The Scots College
At The Scots College, sport is part of the school’s identity. On any weekday the main oval at Bellevue Hill hosts training. On Saturdays it fills with cricket or rugby fixtures, watched by students, parents and the wider community. When the oval looks tired, everyone sees it.
The College’s grounds go well beyond that oval. There’s the main campus, several boarding houses, an Early Learning Centre, preparatory schools at Mansion Road and Dolls Point, an Early Years Centre at Rose Bay and the rowing boat shed. For years, care had been split between in-house staff and several outside contractors.
The College wanted one partner for all of it, with a clear priority: lift the sporting surfaces, and keep every garden and lawn up to the standard its reputation demands. That partner became Green by Nature.
The oval was the biggest test. Beneath its surface the soil was compacted, and the turf was a contest between couch, the species the College wanted, and invasive kikuyu. The two fight for the same ground, so the surface never played evenly.
Everything else had to be done inside a working school. Students and staff are on the grounds all day, and timetables aren’t always visible in advance. Bellevue Hill’s steep slopes and narrow streets limit access for machinery and deliveries. The team works from a shared shed with little storage. And five people have to cover seven sites every week.
We began with the oval. Our greenkeepers aerated the compacted soil to let air and water back in. They topdressed to improve levels and drainage, and carried out targeted renovations whenever the season allowed. In the cricket and rugby seasons, the wickets and high-wear training areas come first.
Around the oval, the team learned to work with the rhythm of the school. Plans are adjusted each day to avoid class changes, sport and construction zones, and spraying is saved for early mornings and school holidays. A site supervisor leads specialist greenkeepers and gardeners five days a week, keeping in close contact with teachers, facilities staff and other contractors.
The tight logistics became part of the routine. Mulch arrives in staged deliveries the shared shed can handle. Irrigation runs zone by zone so the College’s tank can refill between cycles.
As the relationship has grown, so has the brief. The College now calls on us for soil relocation, help with campus upgrades and other works beyond the original scope. Larger jobs, such as retaining walls, are delivered by Green by Nature’s landscape construction teams.
We began with the oval. Our greenkeepers aerated the compacted soil to let air and water back in. They topdressed to improve levels and drainage, and carried out targeted renovations whenever the season allowed. In the cricket and rugby seasons, the wickets and high-wear training areas come first.
Around the oval, the team learned to work with the rhythm of the school. Plans are adjusted each day to avoid class changes, sport and construction zones, and spraying is saved for early mornings and school holidays. A site supervisor leads specialist greenkeepers and gardeners five days a week, keeping in close contact with teachers, facilities staff and other contractors.
The tight logistics became part of the routine. Mulch arrives in staged deliveries the shared shed can handle. Irrigation runs zone by zone so the College’s tank can refill between cycles.
As the relationship has grown, so has the brief. The College now calls on us for soil relocation, help with campus upgrades and other works beyond the original scope. Larger jobs, such as retaining walls, are delivered by Green by Nature’s landscape construction teams.
Key numbers: 7 sites under one contract · 5 staff on site, 5 days a week · every area serviced weekly · visible oval improvement within the first few months
Within the first few months, the change on the main oval was obvious. It looked better and it played better, as the before-and-after photos show. Across all seven sites, gardens and lawns are now cared for to one consistent standard.
The story isn’t finished. The next goal is to re-establish the oval completely, with a single turf species and a rebuilt soil profile, so The Scots College has a playing surface fit for elite-level sport.
