Boarding News

Last weekend, our boarders enjoyed a fantastic lineup of recreational activities. The weekend kicked off with an exciting ice skating session on Friday night, followed by a pool party with the Stuartholme boarders on Saturday. The highlight of the weekend was a day trip to Mooloolaba Beach, where the boys had a chance to relax and enjoy the sunshine and the surf. A special mention goes to the generous group of day families who brought back the much-loved Friday afternoon tea for the boarders. This tradition was met with great appreciation and added a warm, homely touch to the weekend. We are grateful to everyone who helped make these events such a success and look forward to more busy and enjoyable weekends ahead.

We are excited to announce that the first of our boarding regional trips is just around the corner, with Marist attending the Chinchilla Melon Festival! Our students will be taking part in many of the festival’s major events, including the iconic Melon Weigh-In, the Friday night Rodeo, the Melon Skiing competition, the colourful Street Parade and the Family Concert. In addition to the festival, we have established a new partnership between Marist College Ashgrove and the Chinchilla Junior Bulldogs Rugby League Club. As part of this, we will be hosting a Rugby League Coaching Clinic on Sunday morning for the local junior players. Our students will have the opportunity to pass on their skills and knowledge to the next generation of rugby league players. Furthermore, a Marist team will be participating in an exhibition match against the Chinchilla Junior Bulldogs which everyone is looking forward to. We are confident that this will add to the festive atmosphere in Chinchilla and create lasting memories for all involved. It promises to be an action-packed few days and we look forward to seeing our students engage with the local community at this event. Stay tuned for more updates and highlights from our trip!

Les and Kim in our school laundry have asked me to pass on that there are many items of clothing going through the wash without having a name on them. Obviously, these items are at risk of not being returned to their owner and this is costly and unnecessary. A reminder to clearly name all of your son’s clothing and include his laundry number.

And finally, a reminder from our Health Centre that they have organised Tooth Dental to provide a special mouthguard fitting service for Marist boarders which will take place on Friday 21 February. Over 50 boarders are already booked in and should you wish to take advantage of this great service, please contact our Health Centre very soon to book in.

Boarding Recreation

Mr Blair Whitlock

Friday kicked off with an amazing boarders' arvo feast which is provided by a very generous group of Marist parents that bring snacks and treats for the boarders every second Friday. There are around 100 parents in the group and we are grateful to Tanya Roberts for organising these! An hour in the pool and weights room took the sting out of most boys as a group of 20 headed over the river to Iceworld in Acacia Ridge. Ice skating is a favourite for many of the younger boarders and it was great to see a group of Year 11 boarders in attendance, many of whom have been coming on these trips since they were in Year 7!

Saturday was a hot one with the boarders heading all over Brisbane for their games of cricket and volleyball. We did our second Top Ups session of the term with a group of boys not playing AIC sport. It’s a great way to get these boys out of the dorm on a Saturday morning and keep their fitness levels ticking over when they aren’t actively involved in a sport. On Saturday night we welcomed a group of boarders from Stuartholme for a pool party and ice cream. It was great to see the boys socialising and many new friends being made. No doubt we’ll be catching up with the boarders from Stuartholme and several other schools in the coming weeks.

The La Valla and Montagne boarders were up bright and early on Sunday to take part in the Ashgrove Junior Park Run down on the flats. It’s a 2km run that gets a great turnout from the local Ashgrove community with over 400 people running this week! Well done to Quinn Smith who was our quickest boarder on the day and came an impressive 6th in the whole field! After a good brekkie, we loaded up the buses and headed up to Mooloolaba for our first beach trip of the year. It was a cracking day and great to see so many of our boys making the most of the rec opportunities with 90+ in attendance. A few hours at the beach was more than enough to burn through any remaining energy after a big weekend of sport and recreation.