The Thistle - An E-Newsletter of Scotch College, Perth, Western Australia

Welcome back to Winter Term

It has been a very busy break with approximately 230 boys from the Senior School involved in tours. From all reports the experiences on the History tour to Europe, the Pipe Band tour to Nova Scotia and New York, the Year 9 Canberra tour and the Diving and Karijini expeditions to the north-west have been amazing. Congratulations to all the boys who participated and for the manner in which they conducted themselves while away. It is these sorts of experiences that will stay with the boys for life. Also, a huge thank you to the 20 staff members who took on the great responsibility of supervising the boys 24/7 over their holidays.

At Scotch, we continue to work on developing a platform that allows parents to see into their son's learning journey. The SEQTA Suite is this platform and is constantly being renewed and updated with new functionality. Part of this process has been a renaming and rebranding exercise.

What has been referred to as Parent Connect is now called SEQTA Engage and Student Connect is now called SEQTA Learn. The ask.PLCScotch FAQ website is being updated to reflect the new names.

SEQTA has recently improved its functionality in notifying parents when results in assessments are released. Not only will you receive a notification by email when results are first released, but a reminder will be sent after three days to ensure you are being kept up to date on your son's performance. Please feel welcome to contact you son's teacher after the release of results to discuss any concerns with his progress.

SEQTA is also in the process of updating their mobile app to allow for access to SEQTA Engage via iPhone and Android devices using the Scotch login. We will keep you informed about the release date.

We have begun the term with a very timely reminder about looking after one's mental wellbeing and what it is to be a good friend when your mate is experiencing mental health issues. The following is taken from a resource distributed to the boys produced by Headspace.

If your friend is not okay…

Getting help for a friend can take a bit of time and effort but it is worth it. As a part of being a good and supportive friend, there are times when we will need to check in with our friends, to ensure that they are okay. Good help will assist your friend to deal with their problems and help them get on with life.

Some strategies to help -

  1. Listen and try not to judge or 'fix things' straight away.
  2. Let your friend know that they don't have to go through this on their own.
  3. Some people need 'time' or 'space' before they are willing to accept help.
  4. Suggest they read stories at headspace.org.au about other young people who have made it through difficult times.
  5. Be honest about why you are worried.
  6. Encourage them to try some self-help strategies.
  7. Don't be too forceful in encouraging self-help activities.
  8. Encourage them to talk to a trusted adult.
  9. Sometimes, self-help strategies and/or talking to family and friends is not enough and that's okay.
  10. Let them know about Headspace, Lifeline and Kids Helpline.

Please take a moment to discuss the above with your son and ask about the sessions run at the College. Please contact Mrs Shauna Lipscombe, College Psychologist, if you have any further questions or would like further resources or information regarding the organisations mentioned above.

Mr Dean Shadgett
 Head of Senior School