Scotch College, Adelaide

Scotch College is not a school. It is a way of life. On becoming part of the Scotch College community, each child becomes one of over a thousand students who are the center of our lives and for whom we have a deep care and profound ambitions. When parents join this outstanding College, they become engaged in an experience that results in their children's long-term happiness and joins a network of like-minded people for whom education is the wellspring of a fulfilled and purposeful life.
Grandparents are essential to us as an energetic and expert collection of supporters in so many aspects of school life. They are always welcome. One day our present students will join with over seven thousand Old Collegians, for whom Scotch will always be a home, a base, and the source of memories for a lifetime. The 200 staff are committed to creating a well-being and educational attainment culture, which is zealously focused, creating a stimulating and relevant learning experience in preparation for the 21stCentury. Our Council and Senior Leadership Team oversee and guide this unique community. Its members have a profound regard for the school's calling and the future happiness in every way of our students.
Our children will see an enormous change in their lifetimes. Technology will disrupt every respected, high-paying profession, from banking to the law to medicine. Most of the future's top jobs do not exist yet, will be short term and will be highly pressured. The mental health challenges of a connected world, with vast power afforded to our young people instantly available in the technology in their pockets, are influences we cannot ignore.
Globalization will bring a disturbing level of competition that we, in our middle years, never knew. Health challenges will proliferate. We are sitting on a diabetes time bomb. Our governments or society does not firmly enough to promote exercise. Awareness of diet and nutrition has given us specific longevity, but that must continue as a fundamental part of a young person's education.
In Australia, the sense of responsibility to the environment is high. The rest of the world needs to follow this example. Young Australians can lead the way in environmental protection. The safe, sensible harnessing of our resources for a sustainable future is a call we rely on to answer this generation of young people. Employment protection, access to mortgages, and pension provision are all more troublesome and less reliable than they were when I, a school Principal in his 50s, was in my 20s. The ideological challenge is coming from every direction. The need for civic engagement and a staunch defense of our way of life will be more and more of an educational challenge.
Scotch College will bring excellent NAPLAN scores and ATARs. Yet, a school with our resources, intelligence, and depth should aim so much higher in our students' aspirations. Scotch prepares children for a more challenging life than their parents had. When one generation has it better than the one before, the pattern of generational progress has broken. Education is not stepping up to these realities. Scotch College is doing so. On top of required academic qualifications, we need to teach Wellbeing, versatility, profound emotional intelligence, leadership, global awareness, civic responsibility (because all must vote), and business and project management knowledge.
A Strong emphasis through our business, service learning, global leadership, and outdoor education provision on informed self-reliance puts our children in what we like to term the `discomfort zone.' It is no longer enough to play to one's strengths in school. The new world for our young will need them to take risks, be comfortable with disruption, and be ready to be long-term, instinctive learners.
Supremely, we are drawing on the best research to help our young people nurture themselves and their resources. Our ground-breaking Wellbeing program, from the very youngest to our Y12s, stresses the need for sound decision making, resilience, profound self-knowledge, and the imperative to serve others as the wellspring of a well-lived life.
We want a fulfilled existence for your children. We aim for your children to be grateful for a Scotch education when they are 75, not just 18. We aim high because we have the imagination, the drive, the freshness, the culture, and the desire to see your children prosper, so the world around them prospers too.