🛌🏻Cebula Boarding

Boarding News

Dear Boarding Parents and Guardians,

Welcome to Term 3 

The boys returned refreshed from a well-deserved break, and it was great listening to their holiday stories. It's always so heartening to hear parents say that the boys were keen to return to boarding!  We welcomed four new boarders to our Cebula Community, and I'm delighted with how well they have all settled. It's no easy feat to start boarding life mid-year, but Karim, Luke, Peter and Obadiah have been champions at transitioning so well and in such a short time. They’ve been buddied by some of our current boarders who have done a great job in ensuring the first two weeks have run so smoothly for our new arrivals.

This year,  the College launched a brand-new initiative with our Year 10 Boarders. Throughout the year, each student has had the opportunity to give back to their local towns and communities by identifying a project or initiative to make a positive difference, funded by the College up to the value of $1,000. Fr Michael Twigg, who identified the enormous value of such a project, has met with the boys and has been liaising with them, their families and their community.

I had the absolute pleasure of being present in Wongan Hills when the first of the projects reached fruition recently to support Ben A as he launched his completed project, providing new sports bags to the Nippers football team, playing in the junior division of the Wongan-Ballidu Football Club. Fr Michael Twigg and I watched the Nippers play a home game and helped Ben present the sports bags to the players.  This was a positive experience for Ben as the sports bags were received with smiles all round and many thanks.

This initiative is a Mazenod College project of standing with, and alongside, our rural communities and looks to provide our boys with Moments of Grace and significance. This was the first such boarding initiative of local town support ever to occur in Australia, and we are very proud to partner with our Year 10 boarders to help bring their projects to life. I'm certainly looking forward to attending many more project launches in the future.

Last week, along with Fr Michael, I had the pleasure of visiting our current boarding families in Port Hedland. We had a lovely catch-up at the Esplanade Hotel and were joined by past and prospective families too. The visit also allowed us to speak with students and staff at St Cecilia’s Primary School. In the coming weeks, I hope to visit Karratha and the Beverley/Brookton region and meet with our extended Cebula community.

NAIDOC week celebrations have been well supported by the boys this week, and I have been very proud of their effort and participation. Thank you to Simon Hayward and Amelia Nunnerley for their leadership of the week's activities.

Annamaria Cream

Director of Boarding