Welcome back from the mid-term break. I trust everyone took advantage to recharge their batteries over what was a magnificent few days to catch some sun or simply hide away in your favourite space or place.

As a College, our vision is to develop a learning community with an international standard of excellence including a mission to develop boys of character with a strong self-understanding, a passion for sustained learning and spiritual inquiry who will become valued members of the global community. It is imperative that we engage in relevant strategic global opportunities to ensure we continue to work towards achieving our stated goals and aspirations. In doing so we ensure that our vision and mission are lived each and every day and not simply seen as empty words on a page.

One of the key aspects to our College's international outreach is our role as a member of the Round Square. This alignment provides us with the opportunity to align and globally benchmark all that we do outside of the formal academic curriculum.

Our College has always had a great reputation for an expansive co-curricular programme. When we first looked into the Round Square organisation, it was immediately apparent that becoming a member would provide us with a formalised opportunity to provide global benchmarking for everything else we do outside of the classroom.

We believe that the Round Square's focus on IDEALS, standing for Internationalisation, Democracy, Environment, Activity, Leadership and Service, provides Scotch with a framework for our vast array of activities and programmes offered through our co-curricular programme. Furthermore, participation in Round Square would help us coordinate student exchange opportunities at Scotch. Since gaining Round Square regional status three years ago we have had over 40 students complete exchange programmes with schools from across the globe and within Australia. Furthermore, three of our staff members have participated in cross-school global service programmes. These two outcomes alone support our decision to become a Round Square School.

In essence, we believe that our vision and mission at Scotch closely aligns to the work of Round Square. Our membership opens up opportunities to enhance the educational journey of students, staff and families as a result of being part of the Round Square group of schools.

We are only three short years into our journey as a Round Square school. In 2017 we were granted World School status. This will further enhance our role and further embed the IDEALS of Round Square into our College. Should anyone wish to do their own research about Round Square they can do so by visiting www.roundsquare.org.

Much of our early success as a Round Square school is the direct result of the passion and commitment of our Director of Community and Service, Mr Bill Cordner. Bill will be taking up the position of Director of Boarding at the Sultan School of Oman and finishes at Scotch at the end of summer term. The process of finding his successor is in its final stages and I hope to make an announcement within the next couple of weeks.

Finally, I would like to congratulate our JPSSA students who represented the College at their Inter-School carnival on Thursday 2 March. Our boys did a fantastic job coming fourth and there was very little separating the top teams. In closing I would like to wish our PSA swimming squad all the very best for their carnival this Thursday 9 March.

Dr A J O'Connell
Headmaster