The Boarding Buzz

Administration News

There is never a dull moment with the Boarding Bus run on the Closed Weekend.  During the return to school on the Eastern run, our bus driver Mr Wayne Freeman and wife Amber came across "The Strange Catman" about 20kms Albany side of Jerramungup.  Wayne drove all the way through to Lake King and on his way back found him once again about 10kms on from his last sighting.  Wayne and Amber stopped for a quick photo and a chat and gave him a donation.

 

Catman visited Great Southern Grammar earlier this term.  He is walking over 5,000kms across Australia solo, with nothing but a wheelbarrow full of supplies and his trademark leopard-print onesie.  With his journey starting in Carnavon in November, as of this week he has already travelled more than 1,800kms.  We wish him well for the rest of his journey.

Changes in REACH Leave

We have recently made some changes in the Leave module of REACH.  The changes include:

 

New Transport Types

  • Travelling with Year Twelve Boarder - for boarders who have permission from their parents/guardians to travel with another boarder on their P-Plates.
  • Driving Private Vehicle - for Year Twelve boarders who have permission to have their vehicles on-site at GSG. (and Year Elevens in Term Four after Year Twelve boarders have finished for the year).  This type of leave must be negotiated with the Head of House.
  • TAFE/WPL Drop Off - for boarders who are doing TAFE or Workplace Learning as part of their Year Eleven or Twelve pathway.  In this instance, the day driver will take boarders to TAFE and/or WPL in the morning.  In the afternoon, boarders must book the WEEKDAY Mon-Fri Bus Returning transport type for pick up by the afternoon bus driver.  
  • School Activity Transport - for boarders travelling to a school activity or excursion on transport provided by the day school.

Shown below is how School Activity Transport may look in a REACH Leave request.  This is an example of a student travelling to Country Week, then going home for the holidays and returning the following term.  

 

There are some other layers to this leave, these are listed in the General Notes box. We have included where a Year Twelve student is travelling back to boarding in their own private vehicle and has their younger sibling travelling with them.  

 

For this example, the notes are very important for communication between staff and families.

If the student was travelling to and from an excursion arranged by the school, then School Activity Transport would be used for both the Leaving and Return Transport types. 

 

Recurring Leave for Sport Training

 

In addition to the New Transport Types, we have also included the removal of the parent approval layer for recurring sport training.  To achieve this, we have split Off Site Sport into two leave types:

  • Off Site Sport TRAINING
  • Off Site Sport GAME

This means that parents/guardians are no longer required to approve leave for regular sport training sessions as they are the same time and location each week. Head of Boarding House will approve the weekly recurring leave to sport training throughout the season, saving families from having to approve the same leave every week.  As the location and time of sport games can vary, we have kept the parent/guardian approval process in place for this type of leave.  

 

So, to recap:

  • For Sport Training - use the Off Site Sport TRAINING leave type, this will be approved by Heads of House.  
  • For Sport Games, use the Off Site Sport GAME leave type, parents/guardians and Heads of House will approve this type of leave.  

We hope this is helpful!

 

Mrs Dianne Franzinelli | Boarding Administration Officer