Boarding, November

Head of Boarding Message

Dear Boarding Families

Term 4

The end of the School year is rapidly approaching and as I reflect on how fast this year has been for me personally, I am reminded always about finishing off on a good note. Tricky conversations are not about how they start but how they end and after a rough start to the year for our boarding community, I feel from the seat I am sitting in, a sense of pride developing again in small ways with our community.

Last week we hosted a new generation of Grade 7 boarders who are starting next year by doing an overnight boarding experience and orientation day. Thanks to our boarding families and staff involved in this process, it has been a great way of meeting our new boarders and for them to transition into boarding. What I liked about this night was that we had already done an ice breaker last term for the boys, so they had a sense of belonging and from all accounts were keen to connect again. Each new face has a character and mannerisms that are unique, this is what makes a great boarding house community. One of the many benefits of boarding is learning the skills of living with each other and with this build’s resilience in everyone. For these new grade 7 boarders this will develop as their journey in boarding begins.

In the last two weeks, our Grade 11/12’s have sat through their exams. I have been impressed with how they have gone about preparing for these exams. I gave them an email that had a study routine to follow for the day so they weren’t left to their own accord this was well received and seemed to value add to their exam preparation.

The Grade 10’s are about to go through the same process with exams starting on Thursday 18th until Tuesday 23rd November. We will keep the boarding house open during the day for students to study and I will send a similar program out to all boarders involved via an email.

The following Thursday the Grade 9 Outdoor Education programme will be conducted in the Mt Cameron and Musselroe Bay region in the northeast of the state. I will be going from Monday-Friday to assist in supporting the ODE group and look forward to seeing our Grade 9’s in action.

Around the Houses

I attended a recent online meeting with Heads of Boarding around the state and the Department of Health

Here are some notes from this meeting as we work toward transitioning the way we work, in line with the new Govt plan for re-opening from Wed 15 December 2021 – Transition plan | Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

That plan will see Tasmania shift from largely being COVID free, to COVID being endemic – it is a big change for Tasmanians, so we need to apply the Department of Health advice and keep remembering that overall children (and Tasmania) are better off at school and learning, than not.

For further support, 2 new AHPPC statements were announced – one about mask-wearing and one about managing schools safely with COVID. They are at this link and have been attached as PDF files: Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) | Australian Government Department of Health

Discussion points and outcomes:

Dr Romy Nicholson gave an overview of the work Department of Health is doing to support the reopening plan and confirmed that boarding schools/student residences remain a priority setting from a Public Health perspective.

Key messages from the Department of Health are:

continue to encourage all eligible people to be vaccinated
update existing plans using the updated outbreak framework
continue with COVID Safe behaviours: physical distancing, hand hygiene, staying home when unwell, masks and contact tracing (use of the Check-In Tas app plus other records eg. visitor records, sign in/out records)

Additional boarding school-specific considerations: contact tracing – schools are likely to be more involved when contact tracing is needed; Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT) is being explored for use in some outbreaks, flu season in 2022 will be back as we all move around again

All network members were congratulated on their approach and commitment to keeping their staff and boarders safe, with best wishes for 2022 as we resume working along more organisational structure lines.

COVID vaccinations in our Boarding House

In Boarding, health and safety are of the utmost importance and priority to all that live and work in this space.  With the upcoming opening of Tasmanian boarders, it is important for everyone to remain diligent. The recent cases in Newnham and Hobart serve as reminders as to how swiftly things can change. 

The school recognises that vaccinations are a personal decision, with implications for the broader community.  I am pleased to report we have had an outstanding uptake of double vaccinations in our boarding houses. All of our staff in boarding are double vaccinated and only three students are left to be vaccinated.

If your child is one of them, please contact the Health Centre and speak to Jenny to discuss your COVID plan, mindful that the long break is coming up and this may be something you will need to follow up with.

COVID Tas app

Please see below regards an option for people to store their COVID-19 digital certificate on their device, then display it from the Check-in TAS app. This is voluntary and not required by the School, so this is just for your information.

Loading your Digital Certificate into your Tas app on your phone https://youtu.be/7LEPtOH2E3k

Building our culture in boarding has been a focus this year for our Boarding Houses and one that can be measured through behaviours and actions. Focusing on our culture is a positive thing, not something that has to be viewed as a negative. Having a culture of mutual respect and peer support is an area at Grammar we have been working on developing.

The second part of this year we had two of our boarders do an online leadership course with ABSA and since then our Grade 9 and 10 Girls have really stepped up to promote a positive vibe of mutual respect within the houses with both the students and staff. I am frequently meeting in my office with boarders and staff during the day and evening who I first think are there to lecture me on something I have done to upset their routines, only to be pleasantly surprised to find they are meeting to suggest ideas and talk about some of the great things currently happening in boarding. These conversations are generating ideas and suggestions and for me is a good measure of our buy-in from our boarders and staff around our culture.

Peer support is an area we are looking to develop and this was observed during our overnight experience and one that will be structured and supported next year as our new leadership team assist our new boarders’ transition into our environment. Another example of this can be viewed when we show new boarding families around our facilities. I always get support from “my Favourite boarders” as stated by them (grade 8’s) to talk up their experience in the life of a boarder to a new family.

Afternoon activities have increased and again we see great examples of our culture in boarding promoting a positive atmosphere whether boys and girls are outside shooting a hoop, playing spike ball, riding a bike or in Archies case (doing a mono around the campus) skateboarding, roller skating, making use of the gym of an evening to play badminton, shoot hoops, kick a football, run on the treadmill, box jump, do a gym workout or go for a van drive around town to sing at the top of their voices to some great tunes. These are all great examples that our culture is moving in the right direction.

The cultural shift can be viewed through the behaviours and actions of the individual boarder each day in the way they interact and speak with each other. I am big on the no ‘put downs’ and speak to each other with respect model. It’s through these actions we can measure what our boarders are putting back into the houses.

Staff are witness to a transformation in the mindset of students that are dealing with mental health stress as we see an upbeat positive person and one that is happy with themselves and their surroundings. As fragile as this space can be for them it’s great to at least be able to find it through the boarding environment.

Evening Meal

This week I had a parent moment when I sat to eat one of our Evening Dinner meals. It was a Kofta dish and the comments I heard coming from the boarders weren’t great. As some boarders stood up and made their way to the bin to offload their meal, I stopped two of them Mira and Skye in their tracks and instructed them to sit and eat with me.

After going through to look at the dish, which clearly wasn’t working for the students (dog poo was used in the description of the meat), I asked them to cut a piece of meat with the knife and fork then dip it in some yellow sauce and add some sweet potato mashed to the fork.

The look of urrrrk turned to delight as they continued to consume the meal. Once the plate was finished both girls returned for seconds.

This was a classic parent moment in which looks can be deceiving and don’t judge it until you have tried it. My final point to both is the junior boarders will behave based on learnt behaviour, so as a senior, model good behaviour and be good role models.

After school meals

Fruit is popular this week as the students return from the coal face of learning and into a relaxed home environment. The fruit platters are a big hit as well as the cheese and dips on offer.

Boarding, November

Newsletter Archive

19

November