Great Scot December 2019 Great Scot 158_December_ONLINE | Page 4

CHAIRMAN
HON. DR DAVID KEMP AC
SCHOOL COUNCIL
CHAIRMAN
INDEPENDENCE MAKES
POSSIBLE A SCOTCH
EDUCATION
The Valedictory Dinner for the Year 12 boys on 24
October this year was organised superbly, as usual, by
the Old Scotch Collegians’ Association. It is a night
when sadness at the end of school days is mingled
with the joyful expectation of greater freedom and
opportunities to be seized. Being with the boys as their
school days come to an end is always moving, and their
teachers must take great satisfaction in the wonderful
young men the boys have become.
The Principal, Tom Batty, addresses the parents
and boys on these occasions with a mixture of wisdom
and good humour, and once again his words were
heard with rapt attention and obvious enjoyment. As
Chairman of the School Council, I was impressed
by the Principal’s emphasis on the importance of the
independence of the School, and the way in which
the freedom, which is a product of that independence,
enriches the School’s educational offering.
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Great Scot Issue 158 – December 2019
Scotch’s independence is a precious possession. Its
origins trace back to the battles for religious freedom
of the 1840s, and the determination of the School’s
founder, Rev. James Forbes, to assert the right of
parents to teach children not only knowledge but also
the beliefs and principles they value without dictation
by government. Scotch uses the money it receives from
federal and state governments for its contribution to
the public interest to keep fees lower than they would
otherwise be, expanding access to the School.
Today, the foundation of the School’s independence
is the support of parents for the kind of education the
School offers. This support is very evident, not only
in day-to-day conversations with parents, but in the
results of annual surveys of satisfaction by parents (and
their graduating sons), and of course in the strength of
the School’s waiting list.