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March Out 2024

March Out is one of the biggest events on our calendar occurring during the first week of Spring Term (Term 4) when we say farewell to our Year 12s at March Out.

March Out represents a moment in time where our Year 12s leave the ring fence of Scotch and move into their new world as a member of the almost 16,000 strong Old Scotch Collegians and, based on the values and experiences to which they have been exposed at Scotch, go on to forge a new life after school.

It is the day when we place our boys on the starting line, where hopefully we have trained and prepared them for what comes next – 'life'.

In my view, March Out is the seminal event on our school calendar and seems to draw bigger crowds every year.

The day is special not just because we say farewell to the Year 12s, but because it is one of the few times a year when our whole school (PK – 12) comes together. We do so because we want to say thanks and wish the Year 12s farewell.

For our young boys, it provides yet another great moment for them to experience aspirational achievement and leadership as they watch our Year 12s march out and commence their next journey.

This ceremony is just one of the many rites of passage that we have at Scotch College. As Dr Arne Rubenstein highlights,

"Our lack of formal rites of passage has meant young men are learning how to be a man through the media and the internet".

His position is simple, that as a society, we can create contemporary rites of passage where teenage boys are challenged to consider the sort of men they are going to become.

Maggie Dent, in her most recent book highlights the challenges facing teens through the words of Joseph Campbell a mystic and philosopher who describes adolescence as 'a major life transition which is a hero's journey because it is a metaphorical journey of loss, challenge, growth and renewal'.

Dr Alec O'Connell
Headmaster