Boarding News

This week is National Boarding Week (15 – 21 May 2022) which is a celebration of the wonderful effort and commitment of boarding students, boarding staff and boarding schools across Australia. Marist College Ashgrove is one of 202 schools nationwide who offer boarding and Queensland has the most of any state with 54 boarding schools. Last year, there were 19,551 children completing their education as boarders (ABSA Census, 2021) and they come from a wide variety of places and backgrounds. Marist College Ashgrove has always welcomed boarders since it was first established in 1940 and we remain a proud boarding school to this day.

Boarding has changed a great deal over the years to reflect the values of modern society and continues to adapt in the face of challenges like COVID-19. Boarding supports the development of character, independence, confidence and resilience and help students to achieve strong academic results. Whilst boarding school will not be the right choice for every child or family, it does present a great opportunity for growth in young people.

We look forward to celebrating National Boarding Week and a number of things are planned to highlight boarding at the College, including daily social media posts, a special boarding video and a breakfast to thank key staff who care for our boarders. 

National Boarding Week culminates with the inaugural Boarding Family Day on Saturday where all our boarding families are invited to the tent adjacent to McMahon Oval to celebrate the wonderful community we have in MCA boarding. This informal event provides the opportunity for everyone attending to meet and socialise with current boarding families, boarding staff and our wider boarding community. Holding this event on the same day as a home game of AIC sport for all our boys, ensures that the Boarding Family Day is a great place to meet this Saturday. Those who can attend will enjoy some great hospitality and the company of friends.

It’s another busy week ahead for our boys, but especially for the Year 7s who have their Celebration Days and the Year 11s who have their exam block. We are all hoping that the weather clears this week so that the boys can get back to playing sport and enjoying all the usual clubs and recreation activities.

I am really looking forward to the Boarding Family Day and hopefully, I can catch up with many of you there.

Around the Grounds

La Valla Residence

As always, it was another busy week in La Valla! The rain did make for the perfect opportunity to enjoy some well-deserved and very rare sleep-ins on the weekend. Despite the rain resulting in the cancellation of much of our recreation we still seemed to have a lot going on! Obviously, NAPLAN was the biggest focus of the week for our boys and we were so impressed with their attitude towards the testing and their high levels of organisation for this particular event.

The new round of afternoon clubs is causing quite a stir with boys keen to convince each other that their club is the best! golf, art club and cooking club are the hot favourites! These activities keep our boys busy and help them to learn new skills. We are very grateful to the teachers and school staff that give up their time to enrich our education.

A big congratulations is in order for our pocket rocket, Jack Curtain, who has been selected for the Met North team for Rugby Union. This is a huge achievement and we are very proud of this young man. He embodies the spirit of a true Marist man as he tackles every challenge with a smile and true grit.

Montagne Residence - written by Jim Bradford

Round 3 of Rugby was non-existent with all the games being called off due to wet weather. With the start of the week being quite sunny and warm it changed pretty quickly to rainy days all day with lots of sports training being called off and of cause the rugby games, which not many boys were very happy about. However, the amazing Mr Whitlock managed to create a few different activities for the boys to enjoy, with a Chermside Shopping Centre trip on Saturday as well as a trivia night on Saturday as well.

On Sunday the boys also went head-to-head in a 3v3 basketball competition. Jonathan Kirk (Year 8 - a new member to the boarding school this term) was in the winning Year 7-8 competition along with his fellow teammates Jack Mahuru and Jimmy Milasas. The winners of the Year 9-10 competition were George Philp Year 9, Liam Rice Year 9 and Marly Chan Year 10, who won without a point being scored against them. Awesome to see that 5 out of the 6 winners were from Montagne Residence.

Well done to the Year 9s who powered through NAPLAN during last week, even overcoming a couple of late-night fire alarms in the process.

Hermitage Residence

As we celebrate national Boarding Week, I thought it timely to highlight some insight into the ‘home’ that is the Hermitage residence. National Boarding Week is a time to celebrate boarding. The week is aimed at raising awareness of the many benefits that boarding school provides and celebrating what boarding offers to our schools. 

'The Hermitage' is the namesake of the residence and is located near Lyons in the south of France.  Built by Marcellin Champagnat and his first Brothers, the Brothers first moved from La Valla to the Hermitage in 1824. It claims great significance for Marists today. The Hermitage dorm is the top of the Br Geoffrey building and overlooks the beautiful grounds of the school, including the numerous sports ovals, as well as glimpses of the Brisbane City. 

This year we have 31 boys in residence with diverse backgrounds and include Australia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Hong Kong.  Hermitage boys are very fortunate to spend study in the recently renovated Tower where boys are supported by a thorough study support team. The Tower is a heritage listed building which is visible from the local area and is nestled amongst the leafy surrounds of Ashgrove. The Tower is also visible from Hermitage and is a constant reminder of the traditions of the College. 

The boys of Hermitage are an active group with the majority involved with the various co-curricular activities on offer at the College. The most participated sport would have to be Rugby, closely followed by Cricket, AFL, Volleyball, Football, Tennis, Swimming, Debating and chess. 

Our Year 10 boys continue their efforts enjoying the Year 10 dance program, and are very much looking forward to the final event at City hall next Tuesday night. Last week was also an extremely busy week for our Year 9s as they completed NAPLAN, and attended a fantastic production of ‘Smashed’ as part of their ASH program. The company Gibber have been sponsored by Diageo Australia as part of their commitment to reduce alcohol misuse, including underage drinking, to bring their highly acclaimed award-winning, global education program, The Smashed Project to schools across Australia. Shout out to George Bell, Landon-Law Palm and Paddy Bassani who were runners up over the weekend as part of our boarders 3v3 basketball recreation competition. 

Fourviere Residence

It was a week of challenges for the Fourvière lads as the bizarre weather conditions continue to have their say this year. Steady and frustrating rain kept the boys couped up for the majority of the week and with the ovals closed, there has been limited access to outdoor activity, football training and the cancellation of all AIC fixtures certainly dampened spirits over the weekend. Credit to the boys for their patience and adaptability during this time. Kudos go to the Year 10 lads who continue to enjoy participating in their dancing lessons on Tuesday evenings, and a special mention to them for staying behind each week to set up the gymnasium for exams and events that have happened the following morning.

Highlights of the week included a visit with Mr Hardy’s new young pup Walter, the Netball fundraiser for Do It for Dolly Day with Stuartholme and the fashion that was on display for the MATES free dress day on Friday with many of the lads choosing the theme of ‘Dressing like your Dad!’.

Finally, the boys were excited to welcome a new addition to the Fourvière brotherhood with Bailey Caplick becoming a boarding student. The Caplick family are well known to the majority of the lads with Luke and Lauren having been in the house parent role when many of the boys first began their time at Marist. We wish them well as they experience life as ‘boarding parents’ and look forward to seeing Bailey thrive as a boarder!

Br Terence Residence

With the large amount of rainfall, the boys were largely confined to the residence this week. Most activities ended up being cancelled so the boys took to indoor activities such as watching movies, shopping centre visits, trivia competitions and venturing up to the gym. Despite the limited outdoor opportunities, the boys managed to occupy themselves and quite a few of the boys even braved the wet weather to attend the NRL Magic Round fixtures at Suncorp Stadium over the course of the weekend.

Back on campus, Friday night saw the Year 12 boarders battle Stuartholme in a Do it For Dolly Day fundraising Netball match. The boys were ultimately victorious against the girls even though they were a little unsure of many of the rules. The spirited contest was enjoyed by all with plenty of cheering and quite a large amount of money was raised on the night. Notable performers on the court included Carter Bidgood, Gilbert Donaldson and Archie Forbes. Sam Miller led the way with much of the organisation for the event and deserves to be congratulated for his initiative and commitment to the cause. On Sunday morning, many of the boys again took to the courts, this time in a 3-on-3 basketball competition. Year 12 boarders Ethen Tsiamalili, Brent Humphreys and Gilbert Donaldson emerged victorious on the day before the boys once again returned to the residence for the remainder of a quiet weekend.

Recreation Report - Mr Blair Whitlock

The weekend started off with a special event for the Year 12s as they took on the Stuartholme boarders in a netball game to raise funds for Do It For Dolly Day. The game was originally meant to take place at Stuartholme but the rain forced us indoors to a hybrid game of netball/basketball at Marist. We had all year groups from both schools in attendance and chanting throughout the game to create a cracking atmosphere. There was a sausage sizzle for gold coin donations and a raffle at halftime to raise funds. Well done to all the Year 12s and Sam Miller in particular for his efforts in organising and MC’ing the event. We look forward to this becoming an annual event for our seniors.

The rain, unfortunately, led to sport cancellations which meant we had far more time around the dorms than a usual weekend. Many boys took the opportunity to get some extra study in with assessment starting to loom on the horizon. We put an optional Chermside shopping trip on Saturday afternoon which 90 of the boys chose to attend with cabin fever starting to set in! This took us through to dinner and the best day of Magic Round with most dorms watching the Storm vs Panthers game. Saturday night finished off with a quiz night in the Draney Theatre with 13 teams vying for first place and free pizzas! It was a good way to break up the evening and keep the boys' competitive streak ticking over in a weekend without sport.

Sunday kicked off with a 3 v 3 Basketball comp in the gym. We had Year 7-8, Year 9-10 and Opens comps going with 13 teams playing. Basketball is very popular throughout boarding and the boys had a great time playing against their mates for a couple of hours leading into lunch. Despite a relatively quiet weekend, there were plenty of tired bodies on Sunday afternoon as many opted to relax in their areas or get some extra study in before Mass. A small group also headed down to the Southbank Cinemas to watch the inspiring Father Stu to finish off the weekend. Another busy week in the books – hoping we’ve seen the last of the rain!