Scots College, Wellington

History

It was founded as a Presbyterian boys' college in 1916 by Rev Dr James Gibb and the Hon John Aitken on the current campus of Queen Margaret College in Thorndon. Dr Gibb's vision was the creation of a Christian college that would be independent of the secular state system. It is the 'brother' school of The Scots College in Sydney, Australia and of Queen Margaret College in Thorndon, Wellington.

The college's Scots heritage is reflected in its ceremonies (often involving a piper leading a procession into its hall) and school song. College prefects wear kilts on official occasions and every Friday for chapel. The school tartan is that of the Clan Fergusson. Permission to wear the tartan was granted by the late Governor General Sir Charles Fergusson.

Unlike other prominent New Zealand Presbyterian boys schools Saint Kentigern College in Auckland, and St Andrew's College in Christchurch, Scots College has not become coeducational. This is perhaps, as with Lindisfarne College in Hastings and John McGlashan College in Dunedin, due to the lack of a competing Anglican boys in the local area, such as Auckland's King's College and Christ's College in Christchurch.

Houses

Students at the secondary school are organized into eight "houses", identified by colour. The houses have expanded three times since the founding of the school- two houses were added to the original two in 1961/1963, another two in 1993 with the boarders' house (Gibb) being removed at this time as well, and a further two added in 2009. There are major competitions in swimming, cross-country, music, athletics, and other weekly house sport games, such as hockey and touch rugby. The two original houses were Aitken (Blue) and Fergusson (Green), with Glasgow (Red) and MacKenzie (Yellow) being established next, followed by Plimmer (Sky Blue) and Uttley (Black) in 1993 and Smith (Navy Blue) and Mawson (Maroon) established in 2009.

The Preparatory School maintains four houses: Potatau (Blue), Bedding (Green), Macarthur (Red) and McKelvie (Yellow). In 2004 there was an announcement of a change to the current House names in the hopes of giving the Preparatory School a better sense of historical identity; Potatau renamed for the writer of the School haka and McKelvie to retain a link to the old McKelvie Baths, demolished in 2001-2002.

Campus facilities

Recent projects on campus have been the science block, opened in 2006 by Nobel Laureate Sir Paul Nurse and the Aitken (Admin/Reception) block in 2009. Other facilities updated in the last few years include the Leslie Shelly Lecture Theatre and the Information Centre, and an extension to Gibb House, the school's Boarding House. The Hodge Sports Centre (HSC) was opened on 4 November 2011, and the Creative Performing Arts Centre (CPAC) was opened on 2 March 2012.

The school also has IB World School status and maintains an IB curriculum from PYP to Diploma. The current IB Diploma co-ordinator is Michelle Tewkesbury and the MYP co-ordinator is Roger Doig.

Boarding

The boarding house (titled Gibb House, after the founder of the school) has accommodation for approximately 100 boys. The majority of these students attend the Secondary School (years 9-13) however allowance has been made occasionally for Year 7 and 8 Boys to board full-time. The current boarding director is Geoff Hall, with assistant house masters Malcolm Bradshaw and Will Struthers, and matron Tania Steadman. In addition, gap year tutors are lodged in the boarding house and assist with day-to-day operations. Day Boys and Boarders compete with rival rugby teams on an annual basis.

Connections with other schools

Scots College 1st XV is currently playing in the Premier I rugby division. In 2014 the 1st XV won the NZ Secondary School Championship - a joint win with Hamilton Boys High School. In 2015 they represented New Zealand at the SANIX Rugby Youth Cup tournament in Japan where they placed third. They currently hold the Moascar Cup which is the oldest and most prestigious nationwide trophy in 1st XV school rugby and dates back to the end of World War One.

Students competing for the 1st XV in traditional fixtures perform a special haka written by an old boy; this is distinct from the school haka.

Scots College is the brother school to the slightly younger Queen Margaret College, which now sites itself in the original Scots College building. Often there are various socials and sporting matches against local schools, organised by College Sport Wellington. In addition, both sections of the school have inter-school fixtures with other secondary schools, notably Lindisfarne and primary schools such as Huntley School.

Notable alumni

Here is a current snapshot of one exceptional classroom of boys:

Controversies

In November 2007, several graduating students were banned from end-of-year prizes for growing moustaches as part of the fund-raising campaign 'Movember', established by The Movember Foundation, to raise awareness for prostate cancer. The college threatened to ban a senior student from their NCEA examinations (official secondary school qualification) for growing a moustache during November.

In September 2010, Scots College expelled seven students and suspended five for involvement in a drug ring within the college. Some involved in using and dealing the illegal substances were as young as 13.

In October 2013, ten Scots College students from Year 11 to 13, including prefects, were caught illegally consuming alcohol on an overseas Fiji trip. School Headmaster Graeme Yule recognised the actions as 'relatively minor' but suspended students for less than a week.