Latest news with #ScotsCollege
Sydney Morning Herald
10-08-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Scots College's unique spin on acknowledgements of Country
As a school that spent $60 million building a mock Scottish baronial castle, you might expect Scots College to be an archaic institution. To professional cynics like us, it certainly is. But this week, we were thrilled to learn that the boys' school at Bellevue Hill, which charges $51,000 a year per student, has entered the 21st century. You see, like dozens of corporates, sporting bodies and educational institutions around the country, Scots is doing acknowledgements of Country. Somewhere on the fringes of Brisbane, a newly funemployed Peter Dutton is reading this and seething. According to some parents, who'd noticed the formality's conspicuous absence in the past, acknowledgements of Country started this year. But Scots told us it had included an Acknowledgement of Country at significant events for some years. Still, the college did put its own Presbyterian spin on things. The exact wording, according to one school community source: 'As we meet today under God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, who has declared 'All the earth is Mine', we acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and pay respects to their elders past and present.' So the traditional owners are acknowledged, but with a reminder that this was God's country first. Which reminds us of former prime minister Scott Morrison 's similarly unique approach to acknowledgements of Country, who would recognise traditional owners, and then, in the same breath, serving members of the defence force. While some of the more progressive Scots parents (yes, they exist: Bellevue Hill is teal now after all) were pleasantly surprised to note the Acknowledgement of Country, a few remained disgruntled over the ongoing existence of its Women's Association. All female Scots parents and carers are automatically members of that fundraising committee, which runs the secondhand uniform shop and the canteen. Headmaster Ian Lambert 's wife Alison is a patron. Some of the school's more feminist mothers have argued for years that the association entrenches harmful stereotypes among the impressionable boys about women being confined to caregiving roles.
The Age
02-08-2025
- Business
- The Age
How much does it cost to become Lachlan Murdoch's neighbour? $14.2m
Prestige property hunters could rub shoulders with one of the world's most powerful media figures as a grand deceased estate, neighbouring Lachlan Murdoch 's Bellevue Hill compound, has hit the market with a price guide of $14.2 million. Unless the heir apparent to Rupert Murdoch 's media empire snaps the property up himself. The 53-year-old has some form in shoring up homes close to his Georgian-style mansion over the years. The tightly held home in question has been offered for the first time since 1990, which was when Hong Kong doctors Robert and Katherine Yiu bought the three-level house for $2.3 million. Located in a dress circle position in one of Bellevue Hill's most prestigious addresses, the circa 1930s-built home, known as Fernlee, is set on an elevated 930 square metres with spectacular panoramic views from the harbour to Manly. It features soaring ceilings and generous gardens on either side. It is within walking distance to local schools, including Scots College and Cranbrook. The five-bedroom, three-bathroom house is ripe for renovation, although its original features have been kept in good condition. It is selling through Steven Zoellner of Laing + Simmons Double Bay. He declined to comment when contacted. It is scheduled to go under the hammer on August 13. It's not a bad opportunity for any interested parties, given Murdoch and his wife Sarah paid $23 million for their trophy home they bought from the French government in 2009. The couple have since gone on to pick up another two homes surrounding it to the tune of $7.03 million to protect their views, adding another some 1600 square metres to their landholding in the area and totalling $30 million.
Sydney Morning Herald
02-08-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
How much does it cost to become Lachlan Murdoch's neighbour? $14.2m
Prestige property hunters could rub shoulders with one of the world's most powerful media figures as a grand deceased estate, neighbouring Lachlan Murdoch 's Bellevue Hill compound, has hit the market with a price guide of $14.2 million. Unless the heir apparent to Rupert Murdoch 's media empire snaps the property up himself. The 53-year-old has some form in shoring up homes close to his Georgian-style mansion over the years. The tightly held home in question has been offered for the first time since 1990, which was when Hong Kong doctors Robert and Katherine Yiu bought the three-level house for $2.3 million. Located in a dress circle position in one of Bellevue Hill's most prestigious addresses, the circa 1930s-built home, known as Fernlee, is set on an elevated 930 square metres with spectacular panoramic views from the harbour to Manly. It features soaring ceilings and generous gardens on either side. It is within walking distance to local schools, including Scots College and Cranbrook. The five-bedroom, three-bathroom house is ripe for renovation, although its original features have been kept in good condition. It is selling through Steven Zoellner of Laing + Simmons Double Bay. He declined to comment when contacted. It is scheduled to go under the hammer on August 13. It's not a bad opportunity for any interested parties, given Murdoch and his wife Sarah paid $23 million for their trophy home they bought from the French government in 2009. The couple have since gone on to pick up another two homes surrounding it to the tune of $7.03 million to protect their views, adding another some 1600 square metres to their landholding in the area and totalling $30 million.
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Yahoo
Elite school graduate's ‘risky role' in drug deal
A former high-level rugby player who attended an elite private boarding school has been sentenced for his role in the transportation of several kilos of cocaine. Jake Michael Prindiville, 28, a graduate of the prestigious Scots College in Sydney's leafy eastern suburbs, was sentenced to three years and nine months imprisonment, with a non-parole period of two years, for supplying a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug. In early October 2024, shortly after returning from a holiday abroad, Prindiville became embroiled in a plot to transport 12kg of cocaine – a crime that was referred to as largely 'spontaneous' by the judge and which Prindiville's defence said 'stemmed from an urgent need to obtain money'. Due to the time Prindiville has already spent in rehab, he will be eligible for parole on November 13, 2026. Defence barrister Phillip Boulten SC told the court that his client was offered money to play 'a risky role in someone else's supply of a large commercial quantity of cocaine to someone else'. 'His job was to take possession of the sports bag in which the drugs were located and to be the mechanism by which the intended purchaser would take possession of the drugs,' he said. Mr Boulten said Prindiville only became 'much more aware of the significance of what he was doing' when he 'picked up the bag and could feel that it was a heavy bag'. 'His participation and his knowledge of taking part in supply can be measured in minutes not hours or days,' he said. The court was told Prindiville communicated with a contact named 'Mickey Mouse' in the hours prior to the supply. Following a stint at Connect Global, a rehabilitation centre north of Newcastle, Prindiville's bail was varied in August 2024 to allow him to reside at home under a strict curfew. These conditions were suspended in April 2025 to allow him to travel to work. The court was told Prindiville had struggled with childhood dysfunction, ongoing drug use, and post traumatic stress disorder, making him 'vulnerable'. 'It's made it very difficult for him to lead a stable life,' Mr Boulten said. 'Jail will be quite hard … he's still vulnerable.' While struggling through high school, Prindiville experienced 'vile, disgusting abuse' for which he would eventually receive compensation in early adulthood. 'There is little wonder … hardly any wonder that the offender was an early starter in consuming alcohol and illegal drugs when he was still at school. Like his father, he was smoking cannabis … and as a teenager became much more aware of his mother's family and, therefore, his Aboriginality,' Mr Boulten said. 'Any attempts that he made to make significant inroads into his community from Brewarrina were not really assisted by his mother, who was his only contact in that community.' Mr Boulten added that Prindiville had 'achieved a lot' since his arrest and had 'reasonable prospects' for rehabilitation. 'He's smart, he's very smart. He's held jobs for a while at different places, he attended UTS, he received a real estate licence from TAFE in 2020, and he's maintained several close intimate relationships,' he said. It is also understood Prindiville undertook a brief stint as a personal trainer, according to a since-deleted Instagram account called 'prindi_transformations'. The Crown prosecution conceded the 'exceptional' nature of Prindiville's case. 'There's not much I can say against what Mr Bolton has already said,' he said. Lifeline on 13 11 14 Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800 MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978 Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467 Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636 Headspace on 1800 650 890 SANE on 1800 18 7263
News.com.au
07-07-2025
- News.com.au
Former Scots College private school rugby player Jake Michael Prindiville jailed for cocaine crime
A former high-level rugby player who attended an elite private boarding school has been sentenced for his role in the transportation of several kilos of cocaine. Jake Michael Prindiville, 28, a graduate of the prestigious Scots College in Sydney's leafy eastern suburbs, was sentenced to three years and nine months imprisonment, with a non-parole period of two years, for supplying a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug. In early October 2024, shortly after returning from a holiday abroad, Prindiville became embroiled in a plot to transport 12kg of cocaine – a crime that was referred to as largely 'spontaneous' by the judge and which Prindiville's defence said 'stemmed from an urgent need to obtain money'. Due to the time Prindiville has already spent in rehab, he will be eligible for parole on November 13, 2026. Defence barrister Phillip Boulten SC told the court that his client was offered money to play 'a risky role in someone else's supply of a large commercial quantity of cocaine to someone else'. 'His job was to take possession of the sports bag in which the drugs were located and to be the mechanism by which the intended purchaser would take possession of the drugs,' he said. Mr Boulten said Prindiville only became 'much more aware of the significance of what he was doing' when he 'picked up the bag and could feel that it was a heavy bag'. 'His participation and his knowledge of taking part in supply can be measured in minutes not hours or days,' he said. The court was told Prindiville communicated with a contact named 'Mickey Mouse' in the hours prior to the supply. Following a stint at Connect Global, a rehabilitation centre north of Newcastle, Prindiville's bail was varied in August 2024 to allow him to reside at home under a strict curfew. These conditions were suspended in April 2025 to allow him to travel to work. The court was told Prindiville had struggled with childhood dysfunction, ongoing drug use, and post traumatic stress disorder, making him 'vulnerable'. 'It's made it very difficult for him to lead a stable life,' Mr Boulten said. 'Jail will be quite hard … he's still vulnerable.' While struggling through high school, Prindiville experienced 'vile, disgusting abuse' for which he would eventually receive compensation in early adulthood. 'There is little wonder … hardly any wonder that the offender was an early starter in consuming alcohol and illegal drugs when he was still at school. Like his father, he was smoking cannabis … and as a teenager became much more aware of his mother's family and, therefore, his Aboriginality,' Mr Boulten said. 'Any attempts that he made to make significant inroads into his community from Brewarrina were not really assisted by his mother, who was his only contact in that community.' Mr Boulten added that Prindiville had 'achieved a lot' since his arrest and had 'reasonable prospects' for rehabilitation. 'He's smart, he's very smart. He's held jobs for a while at different places, he attended UTS, he received a real estate licence from TAFE in 2020, and he's maintained several close intimate relationships,' he said. It is also understood Prindiville undertook a brief stint as a personal trainer, according to a since-deleted Instagram account called 'prindi_transformations'. The Crown prosecution conceded the 'exceptional' nature of Prindiville's case. 'There's not much I can say against what Mr Bolton has already said,' he said.
