Great Scot - The Scotch Family Magazine - Issue 149 December 2016 Great Scot - The Scotch Family magazine issue 149 | Page 32

Senior School

Senior School News

ABOVE: TIWI COLLEGE AND SCOTCH COLLEGE PLAYERS TOGETHER BEFORE THE ANNUAL FOOTBALL MATCH ON THE MEARES OVAL.

Cheer, energy, enthusiasm and
laughter as Tiwi boys visit Scotch
As part of Scotch’s Indigenous Partnership
Program, the school annually hosts 16 boys
and three teachers from Tiwi College, Melville
Island, in the Northern Territory. Our longstanding
partnership with Tiwi College is built on friendship
and respect.
During their week in August in Melbourne this
year, the boys were billeted by Year 8 families,
attended classes at Scotch with their hosts, and
visited a number of Melbourne organisations and
landmarks, including the Richmond and Essendon
Football Clubs, the Aquarium, and Government
House, where they met the Governor.
Each morning as the boys arrived at Scotch
with their hosts, it was lovely to see them happily
chattin g, laughing and kicking a ball on the Main
Oval, usually a ‘no go zone’ for any boy, but not
during this week! Scotch teachers worked side
by side with Aaron, Greg and Lennie. The visit

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concluded with the annual Tiwi versus Scotch
football match, this year won by Tiwi College.
As always, the boys brought added cheer,
energy, enthusiasm and laughter to the Quad.
Things are never quite the same when the boys
leave, until they return next year. A group of
senior Scotch boys travelled to Tiwi College in
September as part of the Indigenous Partnership
Program (see the articleon page 31).
Special thanks to the eight families who
generously hosted the boys, some for the second
time, and to the Year 8 ‘class buddies’ who looked
after our friends so well.
TONY GLOVER — HEAD OF YEAR 7

ABOVE: SCOTCH AND TIWI COLLEGE BOYS AND STAFF AT JESSIE RIVER, MELVILLE ISLAND

‘Scotch is my school, too’
There is nothing like leaving Melbourne on a
cold, dark, winter-like morning and stepping off the
plane into the intense sunshine, heat and humidity
of Darwin as the wet season builds, to remind one
of the immense size and environmental diversity of
Australia.
A quick transfer to light aircraft and a short
flight across the azure blue Arafura Sea, and the 12
boys from Years 10 and 11 participating in the Tiwi
Islands visit, Ms Katherine Cameron and I arrived
at Pickataramoor airstrip adjacent to Tiwi College.
From that moment on, we experienced the
warmth and hospitality of Tiwi College, particularly
from Mr Aaron Semmens, Teacher-in-Charge of
the Middle Years Program, Mr Ian Smith, Principal,
Mrs Annie Smith and the boys of the Middle Years
Class. This warmth and welcome was certainly not
restricted to Tiwi College, as we also experienced
it at the communities of Purnu on Bathurst Island
and Milikaparti on Melville Island during our visits.
Our boys immediately immersed themselves
into the Tiwi lifestyle. It was obvious how much
they enjoyed being with the Tiwi boys, getting

Great Scot Number 149 – December 2016

to know each of the Year 7s, 8s and 9s through
classroom activities such as one-on-one reading
recovery sessions, working through spelling and
grammatical exercises, and by delivering the four
classroom activities centred around the theme of
‘Navigation’.
Relationships were strengthened through
sports sessions, football games, sharing meals
at the family group homes, bus trips and visiting
the spiritually significant and beautiful sites of
Taracumbi Falls, Purrampunarli and Jessie River.
Fishing and hunting were an experience, and
trialling barbecued possum and water buffalo were
unique. The exchange of knowledge was rich.
Our trip to Tiwi College was one of the
happiest and most memorable experiences for
boys and staff that I have witnessed during my
time at Scotch. Our partnership with the college
is unique, and we felt privileged to be a part of it
all. Our boys engaged so naturally with the Tiwi
boys; the relationships formed are strong and the
understanding of islander life, culture and history

enhanced. Mutual respect and mateship
were obvious.
It was lovely to see our boys being boys without
phones, electronic devices or other distractions.
They were open-minded, enthusiastic and keen
to learn about Tiwi culture, totally engaged and
reflective. Potential geographical, cultural and
social barriers just didn’t appear to exist. We were
sad to leave.
The partnership between Tiwi College and
Scotch College is genuine and obvious in so many
ways. During one of the classroom activities, an
aerial image of Scotch College appeared on the
screen. One of our boys said, ‘That’s my school’.
The Year 7 Tiwi boy, who had visited Scotch in
August as one of our 16 visitors from Tiwi College,
replied with ‘Scotch is my school too’. To me, that
says it all.
TONY GLOVER — HEAD OF YEAR 7

www.scotch.vic.edu.au Great Scot

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