From the Head of Boarding

Return to Boarding

The 2020 school year certainly provided the school with its fair share of challenges, and it was great to see the Boarding Community rise to the occasion. 

Boarders returned from their Covid-19 lockdown experiences with positive mindsets.  Most enjoyed the novelty of online learning in isolation, and the opportunity to spend quality time with family.

Onwards from Covid-19

GSG opened its doors quickly and made rapid steps towards setting a path forward. Some eastern states' schools have only just begun the process of welcoming boarders back in the past week or so. We have been lucky with our experience.  

The response from boarders, parents and guardians to the restrictions we put in place to minimise risk in boarding was overwhelmingly supportive and I’d like to thank everyone involved for this. The manner in which the boarding community got on with things is a credit to all.

As the rate of Covid-19 infection in the state declined, the school matched it with further easing of restrictions. At this point in time GSG Boarding is:

• Continuing to ask the screening questions each morning and upon return from leave;
• Social distancing, although common areas can have larger numbers than previously allowed;
• Continuing to allocate toilets and showers to help contact tracing;
• Continuing to routinely sanitise common areas;
• Welcoming parents into boarding houses;
• Encouraging boarders to socialise in common areas; and
• Using our buses at full capacity.

All other aspects of boarding remain as per normal. 

Boarding Parent Committee

In Week Six, the Boarding Parent Committee met online using Microsoft Teams, the same platform the children used for online learning at home. 

One agenda item was communication protocols for boarding-related queries from parents. In the first instance, please connect with the relevant Head of Boarding House or a member of the Committee who has a child in the same boarding house. A list of the Committee Members can be found on MyGSG under Documents here.I am also available if your query is general in nature. 

Other topics of discussion included the school's food offering, staffing, and parking around the boarding precinct. With respect to parking, the school has commissioned an external consultant, with plans to address this in the future. 

The minutes for the meeting can be found on MyGSG in the Meeting Minutes folder under Documents here. 

The meeting ran well and opened the way for future meetings to be held this way. I therefore invite all boarding parents and guardians to a Boarding Parent Forum to be held at 1.45pm on Friday 31 July. This forum will be held in Breaksea House and will also be delivered online via Teams for those who wish to be involved but may not be able to make it in person. Further communication about this forum will be sent out early in Term Three.

A further topic discussed with the Committee was changes to the Gap Programme, beginning Term Three. As national policies change, the international Gap Supervisor programme has been placed on hold. This means that we will say farewell to our much-loved Gap Assistants, Sam, Lea and Ana at the end of this term. We do not have replacements at this point in time, however, we are currently planning for a number of scenarios to compensate for this change, including the possibility of placing a local Gap Supervisor in the Middle School boarding houses. I welcome enquiries from the boarding community and beyond.

Boarding Pulse

Thank you to parents and guardians who submitted responses to the Boarding Pulse survey. I am heartened by the positivity demonstrated in your feedback and have begun to analyse the comments with the aim of continuing to make improvements to how we deliver boarding at GSG. 

I met with Dining staff and will look to obtain feedback beginning Term Three from boarders via an electronic survey after each meal. I look forward to sharing more of this with you in the coming term. Parents are most welcome to come in and share a meal with your child/ren if that fits in with your plans. Please call to your child’s Head of Boarding House to confirm the meal time in advance. 

Student Leadership

The school's food offering was a topic discussed with Boarding Leaders and, generally, the feedback in this forum was positive, especially for the new lunch ordering system and the options made available. Some recommendations for food were discussed and I have passed these on to the chefs for their consideration.  

I was pleased to hear that the leaders are ready to help organise some of the annual events such as Boarding's Got Talent and the Quiz Night. The Amazing Race was another all-boarding event to go on the calendar, and we saw this run and won by Anchorage House last Sunday. Having all the Houses come together for events such as this are great fun and an important part of being a boarder. We will circulate a Recreation Calendar for Term Three in coming weeks.

All the best for a safe and happy mid-year break.

Mr Brendan Goggins | Head of Boarding