Leadership

At Scotch, we are charged not just with getting our students high ATAR scores, but educating a generation of better leaders.

Emotional intelligence, diverse thinking, values-led strategic planning, strong ethical frameworks, practice enhanced by reflection, inspirational adoption of worthy goals, resource management and consensus building are all skills that we nurture in our classrooms in both the Junior and Senior School.

But that alone is not enough. Individuals of conviction are not inspired by school programs unless they have a chance to exercise their craft in a school’s way of life beyond the curriculum.

Leaders come in all shapes and sizes. We know of the leaders who speak from behind podiums, or the ones who occupy named offices and work spaces, but there are also the courageous researchers, the ones who speak truth to power, the unsung heroes and heroines who labour to deliver change in a meaningful, unseen ways.

Leadership can be exercised by the modest, the untitled, the uncelebrated just as much as by the one with their name on an honour board.

The Scotch Way

At Scotch, all are inspired to consider their leadership profile. All have an opportunity to reflect on the many facets of leadership in both our Junior and Senior School. Leadership is an educational experience for all, in all its complexity. And the journey leads us to what is uplifting, ethically driven, environmentally sound, protective of the future not just the present, and deeply humane.

There are tasks to fulfil and titles to be earned, but we also need young people who spearhead and pioneer, and who challenge us in authority to do better, to think more widely, to dislodge ourselves from our complacency. Opportunities across the spectrum of Scotch life proliferate. As the range of leadership opportunities broadens, the richness of our life deepens and our education becomes more effective, more relevant, more purposeful.

We cannot offer everyone such public acclaim or an official badge. How we help students navigate rejection, but not to lose hope or momentum towards leadership in the future is equally important to us.

We are what we celebrate. Scotch will suffuse its students with a sense of mission and the tools to do whatever job of leadership they are called to do, whether they have a title or not. This is no mere educational process, but a launchpad to develop the problem-solvers, flagbearers and influential  thinkers of the future, so our world evolves to a place of genuine peace and broadly shared prosperity.

A school with our history and prestige should aspire to nothing less.