The Boarding Buzz

From the Head of Boarding

Welcome to the second half of Term Three. I have just returned from the International Boarding Forum in Canberra. This was run by ABSA and it was a chance for all Heads of Boarding to meet from around Australia, New Zealand and Singapore to discuss the topic 'What's Burning in Boarding?'. 

 

This year we had guest speakers:

  • Dr Chris Thurber an award-winning writer, psychologist and leader in helping adults care for kids.
  • Kelly Britnell from the eSafety commission of Australia who leads a talented team supporting eSafety awareness and capabilities initiatives.
  • Madonna King another award-winning journalist and author of 13 books including "Being 14" shortlisted as the non-fiction book of the year. She has interviewed thousands of students, along with school principals, councillors, psychologists, teachers, parenting experts and academics and spends time on schools working with students and their parent communities.
  • Avery Mann who I got to know during the evening function is CEO and founder "Safety of Students 360" he works alongside Boarding School Leaders internationally, supporting staff members to maintain healthy boundaries. 

The conference gave some interesting insights into what our kids are facing online. We were shown lots of data and facts like strategies to keep users online longer by using notifications to keep you coming back, recommendations tailored to your interests, connection with friends to keep you watching longer and easy to create content to keep you watching. I have provided a link to the esafety webpage which Kelly Britnell was keen for all boarding parents to be aware of. There are great webinars and pull-down menus for parents. Online safety | eSafety Commissioner

I have been out and about with Lisa and as we travelled between Perth and Bremer Bay it is an amazing time of year to see the fields in vibrant yellow and green colours. It looks like more canola was put in the ground this year!

See you at the Newdegate Machinery Field Days.

 

Mr Ashley Keatch | Head of Boarding