From the Heads of Boarding

Christmas time has arrived again and we approach this season with excitement and expectation. It is a time for many to celebrate with family and friends and remember the birth of Christ at the first Christmas. But, for some, it can be a difficult time. We pray that this Christmas your presents may be many, your worries few and your joy endless. Please see the photos of our amazing Boarding Christmas dinner in the Dining Hall section of the newsletter. 

Our first year as Heads of Boarding is complete and we have spent some time reflecting on our journey so far and looked at ways to improve for next year. We have appreciated the support of all parents and guardians. Thank you especially to the Parent Committee. We appreciate the honest and open communication we have had throughout the year. To Melissa Barrett, Kathy Bradshaw, Carolyn Cunningham, Deb Cristinelli, Emma Holland, Anna-Lisa Newman,  Donna Woithe, Anita Penny and Rachael Plowman, we say a heartfelt thank you.  We say farewell to Rachael Plowman and Anita Penny who have come to the end of their time on the Parent Committee. We welcome Julieann Climie, Davina Hams and Alaina Smith to the committee for next year.

Student Boarding Leaders

We have been developing the student leadership program in boarding throughout this year. There will be more opportunities for students to nominate for leadership roles from all year groups, with a transparent application and interview system and then semester long leadership roles. We have just completed our first round of this new system, where every student in boarding is emailed a leadership application, which they are invited to complete. Once the applications are received, applicants are interviewed by the Head of House and either the Boarding Captain or Vice-Captain. The interviewers have a series of questions which all applicants are asked. The interviewers discuss the applicant’s responses to both the online and in-person questions and then a student leader is chosen for a period of a semester. This means that students from all year groups will have another opportunity for leadership in semester two next year. 

Staff appreciated the support and professionalism of both the Boarding Captain Madison Smart and Vice-Captain Pierce Newman throughout the recent interview rounds. 

We announced the new boarding house leaders at our Christmas Dinner this week and congratulate the following students on their role for Semester One 2022. 

Anchorage – Henry Smith and Austin Brown

Endeavour – Amy Medway

Breaksea – Ava Smith

Eclipse – Mitchell Hawley and Daniel Fisher

Over the next semester, these young people will meet regularly as a group, with staff and seek ways to serve the boarding community.

A significant addition to our Student Leadership development this year was the ABSA Boarding Leadership Conference. We had eight boarders participate in six hours of on-line training. The day saw over 160 boarders from around the world join together and discuss leadership in the various boarding houses and the character values of a student leader. Each of these young people have now received a ABSA Boarder Leader Pin to wear on their school blazer, acknowledging their role as a boarding leader amongst the school community. Congratulations to Madison Smart, Zaydee Kiagoes, Kate Squibb, Pierce Newman, Hamish Medway, Darcy Barrett, Brendan Quick and Daniel Fisher. 

Parent and Student Surveys

Thank you to all of these parents and students who completed the annual boarding surveys. We have been collating all the answers, reflecting on your feedback and will be implementing changes and ideas accordingly next year. We look forward to sharing some graphical feedback from these surveys with you at the beginning of next year. 

Peer Support

For 2022, we are using an alternate structure for the Peer Support program in boarding. Each new Middle School boarder will have a peer support person from their own house to support them and our three new Senior School Boarders will have a peer from their boarding house to support them. We feel it is beneficial for a peer to show them how the house operates and support them in understanding the routine and procedures of each house.

We ask our boarding leaders from each house to return on Saturday 29 January to support the new boarders. As we have seven new Year Eights moving into boarding, we have chosen two returning Year Eights from both Endeavour and Anchorage to return to boarding a day early to also support them on the Saturday. These students and parents will be contacted soon so they know we would like them to return on the Saturday.

At the Welcome Lunch on Sunday 30 January, students from each of the boarding houses will introduce the new students from their house, as a way of welcoming them to their house. 

Cameras in Boarding Houses

The completion of CCTV into all boarding houses will occur over the upcoming holidays. We have found the installation of cameras very useful over this last term. They will cover the common areas and hallways of each boarding house. As explained in previous correspondence, there are strict policies regarding the access of this footage and it does not replace the active supervision of our boarding staff. 

Orientation Sleepover

This year, boarding was fortunate to be able to host a sleepover due to the availability of rooms in Michaelmas House. On Thursday afternoon, the day prior to Orientation Day at school, boarders for 2022 in Years Seven and Eight were invited to spend the evening in boarding to get to know their new peers. The occasion began with an afternoon tea with the families as they were able to meet and greet each other. The new students then moved to the dining hall with our boarding leaders and Ms Robertson to play fun games to develop connections and team building. These games included food games, picking up jellybeans with tweezers, mini-golf shots and giant Jenga. Following this, the new boarders walked to the Fish Traps to enjoy the beauty of this amazing location, so close to Great Southern Grammar.

It was then time for dinner, and they all enjoyed dinner together in Michaelmas House and our Year Seven boarders spent some time with the current Year Seven boarders in Endeavour and Anchorage House. Board games were played and enjoyed in the houses with supper and a cup of warm milo and then it was time for the sleeping part. There was giggling, laughing and lots of talking which was taken as a good sign of relationships being created. Simultaneously, the parents enjoyed chatting each other, along with Mr Mark Sawle and Ms Vanessa Bromhead, at Six Degrees. There was an enjoyable mix of food and conversation amongst all the parents. We thank Deb Cristinelli, a parent with over eight years of boarding experience, for her time assisting our new boarding parents.

Friday morning it was an early start withs some football, cricket and four square played outside prior to the students first experience of breakfast in the Dining Hall.  On packing up their items for the day, the students wandered over to school with each other as support for the Orientation Day ahead. It was a great start to boarding and these new boarders are prepared to move into Middle School boarding to Anchorage and Endeavour House in 2022. 

Health Talks

The Health talks, held over five weeks with Amy and Fiona from WA Country Health Service (WACHS) with the Endeavour and Breaksea boarders, have proved really worthwhile and we have heard a lot of positive feedback from the participants.  One of the Endeavour boarders commented that it was like a health lesson, only better as you felt more open to speak in this environment. The presenters were informative, open minded and interesting. At the end of the sessions, they presented our boarders with two books to go in the boarding house to enable them to find the answers if they had more questions in future. We are very grateful to be able to provide this opportunity for our boarders and continue to look for more opportunities to educate our boarders. 

Filming in Boarding

In Week Four we hosted a film crew in the Dining Hall, Endeavour and Eclipse Houses. Some of our boarders showed some impressive acting skills. There were a number of boys who ensured they needed yet another hash brown for every “take” in the dining hall and Madison Smart reports having to put the toast in the toaster five times! This company will create a 360-degree video, that will go on the school website, so families can complete a virtual tour to discover how wonderful boarding is at Great Southern Grammar. These images will go onto the website for advertising purposes as soon as all the editing has been completed.

Boarding vs Day Students

The annual Boarders vs Day students competition was held this week.  You can see a full report of the competition in this weeks Anchor here.  Please enjoy some more photos from this event.

Staff Farewells

At the end of every year there comes the time to farewell staff. We have a number of staff who are moving on and pursuing other pursuits.  Mrs Claire Standish has been completing her nursing training and next year has numerous practicum placements and is therefore not going to be on a regular shift. Mr Levi Cosh has completed his six month live-in position and now intends to study chaplaincy and complete labouring work. Mr Brodie Sarre will still be in regular contact with our boarders, but will now be teaching full-time in the day school. Mrs Gayle Britten has let us know that she will not be returning to tutor Mathematics next year, we are sad to see her go. Miss Nixon will continue Mathematics tutoring and be available for additional students. 

Return to Boarding

This year we return to boarding for 2022 in late January. Our new boarders and our boarding leaders return to boarding on Saturday 29 January and our Welcome Lunch is held when our boarders return on Sunday 30 January at 1.00pm. An email will be sent out before the end of term with this information. This email will also include all the relevant permissions which we need completed for your boarders for next year.  We appreciate your support in completing these prior to boarding resuming. 

Ms Vanessa Bromhead | Head of Senior Boarding

Mrs Tara Ball | Head of Middle Boarding