Boarding 

Life in boarding house during a lockdown 

Hearing the lockdown news last weekend was particularly challenging for our boarders who are involved in winter sport, taking in that their sport fixtures were cancelled. Football players from Penshurst, Caramut and the Kangaroos, to our local hockey players, and netballers, all missing out on finals and their last week to cap off the season was difficult to accept.

Likewise, with the announcement of a lockdown mid-morning Saturday, the Boarding House moved quickly to organise boarders to be in-House or to get home safely. MOD staff did amazing work with our families to organise and arrange logistics at the very last minute. A big thank you to Jim Whitehead for all the driving he has done in supporting our boarding community.

The Boarding House is remaining open for the lockdown, with a number of boarders calling the boardo home for RLP 6.1. We are engaged in activities like a small family and look forward to connecting with the entire Mac House and Speirs House when we have our weekly online House meetings. For boarders who are here together, each evening we sit down as a family for dinner. We have a head of the table who presents a block of chocolate to somebody in the House and tells a story or shares a positive reflection about the boarder or staff member and why they are so special. Another boarder says our prayer and chooses the music during dinner, and after dinner we all gather in the common room for some evening games. From Bingo to Celebrity Heads, it is wonderful to see our boarders and staff take the opportunity of a lockdown to highlight the importance of supporting each other and having fun as a ‘family’.

Andrew Monk

Director of Boarding