Great Scot December 2019 Great Scot 158_December_ONLINE | Page 51

STAFF FAREWELLS
STAFF FAREWELLS
2019
STAFF RETIREMENTS
TOM BOWEN
Tom Bowen was
appointed to an
Accounting and
Commerce position
in 1991, However, his
experience in, and
knowledge of, word
processing, saw him
move from teaching Commerce to teaching
ICT. Tom has approached every aspect of
his teaching in enthusiastic, caring manner.
High standards have been set alongside the
individual support and encouragement that
make them attainable for each boy.
Beyond the classroom Tom has been
involved in football as coach of the Year 8C
team and has been a tutor in both Davidson
and Monash. Tom has also been involved in
the Year 7 and 8 Thursday afternoon sport
programme. His ICT fluency has been put
to great use through his role as the School’s
Webmaster.
SCOTCH WISHES STAFF LEAVING
THE SCHOOL DURING 2019 MUCH
SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS IN
THEIR FUTURE ENDEAVOURS.
For many Scotch boys, Tom will always
be first associated with the world of rowing.
As both coach, and since 2001, Teacher-in-
Charge of Rowing, Tom has, with customary
zeal, ensured the smooth running of our
extensive rowing program. His engagement in
the Middle School Thursday afternoon sport
program has brought oversight of Year 8 boys
putting their first tentative strokes into the Yarra.
Tom’s eye for detail, strong organisational
skills and comprehensive knowledge of rowing
regulations and regatta requirements, have
been to the fore in ensuring the many boats
and boys comprising the Scotch flotilla have
been correctly entered for, and transported to,
the numerous and varied regattas, camps and
courses across Victoria and New South Wales.
Tom’s commitment to the cause and calm,
patient approach have played a significant part
in the success enjoyed by the club.
BARRIE BURTON
Our dear friend Barrie
Burton taught with
genuine humility and
enormous heart. His
students – knowing
that they were in the
safest and wisest
of hands – went
wherever he asked them to go, intellectually
and emotionally. More often than not you
would find Barrie seated alongside one of
these boys, in a gesture of fraternity, engaging
in the hard graft of, as he would phrase it,
‘line-by-line’ correction. He knew that this was
what mattered most: connecting with each
boy at his own level, on his own page, through
his own trains of thought.
This is why his students respected him:
because he saw the value in each of them,
and he valued an ongoing commitment – from
both student and teacher – to the earnest craft
of writing, of personal expression. Every lesson
was an act of faith in each boy’s ability, and they
responded with genuine affection and toil.
www.scotch.vic.edu.au Great Scot
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