Scots College asks parents to donate to its champagne budget
If you thought the grand opening of Scots College's $60 million castle would put an end to us writing about the Bellevue Hill private school, think again.
The garish faux-Scottish baronial castle (officially known as the John Cunningham Student Centre) was finally opened last month, seven years after plans were first lodged, at an extravagant ceremony featuring fireworks and a military tattoo, a rather desperate and tacky display of extravagance that didn't make the castle any cheaper or less ugly but did leave some parents grumpy about having to pay extra fees just to attend.
Now there is further disgruntlement in the Scots community, in which, after all that pomp accompanying the castle's opening, there seems to be little cash for much else.
Last week, parents were shocked to receive an email calling for donations toward funding various events for year 6 students headed for the senior school, including a mother-son dance and a celebration dinner at the suitably janky confines of Randwick Racecourse. That is, on top of the tickets they'll have to purchase.
'We rely heavily on donations to keep these ticket prices as low as possible and afford those 'little extras' to make it a year to remember for the boys,' a fundraising email from the school said. Those 'little extras' are hardly the stuff of a 12-year-old boy's dreams.
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Helpfully, the school gives parents a budget for the festivities so they can see just what their donations will be going towards. That includes $430 per case of French champagne (their tautology, not ours) because we hear there had been complaints about a function this year at which prosecco was served. The horror!
The school also needs $1250 for bowties for the mother-and-son dance, $2000 for celebration dinner cookies and $8000 to design and print the year 6 journal.
We asked the college about all this and didn't hear back. But if our experience writing about the castle has taught us anything, it's that nothing comes cheap in Bellevue Hill.
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