Boarding 

It was great to see the momentum of Wellness Week continue all the way though last week and into the weekend. James Liu and Georgie Snodgrass were awarded ‘Boarder of the Week’, James for his efforts in helping the new students settle in and Georgie for her care of an unwell boarder. It was great to see these boarders being recognised by their peers.

Thoughtful Thursday saw riddles at dinner as well as a beautiful rendition of Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’ sung by Georgia Hodgetts and accompanied by Tim Gilling on piano. Jan from the kitchen instructed the Yoga class in the dining hall and everyone really enjoyed the session and were super relaxed after the meditation session. We hope to continue displaying the musical talents of our boarders at dinner, and we will also organise more relaxing and meditation sessions. 

The boarders seemed to enjoy opening their compliment envelopes on Friday morning. (The staff compliments must have been misplaced as they were nowhere to be seen.) I enjoyed seeing the students sitting down and writing nice things anonymously for the sole purpose of making someone else feel good. Kindness and compassion are traits that we value highly here in boarding, and they were on display in abundance this week.

On Tuesday night I was lucky enough to attend ‘The Resilience Project’ lecture in Casterton presented by Hugh van Cuylenburg. It was great to have other MOD staff attend this talk which mainly focused on adolescent wellbeing and positive mental health strategies. It touched upon device and phone addiction which was interesting considering our recent change to the phone and device policy in boarding. The three main strategies discussed were gratitude, empathy and mindfulness. Hugh gave clear research and examples of how these three things can improve wellbeing, and we will be exploring ways to embrace these concepts more regularly in boarding.

Back in Hamilton, the start of Bec the Gappy’s farewells have started with a ‘Pommy’ themed dinner. There were some great outfits including five Queens, one of whom was even accompanied by two corgis. Tim Gilling learnt ‘God Save the Queen’ half an hour before dinner so the English national anthem could be sung before grace. A massive thank you to Gail and Janine for their efforts to prepare for the night and decorate the dining room. It really did look fantastic and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves thoroughly.

Congratulations to all the boarders who received National History Competition Awards in assembly yesterday, including Hannah Russell who gained a High Distinction. I would also like to acknowledge Annabel Michelmore’s achievements in Polo Cross. Annabel has been selected to represent Victoria in a feature game that will be played against South Australia during the Adelaide Show. This is an amazing effort and she is already setting her sights on the national side for next year.

Best of luck to the Lodge boys who play in their Under 16s footy Grand Final on Friday night at Melville and to all the other boarders who have netball or footy preliminary finals for other sides (Mighty Balmoral Roos) this weekend.

Mr Alex Smith