms were completed. These state of the art classrooms house years five and six located at the Senior campus, Victoria Rd.

The Pipes & Drums Band

As a living testament to its Scottish heritage, the school has a well-known pipe band: Scots College Pipes & Drums Band, 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 Band leads the annual ANZAC Day parade through Sydney. At the 2006 Australian Pipe band Championships, the Drum Corp won the Juvenile Drum Corp title, and the band as a whole earned a respectable third place. These results are the Band's best placings at a National Championships. The current BandMaster is Ray Lee. Recently went to the NZ Championships (2007) and received outstanding results.

Uniform

All Scots boys must wear the school uniform. The standard uniforms are winter and summer: winter is worn in terms 2 and 3, and summer in terms 1 and 4.

The winter uniform consists of dark grey pants with white shirt, College gold-and-blue diagonally striped tie, and navy blue blazer with gold cuffs, gold-banded pockets and gold rampant lion on breast pocket. Shoes must be black lace-ups, properly polished.

The summer uniform consists of long sleeve khaki shirt and shorts, with khaki knee-high socks and College gold-and-blue striped tie. As in winter, shoes must be polished black lace-ups.

Year Twelves may wear the College Year 12 Tie (navy blue with gold rampant lion in the centre). Prefects and House Prefects must wear the Prefects' Tie (Black Watch Tartan), and House Vice Captains may wear their house tie if they choose to do so.

Year 11s and 12s also have the option of wearing winter uniform in summer terms, if they choose to do so.

In the senior years (11/12) a colours coat is awarded to students who have excelled in particular areas of the college i.e. sport, co-curricular and academics. Students who have been granted colours are permitted to have a colours coat and their line of achievement embroidered on their coat.

The college colours coat is similar to the usual blazer, with exception to gold lining around the lapels and the college crest replaces the gold rampant lion on the left breast pocket. The line of achievement is in gold type.

Prefects and Student Leaders

Scots has 50 year 12 prefects. 12 of these are 'house prefects'- the equivalent of house captain, and are primarily responsible for the running of their houses rather than the school as a whole. Four prefects are assigned senior roles- Head Prefect, Deputy Head Prefect, Senior Day Boy Prefect, and Senior Boarder Prefect. The remaining twelve prefects are assigned a specific area of responsibility (or 'portfolio'). These portfolios include sport, co-curricular, the running of the prefect detention system, warcries, and others. Within each sport and co-curricular activity, a Captain is announced. This position is given to a student in year 12, and their role is similar to other school leadership positions except that it is for a specific area.

Scots.NET

In 2000, Scots introduced Scots.NET, a set of dynamically controlled sites allowing students to access vast resources and research materials online, on the college's latest twin ISDN connection.

Scots.NET 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, subject resources, SCOOGLE (an advanced subject forum server based on a combination of Open Source course management technologies, allowing students and teachers to communicate easily online and transfer documents and information), and software not usually available at home. In addition to student accounts, Scots.NET also features parental accounts. These allow students' parents to gain access to school publications (such as the The Clansman newsletter, which has recently ceased to appear in any but electronic form; academic and pastoral reports; assessment marks; academic documentation; school publications; and so forth. A feature of Scots.NET is that students and parents are able to access Scots.NET from any computer with internet access.

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.

The 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 apiece.

Day Boy Houses

In addition to the boarding houses, the school has 8 day boy houses- James Bee, Fraser, Anderson, Macky, Bruce, Armstrong, Gilchrist and Brandt. They are listed here by age:

James Bee House is one of the two oldest day boy houses, formed in 1936 and named after Mr. James Bee, headmaster for twenty years (1914-1934). The house badge is based on his initials. In recent years, James Bee has consistently come second to Gilchrist House, with the exception of 2002 in which it secured the House Championship over its traditional rival. James Bee House has "Red Nose Day" as its charity and has raised well over $30000 for this worthwhile charity over the last 4 years. Despite being created in the same year as Armstrong it was running before Armstrong was told their would be a house named after him. James Bee also won the first Athletics carnival it was ever in

Colours: Black

Motto: Opera Optima: 'Best Effort'

Housemaster: Mrs. S. Roxburgh

Armstrong House, like James Bee, was formed in 1936 as a day boy house. It is named after Dr. G. Armstrong, a founding College Councillor and Deputy College Chairman. Its crest is the College's rampant lion and the letter A in gold on a red background.

Colours: Red and Gold

Motto: 'Striving for Excellence'

Housemaster: Mr C. Pelly

Anderson House was formed in 1947, and named after Mr. A.K. Anderson, Headmaster from 1935 to 1955. The crest is based on the New South Wales floral emblem, the waratah.

Colours: Yellow, Red and White

Motto: 'Truth, Courage, Compassion'

Housemaster: Miss Klarissa Graves

Brandt House was also formed in 1947. It is named for Rev. D.F. Brandt, Chairman of the College Council from 1927 to 1936. The house crest displays four sections displaying a castle, the lion rampant, an open book and the house initials.

Colours: Royal Blue

Housemaster: Mr D. Martin has replaced Mr. Francis George. Mr Martin is the Schools 1st XI Soccer coach and head of Business Studies.

Gilchrist House was formed in 1986. It was named after the Rev. Dr. A. Gilchrist, one of the most influential College Founders. In recent years, Gilchrist has been consistent winner of the House Championship (excepting a 2002 victory to James Bee), The badge and motto are based on those of the Gilchrist Clan.

Colours: Red, Green and White

Motto: Fortis et Fidus: 'Brave and Faithful'

Housemaster: Mr. David Scardino

Bruce House was formed in 1986 and named after Rev. Dr. D. Bruce (Chairman of the College Council from 1902 to 1905. The house selected a new badge in 1991, based on the belt that traditionally surrounds Scottish clan badges with the College's rampant lion in the centre.

Colours: Royal Blue and White

Motto: 'Strength and Unity'

Housemaster: Mrs. Nina Radice

Fraser House was also formed in 1986. It was named after Mr H.J. Fraser, Chairman of the College Council from 1969 to 1977. The crest and motto are based on those of the Fraser clan, with the buck's head in the centre.

Colours: Light Green and White

Motto: Je Suis Pret: 'I'm Ready!'

Housemaster: Mrs. Christine Winter

Macky House, like Bruce, Fraser and Gilchrist, was founded in 1986. It was named after Rev. Dr. W.M.D. Macky, one of the founders and the first Chairman of the College Council (1893-1901). The open book and sword-bearing arm of the crest are based on the house motto.

Colours: Blue, Green and White

Motto: 'With Strong Arm and Mind'

Housemaster: Ms. C. Pech

Notable Alumni 'Old Boys'

Former Students of The Scots College are known as Old Boys, or alternatively 'Old Scotsmen'. For notable Alumni of Scots, see List of notable Old Boys of The Scots College (Sydney).

Associated Schools

Neighbouring Schools

Nearby schools include Cranbrook School Sydney, East Sydney Community High School,Kambala Girls School and Kincoppal-Rose Bay.

Presbyterian Schools

There are three other Presbyterian schools in New South Wales:

• Scots 'sister school', The Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney in Croydon.
• The Presbyterian Ladies' College, Armidale.
• The Scots School, Bathurst

Great Public Schools (GPS) As a member of the AAGPS, Scots engages in most of its sporting and other interschool competitions with the other GPS Schools.

See also

• List of Non-Government schools in New South Wales
• List of boarding schools
• History of Brighton-le-Sands, New South Wales

References

• Andrew, Phillipa A (1997) Built To Last: the stories of John and Thomas Aspinall and their descendants Privately Published-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.
• Church Records and Historical Society (Uniting Church of Australia, NSW Synod), Parramatta
• Garrett, J and Farr, L W (1964) Camden College: A Centenary History
• Geeves, Phillip and Jervis, J (1986) Rockdale: its beginning and development Revised Edition
• Historical Society of New South Wales
• Joy, William (29 April 1968) Daily Telegraph, Sydney: "How three fighting Scots founded a great school" (commemorating the 75th anniversary of the school)-includes photo of Rev Aspinall and his wife
• Munro May (1961) In Old Aspinall's Day
• Prentis, Malcolm A Biographical Register of Presbyterian Ministers in NSW, 1866-1885, Church Heritage Vol 6 No3
• Prentis, M and Sherrington, G (1994) History of Scots College
• White, C A The Challenge of the Years Plate 29 "The Scots College"

External links

• The Scots College website
• ScotsCricket.com.au, the Scots cricket website
• AAGPS Website
• Students nearly beaten to death: SMH April 12 2006 (David Braithwaite and Adam Brieger)