Boarding News

During Boarding Sunday Mass, Fr Tini reflected during his homily upon the notion of ‘best choice, what choice and that ultimately we are responsible for our own decision making’. This led me to reflect further upon the qualities that we here at Marist look to instil in our boys.

The Characteristics of a Marist Education (Love of Work, Simplicity, In the way of Mary, Presence and Family Spirit) should pervade everything we do and these characteristics are reflected in our dealings with all members of our Marist community. These characteristics are not just words but actually “signposts” on how people can live their life. We are here to do what Marcellin was called to do: “Making Jesus known and loved.”

Below are these characteristics of a Marist Education and a brief explanation about what they mean to our community.

1. Presence

• We care for students
• We know each one individually
• We are attentive and welcoming
• We earn trust, we foster openness

2. Simplicity

• We are genuine and straightforward
• We say what we believe and show it
• We are honest before God and ourselves
• We seek humility and modesty, ‘to do good quietly’
• We use simplicity in our teaching
• We encourage simplicity as a value in our lives, not seduced by possessions and fame

3. Family Spirit

• We relate to each other and to young people in our care as the members of a loving family We undertake to build community
• We offer a warmth of welcome, acceptance and belonging
• We share life’s successes and failures
• We set clear standards of honesty, mutual respect and tolerance
• We believe in each student’s innate goodness, not confusing the person with their actions We give preferential attention to those whose needs are greatest
• We encourage leadership based on collaboration and shared responsibility

4. Love of Work

• We are people of work, ready to ‘roll up our sleeves’
• We work with total confidence in God
• We are generous of heart, constant and persevering in our daily work
• We prepare classes, being visionary and decisive in meeting the needs of our students
• We encourage our students to discover the dignity of work, a source of self-fulfilment
• We view work as a way to bring purpose and meaning to life
• We seek to develop strong character and resilience, balanced moral conscience and solid values
• We foster motivation and teamwork

5.  In the Way of Mary

• We see Mary as a perfect model of the Marist educator – as an exemplar of the Christian life, as mother, as one who praised God
• We see Mary as a woman on a journey of Faith
• We believe Mary had a difficult life and ‘dust on her feet’

We consciously bring a Marial dimension to our teaching by prayer, imitating Mary’s tenderness, strength and constancy of faith. I firmly believe that there is something quite special about being “Marist”.

As we enter the pointy end of Term 3 I continue to encourage boys to remain focused with their academic pursuits and engage the support they need from the networks around them.

ABSA Photo Competition

MCA Boarding has entered the ABSA (Australian Boarding School Association) Boarding School Facebook Cover Photo Competition. The competition is simple - the photo with the most likes in two weeks wins, and that photo will be the ABSA FB Cover Photo for 6 months! Please share with family and friends. Jump over to Australian Boarding Schools Association and be sure to give our photo a like or two!

https://www.facebook.com/239321523975/posts/10161091498098976/?d=n

Around the Grounds

La Valla Residence

This week has seen us return to a sense of normality in La Valla. We have all really enjoyed being back together as one group again and whilst it is certainly much noisier with a full dorm there is always something to do and someone to talk to!

Many of the boys have taken advantage of tutoring offered within the day school and during the evenings to catch up on work. The students acknowledged that they definitely found online learning more difficult than being in the classroom and we did have some catching up to do as a result. The highlight of the week was the weekend recreation and sport. We are so very grateful to the families of our day students who help us with the transportation of our boarders to the games around the city. We are learning the importance of being on time and organised so that we do not let our teammates down, but for some, the shock of the early start was a little difficult to manage!

The trip to the beach was brilliant! Whilst the boys were a little apprehensive about being on a bus for so long it was all worth it to see the joy on their faces as they swam in the surf. With so many laughs and opportunities to get to know boarders from the other year levels, it felt like life had returned to 'normal'!

Montagne Residence

Things have started to return to a somewhat normal state with the external tutoring company A Team coming back on site as of Week 6. The boys have wasted no time in utilising their services with glowing reports coming out of these study sessions. The assessment period has ramped up with English and RE drafts now submitted, returned and Business exams completed. The upcoming week shows no signs of slowing down on this front. We are still missing Lachlan McMillan from our residence due to lockdown. Hopefully, we see him back on deck soon!

Sport came back on the weekend with many boys playing Basketball, Rugby League or Tennis over the weekend to mixed results. Sean Green had to take the weekend off after a mishap on the oval on Wednesday. Not great when your finger faces the wrong way. Mr Whitlock has done a cracking job with the recreation of late with many of the boys really looking forward to last weekend’s activities. Br Terence hosted the Montagne boys on Friday night for their BBQ and this was followed by spotlight in the yard. To round off the weekend, the beach trip up the coast was a huge hit with boys exhausted on Sunday evening. Our photo wall is coming along really well. Please send through any pictures of your son with his family that can go on this wall. It is filling up nicely!

Hermitage Residence

This week saw a settling period for our residents with all boys returning to the dorm after a hectic couple of weeks. The boys have done an excellent job settling back into 'normal' dorm routines and have welcomed being back in their home away from home in Hermitage. The week also saw the return of A-Team tutoring, which couldn’t have come at a better time with a busy assessment period just around the corner. The boys have been working well in study and are showing improvements in working habits. The boys will need to keep this level of application to study up for the remainder of the term to ensure they enjoy the best result possible.

This week also saw the continuation of the GoKart Club lead by Mr Devoy. Lachlan Manning, Harry Doyle, Dan Goddard, James Davies and Marcus Paulsen are all involved with this program. This week, Mr Devoy led the boys through the upcoming events and several safety considerations when participating. GoKart Club is an excellent opportunity for our boys to get involved and learn about the ins and outs of motor racing as well as the importance of teamwork. I look forward to seeing the boys compete and will enjoy reporting on their involvement.

Another Rec activity that has gained popularity is Basketball with several boys making their way up to the outdoor basketball courts after school to shoot some hoops. This could be attributed to the current AIC basketball season and the success of the Aussie Boomers at the Tokyo Olympics. This week, Alex McNamara, Matt Peng, Kyran Bryant, Nathan Lam and Jack Carlon all spent some time on the courts.

The week was rounded off with an impressive performance from the Year 9 Rugby League team. Hermitage was well represented with Ryan Johnson, Lachy Manning, Jimmy Davies and Dan Goddard all involved in a comprehensive win over Padua, 28-4. This match was touted as the game of the season for our boys with Padua taking the spoils early in the year in the Rugby Union. Luckily, our boys restored the bragging rights for Ashgrove on home soil.

The week also saw Lachy Manning celebrate his 15th Birthday!

Fourviere Residence

A big thank you to Archie Ryan who has provided the Around the Grounds for Fourviere this week. Enjoy: 

The beginning of Week 6 turned a fresh page for the boys, with sport coming back and assignments in full swing, everyone is keen. The looming assignments created a heavy cloud over the dorm, with dorm champion and future dux Alex Masel reigning supreme, academic accolades in hand, illuminating the academic path for John Murphy, Frank Baker and Archie Ryan to follow in his footsteps.

When the weight of pending assessment was lifted, the boys revelled in the opportunity to train for this weekend’s sporting fixtures against Padua. Despite, their best efforts on the training paddock, the 1st XIII League, 1st V Basketball and 1st IV Tennis teams all fought admirably only to be defeated by Padua. The Year 10’s League match turned out to be a thrilling encounter, with a number of our injured Fourviere stars watching on from the sidelines. The will to win was commendable as they levelled the scores in the dying moments. It was up to our resident DJ and sideline speedster Zanye West to attempt a conversion from the sideline to win the match. The kick was struck beautifully but narrowly missed resulting in a heartbreaking draw. The weekend was not without a taste of victory though as Fourviere men, Dan Witt and Chastyn Creek starred in the victory for the 2nd XIII League side and Year 10 tennis extraordinaire, John Murphy also won his matches. The easing of Covid restrictions was popular within the dorm and many boys took up the opportunity to head up to Ash for the first time off-campus in some weeks. We also enjoyed the company of Year 10 day boy Lucius Jeynes who stayed for a weekend sleepover. Sunday mass with the whole boarding school round out the weekend, as a meal together and Father’s homily and gospel bringing some food for thought.

Br Terence Residence

It was evident this week that many of the boys have a number of assignment due dates and exams that are looming. Leon Simonetti and Mike Cao continue to set an extremely high standard to the rest of the dorm with their commitment to their studies. Towards the end of the week, our Year 12 boys opted for a Hawaiian theme for the Free Dress day to raise awareness for the environment. As usual, the boys went to great lengths to look their best on the day.

The end of the week also saw the return of AIC sport and Ash Leave. Most boys enjoyed being able to get off campus and also to join the Hive to support the 1st XIII rugby league team who played Padua College. The boys were vocal with their support of a number of Br Terence residence members who were on-field participants in the match. Off the field, James Thompson constructed a banner for the team to run through while Sam Schmidhauser and Patrick Mahony occupied the commentary box for the day to provide their insights on the matches. With a few changes in restrictions, it was pleasing to see the boys enjoy the additional freedoms after a challenging few weeks. Finally, to conclude the week, we welcomed Finn and Jack Thorpe into the boarding community.

Boarding Recreation - Mr Blair Whitlock

It was great to finally have the goalposts move in our favour this week as easing COVID restrictions allowed the AIC sport competitions to restart. Having sport back on the agenda gave the weekend a sense of normality with boys heading all over Brisbane for games of basketball, tennis and rugby league.

There was plenty happening on Friday night with several Touch Footy games taking place across the school. The Montagne boys joined the Year 12’s for another BBQ and we finished off with a couple of rounds of Spotlight in the yard. It’s always good fun playing games around the grounds and there were several very creative hiding spots!

Saturday morning was full of sport as the boys headed out to compete against Padua College teams. The Hive gathered on the McMahon grandstand at midday to support the Rugby League 1st XIII who took on Padua in a back and forth game. The boys really enjoyed watching the first Rugby League home game of the season. After coming back from a 20-10 deficit the boys were unfortunate to concede a last-minute try as Padua ran out 26-20 winners. After lunch, we headed out on the bikes to the Blue Nurses for an hour or so before opening up the College pool. It’s certainly started to feel warmer over the last few weeks and the pool has been very popular. We’ve also made big improvements in how long it takes to put the covers back on! Putting nine Olympic sized covers back on is no small task and we’re down to roughly 20 minutes now. We finished Saturday off with some optional games in the gym for those that still had any energy left. Most opted to chill out in the dorms with a Pizza.

On Sunday, we had our first offsite Recreation trip of the term, with a beach trip to Mooloolaba. It was a perfect day and the boys loved to get out in the ocean. Boogie boarding, touch footy, volleyball and digging human-sized holes made 3 ½ hours pass in a flash. The only downer was getting smashed with traffic on the way home! All in all, it was a great weekend with sport and offsite Rec back on the cards!