SAINTS BOARDING 

The boarders are to be commended on the way they have settled into the new school year. Routines are well established, study is focused, and the boarding family has a settled and welcoming feel. Much of the early homesickness seems to have subsided and the busyness of life at St Augustine’s boarding has been embraced.

The boarding community has had a busy fortnight. We have welcomed 44 new boarders: 22 Year 7s and 22 from other year levels. It is pleasing to see our residences at near capacity and the boarders enjoying daily life.

Tutorial program kicks off for 2025

Still uncertain about what you did in Maths today? Any boarder asked this question and who answered yes knows help is available. They just need to ask one of the many tutors available during study for clarification. We are fortunate to have a wonderful team of teachers, undergraduate students and Old Boys who assist our boarders during study. The aim is to help their academic progress. Our tutoring program operates on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights.

Sunday night Mass

Excluding free and exeat weekends, the boarding community celebrates Sunday night Mass or a liturgy in the chapel at 7pm. This is a compulsory event for our boarders. Therefore, we ask that they return to the College on Sunday night by 5.45pm, to be present for roll call and dinner at 6:10pm.

Important forms

At the start of December we sent out, with the boarding family packs, forms required for students to return in 2025. Included were the Mobile and Technology Agreement form, Extra-Curricular Activities form, Medical Consent form to Administer Medication and the Upward Life Medical Practice Consent and Information form. All boarders must submit these forms for us to keep on file. The Extra-Curricular form is only submitted if boarders want to be involved in external activities. If Extra-Curricular and Upward Life forms are not returned, boarders cannot commence these activities as parents or carers need to agree to the request that their sons or daughters have submitted.

Please return these forms as a priority; many thanks to those families who have already done so. 

Free and exeat weekends and leave requests

Our first free weekend for boarders is at the end of next week, 15 and 16 February. This allows full-time boarders to request leave to stay with family or friends for the weekend. Boarding is still open on such weekends, and usually up to 70 boarders stay in residence. We ask that boarders generally request leave only on free and exeat weekends, and they are expected to stay in boarding on normal weekends. If a student has a valid reason to request leave on a normal weekend, they should submit a leave request to their head of residence ASAP.

March 1 and 2 is the exeat weekend for boarding. Monday 3 March is a student-free day for St Augustine’s, but not for St Monica’s. Therefore, girls are expected to return to boarding on the Sunday night. If girls are travelling back on the Monday, a Request for Leave form must be submitted to St Monica’s well beforehand. The girls boarding residences will reopen on Sunday 2 March at 4pm. The boys residences will reopen on the Monday at 4pm.

To clarify, on exeat weekends all boarders must leave for the weekend. Residences are closed from 4:30pm on the day of departure and don't reopen until the specified return day. Weekend leave requests must be entered in REACH by 7pm on the Tuesday before leave is needed. On normal weekends the cut off is Wednesday at 7pm. Boarders are responsible for submitting leave requests on time and parents or carers must approve them. 

The College supports boarders visiting their families while in town, and staff will always work with families to ensure that quality time can be had during these visits. We do ask, however, that leave requests are made well before Friday of the weekend of your visit, as  weekend programs, which take into account catering needs, have been organised by then.

REACH & Facebook

Thank you to the parents, carers and boarders who have navigated the REACH program when applying for leave over the past two weeks. If you have any concerns about accessing the program, please call or email me or contact your child's head of residence. Also, a reminder about the St Augustine’s Boarding Facebook page. If you wish to join, please follow the link. 

Country visits and dinners

In 2025 we look forward to resuming our visits to prominent places where our families live. The first visit this term will be to the Tablelands to enjoy a dinner with our families from there. We look forward to visiting Weipa and Groote Eylandt in Term 2 as well. Information will be distributed to families closer to the dates.

Saturday outings

We look forward to our outings program in 2025. Each weekend, boarders will venture off to a variety of places on Saturdays and enjoy the day together. This Saturday, weather permitting, we're heading to Port Douglas. We will also be offering a boarders camp in Semesters 1 and 2.