The Boarding Buzz

From the Heads of Boarding

Thank you to everyone for the support we have received at the start of our Heads of Boarding journey. We have been busily working on fine tuning policies and procedures to allow us to manage boarding efficiently, effectively and with care for each young person. We believe we work well as a team and are enjoying the highlights and challenges that 2021 is bringing to boarding. 

Prep

A few changes have been made to both Senior and Middle boarding prep to improve the routine and structure of this time. Boarders are provided the compulsory prep time from 7.00pm to 8.30pm for prep each evening. During this time Senior students may work in their bedrooms or work cooperatively in common areas, utilising white boards and other learning spaces. We also realise that in Senior boarding, there are multiple pathways of study available, General, UniReady, Certificate IV in Business and ATAR and combinations of these. Consequently, students will have varying amounts of prep work to complete. We are mindful of this and if a student is on a General Pathway, there is the option of being off campus at sport, the gym or part-time work during this time. Our ATAR and UniReady Year Twelve students have the option of also working in Michaelmas House and booking individual rooms for silent study if needed.

 

We have invited the Day School staff to attend prep, Ms Simpson is on duty every Tuesday with the Year Seven boarders and Mr Sawle has attended Year Nine prep in Michaelmas. We are working towards employing more tutors for our students to access and will keep you up to date. 

 

We are considering reducing Year Eight and Nine prep time by fifteen minutes as we find they are not utilising the last fifteen minutes of prep time effectively. We would appreciate your feedback on this suggestion. Senior prep is one and a half hours, Year Seven prep is one hour, so the question is, should Year Eight and Nine prep be one hour and fifteen minutes? They can always continue studying if required, as some of them already do.   Please find the prep schedule here.

Leadership

We have been working on student leadership and ensuring our students understand the expectations of this role. On Monday, in Chapel, we inducted our leaders and Mrs Naomi Cooper prayed for the students with a blessing.

 

The leaders for 2021 are:

  • Anchorage Leader – Jed Kowald
  • Endeavour Leaders – Brianna Cunningham and Xanthe O’Neill
  • Eclipse Leaders – Daniel Cosh and William Penny
  • Breaksea Leaders – Karis Cristinelli, Bree-anna Burton and Stephanie Lamont

Please find the leadership document here.

ABSA Professional Learning

We like our staff to be up to date with the latest information from the Australian Boarding Schools Association (ABSA) and since COVID there are many more options online. Anne Robertson, Caiden Henderson, Ella Sloss and Sienna Ball are currently completing their Duty of Residential Care certificate. Brenton Rice is currently completing the Boarding Management Pillars Certificate and Vanessa Bromhead spent Saturday online completing Heads of Boarding professional learning.  In addition, all our boarding staff are regularly involved in webinars to further enhance their knowledge and skills.      

When online sessions from ABSA are offered for parents and carers, we will send through the links via email. These sessions are very worthwhile, and we highly recommend them to you. More information about the first Parent Webinar can be found here

 

Many of our staff have recently completed the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Training which reflects the increase in Mental Health awareness within boarding houses and the ability of staff to operate proactively and responsively in this field.  

Connections and Community

One of our goals for the year is to increase connections and the feeling of being part of a community. Every term we plan on hosting a parent function for all families to attend. We would like to invite you all to the Boarding Parent Function on Friday 19 March from 5.00pm. This function will be held at Centennial Stadium in Albany. If you have not received your email invitation, please let us know. 

 

The first Boarding Parent Forum of the year will be held in Michaelmas House on Friday 7 May at 2.00pm.  Boarding Parent Forums are held twice per year.  Please RVSP for the Boarding Parent Function and the Boarding Forum via dianne.franzinelli@gsg.wa.edu.au 

 

The Year Seven parents recently enjoyed an afternoon tea on Friday 26 February and there will be further opportunities throughout the year for all year groups to connect.  

Wilson Day

There has been a change to Wilson Day, which will no longer be a dress up day. Instead, Wilson House will be selling elaborate ice creams with toppings at lunch time for $3.00 each.  Wilson Day is Wednesday 17 March.

Flexischools

Each boarder has a school Flexischools account where they can place a canteen order once per week, on a pre-set day.  There have been a few teething problems with Flexischools to start off the year and we are still trying to pin-point the problem, however we do know that one of the issues comes from when a boarder has a school account and a personal account and they are using the same email address for both.  

 

It is fine for a boarder to have a personal account where they can order Flexischools on a day other than their pre-set boarding day, however can we please ask that if you are setting up a personal account for your child that you use a personal email address, not their School student email address. This would help us immensely.

 

Mrs Tara Ball | Head of Middle Boarding

Ms Vanessa Bromhead | Head of Senior Boarding