Boarding at Scotch College
Years 7 to 12
Perth City 10km
Syme Residence
Claremont Quarter
Claremont Oval
Claremont Showgrounds 600m
Scotch Playing Fields
Swanbourne Train Station 200m
Fremantle 8.8km
Cottesloe Beach 2km
Robinson Residence
Swan River 1.4km
From the Headmaster
DR ALEC O’CONNELL
Scotch has been welcoming boarders for over a century. Since 1897, thousands of boys from Western Australia, interstate and overseas have joined our community and made a substantial impact on our great College.
As a school, we value what boarders bring to our community. They bring experiences and knowledge that introduce our day students to agricultural and regional life and diverse cultures. Our regional and remote boarders bring the resilience, grit and ingenuity that comes with living in smaller towns and communities where you rely heavily on yourself and those around you to face whatever challenges life might serve.
We understand the richness of the communities that exist across Western Australia, interstate and overseas and, I promise you, what we offer at Scotch truly is a community for life.
We know our boarding families are proud of where they’re from, be that Kununurra, Mingenew, Esperance, Macau or Tokyo, but also want their sons to have the very best opportunities that a Scotch education can offer. We understand the richness of the communities that exist across Western Australia, interstate and overseas and, I promise you, what we offer at Scotch truly is a community for life.
Your sons will leave here instilled with the values of respect, integrity and service and with the independence and passion to make their way in the world.
We encourage you to call or visit us in person to explore our great College for yourself.
Dr Alec O’Connell Headmaster
Welcome to Boarding
MR STEVEN MONTGOMERY
At Scotch, we believe that the essence of a successful school is its community and when it comes to our boarders we know that community is paramount.
Celebrating diversity
Our boarders come from across regional and remote Western Australia, interstate and overseas. Our students are from diverse backgrounds and we value every one of them.
Scotch boarders build relationships that they will maintain for the rest of their lives, they learn to respect others and appreciate differences. They develop independence and resilience, while learning how to negotiate the world around them.
A home-away-from-home
We believe in the old saying – a home-awayfrom-home – and we deliver this. Our boarding staff, alongside our families living on-site, work together to provide personal guidance and care, creating a nurturing, family-like atmosphere.
Our priority is creating a safe, supportive environment for our boarders to feel settled and connected as they embark on their academic and co-curricular journey.
A community to belong to
Our boarding community is structured into two boarding houses according to age, reflecting the structure of the Middle and Senior subschools. Middle School Boarding for Years 7 to 8 is located in the Robinson Residence, while Senior Boarding for Years 9 to 12 is based in the Syme Residence.
Both houses foster a sense of belonging and are designed to help boys thrive emotionally, socially, and academically.
Our boarding community is tight-knit and family-oriented, with on-site staff playing an integral role in preparing our boys for life beyond school. Guided by Scotch College’s core values of Integrity, Service, and Stewardship, we provide strong pastoral care and foster a culture of respect. In this environment, boys build lifelong friendships and develop the skills needed to thrive beyond their school years.
One unique aspect of Scotch Boarding is the Rite of Passage of walking the Bibbulmun Track. This remarkable journey is completed in stages throughout their time in boarding, completing the entire 1000km trek by Year 12. No other school offers such a comprehensive and transformative experience, building resilience, teamwork, and a sense of achievement along the way.
Mr Steven Montgomery Head of Boarding
Sometimes the small things make all the difference
These are just a few examples of how we care about our boarders at Scotch.
TRANSPORT
You never have to worry about who’s picking up your son from the airport, train or bus station or taking him to the physio. We’ve already sent the bus and a staff member is en route.
ROLE MODELS
Many of our tutors are young alumni. They understand the journey and are someone our boarders look to for support and advice.
GREEN SPACE LAUNDRY
Walk in the boarding house door, grab afternoon tea and walk out again. You’ve just stepped onto our 10 hectares of playing fields surrounded by the stunning wetlands of Lake Claremont.
You won’t need to worry about dry cleaning the maroon school blazer or who’s going to wash the uniform. Our team has got it covered.
Day and boarding life
CONNECTING BOARDERS AND DAY STUDENTS
Our Middle School and Senior School boarding houses connect seamlessly with our sub-schools. Many of our current middle and senior teachers are also boarding staff, providing tutoring support and ensuring our boarding houses run smoothly.
Boarding Week at Scotch brings together our day and boarding school to celebrate our diverse community. As a school, we celebrate Boarders’ Week through a variety of activities and initiatives organised by our boarders.
Some of these include raising funds for regional focused charities or services and our annual Boarding Photo Competition where our boarders, their families and boarding staff submit photos from across Western Australia and the globe. The winning entries are showcased throughout the school and are
compiled to create the College’s official annual calendar. Throughout the year, rural-focused information sessions foster connection, understanding, and a strong sense of belonging within the Scotch community proudly.
At Scotch, our boarders come from all over the world. With such a diverse community, we celebrate a variety of cultural celebrations such as Chinese New Year where Scotch’s local Chinese families join boarders to make dumplings for dinner. It’s a great example of our home-away-from-home culture and is a time to reflect on the distance that many boarding families travel for a Scotch education.
Support for our students
Wellbeing
Professional support
We have two school psychologists who provide regular support to our boarders. Our Middle School Psychologist visits the Middle School Residence weekly to lead discussions alongside our Middle School House Parent.
Our Lead Psychologist works across the Middle and Senior School boarding houses. They work closely with our Head of Boarding and Heads of Residences to ensure that all boarders are supported in both boarding and in school. The Lead Psychologist consults regularly with families and relevant staff where needed and works with staff to ensure they can provide strong, adaptable pastoral care and mental health support.
Life skills
The Keys4Life program is offered to Year 10 boarders to support safe, responsible decision-making as independence increases.
It equips students with practical skills around risk, peer influence, and personal responsibility, reinforcing wellbeing, maturity, and readiness for life beyond the boarding environment at Scotch.
Academics is an extremely important focus for us and we ensure that all our boarders have the support they need across all three pathways, including WACE ATAR, and VET, and the International Baccalaureate Diploma.
From Monday through to Thursday, we run supervised homework sessions for students in Years 7-10. Our Year 11 and 12 students, have a self-driven study programme called Study Grid allowing them to book in targeted study and revision with OSC Tutors 3 nights per week. We have a very high staff to student ratio and our mentors are a mix of teaching staff, both male and female, and high achieving university students.
Our Deans of Academics are all teaching staff, giving them a firm grasp of the curriculum as well as being well connected to other staff. They support the boarders’ Head of House within the day school to ensure our boarders are performing to their personal best.
Friends, brothers and mentors
Many of our boarders liken boarding at Scotch to living with your friends and brothers. Mentoring and peer-to-peer relationships are a big part of how we achieve this camaraderie.
Our Year 10 boarders mentor our Year 7 and 8 boarders in a formal mentorship programme. Our Vice-Captains of Middle School Boarding (a Year 12 role) also coordinate informal ‘big brother’ mentoring sessions during prep, which take place three times a week. Here, younger boarders can get help with their homework from senior boarders.
There’s also ongoing social interaction from shooting hoops to sharing afternoon tea and meals and simply hanging out. If a younger boarder is feeling homesick, our boarding staff will endeavour to reach out to a Year 12 boarder to provide additional support, alongside our staff.
Clans and captains
When commencing in Robinson Residence (Middle School) boarders are placed into Campbell or Drummond House.
As boarders move into the Syme Residence, they join one of two clans: Blair or Stirling Clan.
Our Senior School clans are led by a Head of Clan, who supports them through to graduation and is the main contact for boarders and their families.
Twice a term we run Clash of the Clans, which can feature everything from sports matches, quiz nights and table tennis. Our clans are there to encourage community, inspire personal excellence and help our boarders develop their own identity and relationships within a supportive environment. They are another level of support for our boarders on top of the pastoral care, peer mentoring and academic assistance we offer.
There’s ongoing social interaction from shooting hoops to sharing afternoon tea and meals and simply hanging out.
Our student leaders in boarding also provide warm and caring leadership for all our boarders. Each year our boarders elect Year 12 representatives for Captain of Boarding and four Vice-Captains. The Vice-Captains oversee Blair Clan, Stirling Clan and the Robinson Residence. We follow familial links for our clans. So, if your older brother was in Blair Clan, you will be too.
Walking the Bibbulmun Track
BUILDING GRIT AND RESILIENCE
The Bibbulmun Track is a 1,000km walking trail that stretches from the Perth Hills to Albany. At the start of their boarding journey in Year 7, our boarders take their first steps on this spectacular and challenging track, completing it in their final year of boarding at Scotch in an experience we call ‘End to Enders’.
Walking the Bibbulmun is an iconic part of boarding at Scotch. It’s a journey that bonds boarders for life. Our boarders come off the track with greater independence, knowledge of themselves and what they can achieve, and relationships that have been tested and strengthened through perseverance and camaraderie.
Walking the Bibbulmun is an iconic part of boarding at Scotch. It’s a journey that bonds boarders for life.
For many of our boarders, the Bibbulmun will become the most memorable experience in their boarding and school life. These shared experiences define our boarding community and enable boarders to discover what it takes to develop grit and resilience.
Scotch College Indigenous Network
CLONTARF ACADEMY AND MADALAH
All Indigenous students are part of the Scotch College Indigenous Network, known as SCIN. Led by our Clontarf Academy, this programme supports the education of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young men during and after their time at the College.
Through our external partnership with the MADALAH Foundation, Indigenous students who are part of the MADALAH programme (including a number of boarders) have the opportunity to participate in key experiences such as the orientation camp at Point Walter and the MADALAH Welcome to Country on the Swan River.
Our Clontarf Academy staff provide an extra layer of support for our Indigenous students,
providing opportunities to develop skills for life beyond Scotch and a strong sense of cultural identity.
In the wider school environment, our Outdoor Learning and Adventure team work closely with Noongar elders to teach Indigenous histories and culture specific to our Moray Outdoor Education Campus in Dwellingup.
Throughout the year, we celebrate First Nations culture providing SCIN students the opportunity to lead activities and initiatives that educate and promote cultural understanding across the Scotch community.
The Taigh Programme
TRANSITION TO BOARDING
Our culture of compassion provides boys with a place to learn and grow.
Through our Taigh Programme, we help incoming Year 7 boarders feel at home with engaging online sessions and unforgettable in-person camps.
In the six months before his first day, your son will develop new friendships, build fundamental social skills and form academic routines that will prepare him for life at Scotch.
Taigh home (Scottish Gaelic)
The programme is designed to provide the boys with opportunities to connect with future boarding house mates, to communicate in an exciting new context and to build their confidence as they prepare for the journey ahead.
The boys will work together each week in an exciting online landscape designed for them to showcase their homes and communities.
Taigh Programme goals
Connection
Connecting with the boys and their families who are on the same journey will be a confidence building experience as they prepare for the transition to boarding at Scotch together.
Communication
The boys will meet online each week and, on some occasions connect with Year 6 boys at Scotch via assemblies and collaborative projects. These warm and supportive interactions enrich the boys’ communication skills.
Confidence
The boys will build their confidence as they become aware that they are not undertaking this journey alone.
Key dates
July
Taigh Orientation Camp
November
Middle School Orientation and sleepover
Weekend recreation
Social Events
From Friday through to Sunday there’s always something on or off campus for our boarders to do.
We regularly catch up with other boarding schools, male and female, for sporting events, festivals, movies, ten pin bowling or trips to Adventure World. It helps that we’re right near the Swanbourne Train Station, making it an easy trip to the Perth CBD and Fremantle.
Every year, we hold the Year 11 and 12 Boarders Ball with Presbyterian Ladies’ College. Our senior students also have cross-campus classes with PLC, which sees students from each school often travelling between the two campuses.
Community sport
Many of our boarders join local community sporting teams, such as football, hockey and rugby. Our day parents will often pick up boarders if their son is in the same team for weekend or evening sporting matches.
Food, health and facilities
About the food
We provide five meals a day, with snacks and fresh fruit always on offer. Dinner includes two meat options, a vegetarian option and plenty of vegetables and salads. Of course, we provide dessert every night.
We’re a community so all our boarders eat together in our Dining Hall, overlooking our impressive playing fields. On weekdays, boarders drop by the canteen to grab recess and lunch.
Our catering team use fresh produce, often locally grown, and cater to all dietary requirements.
Fitness and facilities
Our boarders have weekday and weekend access to our 50m swimming pool, playing fields, gym, tennis courts, basketball courts and cricket nets, and a weights room within our Syme Residence.
Health needs
Located right next to our boarding houses, our Health Centre team are always available to help. The centre is staffed by a dedicated team of registered nurses from early morning until night, with someone on-call 24 hours a day. The team manage medical appointments and any accompanying transport for our boarders. They also provide emergency nursing management, primary health assessments, referrals to relevant health specialists, health education and pastoral care.
Where you’ll live
BOARDING HOUSES
We have two boarding houses – Robinson Residence for Years 7 and 8 and Syme Residence for Years 9 to 12. The houses mirror our day-school structure, which helps us to support our boarders as they develop and grow
Each boarding house has a games room, theatre room, pool tables, fully stocked kitchen, onsite laundry facilities and plenty of books, video games and board games. They’re also bordered by a basketball court, our vast playing fields and the native wetlands of Lake Claremont.
All students start their boarding journey in dormitory-style accommodation, which offers a balance of privacy with plenty of opportunities to socialise. In Years 9 to 10, boarders share double rooms, while most Year 11s and all Year 12s have their own room.
