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

NAIDOC Week 2017 - A celebration of Community

During Week 2 of this term the College shall welcome NAIDOC week celebrations focusing on the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Currently at the College we have thirty eight Indigenous students from across Australia. Thirty four of these students reside in our residential community whilst four are day boys. More information about the Indigenous programme at the College can be found here.

Scotch College is committed to our Indigenous programme and has enjoyed a 96% WACE graduation rate, that has seen many boys go on to tertiary studies, employment, apprenticeships or other further training. Yet, far more than measurable outcomes, the interactions and positive relationships that our Indigenous students bring to the College and enrich our community are the cornerstone of our programme.

As part of our commitment through the Reconciliation Action Plan, Scotch staff participated in a Professional Development session on Monday 24 July where we considered how we can increase engagement with Indigenous education across all year levels in all curriculum.

As Cara Shipp (2013), suggested in her article focused on increasing education regarding Indigenous education in Australia, 'Improving relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians can only be achieved through reconciliation via education, and exposure to each others' perspectives. In most cases, everything we see around us in our classrooms and curriculum is the mainstream Anglo-Australian perspective.'

If you are interested in reading more about the article that our staff recently considered follow this link:

Shipp, C. (2013). Bringing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives into the classroom: Why and how. Literacy Learning; the middle years, 21(3), 24-29.

Over the coming months the College will be revising our Reconciliation Action Plan and we look forward to sharing it with our community.

In the meantime, I strongly encourage you and your family to attend the Yira Yarkiny concert, bookings can be made by clicking on the banner below.

Thank you for trusting us to educate your sons.

yira banner

Mr Peter Allen
Director of Teaching and Learning