Secondary School

This week is National Boarding Week, and we have had several celebrations throughout the Secondary School.

We are privileged to have a boarding school here at GSG, and it’s hard to express in a few words just how much a boarding community offers a school, but let me just say that we are a better place for having boarders among us.

Boarding makes this school a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week community. Boarders live here, and for 40 out of 52 weeks of the year, this campus is their home away from home. Boarders provide diversity and a unique country charm. They are friendly, salt of the earth, honest, and hardworking. Through the experience of boarding school, our Boarders further develop a sense of independence and an ability to celebrate the differences among us. It’s not easy living under the same roof as 30 other people in a boarding house, but it can also be a lot of fun.

It is not easy living away from home for weeks on end, missing the comforts of home, the daily embrace of a loved one, the family pets, the comfort of your own bedroom, your own bathroom, and the view from your window. It’s not easy for the students who board, and it’s not easy for the families at home on the farm or in town who miss their children.

However, it is important that schools like ours exist and give opportunities to our regional students so that they can get access to a nurturing, caring environment, filled with adults who care for them and help guide them. It’s important that our country students get access to the amazing opportunities for a good education that GSG provides. And it’s important for our regional students to get access to the sense of community, a place to make new friends from all over the place that become lifelong connections. It’s true that by going to boarding school, you can find yourself in almost any town in WA and you will have a friend or a connection somewhere.

I also want to send my thanks to our boarding staff, who look after our Boarders on behalf of their parents and families, some of whom live a long way away, even overseas. Staff provide care, consistency, and guidance. They are trusted adults during a period of great change in adolescents—a time when we form our sense of our adult identity and transition into independence.

We had several events throughout the week, including a Boarding Assembly, a special lunch, boarders inviting day students home to the boarding house for afternoon tea, and a game of netball in the gym between boarders and day students. All in all, we spent the week trying to make our boarders feel special.

National Boarding Week - Assembly