Welcome to Term 2 from Mount Erin Boarding.

It was a welcome sight to see the return of the Year 12 Boarders on the 11th of May and then the return of the Year 11’s on the 18th. From Monday 25th, with the return of the Junior Boarders (Grades 7-10), Mount Erin will have its normal cohort in line with the return to face to face teaching at both Mater Dei and Kildare.

It is important to acknowledge the feeling of relief from both students and staff that we are slowly returning to a more normal situation.

It would be remiss of us however, if we did not remind all of our Boarding Community that there is still a potential risk associated with Covid-19 and that Boarding Schools in particular, due to the very nature of the close proximity of staff and students. Even with social distancing it is important not to become complacent.

It is also important for boarding parents to understand that measures put in place to protect students, staff and the safety and integrity of the Boarding House and associated Colleges is done under the guidance and direction of the CEDWW, NSW Govt agencies and with close understanding and cooperation with other Boarding Schools including our sister/ brother school St Francis at Leeton. We are all hopeful that most of these will be for the short term only.

Face Book and Mount Erin

It is good to be able to re-establish Boarder’s Buzz as a Fortnightly Newsletter publication from Mount Erin Boarding. In order to support this publication, Boarding staff will soon be using new mobile phones with high quality cameras to record happenings during each fortnight. The current technology does not support high quality images especially for night time photos.

Complementing Boarders’ Buzz will be the new Mount Erin Facebook page which is now up and ready to go. Over the coming weeks this will be populated with the latest instant happenings and news from Boarding, including the rapidly changing Covid-19 situation.

Return to Boarding

We applaud the Year 12 and 11 students on the way in which they have adapted to the restrictions. I would like to thank the Boarding Staff for the way in which they have prepared for the return and the professional manner in which they have supported the students in their care especially during the distance learning phase.

As you are no doubt aware, steps have been put in place to reduce risk from covid-19 including the reduction of high touch surfaces and frequency of touching surfaces. The large bio pad for REACH has been removed from the front entrance. Instead students will sign on and out each day to school on the small bio pads in their grade focus areas within the Boarding House – Junior Boys/Girls and Senior Boys/Girls. The Bio pads are treated with Tersano antibacterial/ virus spray.

During the holiday period, all mattresses were cleaned, sanitized and in some cases, replaced.

Activities for the Boarding students will be on campus only until otherwise directed by CEDWW and NSW Health. Our Mount Erin Activities Officer, Mr. Jody Siegwalt has developed a programme of physical sports which implement social distancing norms and arts / crafts activities. We are all hopeful that as soon as possible, boarders will be able to return more normal off campus activities. However it is highly likely that these too will be subject to some restrictions as we move towards a more trusting and safe situation.

The evening dinner meal will be staggered for the time being, with three settings planned to enable 4 per table.

Tutoring

In order to overcome the issue with supplying physical tutors especially now with Covid-19 issues, to support students academically we have moved to an online tutoring programme in partnership with Ace Tutoring. A number of well-known and established boarding schools in Australia have part of this ABSA approved tutoring programme with strong evidence of success.

Mason Crain in conversation with his online Tutor during study.

The programme began with the focus being on Year 12 students, then Year 11 students and now the Junior school students from the 26th May (Grades 7-10)

The students log in to their tutors on duty – two per night through Google hangouts covering the following subjects:

Grade 7-10 Tutoring begins on the 25th May- link to be shared with students - Amanda to send out

Monday:

Isabel Hewes (juniors) - https://meet.google.com/oav-zwgh-dxk (6:30 - 7:30pm)

Anthony Austin (English) - https://meet.google.com/eie-gnhi-crk

Nic Moraitakis (maths) - https://meet.google.com/cug-kvpj-oye

Tuesday:

Claudia Hackett (juniors) - https://meet.google.com/jbd-bcco-puz (6:30 - 7:30pm)

Claudia Hammond (humanities) - https://meet.google.com/eec-yjtr-hsb

Thomas Elton (science) - https://meet.google.com/jpi-grvf-wbr

Wednesday:

Isabel Hewes (juniors) - https://meet.google.com/oav-zwgh-dxk (6:30 - 7:30pm)

Anthony Austin (English) - https://meet.google.com/xcs-dxod-pqc

Thomas Elton (science) - https://meet.google.com/tff-gsgo-dtd

Thursday:

Claudia Hackett (juniors) - https://meet.google.com/jbd-bcco-puz (6:30 - 7:30pm)

Claudia Hammond (humanities) - https://meet.google.com/usy-naho-rir

Nic Moraitakis (maths) - https://meet.google.com/cug-kvpj-oye

Leader of Boarding Coffee Chats with Parents/ Carers

Information regarding the inaugural Leader of Boarding Chat with Parents/Carers will be sent to you soon from the Mount Erin Boarding Office but it is envisaged that I will be meeting with regional clusters of families in the evening over a cup of tea/ coffee via the internet. This will give me an opportunity to say hi and to provide some chat time for us regarding boarding.

Year 12 Drivers

Year 12 Boarding student drivers park their vehicles now in the designated Boarding car park adjacent to the Kildare College swimming pool. This area provides greater security for student cars overnight.

Year 12 Student Driving Rule Trial Amendment

A standard rule/guideline that Boarding Schools implement as part of their agreement regarding the approval of Year 12 boarding students driving a car to boarding and then home, often includes a driving alone provision. This has historically been linked to data illustrating the link to young car driver accidents to having numbers of young people in a vehicle. This rule/guideline does not take into consideration students traveling to Boarding school in winter on a Sunday evening during winter which is of concern.

Given this concern I am putting in place for Term 2 as a trial, an amendment to the Mount Erin Boarding Driving permission form that will allow a driver to travel with a second boarding student from where they both live to boarding , and return home from Boarding at the end of the week. This trial amendment requires both students’ names and approval from each family. If two different cars are to be used, Mount Erin Boarding needs the details of both vehicles as Year 12 Boarders have an allocated car park

This change does not provide permission for the Year 12 driver to pick up/transport any other student.

The amendment therefore allow for two people in a car, primarily for the safety and wellbeing of the students involved and peace of mind for parents.

Boarders Tops

The new Mount Erin boarding tops are proving to be popular. We have been granted approval from the two Principals/Colleges for the boarding students to be wear these as part of their school uniform on Fridays which is a great step forward.

John Bussenschutt | Leader of Boarding

Full Boarders Buzz

Newsletter HERE

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