A famous quote by Walt Whitman, an American poet, essayist, journalist and influential writer, that lived in the 1800s. Whitman is often called the father of free verse, a writing style that broke all the rules at the time.

The quote was more recently made famous all over again when used by Ted Lasso in the hit TV series of the same name. Be curious, not judgmental – four simple words that hold a lot of power. Curiosity is about wondering before assuming, asking, before deciding and listening before dismissing.

Judgement – it’s everywhere […]

Scotch Oakburn College has a long-standing sister school relationship with Osaka International Junior and Senior High School, both hosting students and visiting the school in Japan.

We were pleased to host two senior boys in the last week of February for three weeks, hosted by Year 10 students Alex Musk and Seton Brock and I thank the two families for their generosity and kindness when hosting.  The visitors enjoyed an engaging experience, including attending Year 7 camp as Year 10 leaders and visiting Lake Barrington for rowing Regattas, including experiencing this year’s Head […]

This week our Year 3-6 Swimming Team represented the College and themselves with great pride at the NIJSSA Swimming Carnival.  Our team was rewarded for their fantastic training commitment to excel in the competition, winning the event with some great results obtaining 48 first place ribbons, 15 second place ribbons and 4 third place ribbons!

There were three long standing records broken – all by Scotch Oakburn students.

Jasmine Liu – 66m Freestyle Year 5 girls
Old record: 45.44 (2003) New record: 44.90

Jasmine Lui – 33m Freestyle Year 5 girls
Old record: 21.34 (2006) New record: 20.88

Year 3 Boys […]

FROM BELFAST TO LAUNCESTON

I used to live in a place where walls were built to keep people apart. In Belfast, communities of different religious and political beliefs are divided by six-metre-high walls – this is accepted as ‘normal’. Catholics on one side – who believe in a United Ireland, and Protestants on the other – who believe in Northern Ireland’s place in the UK. There are dozens of these walls all across Northern Ireland, constructed to try to reduce sectarian violence. 98% of social housing in Northern Ireland is split along religious lines. But it isn’t just physical barricades that […]

In one of the most rigorous public speaking events in our College calendar, five of our senior students were brilliant school ambassadors in the recent Lions Youth of the Year competition held recently.  Shiv Kataria (Year 9), Calan Young (Year 11), Elizabeth Moore (Year 10), Gomanth Anand Lokesh (Year 10) and Meg Kilby (Year 11) each participated in three separate events and were up against stiff competition from much older students.

Both Shiv and Meg won ‘Best Public Speaker’ in their individual heats to the admiration of all.  As first-time speakers, Gomanth and […]

On Monday 24 March the Penquite Campus had the privilege of hosting an important and engaging presentation by Snr Constable Annabel Shegog from the ThinkUKnow program, aimed at raising awareness about online safety for students. The session was both informative and thought-provoking, focusing on the growing importance of staying safe in the digital age.

Snr Constable Shegog expertly guided students through a range of topics, from understanding the risks associated with social media to learning how to recognise and report potential online dangers. The presentation was well-structured, incorporating real-life examples and interactive discussions […]

This week Elphin students have been voting for their favourite Brixhibition entry. Thank you to all who have shared an image of their creation for our consideration. Voting finished on Friday this week and the campus from Early Learning to Year 5 has been excited to consider at all of the incredible creations. We look forward to sharing the results of this with you next week!

Becca Biggs
Deputy Head of Junior School (Years Prep – 2)

To help our community plan for 2026, our Term dates have now been released.  They are available on our website via this link and on The Dash via this link.

SAILING

Our sailing team went south recently, taking five boats to the State Mirror Titles. Congratulations to Grady Frith (Year 9 ) and Ethan Price (Year 8 ) who took out the classic Mirror Rig first prize in their boat Flying Flathead. Year 10 student Sebastian de Vos and William Price has a fourth pace finish after an unfortunate broken rudder before the last race meant they were pipped at the post. Thank you to the amazing parent support over the weekend that made attending the event possible.

Taliesha Bayliss
Teacher

Hockey

Our community connections are important.  Old Scotch Collegians Football Club has always had a connection with the College with many Collegians transferring to the club once they leave school, or even before. This year our connection extends to the coaching team with the Senior Mens, Senior Womens and Under 18s coaches and assistant coaches all being Collegians and current parents of the College.  We encourage our community to get behind the club this season and support our extended community.

The roster begins 5 April and Old Scotch will be playing St Patrick’s away. […]