Boarding News

Dear Boarding  Families,

Last Saturday, Marist Boarding was invited to assist the Dalby Wheatmen Rugby Club with the biggest day on their calendar – Jelly Baby Day. This annual event raises awareness and funds for juvenile diabetes research. Two of our teachers who work in boarding, Anthony Graham and Michael Jones hit the road and did a fantastic job of coaching some Walla Rugby with the younger boys and girls and engaging with juniors, parents and club supporters with our massive inflatable Marist pass the ball display. Our relationships with community organisations in regional areas continues to be a focus and we were delighted to help out The Wheatmen on such a big day for the club.

This coming weekend, we are looking forward to hosting the Boarding Family Function under the big tent adjacent to McMahon Oval. All boarding families are warmly invited to come in after the 1st XV match has finished to share in a relaxed, casual event. It offers a great opportunity to meet your son’s boarding mates and their families over a quiet drink and some warm hospitality. I often hear from parents that they wish they knew more of their son’s friends, so be sure to drop into the boarding tent this Saturday afternoon. You don’t need to have submitted an RSVP – all boarding families are welcome!

At the start of next week, I will be heading to St George in western Queensland with the Head of College, Mr Newman to attend the state conference of the Isolated Children’s Parents Association (ICPA). This peak lobby group works hard to ensure an equal opportunity at an education for children who live in rural and remote areas. Many of our past and present boarding students have benefited from the advocacy of the ICPA. The association is made up of hundreds of members who are all parents of children who’ve grown up in these isolated parts of our state. As a school, we support the great work of the ICPA by attending both their state and national conference each year.

Boarding Recreation

Mr Blair Whitlock - Boarding Recreation Officer

On Friday night we headed over to the fancy recliner seats at the Titan Luxe in Reading Cinemas Newmarket for the newest Mission Impossible movie. It was a whopping two-and-a-half-hour film and the recliner seats were an absolute prize as the boys had an extremely relaxing Friday evening ahead of a big day of sport down at Runcorn.

The Hive was out in force on Saturday as the 1st XV stormed home with a dominant 2nd half to beat St Laurence’s College and remain undefeated heading into Super Saturday. It had been a long day out at the sport which led to a quiet evening in the dorm with some of the boys heading up to the gym for games before settling in for the evening.

On Sunday we loaded the College vehicles and headed down to Movieworld which is always a favourite activity for many of the boarders! We were the first group through the gates and the boys raced off to the front of the Green Lantern and Superman rides to kickstart the day. It was some of the boy's first time on the big rides with reactions ranging from the cool, calm and collected type, the silent eyes shut type and several of the high-pitched squealing types! We pulled up stumps around 2:45pm and headed back to Brisbane for Sunday Mass.

This Wednesday will see the first instalment of the Staff vs Students series in the form of a Volleyball match. This is always a highlight through the year and fosters plenty of friendly competition throughout the dorms! The Year 12s are determined to right the wrongs of the class of 2024 who went down 5-0 to a talented and experienced staff unit. The schedule for this years competition is as follows:

Term 2 – Football (Soccer) and Volleyball

Term 3 – Basketball & Touch Football

Term 4 – Cricket

Best of luck to both sides as they look to start the series on a positive note.