The Boarding Buzz

Administration News

Closed Weekend & Buses

Closed Weekend

The Term One Closed Weekend is at the end of Week Five.  Boarders will leave boarding after school on Friday 3 March and return after 4.00pm on Monday 6 March.

 

Boarding Bus Service

Boarders who are using the boarding bus service will leave school at the end of Period Seven with the buses departing at 2.45pm.  Parents and Guardians of students using the bus service will be provided with further details once bookings close.  To book the bus for the Term One Closed Weekend, please use one of the links below.  

 

Eastern Service - please click here.

Albany, Green Range, Boxwood Hill, Gairdner, Jerramungup, Ravensthorpe, Mount Madden, Lake King.

 

Western Service - please click here.

Albany, Mount Barker, Cranbrook, Tambellup, Broomehill, Katanning, Nyabing, Pingrup, Lake Grace.  

 

Bookings will be open until Sunday 26 February 2023 at 10.00pm.

 

Cancelling Bus Bookings

If for any reason you need to cancel your booking for the bus in the lead-up to the Closed Weekend, we ask that you can please inform us via dianne.franzinelli@gsg.wa.edu.au as soon as possible.  Should you need to cancel your seat on the day of the return trip (Monday), please inform the bus driver by 9.00am so that if other families are on a waiting list for a seat, we can offer it to them with plenty of notice.  

 

Boarding Bus Membership

Last year we trialled a Boarding Bus Membership system where parents would pay an $80.00 membership fee for the year ($60.00 for Year Twelve boarders), then pay $20.00 per trip used throughout the year.  After much discussion on the pros and cons, we have decided to return to the pay-as-you-go system with each trip being $30.00 per student per trip with no membership fee.

 

TRANSWA Bookings

For families who are booking their child on TRANSWA for the Closed Weekend, please forward a copy of your child/ren's itinerary via dianne.franzinelli@gsg.wa.edu.au so that we can arrange transport to and from the TRANSWA depot.  It would also be helpful to receive itineraries for any other times of the year for both TRANSWA and flights so that we can offer your child/ren a smooth transition to and from their transport.

Flexischools

Each boarder has a school FlexiSschools boarder account where they can place a canteen order once per week, on a pre-set day.  There can sometimes be a few teething problems at the commencement of the year, this can occur when a boarder has a school account and a personal account and they are using the same email address for both.  

 

Boarders are able to have a personal account where they can order Flexischools on a day other than their pre-set boarding day, however we please ask that if you are setting up a personal account for your child that you use a personal email address, not their school student email address. This would help us immensely.

 

The Flexischools roster for Term One is:

  • Monday - Anchorage
  • Tuesday - Endeavour
  • Wednesday - Eclipse
  • Thursday - Breaksea

The roster will change each term so that boarders each get an opportunity to choose a different 'special of the day'.  Wednesday is always popular with burgers on the menu.

 

For students who are at TAFE or Workplace on their Flexischools day, they can negotiate an alternate day with the Dining Hall staff.

REACH 

REACH is a student life management system developed specifically for boarding schools and residential campuses. One of the many features of REACH is to manage student leave for when they go off-campus.  When entering leave in REACH, students will choose a location, host and transport option.  This will generate an approval process and alert both the parent/guardian and Head of House.  It is important to review the leave requested and either 'approve' or 'deny'.

 

If a student is going off-campus with a Host other than their parents/guardians, they will need an approved Host on their list of leave hosts.  For returning students, Hosts will roll over from the previous year.  For new students, Hosts can be added by completing the REACH Hosts form here.  Please note that only staff can add Hosts into the REACH database.

 

To login to REACH, please follow the instructions below:

  • Visit https://gsg.reachboarding.com.au/
  • Click the blue button, Use School Login
  • Login using your MyGSG username and password
  • This will open REACH for you as MyGSG and REACH are now linked with the same username and password

There is also a REACH App if you prefer which can be downloaded from the App store on your phone.

 

Please don’t hesitate to contact GSG IT support on 9844 0333 if you have any issues with your MyGSG login.  

Boarding Parent Information Pages

You can access all information about boarding on MyGSG, please find this information here.

Student Timetables

We recently had a nice tip from a parent on the Boarding Parent Committee about accessing student timetables in SEQTA.  The suggestion was to print out a copy of your child/ren's timetable for the fridge which helps prompt some discussions on how their day went in each subject when chatting in the evening.

 

To print your child/ren's timetable, log into MyGSG, go to SEQTA Engage, then go to timetable.  SEQTA Engage is a wonderful tool for parents/guardians and students. This is also the place where you can see what classes are working on, see what assessments are coming up, view assessment results and access your child/ren's reports.

Boarding Parent Committee

The Boarding Parent Committee was established in 2018. The purpose of the committee is to contribute to the enhancement of the boarding community. It is a forum for the discussion of ideas and plans that work towards the betterment of Great Southern Grammar (GSG) Boarding. 

 

If you have an issue that you would like to raise at the next Boarding Parent Committee Meeting, please see a list of members that you can reach out to here.  

 

To learn more about the Boarding Parent Committee, you may also like to read the Terms of Reference here.

Boarding Parent Messenger Groups

Every year the Boarding Parent Committee sets up Parent Messenger Groups for each year group and gender.  Each group has one of the Committee members, or a parent who volunteers, who is the Administrator of this group. Groups discuss and share information such as:

  • Minor queries on the processes in boarding that another parent may easily be able to solve for you. i.e. what are the rules on aerosol deodorants again? 
  • Coordinating shared lifts between parents or delivering urgent items to boarding through a family who is making the trip to Albany. 
  • Clarification of details for school events. 
  • Share pictures of our beautiful boarders. Some parents can make it to sports events and games and share photos with other families in your child’s boarding house, who cannot make it in person.
  • Arranging parent events, eg Year Twelve parent dinner on Ball night.

The role of the Administrator is to ensure all parents are invited into the group and any new parents are welcomed each year. 

 

To learn more about the Messenger Groups, you may also like to read the group Guidelines here.

 

The Administrator lists for each age group can be found here.

Photos from Home

Please encourage your child to find an image of home that reminds them of home.  We would like to print these on canvases in each of the boarding houses.

 

Mrs Dianne Franzinelli | Administration Officer - Boarding