Breaksea House News

Welcome to the news from Breaksea House for 2022. This year we are excited to have a full house of girls. As of this week, all 37 Senior girls will be residing in Breaksea and we are working to build a cohesive and encouraging Breaksea community. We have two girls who have joined GSG boarding for the first time this year, Wayhapo Manolis from Broome and Annabelle Lydeamore from Katanning. Both of these girls have settled so well into the household and we are enjoying getting to know each of them more. 

This year all the young people in Breaksea have had the opportunity to set their goals for the year and discuss these with the Head of House. I’ve enjoyed hearing their various personal, learning, relationship, health and other goals and setting strategies to help them reach these ambitions. Over the next few weeks, the students will also be doing the VIA strengths test and then we will look at how they can use their personal strengths to also assist them to reach their goals. It would be great if you learnt a little more about your strengths, for when your student discusses their findings with you.  You can register here. Understanding your personal strengths and how to harness these for fulfilment and success is a wonderful skill to have throughout your life. 

This week the girls celebrated Valentines Day, or Galantines Day, focusing on how we can encourage and celebrate other people in our lives. We created a wall of encouraging message on hearts and had a breakfast of strawberries, chocolate, pancakes and waffles. Whilst Ms Bromhead’s idea of drawing hearts in the pancakes was theoretically good, the girls decided that taking over the pancake cooking was a better option. The end results was a lot of smiles, laughs and a yummy breakfast. 

Within the boarding house we have a few elements that can help make our household run smoothly. The girls are very good at doing their own washing. However, they are learning about sharing a laundry with others. The girls are instructed to leave their name tag on the machines they are using and remember to change over the loads as soon as they are completed. It would also help if parents could encourage their students to have their names written on all items of clothing. The lovely summer weather and windy days are also a good opportunity for students to use the outdoor washing lines, instead of a clothes dryer. 

With the summer weather, we have been able to enjoy some BBQ dinners in Breaksea House and it was fun seeing the girls using the outdoor gym equipment, reminiscing about their younger years playing elastics and playing some table tennis. Another activity many girls have been enjoying are painting on canvases. Whilst it may be painting by number, the final results are wonderful and many students find painting together on a canvas very relaxing. 

We have already celebrated two birthdays in boarding, Paige Narkle and Keira Tapscott. The girls love to give their order for their favourite type of cake for their birthday and the Freddo icecream cake is often the number one choice. In Breaksea we love to take advantage of any opportunity for a celebration. 

Thank you again to everyone for being so supportive of the changes that have occurred due to COVID regulations. I will continue to send parents photos and hope that you all still get wonderful insights into your child in boarding through these. 

Ms Vanessa Bromhead | Head of Breaksea House