The Boarding Buzz

From the Head of Boarding

Welcome to Term Two, which means in our boarding community that it's "Grow Time in the Great Southern Region". As a farmer once told me "Rain Equals Grain" a familiar catch cry after our driest recorded session in WA is finally broken. As our farming families are busy seeding, we have taken on that theme in Boarding at GSG and have planted a few seeds ourselves when it comes to our academic prep. A good crop needs a variety of factors and opportunities for maximum yield later in the year. These could include a variety of choice and a variety of management, which include factors such as rotation, grain variety choice, weed control and nutrition. If you get this balance right, high chances are you will be rewarded at the end of the year when you harvest. We have adopted a similar analogy for our study or prep program in boarding.  

 

Feedback from parents asked us to provide a more structured prep of an evening.  The Principal and I met last term and talked about how we deliver prep in boarding across the four houses. We have both seen other models around Australia and how they can be very successful. From this meeting, I have met with our Head of Library Services, Ms Elinor Couper and discussed strategies for maximising our study time by using the Library as a purpose-built learning environment for our Junior boarders. We were both clear on not creating a lesson atmosphere but rather a learning environment to study in for our Junior boarders. The library has carpet and high ceilings, so that helps with muffling noise. We have developed zones to support boarders with break-out rooms for those who would like quiet study time or active group work. Over the two weeks we have run this model, it has been great to see the girls and boys joining each other to work on class assessments. Those who didn’t have any study did some reading out loud to staff or are reading silently in the corners. We have more staff supporting our boarders in this learning environment. 

 

I started last week by giving a quick overview of resources that are available on the MyGSG home page, under Library Information. This included:

  • Study Skills
  • A Learners' Tool Kit
  • Year group specific resources from subject areas

From my library meeting, I then presented to our Heads of Learning Areas after school to discuss a timetable which has a variety of academic staff supporting our boarders of an evening and how we can measure improvement. I was pleased to receive emails about wanting to work with our boarders the next day after this meeting from our staff at GSG. With the Heads of Learning Areas on board I have put together a roster of academic staff to support this program. I am grateful for the support of our Principal in ensuring our academic staff are available to support boarding prep. We can now have subject-specific staff support our program each of the four evenings in both Junior and Senior prep.

 

The library prep for Anchorage and Endeavour House is four days a week, Monday to Thursday from 6.30pm to 7.30pm (with the option of staying longer). We say to our boarders that you are here to learn and for us learning starts on Sunday night (after the Sunday session boarders have half prep in house to get ready for the school week) and ends on Thursday night.

 

In Eclipse and Breaksea Houses we have changed the prep times on Monday to Thursday from 7.00pm to 9.00pm allowing two hours to study or revise. We are mindful of downtime in boarding and are challenged during Terms Two and Three due to the heavy sport loads on some of our boarders to keep this balance. Some of our boarding students are out three times a week with sports commitments. We manage them by ensuring they have the opportunity to study when they return before relaxing and then starting their evening routine.

 

"Recently we have been doing prep in the school library and I have really enjoyed it. Some of the positives are that you get to collaborate with your peers and there are a lot of supervisors that can help, if you need, which I really appreciate. The library has very flexible seating so you can sit on bean bags, at a normal desk or on the higher chairs and most of the tables you can write on the table with white board markers. Having teachers come in will be very helpful especially during testing times. Sometimes it gets really loud in the library if everyone is talking, but overall, I think it's working pretty well." 

Reflection from Lucy Bailey, Year Nine.

 

So, the analogy of a good crop has been firmly planted in our boarding prep program and like farming, we will continue to nurture and support this growth mindset until it's time to harvest.

National Boarding Week

We are celebrating National Boarding Week from Sunday 12 to Saturday 19 May.

 

The theme this year is What makes boarding tick?

 

Each day we are celebrating with the boarders a different focus. They are:

 

Field Day - Wednesday15 May (Week Five) 

Please remember that Wednesday 15 May is our Field Day – the school is dressing as farmers and bringing in gold coin donations to support our charity, The Darcy Effect. This is what is on offer:

  • John Deere machinery (tractors) 
  • McIntosh and Sons Machinery (more tractors) 
  • The Darcy Effect stand (students to support Kate Mitchell) 
  • Petting farm for the (Primary School students) 
  • Coffee stand from Cert IV GSG students (Teresa McAllister)  
  • Lambs on the spit, supplied by Boarding families (we do need one more if any families can help out) 

Chapel

We are reintroducing chapel into our boarding program twice a term post-COVID-19 lockdowns.  The culture of the School is underpinned by a Christian ethos and the values of respect, integrity, compassion and commitment and we feel this is a good time to bring it back for our boarders.  This is a time to be still and silently reflect upon the messages.

 

Mr Ashley Keatch | Head of Boarding