Boarding News

As I write this I am preparing for our final country visit for 2021-Federal ICPA (Isolated Children’s Parents Association) Conference being hosted in Longreach. This is a significant milestone as it marks ICPA Australia’s 50th Annual Conference celebrating the successes and achievements of so many over the past 50 years to ensure our rural and remote children have access to equitable educational opportunities regardless of where they live. 

The conference is attended by branch delegates, Federal Ministers, Departmental representatives and other organisations and guests. It provides an opportunity for members to gather together to share their stories and concerns, receive support and advice and celebrate the successes of this great organisation. ICPA (Aust) is a voluntary, non-profit, apolitical parent body dedicated to ensuring all geographically isolated children’s educational needs and aspirations are not disadvantaged because of where they live.

The Association was established in 1971 and represents over 2500 families and individual members. Members include a cross-section of Australia’s rural communities, primary producers, small business owners, schools, national and state-based organisations and individuals who support equity of access to education for geographically isolated students.

Working together for equity of access to education for all students who live in rural and remote Australia is the driving force behind ICPA. Attending opportunities such as these are vital to establish, maintain and develop our connections as a wider boarding community.

The recent long weekend certainly provided a wonderful opportunity for many families to maximise time with their sons. Just over 50% of our boarders spent time away from the College. I certainly hope that this has provided an opportunity for all boys to recharge and refocus for upcoming assessment.

Good Habits 

Habits and routines are essential to be successful, these are even more important in life of a Marist boarder. Habits are behaviours and patterns that you showcase by default. 

What are good habits? Well, good habits are those that get you closer to living your best life and are fundamental to becoming successful and happy. 

• Seek Inspiration
• Set Daily Goals with Intentions
• Manage Your Time
• Exercise Daily
• Eat a Healthy Breakfast
• Smile
• Be Grateful for What You Have
• Begin Your Day With Meditation

I encourage all boys, particularly in boarding to maintain good habits and routines. These will continue to vital as we approach the busy end of the term. Finally, I encourage all boarding families to ensure they read the College Newsletter each week as this is the College’s main communication avenue. It has vital messages from all areas of the College, most importantly from Head of College, Michael Newman.

Around the Grounds

La Valla Residence

We are well and truly settled into the routine of assessment and school work. The boys have been utilising their evening tutors, setting goals for the term and attending tutoring offered by the CLE and their teachers. There are so many exciting events happening at the moment with the end of the year celebrations but the boys strike a good balance when managing the many demands of life in the high school.

A real highlight of the week was the Boarder Free Weekend, this saw many boys excitedly rushing home to help with harvest and spend time with families. Some boys were lucky enough to be invited to stay with families of day boys, and they always return with such great stories from their adventures. A big shout out to the Fox family who created a home away from home for the Cobb twins as their property is so remote they cannot easily return home. For the 5 students who remained in the dorm, Mr Temperly bought in his Nintendo for a few competitions! Mr Sedgwick thought there was a fight in the dorm with all the noise but realised it was a very competitive Mr Temperly and Mr Toomey teaching the boys a thing or two! The boys in dorm also got to go for a bike ride, go fishing and attend a Halloween themed dinner. So whether the boys were in La Valla or elsewhere , it was a great long weekend for all!

Montagne Residence

A shortened week saw the majority of the residence head out on leave to enjoy the Ekka Long Weekend. There have been plenty of emails from the day school in regards to upcoming assessments and drafts, so we hope that boys got to do some study over this weekend when out! Those in the dorm had some time to study, but were also treated to fishing trips, bike rides, the pool, Moorooka Magic Mile Food trucks, golf driving range, Enoggera Reservoir, Music Centre and shopping trip. There was plenty to do to stay busy.

Last week, we also had a look at our screen time as a dorm – specifically at our phones. Although every boy had an excuse for the amount of times spent on phones, most were met with a bit of shock with how much time they spent on their devices (please find the photo of the whiteboard for all screen times of the dorm). The screen time ‘record’ for the 10 days for one boy included 30.5 hours of TikTok, 5.5 hours of Reddit, 4 hours of Instagram, 2.5 hours of Snapchat and 3 hours of Disney+. If you get a chance, head on to Netflix and watch the documentary, “The Social Dilemma”. It is very much the eye opener! Boys have been encouraged to watch this to give themselves an understanding of the power of social media.

Hermitage Residence

At the start of the week, the boys applied themselves to study with the outlook of ‘the calm before the storm’. With this in mind, the boys did their best to work on tasks such as HPE, Legal Studies, and Drama. The boys know that there are only a few weeks away from exams and are preparing themselves as best they can to see out the school year successfully. 

During the week, the College also held its annual awards night where students from Years 5 -11 were celebrated for their success throughout the year. Congratulations to Dom Forbes, Landon Law-Palm, Cyrus Kwok and Hugo Tully for all representing Hermitage in receiving an award on the evening. A special congratulations to Dom Forbes for receiving the Br Geoffrey Hermitage Conspicuous Effort to boarding award. 

The end of the week saw the final Boarder Free Weekend with the majority of the boys departing for their final jaunt of the term before the holidays. For the few that remained, the boys enjoyed multiple pizzas as well as a trip to Shorncliffe pier for a spot of fishing. The boys enjoyed the quiet and peacefulness of the residence while it lasted only for the dorm to return to normal by Sunday evening.

Fourviere Residence

Whilst the long weekend served as an opportunity for many to enjoy a little downtime, perhaps catch up with family and even make some headway with assessment and study. Others took the chance to completely check out for a much-needed recharge of the batteries. Three lucky lads, Kynan Hale, Griffyn Seagren and Keli Law-Palm managed to truly make the most of it by heading home to Far North Queensland for a spot of fishing and hunting. Thanks for sending through the great pics lads!

Br Terence Residence

The inaugural Years 5-11 Prizegiving evening saw many of our Br Terence boys recognised for their outstanding efforts throughout the year. Ethen Tsiamalili, Connor Lyons and Sam Miller all played a role in hosting the event and it was most pleasing to see James O’Connor, Patrick Mahony, Archie Forbes, Spencer Sharman, Connor Lyons and Ethen Tsiamalili receive awards on the night. With the long weekend, many of our Year 11 boarders took the opportunity for some time away from boarding while the majority of our Year 12 boarders remained in residence to continue with their exam preparations. Our Year 12 boys have been most impressive with their commitment and application towards their studies over the past few weeks, and we are hopeful that these efforts will be reflected in their results.

On Saturday afternoon, the Year 12 boys made the journey up to Caloundra for a Twilight BBQ and some time to relax away from the dorm. While the surf conditions weren’t to the boys liking, they still made the most of their time at the beach with Lochie Dudgeon, Jack Condon, Hugh Ford and Jackson Munn attempting to catch the waves that were on offer. A late-afternoon storm made the cooking more difficult but, as always, our Year 12 boarders found a way to get the job done.

With a number of Year 12 boarders completing their final exams this week, Sunday morning’s Mass was the last Boarders’ Mass for some of the boys as their time at the College is quickly drawing to a close. There is a sense of excitement in the residence as their schooling journey is nearly complete; however, there is also the realisation of how different life will be for many of our Year 12s in just a couple of weeks from now.

Boarding Recreation - Mr Blair Whitlock

It was a quiet weekend around the dorms with the majority of the boys heading out on leave. There were just 12 boys in the junior dorms with more seniors sticking around to study ahead of the Maths exam on Monday.

We made use of the school facilities with the bikes, pool, gym and ovals getting plenty of use throughout the weekend. A small group headed down to the Vic Park Golf Range for a hit on Saturday morning before coming back to the pool to cool off. The Year 12s piled into the 22-seater in the afternoon for the traditional end of year twilight BBQ at Kings Beach. The boys optimistically packed the surfboards but were out of luck with Kings flat as a pancake. It was a great way to break the boys study up and spend some time together with many boys heading home after Maths this week. The “ultimate alpha BBQ’ing techniques” were also on display with Clancy and Henry cooking up a feast!

We were out of luck on our Sunday morning fishing trip with strong winds testing the boy’s skills. We persevered but ended up empty-handed. A Fillet-o-Fish was the ticket with a quick Maccas trip on the way home. A small group headed down to Brookside in the afternoon to grab a few supplies before settling in for the evening. Hard to believe it’s already Week 5!