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

Head of Junior School

Confidence

The PYP attitude that the Junior School has been focusing on this last fortnight has been ‘confidence’.

‘I believe in my ability as a learner and have the courage to take risks, applying what I have learned, making appropriate decision and choices.’

I spoke to students through our online assembly, acknowledging the work that they have been doing to build this focus. As mentioned in my last Thistle article, the Year 5 boys were partaking in the Semester 2 Leadership Journey, the Kindergarten students ventured into the Junior School to spread some kindness, while the Year 2 students were wanting to take action to make a difference. The confidence focus has not stopped there.

Our Year 3 students have recently written to me to share their thoughts on the break times in the Junior School. Their writing was exceptional and while is was neatly written, it also showed the boys ability to write in cursive. Their arguments were well set out and supported. This showed that the students had confidence in their persuasive writing and construction of fair arguments.

Speaker’s Challenge

Year 5 classes have been completing speeches for the annual Speaker’s Challenge and recently the eight finalists came together to compete. The topics were entertaining and the boys who reached the final eight did an exceptional job in presenting to the Year 3–5 students and staff. This level of presentation, lasting three to four minutes, shows how confident the boys are at having a go. Congratulations to all Year 5 boys for presenting to their classes and well done to the final eight selected.

Finalists

  • Angus McIntosh
  • Marcus Whittome
  • Samuel Keyte
  • Jasper Levy
  • Charlie Burton
  • Johnny Newall
  • Konrad Michael
  • Eugene Cha

Winners

The judges remarked on how close the competition was and that selecting the final three took a great deal of deliberation.

The overall winners for the competition for 2020 were:

  • 1st Place: Angus McIntosh with his speech “Positives and Negatives of Being a Kid”
  • 2nd Place: Charlie Burton with his speech “It’s a Pug’s Life”
  • 3rd Place: Eugene Cha with his speech “Why Tennis is Awesome”

Activity Days

The other major display of confidence surrounded the planned activity days that the Year 5 Captains hosted and organised. These days helped to raise environmental awareness and international awareness. The Junior School students wore green and blue to acknowledge the importance of the world around us. To appreciate the differences among us, students dressed up to show their international understanding for the International Dress Up Day. 

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Miss Penny Hooper
Acting Head of Junior School