Boarding
With the sudden COVID lockdown cancelling our Valentine’s Day dinner, Lucy Roberts and Sylvia Page quickly rescheduled their plans so the boarders didn’t miss out on their special night.
Valentine’s Day – Lucy Roberts and Sylvia Page (Year 11).
Love was in the air last Wednesday, 24 February. Despite being two weeks late, the Boarding House Valentine’s dinner filled our lucky boarders with joyous love and immense awkwardness, as each border was randomly coupled up with another boarder as their date for the night. Boarders sat alongside their date and enjoyed a delicious meal catered by our fabulous Alfonso. The couples completed a Valentine’s quiz, with the winners receiving a chocolate rose. The night was a great success.
Not your everyday activity – Henry Dennis (Year 10)
On 27 February, I decided to stay at the Boarding House for the weekend. MOD Justin Corbidge invited us out to his property to watch a horse dentist in action – something I have never seen before! Justin introduced Luke Pickering, Liam Bilenkij, Gavan O’Donnell and I to a rather famous horse dentist. We saw up close how he takes care of the horses’ teeth and mouth in exceptional detail. We also found out that he doesn`t just work with horses, but also other wild animals like Zebra, Giraffe and he even removed an infected Elephant task. It was an experience that I am sure we wont forget. Thank you, Justin for taking the time and having us at your farm.
A message from our Head of Macdonald House – Abbie Cameron
Within the Macdonald House we are committed to nurturing independent and responsive young women, enabling them to approach all endeavours with confidence, wisdom and integrity. We recognise the individual strengths and needs of all of the girls within the House, and seek to draw out the very best of every girl. Below are three key areas we are focusing on this year.
Relationships - relationships form an integral part of a boarding house, including between fellow Mac House girls, peers, MODs, siblings and teachers. In Macdonald House we focus on the complexities of relationships, reminding our girls that everyone has the right to be treated with respect, understanding different boundaries and the importance of communication. Weekly House meetings provide opportunities for our girls to be led by older ‘sisters’ and sit beside them, getting to know each other on a deeper level and respecting how each is progressing through their year.
Kindness - over the coming weeks in these House meetings we are asking the girls to reflect upon their core values, and identifying those qualities they admire and respect in themselves and others. The aim of these conversations is for our girls to understand not only kindness, but, that altruistic acts bring happiness to themselves as well as others.
Strategies for when we feel under pressure – most of the girls in Mac House are juggling the demands of school and an array of co-curricular activities. This can sometimes make girls feel under pressure and that they are just keeping their heads above the water. Boarding provides the girls with an opportunity to transition into independence. The girls are supported to develop these organisational skills by making effective use of prep time, utilising the academic support available to them, seeking pastoral support, implementing good sleep, exercise, and eating habits, and most importantly focusing on their own self-care.
Abbie Cameron
Further support for supporting young women can be found within the following resources:
Maggie Dent: https://www.maggiedent.com/support-services-teen/
Steven Biddulph (2014): Raising Girls
Mr Andrew Monk
Director of Boarding