Great Scot May 2020 Great Scot 159_MAY 2020_ONLINE_V3 | Page 4

CHAIRMAN
HON. DR DAVID KEMP AC
SCHOOL COUNCIL
CHAIRMAN
THE NEW
WORLD OF
SCHOOLING
From classroom to remote teaching and learning
Scotch is at the forefront of a historic improvement
in schooling, based on a new ability to achieve a more
complete understanding of the educational needs of
each boy, and by organising schooling in the best way
to enable teachers to respond to these needs.
The advances made by the School were very
evident in its instantaneous switch to online teaching
and learning on Tuesday 24 March, following a case
of COVID-19 in the Scotch Family. The School is
doing everything possible to ensure the safety of boys,
families and staff during this pandemic, and I thank
parents for the strong support they have offered to
assist the School’s response, as the whole teaching staff
remain ready and willing to assist all boys with their
learning.
The goal of meeting the needs of each boy is
not new. It remains the School’s top priority during
the pandemic. The constitution of the School
clearly states that its goal in relation to the boys is
‘to encourage each student to achieve the highest
standard of which he is capable in all his activities,
and the full development of the personality and sense
of responsibility of each student’. Our response to
COVID-19 will continue to be focused on this goal,
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Great Scot Issue 159 – May 2020
albeit in this transformed teaching and learning
environment.
The developments that have given Scotch the
capacity to more fully understand the needs of each
student have been both technical and organisational.
On the technical side, the School now brings together
substantial information on boys’ various abilities and
strengths across their school years, so that it is in a
position to monitor aptitudes and needs. In the online
environment, teachers remain alert to the responses of
each student, and are able to respond to varying needs,
and to develop tailored responses.
Scotch teachers have been magnificent in their
response to the pandemic. The quality of teaching
is, of course, fundamental to successful learning,
and the School is very proud of its teaching staff,
and their capacity to respond to each student. This
quality is supported by new methods of professional
development, through which Scotch teachers are
encouraged to develop their own interests and passions
in ways that will further broaden the boys’ education.
Our Principal, Tom Batty, has brought to Scotch a
deep understanding of the educational process, and the
way in which the professional development of teachers,