SAINTS BOARDING 

Boarders of the Week Awards

Congratulations to our Boarders of the Week for Week 7. These students have demonstrated a willingness and a commitment to be positive role models in the boarding community in recent weeks. Well done to the following students:

Juniors – Evangelina Barnes and Zai Laifoo

Seniors – Hera Petrou and Patrick Arnold

Free weekend

Our boarders are enjoying a three-day free weekend as today was a student-free day. It was QCAA Confirmation Day and many of our teachers were involved in this program. Boarders who have not taken leave are involved in a two-day camp at Lake Tinaroo. After a study session this morning the boarders and staff travelled to Genazzano and will return to the College on Sunday afternoon at 3pm. 

 A reminder to families that on free weekends all boarders are expected to be in residence by 8pm on Sunday. Dinner will be served from 6 to 6:30pm . Families, please contact your child's head of residence if they'll be returning to Saints on Monday morning.

AIEF Graduation

Congratulations to our Year 12 AIEF Scholarship students who attended the Graduation ceremony and function in Sydney this week. Most have been on this journey since the start of their schooling at St Augustine’s and St Monica’s. Sincere thanks to AIEF for the wonderful and committed support of our boarders and our two colleges.

Congratulations to Lilly See Kee, Kiarra Billy, Kailang Ware, Xavier-Ray David-Williams and Subita Lui on their graduation.

With over 60 graduates at the function, we heard from Lilly See Kee as she spoke to graduates, staff, sponsors and donors, about her education on the scholarship and the opportunities that she has embraced over the past six years. Well done Lilly on an inspiring speech.

Leave requests 

Recently, students have been submitting numerous late leave requests to attend various events and activities. This can place undue pressure on our heads of residence, transport coordinator and drivers. To ensure a streamlined process that maximises efficiency, below is a summary of the leave procedure that all boarders must follow. This is also in the Boarding Handbook.

At times, heads of residence receive requests to approve time off from the day school. However, our staff cannot approve such requests. A Request for Student Absence form from the day school must be submitted to the College office for approval by the Principal. This should be submitted well in advance of the leave request date.

School holidays

As the holidays approach, I remind families of the finishing dates for both colleges:

            St Monica’s College – final day, Thursday 12 September 

            St Augustine’s College – final day, Friday 13 September

All boarders at St Monica’s are expected to attend the final day of school, and, therefore, the travel day home will be on the Thursday or Friday, depending on ABSTUDY travel arrangements.

St Augustine’s full-time boarders will be permitted a travel day on Friday 13 September to ensure that they can leave the College on the final day. Weekly boarders who travel a short distance must stay until the final bell of the term.

A reminder to families that a Request for Student Absence form must be submitted to the College Principal if there's a valid reason for a student to miss any school days up until the end of term. St Augustine’s boarders don't need to submit this form if they are travelling home on Friday.

Flight itineraries

Families, please forward flight details as soon as possible to your son or daughter's head of residence for the end of Term 3 and the start of Term 4. This will help us coordinate transport. Staff will begin their holidays on 14 September, so please make sure that travel details to Cairns are submitted before 13 September.

Weekend outings

In the past two weekends the boarding community has enjoyed outings to Palm Cove and Babinda Boulders. Students thoroughly enjoyed both activities.