Great Scot April 2019 Great Scot_156_April_2019_Online | Page 10

Principal
Mr Tom Batty – School Principal
Voice: our primary instrument
MR TOM BATTY
SCHOOL PRINCIPAL
10
As a young boy, I would head out to play in nearby
gardens and alleys with instruction from my mum
that I remain in ‘earshot’. As I would later tease, this
gave a good deal of latitude to my childhood roaming.
From conversation with those met on these early
ramblings, to the humour of playgrounds and learning
of classrooms, songs of the football terraces, heated
political debates in the White Horse, wise words of
pulpit sermons, quietly told history of Mãori on the
marae, recess bustle of school common room and
excited morning proclamations of boys eager to share
ideas, I have become aware of the power of voice in
connecting all that which goes on in our heads with
that which we observe and those we observe it with.
Never is this more evident than when friends regather
after time apart enriched by the presence of new
acquaintances.
Carried on hot northerly winds, the start of the
school year brought the excited chatter and keen
embrace that accompany a return home. Good
summer weather along costal paths ensured tales
of long balmy days were shared amidst smiles and
suntans by boys and staff alike. For all fortunate to
have spent time on leave, the extensive good works of
those who had not was immediately apparent. From
emerging student precinct to renovated boarders’
dining room, the toil and fruits of our outstanding
Maintenance and Grounds staff were evident to all.
Nowhere was the place more abuzz than on the
Hill, where the 99 returning boys, their families and
staff, with good voice, made warm welcome for the 57
new boarders who also now call Scotch home. Bags
packed in China, Singapore, Yarrawonga, the USA,
Hong Kong, the Tiwi Islands, Hay, Kuwait, Mildura,
Hamilton, Townsville, Orbost, Darwin, Saudi Arabia,
Murtoa, the United Kingdom and the Sunshine Coast
were unpacked in School, McMeckan and Arthur
Robinson Houses in celebration of the proud Scotch
tradition of openness and diversity. That School House
is home to three brothers and five (other) boys who
share the same grandfather (a sixth is a day boy), offers
palpable evidence of the strong familial ties and stories
which provide foundation to our Village on the Hill.
In distant chambers of authority, from funding
deadlocks for southern walls in Washington to heated
Medevac dispute in Canberra, via circular Brexit
bombast in Westminster, reminders were sent that
voice remains the primary instrument of influence
in our liberal democracy. That the growing presence
of social media is, perhaps, shifting the emphasis of
Great Scot Number 156 – April 2019
‘debate’ from the rational to the popular, heightens
the significance of soundbites and our corresponding
need, as educators, to rally the forces of reason in both
projection and interpretation of voice.
Recent years have seen a number of initiatives
empowering Scotch boys (and hence Scotch) through
their voice. In 2016, the Diversity and Acceptance
Group formed, and renewed emphasis was placed on
the Respectful Relations Programme. Year 12s came
together in the Geoffrey McComas Theatre to discuss
homophobia: how it manifested at Scotch and what to
do about it. Senior boys carried discussions through
the Houses of the Upper School and Form Classes
of the Middle School. Last year, similar gatherings
took place on the matter of respectful relations with
women and such conversations continue this year. In
2014 and 2017, respectively, the Big Ideas lecture series
was launched in Years 11 and 8, to confront boys with
ideas and actions that have shaped, and continue to
shape, the world, and stimulate discussion for tutor
and form groups and beyond. Senior School Prefects
have led conversations in the Junior School, on the
impact of boys’ voice, while the Student Representative
Council has led with the theme, ‘See Something Do
Something’, and school-wide focus has been given to
‘Don’t be a Bystander’.
As a boys’ school, Scotch can reflect, plan and
act with intentionality to offer boys and parents an
experience crafted to best prepare each boy to find
his voice in meeting the challenges and grasping
the opportunities of the age. As relational learners,
boys ‘learn’ their teachers before their subjects, and
we develop programmes that nurture an engaged
community, abuzz with activity borne on interaction
and the sharing of story and passions. In such
environment, boys can feel free to find their voice, ask
difficult questions and offer opinions; they can take
their time, listen and develop at their own
pace, and act en masse with the energy and purpose
of shared voice.
To such end, this year, in accordance with our
accreditation as a Safe School with the Australian
Childhood Foundation, we will be facilitating all
Scotch boys in the articulation of their own clear
statements of the behaviour they expect of themselves
and those around them. In Senior School tutor and
form groups and Junior School classrooms, boys will
form, refine and articulate their own expectations.
In addition, this year will yield a number of
fruits born of shared voice and our ongoing work to