Boarding News

Dear Boarding Families,

One of our long-standing traditions in boarding is our Sunday night Boarders’ Mass in the Chapel. It is our chance to gather weekly as a boarding community to share the Gospel message and for each of us (boys and staff) to reflect on our own spiritual journey. As part of the planning for these Masses, we seek to find ways of engaging our boys with the Mass so that they get the most benefit from this experience. We have tried many variations including taking the boys to the local parish for Mass, having a staff member deliver a reflection after the Gospel and having outdoor Masses. Last Sunday was National Sorry Day and at Boarders’ Mass, we were privileged to hear from Uncle Eric Law who is an elder in the Cherbourg community and Grandfather to one of our current Boarding Captains, Landon Law-Palm. Uncle Eric shared his life experience with the boarders which included being a school principal, a magistrate, the Mayor of Cherbourg and most significantly the only Aboriginal Superintendent of a community mission in Queensland’s history. Uncle Eric’s address was appreciated by the boys and the staff. This coming Sunday we are travelling to Stuartholme School on Sunday night as they host our boarders for Mass in their community.

I wrote to all boarding parents and guardians last week to share the results of our recent survey into boarding food. This gave the boys and boarding staff a great opportunity to pass on their feedback about what meals they like and areas where they feel we can improve our offerings. It was pleasing to see positive feedback on things such as the variety of the menu, the approachability of the catering staff and the quantity of food provided. However, the survey showed there is room for improvement with the Break 2 offering, afternoon tea, weekend food and the takeaway lunch provided for away sport on Saturdays. There have been a number of immediate changes put in place to address those areas that were flagged in the food survey and I have spoken with all the boys at Singing Practice last Thursday to share what will be changing in response to this survey. All in all, I believe the boys appreciated the opportunity to provide feedback in this survey and I’m sure it will lead to a better overall result.

I also want to let boarding families know some significant news that Renae Lewis has decided to finish up in her role as an integral member of our boarding team and move into another exciting career opportunity. Renae is known to almost all families as someone who has helped them and their son as he was going through his boarding journey. She has always been a familiar face at Boarding Reception and a great source of help for so many boarders and parents. Renae has been at the school for the last six years. She has an amazing work ethic and eye for detail which will be very hard to replace. On a personal level, Renae has been an incredible support to me as my PA for the 2 ½ years since I started at Marist College Ashgrove and I know I will be echoing the thoughts of others when I say that we will miss her loyal and dedicated approach and we wish her well as she embarks on a new role.

I look forward to seeing many of you at our Boarding Family Function at the conclusion of the 1st XV Rugby game on McMahon Oval this coming Saturday.

Boarding Recreation

The weekend kicked off with the next episode of the Boarders vs Day Boys sporting rivalry with a Rugby Union match taking place on McMahon Oval. The 5th – 8th XV teams didn’t have games which created the opportunity for this match to take place. After a draw in the Touch Footy match in National Boarding Week, the day boys just edged the Union match in a closely contested affair. We look forward to the big one next term as the City vs Country match and Capo Cup is up for grabs on the Tuesday of EKKA week. After the game we opened the weights room for an hour before heading down to the Vic Park Golf Range for a Friday night hit with a keen group of Year 10-12 boarders.

As always, Saturday saw our boys heading all over Brisbane for various sporting fixtures. It was a positive day on the whole with many boarders putting in great performances for their teams. The ice baths were out again on Saturday afternoons with more and more boys making it part of their regular routine which is great to see. A small group of boys headed down to Suncorp on Saturday night to watch the Reds put on a brilliant attacking display in their final home match of the normal season.

On Sunday morning we loaded up the fishing gear and headed out to Wynnum for a fish at the Jetty. While the big keepers eluded us again there were some interesting catches with Clancy Doyle’s Bream the best of the day. The fish and chips joint along the road did well out of us before heading back to Ashgrove for a round of footgolf with the La Valla and Montagne boys. After nine meticulously crafted holes, the consistent trio of Quinn, Seb Fraser and Pat took out the win on 36 shots ahead of the Year 8 trio of Sami, Alan and Ethan. An hour in the weights room rounded out another busy weekend as we head into Week 7.