Boarding 

This week we have re-modernised our Common Room in the Boarding House. Our resident tutor, Ms Patricia See worked with boarders who invested significant amounts of time in designing and decorating a wonderful place for our full-time and casual boarders to come together. The family style area highlights the close-knit family we have established in the Boarding House,  affectionately known by our boarders as the ‘Boardo’. Patricia has introduced a place for the daily newspaper, mail, magazines, a photo board, wellbeing section, map of the world showing where we are all from, and a place for parents and boarders to be aware of our commitment to our boarders.

Boarding at The Hamilton and Alexandra College is a unique experience. We are a home with a focus on best practice in pastoral care, providing each individual boarder with opportunity to develop skills and friendships beyond those normally associated with home.

National Boarders’ Week

Next week marks the National Boarders’ Week. Our co-captains, Nikita Cavill and Jonathan Lee, presented to the Senior School this week highlighting the sheer number of Senior School students who are boarders and have been in the boarding house. It was wonderful to witness so many students stand up and be recognised for their participation in the boarding house. I would also like to thank Jake Andersen and Jack Wall for their effort in producing a wonderful video of the boarding house and our boarders. The drone footage captured by Jake was remarkable; thank you boys for your hard work. I have attached Nikita’s speech to the College for you to read.

Next week we celebrate the national borders week of Australia. As you can see by the amazing video just played, we are not only a boarding house which consists of almost 90 full time boarders, but we are a large family who are constantly there for each other. Can we please ask full time boarders to now stand along with all of the people who have casually boarded before.

As you can see from the video, boarding and boarders make up a huge number of the school population. Every time a student becomes a boarder, they become part of a wonderful and diverse family.

But this family cannot function without the amazing MODS that constantly care for us, the kitchen staff who provide a variety of healthy and beautiful food, the Troopy drivers who take us to where we want to be and the cleaners that make sure we come back to a clean and beautiful boarding house each and every day.

So in order to properly celebrate National Boarders’ Week next week, we are giving the opportunity to our boarders to invite any day student to come along to a BBQ which commences at 6pm next Thursday night to see what the boarding house community really is like.

Casual boarding

Have you ever considered casual boarding? With our after-school programs in full-swing and our day school students taking these opportunities with determination our boarding houses can offer a comfortable place for an evening or two. When a casual boarder finishes their after-school commitment they are able to be picked up by our driver and brought back to the boarding house. Here they are able to enjoy dinner, academic assistance, super supper (on a Wednesday), a warm and comfortable bed for the night and then breakfast and lunch the following day. Casual boarding is becoming a popular choice for families and their children of all ages.

If you would like to trial boarding, experience the benefits of casual boarding or simply enquire about boarding in general please do not hesitate in contacting Susie Holcombe or myself.

Andrew Monk