Eclipse House News

Term Three has seen us return, almost to normal boarding life in terms of COVID-19 restrictions. We are still asking the screening questions every morning and the students are getting nearly as sick of answering them as we are getting of asking them, however it is one of those things that we must do in this new COVID world. And we can all agree it is far better to be safe than shut down or be hospitalised.

Sport

This term has also seen a great increase in the amount of organised sport the boys have been participating in.

Year Ten boys have been playing hockey games on Monday nights and training early Friday mornings. The Year Eleven and Twelve boys plus Alexander Norrish have been playing their games on the weekends and training early Thursday mornings. Jacob Featherstone and Mitchell Dolan have also been training Thursday nights, as well as being asked to fill in when other teams are short manned, playing or umpiring extra games at a moments notice.

The footy season is again in full swing with boys playing often multiple games in a day over the weekend and training once or twice a week.

This has been a very welcome return after months, where the future of the sports seasons were unknown.

Academic Support

After school academic support has once again picked up traction and a few of the Eclipse ATAR boys have been staying behind after school to get some help with their assignments.

Mr Josh Carson has also been a great help for them concerning anything to do with Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics. He comes around to the house every Tuesday and Thursday night.

Ms Vanessa Bromhead has also kindly offered to tutor any of the boys in English, English Literature and History. So far a couple of boys have asked for her help with a couple of questions but they haven’t utilised her as much as they could. 

Mr Brendan Goggins has come up to Eclipse a few times during prep to lend a hand to some of the boys with any Science or Biology questions they may have. Then he has stayed a little longer to enjoy watching the footy and chatting with a few of the boys.

Recreation

Last weekend brought in the annual Boarders' Quiz Night. This night was a huge success with the majority of Eclipse in attendance. Boarders from all five of the houses were split into 12 different teams and asked questions referring to topics ranging from music, to celebrities, to farming. The Eclipse boys all got involved and had a great time. Jacob Featherstone was the stand out for getting dressed up in his team colors.

As we are coming out of winter and are returning to beautiful days, we are again looking at possible beach trips for the second half of term.

The fire pit every second Friday continues to burn and is an event looked forward to with anticipation by both the Eclipse boys and the Breaksea girls. We have continued to invite the girls over to join us for dinner, table tennis and a general hang out.

We have already had a couple of fast food runs this term but the boys are eagerly awaiting the next run, scheduled in this coming week. This is always a fun activity and always greatly appreciated by them.

It is hard to fit in weekend recreation activities around organised sporting commitments, but with next weekend’s Paintball on the calendar, the boys are really looking forward to participating. Especially as we are planning it as an Eclipse verse Anchorage event. This should make for a competitive and very fun day out.

Staffing

This term has seen the addition of Miss Lucy Martin to the Eclipse team. Lucy has been working in Eclipse every second Sunday as well as coming in to cover when shifts need filling. She is a very positive person, bringing a great energy into the house. The boys have enjoyed getting to know Miss Martin and look forward to chatting with her when she is in.

Mrs Peta Spinks has continued to come into Eclipse once a week, generally on a Tuesday. The boys always look forward to her shifts as they have known her for years and she is very caring. It might also help that she treats them to waffles and ice cream for supper whenever she is on.

Miss Mikayla de Nobrega is still working across both Breaksea and Eclipse on the weekends. Miss de Nobrega is always happy to get involved with house activities and will often pop around to hang out with the boys and play some table tennis even on her evenings off.

Mr Dihan Pienaar and myself work the remainder of the shifts in the house, sharing the load and working as a team to organise the boys for school, their sporting commitments and leave.

There are a range of events and activities we can look forward to through the rest of term Three and Term Four as we start to look at winding the year up and saying goodbye to our Year Twelve students. It has been a very big year for them and they have all done amazingly well at handling themselves through it all. I look forward to being able to support them through their last remaining weeks and end the year on a high. 

As always, feel free to call or email me to discuss your son or any upcoming events, on 0448 125 919 or at brenton.rice@gsg.wa.edu.au

Mr Brenton Rice | Head of Eclipse House