Boarding, Term 2

Well, this term is flying by!

The Boarding students are well and truly into the groove of this term and as the season changes, we are noticing change in the air around Boarding. Staff have been observing the students getting around each other from both the girls and boys houses. Our common rooms are filled with students hanging out together and having conversations or playing pool and table tennis. Our students and staff are heard playing piano in the morning and evenings and boys are singing along.

What a great atmosphere. Boarding at Launceston Grammar offers these opportunities for your child to have a structure and routine, where they feel comfortable to practice in a nurtured environment.

Here are some examples from each house where this is played out.

David Aldridge is from a farm near Scottdale and is our youngest boarder who is in Grade 5 in the Boys House. Will Robertson, one of our Boarding House Assistants (BHA) and also an alumni, was playing the piano the other morning while David was singing, as they both prepared for their Choral concert in Albert Hall Launceston during the week.

It is great to see the talent from our staff and the comfortable atmosphere created in that space where our boarders can express themselves without fear of being judged. It sounds like I am talking about home!!

Davia is another boarder from Flinders Island who is making the most of her time in Boarding. The Girls House is filled in the mornings with music coming from the piano as Davia starts her day with piano practice. We liaised with the Music department earlier this year and brought in a piano tuner. This has been a great investment as both pianos are being respected and used. Afternoons see Davia change instruments and go to cello practice, very talented!

Ash Keatch
Head of Boarding

Thank you for those parents who are coming and signing in with the Tas app.

I was at a conference in Hobart end of last term with all the Heads of Boarding from the state which discussed the School Student Quarantine Arrangements for the COVID-19 outbreak management of student  accommodation.

Launceston Grammar is doing everything the Government has requested and are positioned well if we dip back into that scenario. The Tas app is the Tasmanian government’s preferred option for contact tracing and if we go back into a state with COVID then we will go to a digital sign in method.

Thank you to the parents who used the holiday period leave when they put their child’s leave for Term 1 break.

Please use this leave to submit all the transport and time out and in details. This is important for us so we can work out movements of each student moving into the Term two break.

Reminder to all parents if you are in town around our meal-times, you are more than welcome to drop in and share a meal with your child and the rest of the boarders.

If you need accommodation while you are in town, we have a unit in Poimena Gallery, which is available for 1 – 2 night stays.

Please let us know so I can book that for you.

Throughout the year ABSA publishes a Lights Out magazine for the boarding community across Australia.

They have great articles posted for staff, students and parents.

The following articles are very interesting:

• Our Boarders Mental Health
• The Rural-Urban Educational Divide
• How to build student resilience
• The PERMAH framework A road map for Wellbeing

Read a copy of the magazine here

ABSA have put together the following video on why choose Boarding.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

Our recreational activities again were a highlight for the students during the last few weeks of last term and into this term.

One of the weekends saw 13 of us head to the Mowbray Indoor Sport n Skate for an inline or old school lace up skate. There were a few shaky, wobbly unstable starts to this event.

However, the talent started to show after half an hour in as Ms Casson gained her confidence and started to wind back the clock with her teenage skating abilities.

Olivia, John and Aysha were not to be outdone, firing out a challenge for Mr Keatch to get out there if Olivia was able to clear the jump. Well, she won and went on to ride the jump at least 10 more times.

Julia, one of our international students from Vietnam, was so impressed she said she would rather do this each week than go to the World Famous Harvest Markets!! Nothing like peer group pressure.

Bowling saw some mixed talent shine through and although a small group, the ones in the house were able to get out and about in Launceston to try their hand at something different.

Our Grade 12 boarders completed their 80 kilometre challenge in the Walkathon.

This was aided by Mr Sheehan, who reminded me that it was tradition to go out for a pasta meal the night before.

It was a great night and thanks to Sarah who suggested the authentic Italian restaurant “La Cantina.

The Boarding House captains are looking at revisiting ‘boarding week’ before the end of term by holding a free dress day “Farm Wear” (gold coin donation) and running one lamb on the spit.

Our theme for this yea

r in boarding is “Are you Bogged, Mate?” , which looks at mental health in the rural sector.

If you can donate a lamb for this event that would be very much appreciated by the students.

Due to drop offs and pick ups for sport, I don’t always get to take my dog Bella for a walk or exercise, not good considering she is a border collie.

Luckily I have a house full of willing volunteers who are more than up to the task, happy to play and throw a ball for her.

Bella doesn’t know what hits her sometimes in the Girls’ Boarding House, as she becomes their play doll and can be seen walking around the house visiting the girls all “dressed up”.

We have recently purchased a fire pit and now as the season is changing, it’s a good space for boarders to gather and just enjoy a good old fashion fire. We are looking at hunting and gathering some fire wood so we can enjoying a fire and marshmallow nights under a crisp Launceston night sky.

Sarah, one of our Boarding Captains, came to me with a suggestion the other day in regards to the food being served in Cafe 1846.

After a survey from the students, a letter was written to outline a possibility of changing back into the Dining Hall for recess and lunch. The main reasons were day students taking their food, congestion in the Cafe, wastage, as students didn’t always want to eat what was on offer, and finally, the lack of interaction based on space.

The benefits were noticed straight away, with students now being able to make their own lunch or be provided with a hot option. The toastie machine and toaster were running hot over lunch and the staff noticed the positive interaction and conversations from being in there. We will continue to listen and work with our student group to provide a positive outcome for their home away from home environment if we can see benefits.

The girls have had some great nights in and through the leadership of Ms Vandervelde and her team they have enjoyed some ‘girly’ nights in with a tea party being held in an area that doesn’t always get used well. After some effort from the amazing staff and girls, they transformed it into a tea party with a long table, fairy lights impromptu dance on the balcony level above the long table and a lot of fun. Its pleasing to see the girls enjoying each others company mixed in with staff

Another initiative from Ms Vandervelde and her team was a sip and paint night in. The girls were provided with a tutorial on a sunset scene, it was fair to say the students didn’t think they needed another tutorial or lesson and started to put paint on a canvas, while the staff chose the tutorials, I’ll let you decide who should take out the golden paint brush prize.

On the boys side we have seen some more talent come out with our second youngest student Niall happily practising his acoustic guitar on his bed, with a cheeky David tapping in behind him.

This week we are pleased to say that Jackson security is working around both houses to install CCTV cameras in our corridors. I will send something out to the Boarding community to explain how we are implementing them and the education around the use of them for both parents and students before we go live.

Our Property Manager Steve Donaghy has been working closely with us in Boarding to look at spaces that we can turnover and improve with little fuss while we wait for the exciting Master Plan to roll out across the School in the future.

This means we will look at the bedrooms and look to replace old carpet with new carpet squares, and one for one old cupboards for new ones that are currently sitting in other spaces and not being used around the Boarding House.

We are going to relocate my office to the front of the building (next door), so it’s more accessible for students and staff around the campus.

The new canvas photos are a hit with visitors and staff who walk through the corridors of Boarding. They are a talking point for anyone in the corridors and a pride of place for our boarders to remind them of home. Please encourage your child to keep them coming in and I will continue to print them on canvas and hang them up.

The lighting around the Boarding Houses externally have been upgraded with LEDs to light up our dark spaces, which will assist in the security around the campus to ensure our boarders are safe day and night when moving about.

The School facilities are proving to be a hit and point of difference for us at Launceston Grammar Boarding.

The kids are enjoying getting out and about on campus to make full use them, with special mention for this term to the indoor heated Swimming Pool, Gymnasium, Mountain Bike track and the indoor pool table and table tennis tables.

As I continue to get out and about to see some of our wonderful Boarding families in their own communities, I am pleased to say I have been to Flinders Island with TJ; King Island with Zoe; and Perth (Western Australia for an alumni reunion with the Headmaster).

This weekend is the Campbell Town show, so I’ll be down there flying the flag for Launceston Grammar.

I plan to continue getting out this term taking a different staff member with me each time who is connected to your child in some way to the spots I haven’t reached.

If you have a date or place you think I should be at, please email me as I am very keen to be there.

Term 2 dates include:

• Friday 11 June: Boarding House Closes 5.00pm (Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend)
• Monday 14 June: Boarding House Re-Opens 4.00pm (Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday)
• Friday 2 July: Boarding House Closes 5.00pm (End of Term 2)
• Friday 2 July – Wednesday 20 July: Term 2 Break

When I started in the role as Head of Boarding at the start of this year, one of my short-term goals was to ensure we provided opportunities for our staff to upskill in their role as boarding staff.

As part of their induction into their Boarding role, and as we employ new staff going forward, we have organised for them to complete an Active-Duty course ran through ABSA. This gave all staff a base Duty of Care understanding and qualification in their boarding role.

This term we are committed to providing Boarding House staff with a Mental Health First Aid course and a Duty of Care Book 1 and 2 course run through ABSA. It’s a big commitment from the School but one that puts us ahead of other Boarding facilities around the state.

Another qualification we are looking at providing around your child’s experience in Boarding is for Boarding staff to have a PPV licence, so we can transport your child under Tasmanian law, as well as holding a Bronze medallion for pool supervision.

At Launceston Grammar we are committed to ensuring our staff are adequately trained to ensure we can conduct duty of care in the supervision of adolescents because as we all know it can be onerous and demanding of residential staff as it is of parents.

If you have any specific concerns regarding your child, please get in contact with either TJ or Zoe depending on which house they are in to discuss.

They will have the best day to day knowledge of your child and are more than happy to work alongside with you.

I am also happy to discuss any Boarding points that you think of want to have a chat about.

Head of Boarding

Ashley Keatch
M 0403 799321
akeatch@lcgs.tas.edu.au

Senior Boarding House Assistant (Boys House)
Theunis Pieters
tpieters@lcgs.tas.edu.au

Senior Boarding House Assistant (Girls House)
Zoe Vandervelde
zvandervelde@lcgs.tas.edu.au