Boarding News

Dear Boarding Parents,

It was great to see our Year 12 boarders receive such a special farewell at the end of last week. On Thursday night we had the boarding graduation for the boys and their families in the Champagnat Centre. This was a great celebration and there was certainly a lot of pride and nostalgia in the room. The experience of this group of boys was captured through many photos and videos, as well as some excellent speeches. After the dinner, the boys spent their last night together in Br Terence Residence and they savoured this opportunity. The next day saw more great celebrations with the Graduation Mass, the guard of honour and farewell from the rest of the school and the Graduation Dinner on Friday night. The Year 12 boarders of 2023 finished their time at Marist College Ashgrove on a high with the Marist family spirit wrapped around them. We wish them all well with their future.

Only a few days of school remain for the rest of the boarders and I know everyone is looking forward to a well-earned break. We have planned a Christmas dinner for the boys this Tuesday night and then some final packing and cleaning up before school finishes. Remember that we have our end of term boarder buses going to Moree and Roma on Thursday, so please ensure you make a booking to secure your son a seat. Booking can be made via the Events and Payments section of the Parent Portal. If you have any issues access this, please contact Boarding Reception on 07 3858 4619 and we can assist.

When I look back over this year in boarding, I feel very fortunate to work with such a great team of staff. Our boarding, nursing, laundry, cleaning and catering teams all work cohesively to look after the boarders and provide them with the best experience. I wish to publicly thank all of these staff for the great contribution they have made this year. I also feel lucky to have such a great bunch of boys to look after in boarding. They are all different in their own way but each contributes to the collective sense of family that is so special in our boarding community. The grounded nature of our boarders, their sense of humour and their willingness to support everything at Marist College Ashgrove makes them a unique part of what makes our school so special.

I’d like to wish everyone in our boarding community a wonderful break and quality time with family and friends. Merry Christmas to you all and I look forward to seeing you when the boys return in 2024.

Year 12 Boarding Families Dinner

Graduation Day 

Boarding Recreation

The final weekend of rec was a fairly quiet one with many boys taking time for extra study and some boys heading home after completing their exams. We made the most of the pool with the hot and humid weather sticking around throughout the weekend. On Saturday night a group of keen ice skaters well and truly escaped the heat and headed over to Iceworld Boondall for a two-hour session. It’s a personal favourite for many of the boys and always a nice way to catch up with boarders from other schools before the end of the term. Sunday saw the final activity of the term as we headed up to Mooloolaba for a day at the beach. A few hours in the waves always takes the sting out of the boys and it was a very quiet trip on the way back to Brisbane!