Boarding News

Dear Boarding Parents and Guardians,

I hope your family enjoyed the long weekend. It was nice for a good number of our boarders to be able to travel home or go out with family or friends for a few days. Term 2 is certainly gaining momentum, and this mini-break will come in handy as the boys start to get busier.

We are also noticing the weather getting cooler here in Brisbane, and we can expect the usual increase in colds and flu this term. Other schools let us know over the long weekend that they've had a significant number of boarders test positive for COVID-19. We will be reminding the boys of the importance of hygiene, sleep, and diet in order to stay well and would be grateful if families could do likewise when speaking with your son. Just a reminder that boys who test positive for COVID-19 will be isolated until they are symptom-free and then will be expected to wear a mask for one week after being allowed to return to school.

Marist Ashgrove travelled to Goondiwindi to support the local show last weekend. It was also a great opportunity to engage with our boarding families (past, present, and future) whilst in the region. We supported the Show with an art and music clinic for children, which was a great success. Many thanks to our team of staff and Year 11 and 12 students who woke at 3:30am last Friday morning to drive out for these clinics. Local families and school groups loved what we were offering, and it showcased the wonderful Arts programme we have at the College.

Our new Marist Boarding supporter shirts will be available for purchase through the uniform shop from this week. These work shirts are perfect for boarding parents to wear when coming to Marist to watch sport, and the boarders will like wearing them when they are relaxing at school and at home on the holidays. The easiest way to purchase these supporter shirts is via the uniform shop's website. One of the best parts is that a portion of the sale price of every shirt is being kept aside so that the boys can make a donation to a charity of their choice. Many thanks to one of our boarding parents, Lisa Kennedy from Abrahams Drapery in Miles, for suggesting this idea and helping to make it happen.

I hope everyone has a great week, and I look forward to seeing many of you at various events throughout this term.

Boarding Recreation - Mr Blair Whitlock

It was a quiet weekend on the recreation front, with many boys making the most of the long weekend and heading out on leave. On Friday night, we headed down to Suncorp Stadium for the Broncos vs Rabbitohs match. There is a large and very vocal Rabbitohs fan base in the dorms, led by our Head of Students and Br Terence Supervisor, Peter Serone. After a competitive start, the South Sydney side slowly took over to the delight of our Bunnies contingent. It was a long and punishing second half as a Latrell Mitchell double-rubbed some real salt in the wounds!

Saturday saw round one of the AIC sports competition, with the majority of our boys lacing up against Villanova College. There were varied results throughout the day, which ended with defeats for both our 1st XI and 1st XV premier teams. Hopefully, we can get back on track next week against local rivals, Padua College. It was a long day out at Villanova, and many boys chose to park up on the couch with a pizza and watch the footy on Saturday night.

With many boys out on leave, we decided to postpone the planned beach trip to a later date and headed up to Chermside Mall instead. It was nice to see the Clayfield and St Margarets boarders there, and the boys stocked up on supplies. Monday was another relaxed day, with plenty of dorms choosing to have a sleep-in and catch up on some extra study and schoolwork. We look forward to another busy week ahead!