As we enter the last week of Summer Term, it is pertinent to reflect on the pace of life, as reflected in the pace at which this term has passed. The level of commitments, rapid access to information and the pace of digital and traditional communication means that we have to continue to search for opportunities to slow down our personal and professional engine rooms.

Just a couple of weeks ago an interesting article appeared in the Saturday edition of the Australian Financial Review entitled 'Remember when life was more fun?'

The thesis of the article addressed the fact that while our digital life may make us more efficient, it may have come at the cost of the human element.

Author Bill McKibben purports that 'No one much likes spending half the workday on email, but that's what work is for many of us. Our accelerating disappearance into the digital ether now defines us - we are mediated people, whose contact with one another and the world around us is now mostly by a screen. We threaten to rebel. But we don't; the current is too fierce to swim to shore'

As our term break looms close, let all of us look at ways to retain a balance between our multiple screens and our face to face interactions.

Let's look to put our family's human interactions as a priority. It is not a mutually exclusive solution, just one of balance and wellness. Like most things in life moderation is the key.

I will hopefully regain some balance and connectedness over the coming three days as I travel to Moray with some of our Year 5s to their camp.

Speaking of human connectedness I would like to sincerely thank the Scotch Parents ball committee for putting on a great evening on Saturday night.

As we bring this term to a close, I would like to thank all students, staff and families for their support and incredible commitment, thus ensuring we place community and human connectedness at the centre of all that we do at Scotch.

Have a great break.

Dr A J O'Connell
Headmaster