Boarding, August

We have had a busy fortnight starting with the Grade 11/12 Boarders Ball taking place at Scotch Oakburn College. The night was well attended by our seniors as they enjoyed dancing and socialising to a live Boarders Band and DJ. Grazing plates, Cold rock ice cream along with the traditional Domino’s pizzas was on offer during the evening for all to enjoy. I was really happy that we were able to get this off the ground and join forces to allow our Boarders to enjoy an event like this.

Equally, the Grade 10s dressed up and were able to sit down and have a formal dinner along with some dancing and socialising through the evening. I dropped in briefly while they were eating and from the ones, I spoke to they not only looked amazing but were really enjoying themselves.

We said farewell to both Olivia and Emily Archer last week as they had their last night in boarding before moving into their new house as the family relocated from King Island to the mainland. The girls are staying on as day students at Grammar and I know Olivia is excited to be able to ride her horses again each day.

I met an Alumni today Tyson Wood, fresh on leave from HMAS Stirling Garden Island in WA. It was great to meet the great man whom I have heard so much about from Mum and Dad as well as sister Em and our staff TJ. We both had some stories to tell about our Defence Force experiences in WA and in particular Garden Island. Wow, he is a dead ringer for his old man!!

The long weekend is coming up next Thursday, so please get your leave in by Tuesday at the latest so we can plan our bus runs to support your child getting on and off buses and planes.

There is a lot happening in boarding schools around Australia at the moment in regards to COVID-19 and the Delta variant. Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, South Australia, Queensland and even Northern Tasmania (Scotch Oakburn) have all felt the effects of it. It leaves just Western Australia untouched but not immune.

We have had good leadership in this state along with good fortune and some luck to not be in a COVID situation. I would like to share some of the correspondence I receive from our principle adviser Kate Dobson at the Dept of Health for COVID-19 updates in regards to our boarding houses which you might find useful.

I have also included a PDF document on questions and answers around the recent Scotch Oakburn College case.

There are a few updates on the COVID website over last week, in addition to travel restriction changes, that I think are handy to highlight to you all.

• a new page about the students vaccination clinics : COVID-19 Schools Program | Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
• an overview of a what a COVID lockdown plan could look like in TAS: Lockdown plan | Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) – this is an updated version to the version we have looked at previously. I’m not aware of any significant changes to what we have discussed already – but have a look – you know your sites and communities best
• Quarantine, isolation and stay @ Home orders explained: Quarantine, isolation and Stay at Home Directions | Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

And you may have noticed that requirements to wear masks in a variety of settings are in place – e.g. airports, residential aged care and some community events – a timely reminder for everyone to make sure they have COVIDSafe kits ready

We received two new ping pong tables thanks to Mr Finch, Head of Sport, who was generous in supporting the fitness and recreational wellbeing of our boarders this week. The photos show the boys getting stuck into the construction of the two tables which I am sure will get some use by our boarders.

Launceston Grammar Boarding Handbook

I have included our routines for you to look at and although we are smaller in numbers, we are still able to differentiate between grades when setting routines for our boarders in the houses.

View the Routines Here