Boarding News

I had the great opportunity recently to join other boarding leaders from across the country in the virtual boarding wellbeing and leadership conference hosted by the Australian Boarding Schools Association. Following the cancellation of their face-to-face Leaders Conference in August, ABSA provided a virtual jam-packed day full of boarding specific presentations from industry experts focusing on wellbeing, effective leadership and culture.

Key note speakers included:

Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, ABSA Honorary Psychologist

• Managing staff wellbeing during stressful times and factors influencing the boarding community.

Chris Mills

• Leadership that Matters for the Boarding Community

Hayley Hall

• Could Your Boarding House Survive Without You? Being a Leader not a Manager – Working “on” not “in” your boarding house.

Matthew Weston and Hannah Kappelle, Guildford Grammar School

• An age-appropriate, comprehensive pastoral and wellbeing program.

I always enjoy the insights that Dr Michael Carr-Gregg shares when he speaks. Dr Carr-Gregg with a boarding lens focussed on boarding staff wellbeing challenges. This was framework encompassed, physical, mental and spiritual well-being. In particular he zeroed in on the notion of resilience. Dr Carr-Gregg referred to resilience as the human capacity to face, overcome, be strengthened by and even transformed by adversity. Resilience is certainly one of those characteristics that continues to challenge students and staff alike. 

Looking ahead to the end of the week I congratulate our Year 12 boarders who are coming to the end of their masterclasses as they prepare for their external exams as well as celebrate their final house farewells. This is rounded out by our annual Year 12 boarding dinner. A wonderful opportunity to celebrate and reflect on their time at the College. 

I send my best wishes and prayers to all Year 12 boarders and their families as they approach the peak of their Marist journey.

Boarder Parent Network Meeting

On Tuesday night of Week 2, the Boarder Parent Network met for the final time in 2021. I would like to acknowledge Nikki Macqueen for her commitment and wonderful work in her time as Chair of the Boarder Parent Network. Nikki steps away from this vital role in 2021.

Nikki has been involved in the Marist Community since her son Joe started in boarding in Year 7, 2016. Bill Macqueen, her husband, is also a proud Old Boy. Nikki was instrumental in establishing our Boarder Parent Network and has worked with us over the last 2 years to establish a positive and constructive network for our boarding families to participate in. Formalising the process and opening lines of communication between families, the boarding community and the day school. Nikki’s drive and passion will be missed. Her work ethic and love of our College is a great characteristic and we want to thank her for her commitment over the years.

I also extend my thanks to all BPN members who represented their respective residences in 2021, in particular, Annabel Tully (Hermitage), Matt and Fiona Brown (Br Terence) who are stepping aside in their current roles. Thank you also to Nikki Mahony who has worked tirelessly to ensure minutes have been kept throughout the year.

Around the Grounds

La Valla Residence

The highlight of Week 2 was welcoming two La Valla 2022 students to the dorm for an orientation sleepover. They got to experience all of the excitement of the recreation program including, slip and slide cricket, mountain biking, the Eat Street Markets, a pool party with St Margaret's and football golf. Both Year 6 students, Max and Hamish integrated so well into the group took advantage of every opportunity to try something new. It was great to see our boys offering advice and support relating to the ways of the boarding school.  We spent time this week talking about the first few weeks of boarding school and those things that made it easier to adjust to a new way of life. Those boys who had never been in a classroom before or came from tiny rural schools offered a brilliant insight into just how different things were when they arrived at Marist. They have provided some great suggestions that we will look to implement next year as we welcome our new cohort.

Montagne Residence

Week 2 in Montagne will be remembered for recreational activities. The boys had a weekend stacked with activities including the pool which included paddling, swimming and SUP practice on a hot weekend. Kick golf took a little bit of warming up to, but the boys did a really great job getting enthusiastic. Up in the Gym, boys also played Volleyball and Badminton, and all of this happened with a boarding sleepover boy who many of our dorm were looking forward to meeting – Oliver Condon, brother of Jack (Year 12) and Harry (Year 10). Oliver didn’t give much away over the weekend, but by all reports from those around him he seemed to have a great time. He will be a great addition in 2022.

During the week, boys generally did a great job in study and their rooms are looking good. Hopefully, they can stay that way for the rest of the term. It is great to see table tennis continuing to get played in the residence. Technology still dominates most boys past times when they get downtime in the dorm. It is not possible to walk through our residence and not hear Tik Tok clips getting played, snap chats being taken or games being played. Luckily there is much physical activity to counter this each and every week.

Hermitage Residence

At the start of the week, the dorm welcomed back Harry Doyle to the residence. The boys were happy to see Harry and were keen to hear about his break. We also continued to work hard in study with an understanding that the end of year assessment will be on us before we know it! During the week, we went to Main Ash after school on Wednesdays for the first time - it is now occurring every week. Whilst out, a few of the boys went to Woolworths and stocked up on boarder essentials (ie. noodles, chocolates, chips etc.). On Saturday Jack Carlon also returned to the residence and we had recreation activities like the water slide and cricket. We went to Eat Street in the evening on a Rec trip. On Sunday, it was pretty fun as there were heaps of people that came and we had a social with St Margaret at the pool.

Fourviere Residence

The warmer weather has arrived and as the days continue to grow longer, the joyful cries of ‘boarders touch’ can be heard across the ovals after dinner once more. Well and truly back into the swing of things with a full study program beckoning, boys put the finishing touches on their term planners and we welcomed young old boys and new tutors Harry Clarke and Josh Gronbach to the Fourvière tutoring team, the boys are encouraged to take advantage of the wonderful help they have on offer, ready to assist them each night. 

In the sports world, preparations have begun for the Touch and water polo competitions (to be held later this term) and the 2022 Australian Rules, Cricket and Volleyball trials are underway. In their downtime, the Year 10 lads have discovered a new-found love for playing the latest FIFA on the Xbox and the Senior Art Show proved to be something of a ‘dress rehearsal’ for the Year 11 social, as few of the lads donned their finery and took the opportunity to take in some culture as they perused the artworks on display.

Br Terence Residence

The Year 12 boys continued to engage in their Masterclasses as their external exams are getting ever closer. Away from their academic studies, the boys have been busy putting together videos and speeches for the upcoming end of year celebrations, which has served as a welcome distraction from their daily studies. On Sunday, many of our boys participated in a defensive driving course which will no doubt serve them well in the future. Our Year 11 boys were busy trialling for the upcoming Touch Footy carnival and they then took the lead at singing practise on Thursday evening, with Connor Lyons and Sam Miller leading the way. At the end of the week, a number of our boarders attended the Term 3 sports dinner as recognition for their contribution to the College’s sporting program. Congratulations to Darcy Knight for his body of work on show at the MCA Art Show this week! Term 4 is an extremely busy time in Br Terence Residence and as our Year 12 boys embark on their end of year activities, I’m sure that they will continue to set a fine example for their remaining weeks at the College.

Boarding Recreation - Mr Blair Whitlock

The club programme kicked off again in Week 2 with most boys involved in at least one club. A new club this term is boomerang making with Mr McIntosh making the most of the facilities in the technology block. This week the boys used the bandsaws to cut and design their boomerangs and will be fine-tuning over the next couple of weeks.

Friday night was relatively quiet as we welcomed several younger brothers to the dorms for weekend sleepovers. Nathan and the team put out some beautiful barra for tea and then the boys played touch footy until dark. We finished off the night with a couple of rounds of mega tiggy. Well done to Christian Gehle, Leroy Aitken and Isaac McDonnell on their mystery hiding spots.

Saturday was another scorching day as a small group headed over to the Blue Nurses on the bikes. Later that afternoon we tried something a little different with a slip ‘n’ slide baseball/cricket game - a hybrid game of the two sports, we had a bowler and batsmen with three slides set up as bases instead of a usual cricket block. It took the boys a little while to grasp the nuances of the made-up sport but they were right into it nonetheless. The Year 8s just managed to beat the Year 7s and the Year 9-10 game ended up going for almost two hours as the boys didn’t want to stop! It was a great alternative to using the pool which was being used for a water polo tournament throughout the day. Saturday finished with a group of roughly 40 boys heading out to Eat Street. Most of the other boarding schools were there and the boys enjoyed catching up with some mates. Eat Street always serves up a few interesting purchases and this time was no different!

A group of 15 Year 11-12s got up bright and early on Sunday morning for a defensive driving course out in Mt Cotton. The boys had completed several hours of online work in preparation for the course and were looking forward to the practical element. We arrived at 8:00am and the boys were on the go for four hours straight in a wide-ranging course. The boys were briefed on the importance of vehicle maintenance, understanding the limitations of various vehicles before getting into SDT’s fleet of cars. There was a VW Polo, Hyundai i30, Toyota Supra, Mazda BT50 and a Hilux on hand which would reflect many of the boys first cars! They got a chance to drive all of them in various slalom courses. The highlight of the day was undoubtedly giving the ABS brakes a workout on the skid pan as the boys learnt the importance of following distances and understanding how the vehicles worked in dangerous situations.

Back at school, Mr Kuiters had set up a kick golf tournament which kept the young lads busy in the morning. Congrats to the winning teams and Ewan Wood on his hole in one, albeit controversial. The rec programme finished up with a visit from St Margarets for an afternoon swim and ice block in the pool. The boys always enjoy catching up with the girls and getting the paddleboards out for a whirl. The La Valla boys decided building a raft was the order of the day as they floated proudly on their board raft. Another busy weekend in the books!