SAINTS BOARDING 

Boarders of the week

 Congratulations to the following boarders who received Boarder of the Week Awards over the past few weeks. This popular award is held in high esteem by staff and students.

• Junior Girls – Serai See Kee and Elsie Austin
• Junior Boys – Lewis Yol and Azu Thaiday
• Senior Girls – Sarah-May Nona and Emma Breeze
• Senior Boys – Archie Clifton and Joel Hatfield

Sunday Mass 

Excluding free and exeat weekends, the boarding community celebrates Sunday Mass in the chapel at 7pm and attendance is compulsory. Therefore, all boarders are expected to return to the College on Sunday night by 5:30pm for the roll call and dinner at 6:10pm. 

Exeat weekend 

The boarding community is enjoying an exeat this weekend. Thank you to our families for submitting leave requests and for organising the details of the weekend. A reminder that boarding will reopen from 4pm on Sunday for our girls only. Girls who are returning on Monday morning should have told their head of residence before leaving for the exeat. The boys residences will reopen at 4pm on Monday.

Keeping in touch

As mentioned in the welcoming letters from our heads of residence, we value open communication between parents and carers and heads of residence. The best time to phone your sons' or daughters' heads of residence is between 8:30am and 9:30am on weekdays. Heads are busy before and after school, so this is not the best times to talk. Alternatively, email them and they will reply at their earliest convenience. When discussing topics such as leave requests and other matters concerning your children, heads of residence should always be your first point of contact.

Thursday afternoon activities

There's been a great start to our Thursday afternoon boarding activities program. Our students will be involved in six different activities this term including: gym, volleyball, basketball, yoga, ultimate frisbee and art.

Boarding visits and dinners 

The boarding community is looking forward to again visiting our boarding families this year. We will initially be travelling to the Tablelands, Weipa and Groote Eylandt where we will catch up with our families and also meet many others in these communities.

Saturday outings 

Our boarders venture to a variety of places each Saturday. They have already been on outings to Port Douglas, the yellow and red walking trails, Trinity Beach and enjoyed roller blading. We look forward to continuing these outings after the exeat. We'll also be holding a boarders camp in Semesters 1 and 2.

Laundry returns 

I encourage our boarders and their families to clearly label all clothing with laundry numbers. We use an external laundry, and clearly marking clothes helps ensure they are returned to their owners. 

Leave requests

All leave requests must be submitted by 7pm on Wednesday night for our normal weekends. We understand and support boarders spending time with their families when in town, and staff will always work with families to ensure that quality time can be had during these visits. We ask, however, that requests for such leave are made well before the Friday preceding the weekend. This allows us to take into account absent boarders when organising weekend programs. 

REACH and Facebook 

Thank you to the parents, carers and boarders who have navigated the REACH program when applying for leave. If you have any concerns about accessing the program, please call or email me. 

Also, a reminder about the St Augustine’s Boarding Facebook page. To join, please follow the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/145337315916743/