Boarding News

To all our new boarding parents, I extend a warm welcome to KWS Boarding and I hope that you will enjoy your time as part of our flourishing community; and to all our returning parents, I welcome you back, and hope that you enjoyed a wonderful holiday break with your families.

The 2021 boarding year has started off very positively with students settling into routines and all aspects of school life. The Boarding Staff have been working hard to ensure all boarders enjoy their experience, and the boarders have enjoyed a number of great activities over the month, many of which have been documented in photos on the KWS Boarding Instagram page (@kws_boarding).

While we have been plagued (or blessed) by some wet weather on weekends, we have managed to have some great outdoor activities including excursions to Lake Canobolas, gold panning and fishing at Ophir, outdoor team games, pool parties and BBQs.  Some boarders have also participated in movie nights, ten pin bowling, special Valentines suppers, and board game and table tennis competitions. It has been great to see the boarders embracing these opportunities and using them to get to know each other and establish new friendships.

We have welcomed eight new staff members to the Boarding Staff team this term and they are all enjoying getting to know the boarders in their care. 

• Lee Taylor (PDHPE and Head of Indigenous Education) and Isaac Scott have joined Tower House.  
• Ex-student and former Wolaroi House Captain Ben Watt (class 2014) has joined the Trathen House Staff. 
• Adam Harrison (Rowing and PDHPE) will arrive in in Term 2 and he will commence in Weymouth House. In the meantime, Luke Nobes will be working in Weymouth House During Term 1. 
• Wolaroi House has welcomed former Heads of Boarding Houses, Jason Smith (Head of Blackman and HSIE) and Trent Chapman (Head of McLachlan and ICT) to the house. With more than 20 years of boarding experience collectively, their return to the boarding community will be invaluable. 
• Loader House has welcomed Natasha Terry-Armstrong (Head of HSIE) to the boarding staff. 
• Jody Haydon (Head of Agriculture and TREE Project Officer) has joined the staff in Stuart Douglas House, and will provide valuable support for our new Year 7 girl boarders. 

There is an increasing dialogue in schools, workplaces, governments etc on the importance of empathy. Empathy is what sets us apart from machines and even from many other animals. It’s what enables us to relate to other people and their experience.  It’s what empowers us to understand them and it’s what makes us compassionate. Empathy however is not innate — it is learnt and Boarding is a unique platform to develop the life skill of empathy. Whether it is navigating the challenges of shared living, appreciating the diversity of others you live with or supporting someone in times of need. Empathy is essential to building healthy and happy relationships with family and friends and to doing well at work (and for kids, in school). It makes sense, if you had a choice between working with someone who is kind, considerate, and respectful or someone who has no regard for your thoughts or feelings, who would you choose? We continue to have conversation with our students regarding the idea of empathy and provide regular opportunities for them to reflect and ‘put themselves in other’s shoes’. These can be within our school community or beyond but most importantly we strive to provide a holistic boarding experience where our students consider others before themselves. Theodore Roosevelt said, “Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.” 

The School is currently conducting an extensive recruitment process for the Head of Girls’ Boarding position and parents will be kept updated when news becomes available.  In the meantime, parents who have any issues regarding their children can firstly contact their Head of House, or me, preferably via email at abegg@kws.nsw.edu.au